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

and the four species Libby just showed us are dominant in their own spheres of influence. For millions of years, they’ve taken their orders from the Cayl and nobody else.”
    “He’s got a point,” Clive said. “We should at least prepare an advisory for our merchants on the station so they won’t be taken by surprise if Gryph cuts the aliens some extra slack.”
    “Are you planning on trying to cultivate intelligence sources among the open house guests?” Kelly inquired.
    “We’ll make an effort, but if they don’t join the tunnel network after the open house, there’s not much point in adding them to the payroll. We simply don’t have the resources to try to keep up with every sentient in the galaxy. Even the Drazens limit their intelligence efforts to the species they come across in the regular course of business.”
    “What about threats we don’t know about?” Chastity protested. “Humans who want to establish their own colony worlds have to go off the tunnel network to try. Aren’t you supposed to be tracking the problems they might run into?”
    “We can’t do everything, Chas,” Clive told his sister-in-law. “The Stryx will put in exits for any of the tunnel-affiliated species once a world warrants the attention, but it doesn’t make any sense to do it for every settlement effort. What’s the current criteria, Libby?”
    “We’ll provide tunnel access to a colony once it passes two-hundred million inhabitants or an investment of two trillion Stryx cred.”
    “Why wait so long?” Kelly asked. “Wouldn’t the colonies have a much greater chance of success if they had tunnel access from the beginning?”
    “It requires a great deal of energy to create and hold open a tunnel,” Libby explained. “A large investment in terraforming or infrastructure shows that the species is taking the colonization effort seriously. And we will extend protection to colony worlds before they reach the scale for tunnel access, provided the space was undisputed when the colony was founded and the request is made through an ambassador for the species on one of the stations.”
    “I have a question,” Thomas said suddenly. “Do the Cayl recognize the artificial people created by members of their empire as sentients, the way the Stryx do? If not, does that mean they can keep AI enslaved?”
    “The Cayl policy on AI is currently similar to ours, which is one of the reasons we’re sorry to see their empire winding down operations,” Libby replied. “Some of their member species would prefer a different approach, and it may be a sticking point if negotiations get that far.”
    “Who’s going on the exchange delegation you mentioned, Libby? Are any humans welcome?”
    “We’ll be sending a science ship to anchor the tunnel for the open house, and there’s room for a few humans to accompany the ship and visit the Cayl homeworld. Jeeves has been in touch with the Cayl at the highest levels, and he suggested sending Woojin and Lynx, providing Clive approves. And he said something about adding Brinda in case there’s an opportunity for a ‘going-out-of-empire’ auction.”
    “I think it’s a great idea,” Clive said. “Lynx has plenty of diplomatic experience from her cultural attaché work, and Wooj is our military expert, so he’ll appreciate what the Cayl have done.”
    “Sounds good to me,” Kelly said. “Are any Stryx going, Libby?”
    “Our science ships are all built around a resident second-generation Stryx,” the librarian replied. “Think of them as miniature versions of our stations that spend all of their time moving around and looking into things. The science ship that will be carrying Lynx and Woojin is run by Stryx Vrine.”
    “Banger’s parent? Small galaxy.”

Five
     
    “I only need half of the Galaxy room, and only for the first morning,” Daniel reiterated.
    “Your reservation shows that you reserved the full amphitheatre for four human days,” the unemotional