That evening, Wuu discovered him resting on his sleeping lounge in front of a viewer. The poet had been working hard and had filled nearly a whole chip with prepoetry. His pleasure was dampened by something in Ryo’s attitude. He’d come to know the young agronomist quite well during their travels and he was concerned about him. He’d been subjected to unusual pressures for one of barely midage and those pressures would intensify in the months to come.
“Greetings, Wuu.” Ryo looked over as he switched off the viewer. “How is your composing coming?”
“Extraordinarily well. The guild will be well pleased. And what of you, my young friend? I worry about you. You have been thrown into a situation few are prepared to cope with.”
“I seem to thrive on it,” Ryo replied, “although at first contact I think I reacted much as a larva would.”
The poet slid onto a saddle opposite the lounge and sighed deeply, the air whistling out his spicules in a long gasp. “I will remain if you wish me to, although they have no need of me here.”
“I would like that. I need someone familiar nearby, for a while, at least.”
“That is understandable. These scientists are a little better than bureaucrats, but not much. I suppose the nature of their positions does not encourage individualistic thought.”
“It certainly doesn’t,” Ryo agreed. “For example, anyone with a modicum of hive sense would see that we have to let these people return to their home world so that formal exchanges between us may begin. Don’t you agree?”
The old poet stared back at him. “Certainly not, and it’s about time you started purging your own head of such addled notions. They are the major reason I worry about you.”
For a moment Ryo simply could not reply. “But … these will become our allies, our friends against the AAnn.”
“Did you not hear the findings of the researchers, the opinion of that officer?” Wuu asked. “As an individualist, I can empathize somewhat with these creatures. Naturally they would like to return home. I would want the same were I in their position, I would also understand our position.” He leaned out of the saddle and added a gesture of fourth-degree emphasis. “The safety of our entire race is at stake here, Ryo. These are a powerful and dangerous people.”
“I’m sure the AAnn will think so.”
“Are you such a master diplomat?” Wuu snapped. “Are you then completely confident they would ally themselves with us because of a single incident involving one ship and its crew?”
“There is always some risk in such a situation,” Ryo admitted, “but it must be chanced. We cannot hide ourselves from them forever. Eventually contact will be established. If we take the initiative now we can avoid a potentially disastrous misunderstanding. Future contacts might not begin so auspiciously.