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Or is it?"
The little knot of seniors closed ranks behind her. Ashili held her breath.
A tentacle waved artfully. "You misinterpret. I am directed to return home. I
have a responsibility."
"You have a responsibility to the world which sheltered you and this ship for
a thousand millennia. If it hadn't been such a safe haven, you might not be in
a position to return home. Where are your ethics?"
"Section twenty-four, level six," the Drex replied. "My ship sheltered me;
not you, not your world."
"It won't trouble your conscience that you could maybe have prevented the
deaths of thousands of innocent intelligent beings? You can just fly off into
tachyspace knowing that will always be in the back of your mind, to trouble
your f waking hours and torment your sleep? What would your mother-equivalent
say?"
The Drex stared at Ashili. "Your physical technology may be primitive, but
your mental weaponry is distressingly advanced. How does anyone stand it?"
"Time has inured us." Shimoda regarded the alien placidly.
Tentacles twitched. Two became entangled and the Drex had to spend a minute
sorting them out. "It is true that this vessel was designed to combat large
enemy forces, but even if under my guidance it were to turn that which
approaches, there is still the suggestion of a much larger force beyond. The
military science of the Drex is more advanced than you can imagine, but it is
not omnipotent. If you think I rested for a million years only to get my ship
and myself vaporized on behalf of a bunch of primitive, swarming non-Drex,
then it is your logic which is very much at fault."
It was all so very circular, Victor Iranaputra realized with a start. Like
the wheel of life. Like lives, arguments, and solutions were continually being
reincarnated. He took a hesitant step forward.
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"Tell me: Have your people ever met any other intelligent species, besides
this enemy?"
"You are wrong. You have now met us. Is that not something worth protecting?"
"Why? What could your kind possibly do for the great and all-powerful Drex?
You are minuscule in stature, your science is primitive, and I venture to say
that your other accomplishments, such as they may be, are of comparable
worth."
"Do not judge our entire species by the six of us. What we lack in size we
make up in numbers, and we have weapons which could eventually destroy this
ship as well as those of the enemy. Not only could we be your allies, we may
be the only ones you ever find."
Seeing where Iranaputra was leading, an excited Ashili took up the refrain.
"The universe is a vast and lonely place, even for such as the Drex. Where
else are you going to find others to amuse you? Where else are you going to
find another intelligence to talk with? We're good at conversation."
The alien let out a vast, sonorous exhalation. "That I could not deny even if
I wished. You trouble me like fungus."
"It's not good for anyone to be alone, especially an entire species," Gelmann
said. "I know. I've seen the results. It's just one foolish tribal argument
after another."
"You mean you haven't been asked to settle them all?"
The alien's sarcasm went right past her, just like that of her male
companions had for years. "Not yet."
"We can offer you friendship, amusement, military assistance, and&
differentness," Ashili deposed hopefully.
"Certainly the last." The Drex was having trouble with its tentacles again.
"A species so utterly given over to endless verbal expostulation could not in
maddest meditation be imagined. Are youbred for argumentation?"
"Only a select few," Shimoda ventured helpfully.
"You speak of Drex strength," Gelmann went on. "Of the power of this great
ship. Are you saying now that it wouldn't have a chance against this enemy,
you should excuse any personal implications?"
"Of course it would have a chance." Red pupils widened and contracted. "Why
am I even wasting waking timetalking to you like this?"
"Because it's nice to have someone to talk to, isn't it?" Gelmann persisted.
"Even if that someone is puny and primitive. Because from what I've seen and
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