“I haven’t.” Dev was nothing if not truthful. “But I may, since you just planted the idea.” He took a seat in the chamber’s single chair. “I did not come to discuss alien synthesizer technology, fascinating as that might be. I came because I am having difficulty resolving the meaning behind unfathomable alien reactions.”

Reed tossed the damp towel on the bed, flopped down, and put his hands behind his head. “I don’t give a damn about their reactions as long as I’m back in Langley in time for Christmas. But go ahead; what’s on your mind?”

“I do not know how much additional detail to provide. You were not there. With me down on Mozehn.”

“No, but the account you’ve already given us was plenty descriptive. So?”

Dev shook his head slowly. “I have thought and thought about it, and I still cannot understand why the Mozehna reacted to me the way they did. For that matter, to this day I still have no idea why Vantolos and the A'jeii thought the Mozehna might react to me at all.”

“Wasn’t the idea that your strangeness might somehow intimidate them, or frighten them, or otherwise advance the negotiations?”

Dev nodded. “Yes, that was it. But the bigger question remains. Why would they think that? I was not armed, and while I am larger than an A'jeii, I am smaller than a Kaijank. I cannot see anything about myself that a representative of a different species would find threatening.” He tapped his chest. “What is there about me that would give a member of any alien species pause?”

Reed made a face. “Nothing that I can see—no offense intended. That’s still a question for the A'jeii or the Olone to answer, and it doesn’t seem as if they’re willing to do so. Everything happened so fast that the Zimmers never got a chance to ask them. You ask the A’jeii again. Now that we’re going our separate ways, see if they’ll finally tell you what was the real point of including you in the landing party.” He chuckled slightly. “We’re looking at it from our own perspective. Maybe there’s something about our body type, or our eyes, or our smell, that the A'jeii thought would be particularly menacing to the Mozehna.”

While the same thoughts had already occurred to Dev, it was good to have them confirmed by a colleague. “If so, you are right: I’m not seeing it. I mean, it is not like the Mozehna have seen humans previously.”

Reed’s smile vanished. He was dead earnest as he turned on the bed to scrutinize his associate.

“We don’t know that, man.”

Dev started to smile; halted as soon as he perceived that his colleague was serious. “Come now, Gavin. Surely I was the first human the Mozehna ever set eyes on.”