Pandemonium by Warren Fahy Read Free Book Online Page A

and whispered, “Crucified.”
    “Cru-ci-fied,” the hendro said in a table-vibrating bass, as if memorizing the word. “How old your god?”
    “Jesus Christ, our Savior, is immortal.”
    “He meant how old your religion?” Hender said.
    “Two thousand years,” the cardinal answered.
    “My god is—” Kuzu whistled and buzzed strange sounds.
    Hender translated: “Kuzu’s religion is thirty-nine million years old.”
    Kuzu spoke more to Hender again in his language.
    Hender said, “Kuzu is ninety-one thousand years old.” Hender noticed the human turning red. With one outstretched hand, he patted the human’s hand delicately. “OK, OK! So now you want to tell us your religion. Yes?” Hender was alarmed to see Andy display more concern suddenly, which he had learned to read on Andy’s face.
    “It’s interesting to contemplate, Your Eminence,” Andy interjected. “Sels have a very long history and culture, which go back well over a hundred million years. I know that’s hard to grasp.”
    “Would you like more grappa?” Joe asked.
    “I think dessert is coming right now, actually,” Bo said.
    Cardinal Carnahan waved them off, bowing his head. “Thank you, no. I believe I’ve had enough for now.” He rose from his seat and steadied himself with his cane. “I’m not sure that there is anything more to discuss, at this time.” To the sels, he added with a nod: “It was the most extraordinary moment of my life meeting you. I pray that God blesses you, and me, as well.” The cardinal turned and headed for the visitors’ air lock, escorted by Bo and Joe.
    “Good-bye!” Hender fluted.
    Kuzu glowered after him, hunched over the table on four elbows with his wide chin resting on three palms as the hatch closed behind the clergyman.
    “Not so good, Kuzu,” Hender’s lips pursed into a frustrated bunch over his wide jaws. “Humans will hate us now!”
    “So?” Kuzu said.
    “We are waku to some humans,” Hender said. “Humans need to know we mean no harm.”
    “No harm?” Kuzu asked. “They trap us. They kill us, too, maybe.”
    “There is no ‘they,’ Kuzu. There is only one, and one, and one. No ‘they.’ Remember?”
    “That is how you win, Shenuday .” Kuzu laughed like a cannonball bouncing down a stairway. “I learn from you!”
    “This is not chess,” said Hender, referring to Kuzu’s favorite human game.
    “Yes,” Kuzu said. “It is.”
    Andy could swear Kuzu looked at him with chilling contempt then. The young marine biologist had learned to associate the sels’ expressions with their emotions over the last six months. He watched warily as the mighty sel looked meekly out the window then. “Thank you, Joe. Delicious,” Kuzu purred. “Love bisque!”
    “Yes, thank you,” Hender agreed.
    “You are both very welcome,” Joe said.
    “Remember, there are many humans, and they believe many things, Kuzu,” Andy said. “You don’t have to believe what they believe, OK?”
    “We believe you, Andy,” Kuzu said.
    “Thank you, Kuzu. I’m not perfect. But I’ll never lie to you.”
    “You lie many times.” Kuzu fixed one of his eyes on Andy. “But not too bad. Never to hurt.”
    Andy reached out a hand to Kuzu, and Kuzu grasped the human’s hand with his upper right hand and shook it up and down, as was the humans’ custom, his foot-wide lips curling up at the corners in an imitation of a human smile. Andy felt the supple filaments of short fur on Kuzu’s palm and the rough pads on the digits of his fingers and thumbs as two of the hendropod’s hands overwhelmed his. For an instant the crushing power of Kuzu’s grip chilled him before Kuzu let his hand go with a tilt of his head.
    “All right,” Bo said. “Let’s all go to bed. We’ll all see each other in the morning.”
    8:48 A.M. KAZAKHSTAN EAST TIME ZONE
    The Gulfstream V jet touched down on a dirt airstrip on a high mountain plain, jolting them awake. Nell and Geoffrey deplaned with Maxim and climbed