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Solut Mek Kem stood waiting. "Well, creatures, shall we get to the dickering?" he said. "What can you offer that might persuade us to give you copies of these other creatures of your kind, now maintained in our data store?"
"That's not all we want," Je
"Yes, we can, but why should we?" Solut Mek Kem said. "I repeat, what will you give in exchange for this service? Be quick. I am not in the habit of bargaining with creatures. Were it not for the service you rendered in slowing the outbreak of a combat whose result is uncertain, I would not waste my time here, I assure you."
"Oh, I believe it," Je
"What exactly do you want from us?" Greenberg demanded. "I can provide trade goods from Odern, and others of human manufacture. I can also give you information about what this part of the galaxy is like these days. Just how much, of course, is what makes a dicker."
"These things may perhaps buy you copies of your fellow creatures," Solut Mek Kem said. "They will in no way persuade me to clear our patterns in the matrices. Your kind, evidently, is a part of the galaxy about which we shall require a good deal of information. If you expect us to forgo it, you will have to do better."
"I've told you what we have," Greenberg said slowly.
Je
"If you can tell us how to live in peace with vodranet, creature, you will have earned what you seek."
Je
"Go ahead, then, creature," Solut Mek Kem said. "Tell me how I shall live in peace with beings for whom I have an instinctive antipathy. Instruct me. I shall be fascinated to imbibe of your wisdom." The kwopil used irony like a bludgeon.
"Actually, I can't specifically tell you how," Je
"Say on," Solut Mek Kem said, not revealing his thoughts.
"All right. You know by now that the Foitani from Odern brought humans?my people?to Odern because by themselves they couldn't safely enter what they called the Great Unknown?the area around your ship."
"We made sure prying vodranet would not be able to disturb us, yes."
"Fine," Je
Solut Mek Kem's ears twitched. "Why should I care if creatures choose to spend their lives deliberately speculating on the impossible? It strikes me as a waste of time, but with sub-Foitani creatures, the waste is minimal."
"It's not the way you're making it sound," Je
"Certainly," Solut Mek Kem said.
"I thought you would. If you're like humans at all, you make those plans even for cases you don't expect to happen. Sometimes you can learn things from those improbable plans, too, even if you don't directly use them. Am I right or wrong?"
"You are correct. How could you not be, in this instance? Of course data may be relevant in configurations other than the ones in which they are first envisioned. Any race with the minimal intelligence necessary to devise data base software learns the truth of this."
"Whatever you say, Solut Mek Kem. Do me one more favor, if you would: give me the co
The Great One paused before answering, "It means something like, tales for nestlings' ears. Another synonym might be, nonsense stories."
Je
"And so?" Solut Mek Kem said. "What possible relevance does a creature's insight into itself have to the truly serious issue of vodranet?"
"Bear with me," Je
"This strikes me as a contradiction in terms," Solut Mek Kem observed. "How can one have a nonsense story based on science?"
"Science fiction doesn't produce nonsense stories," Je
"I think of this entire line of talk as a waste of time," Solut Mek Kem said.
"Let me tell you this, then," Je
"The foibles of vodranet are not a recommendation," Solut Mek Kem said, and she was sure she had lost.
But Bernard Greenberg said, "Consider results, Solut Mek Kem. Before Je
Je
Solut Mek Kem opened his mouth, then closed it again. Greenberg had managed to make him thoughtful, at any rate. At last the Great One said, "An argument from results is always the most difficult to confute. Very well; let me examine some samples of this alleged science fiction. If I think expertise in it might prove of some value to the present situation, I shall meet the terms you have set: copies of the creatures of your kind in our data stores, with the originals to be deleted."
Je