Torplublasmet was not present to greet him, having been questioned and allowed to return to his burrow, but Wuu was. “My boy.” He spoke while looking past Ryo at the two monsters towering nearby. “I’d given you up days ago. I’ve been asked many questions, which I answered sorrowfully and freely. How we came to be here, and why. But you appear whole and healthy. I thought they would have consumed you by now.”

“Not at all. That would have been impolite, and these are civilized creatures. They can’t help their appearance. Their ship was attacked by the AAnn. They thought we were responsible.

“If we can overcome the unfortunate beginning our respective species have managed to make, they may prove to be strong allies. There has been mutual misunderstanding of colossal proportions.”

“What are you saying, Ryo?” Loo asked.

Wuu and the other Thranx looked properly shocked. “By the central burrow, they can talk!”

“Sometimes situation and precedent can combine to blunt, rather than facilitate communication,” Ryo explained smoothly. He looked up at Loo. “This friend of mine,” and he pronounced the alien name, “is a he, the other a she.” He then gestured at Wuuzelansem, gave his name, and tried to explain what a poet was.

The monsters soon deciphered the gestures and clicks. Then they shocked the assembled researchers, guards, and Wuu alike by simultaneously gesturing at the poet with a movement indicative of third-degree respect mixed with mild admiration.

“They may be monsters,” Wuu decided, “but they display an unarguable ability to recognize higher intelligence when it is presented to them.”

“Come, let’s go in,” Bonnie said to Ryo. “We want you to meet our companions.”

Ryo followed, Wuu hanging back just a trifle. The guards hesitated but the Thranx scientists and researchers in the group gestured them aside.

The party passed through several corridors, the monsters having to bend to clear the ceilings. Eventually they entered a large chamber. The saddles inside appeared unused, for obvious reasons of physiology.

Six monster males and four females lay alone or in small groups on the floor. To Ryo’s untrained eye, half of them looked damaged.

As he watched, the aliens suddenly recognized Loo and Bonnie. A great deal of noise and physical contact resulted. Alien greetings, he explained to the enraptured scientists, who stood clustered in the open doorway, recorders running at maximum speed.

When the greetings were concluded, Loo and Bonnie turned to Ryo. “Well, it was good to be outside for a while, anyway,” said Loo.

Ryo responded with a gesture of mild negativity. “Good to be back inside.” He added a whistling laugh while the two monsters made their own laughter noises. It was difficult to tell who was more flabbergasted; the Thranx scientists or the other monsters in the chamber.

“Different preferences,” Bonnie said, running a hand through her cranial fur.

“Yes,” Ryo agreed. He gestured past her. “How are your friends?”