Otema repeated another message from the hydrogue emissary, word for word. Her voice was dry and she was unable to believe what she said. “He says, ‘We hereby declare all gas planets off-limits. Any facilities processing the hydrogen reservoirs in our clouds are henceforth forbidden and must be removed or destroyed.’”

She closed her eyes, trying to drown out the gasps she heard in the room. As if granting a benevolent favor, the hydrogue emissary continued, “‘We will allow a brief but sufficient time for the withdrawal of all skymines. After that, any parasite we discover within our clouds will be annihilated.’”

99: KING FREDERICK

99KING FREDERICK

A very nervous King sat on his throne, cold and overwhelmed. He glanced sideways to the green priest, who relayed a few words that—unfortunately—did not comfort him.

He’d been enormously relieved to hear from Basil, foolishly imagining that the Chairman would instantly know how to respond, would tell him how to fix the situation. But the hydrogue emissary had delivered his appalling ultimatum, and Frederick still didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t believe what he had heard.

The liquid-crystal alien hung in its high-pressure vessel before the King. Having delivered his message, the creature fell silent.

King Frederick, fearing that the containment globe would now withdraw and the alien representative would not parley at all, spoke quickly. “Wait! This is … unprecedented. And unnecessary! You are overreacting.”

The perfectly sculptured face shifted its human expression to an inappropriate reflection of an openmouthed scream of terror. No doubt the deep-core aliens had no understanding of facial subtleties. “You have destroyed one of our worlds. There can be no peace between us.”

“But your gas planets contain a vital resource that our civilization requires.” King Frederick prayed that his voice wouldn’t crack with fear. “To my knowledge, our skymines have caused no damage to your worlds, nor have they harmed your ecosystems or weather patterns. But we must process vast volumes of hydrogen to obtain sufficient ekti for our stardrives.”

“Your request is denied,” the hydrogue emissary said from his chamber. “Remove all rock-dweller parasites from our clouds, or we will eliminate them.” Another squealing release of steam belched from a tiny vent.

The King looked quickly down at his ancient Teacher compy OX, hoping for some small flicker of stability and confidence. Back when he’d first begun training to become the next Great King, young Frederick had spent months with OX, learning from the compy’s great store of wisdom and experiences. Now, unfortunately, Frederick doubted that even wise OX could provide diplomatic assistance against this incredibly strange alien.