Guest Night on Union Station by E. M. Foner Read Free Book Online

as long as one would have expected given the other proportions. There was a large lump in the Shuga’s belly that made it look like the creature had swallowed a cantaloupe.
    “Is it pregnant?” Chastity asked.
    “Incubating an egg,” the station librarian replied. “The males and females both have an external pouch for carrying eggs and keeping them warm, and they share the incubation duties after the female lays the egg.”
    “So they might be comfortable with the Fillinducks, since they’re egg layers, or with the Grenouthians, since they have pouches,” Kelly ventured. “Who’s next?”
    The Shuga was replaced by the holographic map, and a section of blue stars now pulsed alongside the red.
    “Is it my imagination or are the blue star systems and red star systems basically alternating?” Clive asked.
    “Precisely,” Libby replied. “I’ll add the others since you’ve already spotted the pattern.”
    An approximately equivalent number of green and yellow stars began pulsing, and it became obvious to everyone that although each of the factions controlled about the same number of systems, they were all mixed together, as if the empire had been stirred in three dimensions to create an even distribution.
    “So the Cayl kept their subjects weak by not allowing any of them to control contiguous blocks of space,” Kelly surmised.
    “Not weak, but diffused,” Libby replied. “The absolute distance between planetary systems is mainly an economic barrier, the price of the energy involved in making faster-than-light jumps. The Cayl use their power to ensure that the factions within their empire always have economic incentives to maintain strong ties with their neighbors, rather than becoming mini-empires within a protectorate. It’s proved to be a very stable system.”
    “Who are the other dominant species?” Chastity asked.
    The map was again replaced by an alien form, this one sporting four arms and a trunk in place of a nose.
    “Four arms makes it a candidate for a Dollnick sleepover, and that tentacle might put the Drazens at ease,” Kelly said.
    “It’s a trunk if they breathe through it,” Donna observed. “Tentacles are for grabbing stuff.”
    “He looks like Ganesh,” Chastity declared. “Don’t you recognize him from Aisha’s collection? He’s the Hindu god of something.”
    “So you think I should invite him to stay with us?”
    “The alien you are referring to is a Nangor, and he wouldn’t be comfortable in your home. The Nangors are herbivores and great gardeners, so he would find the metallic environment in Mac’s Bones too sterile,” Libby explained.
    “Who else?” Chastity asked.
    The Nangor was replaced by a figure that looked a little like an elongated turtle. The torso was definitely encased in a shell of sorts, but it didn’t look like there could possibly be room inside for the creature to retract its arms and legs. The head, on the other hand, was practically neck-less, and the skull was topped with small armored plates, rather than hair.
    “Are they good at math?” Kelly asked. “It reminds me of the Verlocks for some reason.”
    “The Tzvim are indeed accomplished mathematicians,” Libby replied. “Their early history was similar to that of the Tharks, a military species that nearly wiped itself out. In spite of its appearance, the Tzvim are the most peaceable and friendly of the leading Cayl Empire cultures.”
    “Isn’t there one more dominant species?” Chastity asked.
    “The Lood,” Libby acknowledged. The hologram switched to a figure wearing a brilliant purple cloak edged with white fur. A full-faced golden mask hid the creature’s features, but the contours appeared to be the same as a human face. The arms, legs, hands and feet all agreed with human proportions as well.
    “Is there something behind the mask we shouldn’t see?” Donna asked.
    “The Lood are similar to the Vergallians in many ways,” Libby replied. “Their ruling class can be