Page 34 of Alien Barbarian's Little Human

“Who is it? Malagrith? Don’t tell me it’s that Vakutan girl who cleans up the lavatories.”

“It’s a human woman, and she’s the ambassador from the IHC.”

Ureki stares at me for a long moment.

“Ishani cannot lie to Ishani,” he says simply. “If what you say is true, and I know you believe it to be, we must use it to our advantage.”

“What?”

“You must use this unexpected connection to manipulate the Earth woman into telling us her true purpose for being here.”

My stomach twists up in knots.

“Listen to yourself. We become more like them all the time, plotting and scheming and using everything to our advantage. If she is my jalshagar, this is a miracle, a gift from the Ancestors.”

“We are the Ancestors,” he replies as if casually stating a fact.

“Not quite, and you know it.”

“We are the closest to them in form and culture.”

I don’t feel like having this argument with him, again. The presence of outsiders has increased the divisions in our own society. Many of our folk sympathize with the Ataxians, but almost as many favor the Alliance.

Adding the IHC to the equation is a fusion reactor awaiting a single spark to overload.

“The unrest is at an end,” Ureki says. “You should get to your appointment.”

“Are you sure it is over?” I ask sullenly.

“WHat makes you say that?”

“This riot, the unrest as you call it, it could have been orchestrated by one side or the other just to see what our reaction would be.”

“And so what if it was? They have seen our reaction and know they do not stand a chance.”

“They have seen, and felt, the Voice in action, Ureki. We have shown our hand.”

He scoffs.

“They have only seen a mere hair’s breadth of what the Voice can do.”

“True, but they have seen enough to plan for Compulsions in the next encounter. Our guests are endlessly clever, particularly the humans.”

He shakes his head.

“You sound as if you admire them. Away, to your meeting, master ambassador. Try not to be hypnotized by the human’s curves.”

I frown at him as he takes to the sky. When I reach Green Angel Tower, the receptionist at the welcome center flags me over.

“The human ambassador is waiting for you in your office. I have to say, she seems rather distressed.”

I smile and nod. I’m feeling rather distressed myself.

“I’ll see if I can’t calm her down. Please hold all of my communication and visits for the next few hours. I want to give this human woman my undivided attention.”

Lurid thoughts spring up and take over my consciousness. Suddenly I cannot stop picturing the most carnal, physicalpursuits of ecstasy. The Jaslshagar bond…nobody told me this would be an aspect.

Or maybe I’m just blaming it on the eyes-meeting-eyes instead of my own lusty desires.

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