“Same I keep. Same I give him Kefk, same I fight with. You same know mahendo’sat. I keep agreement. I don’t say Personage keep. But-” Jik blinked again and licked his lips, eyes lively as if he had already won his point. “-if. you get this kif, we got deal with you fair, a?”
“Tell me the paper.”
“Let go first.”
“Oh, no, friend. You listen to me. You listen good. We’re going out of here, going to come kiting blind into whatever you set up over at Meetpoint, and Kesurinan’s going in there on my directions. It’s your ship. Your crew. I’d think you’d be a little concerned.”
“Damn kif heart, you got kif heart, Pyanfar.”
“I got a hani one, same as you’re working for your own.” She laid her hand on his shoulder, even knowing it was unwelcome. “Listen, you bastard, you and I had rather deal with each other. I take your agreement. I’ll sleep with your gods-be Personage if it gets us out of this, but the first thing I got to do is get us into Meetpoint in one piece. And I want those code names and I want every godsrotted thing you’ve been holding out on me. Right up front, I want to know what’s in that message, and what kind of a deal you and Goldtooth have already made.”
He shut his eyes, blinked at the sweat. “Paper say-most this you got to know already: the stsho betray us; the human maybe ally; hani-hani not reliable; I make deal with Sikkukkut to make him hakkikt, I got also deal with tc’a-Pyanfar, you say this wrong ear, you blow Compact to hell.”
“That’s real fine. What of it we’ve got left. Keep talking.”
“Tc’a long time take knnn orders: why they change now, I don’t know. Got some crazy input from chi, damn lunatic chi got notion want go out from Chchchcho, want expand-”
“You mean the chi are pushing the knnn? Good gods, those-”
“Not sure. Maybe tc’a idea. Methane-breather be lot crazy. But knnn-we not be sure, think maybe knnn got eye on chi. Also human got lot planetaries, got lot thing knnn want, maybe; also got human-ity, number one problem. Long time problem. Stir up kif. Stir up methane-folk. Big trouble. You not know.”
“The Akkukkak business?”
“Before Akkukkak.” Jik explored a cut on his lip with his tongue and drew a deep breath. “Old hakkikktun be small stuff; lot little hakkikktun be lousy neighbor, lot trouble, steal you cargo, do little pirate stuff, easy we keep lanes clear-few hunter-ship take care these bastard number one good. Then we get fellow name Afkkek, nasty lot trouble. He go down, we get ‘nother, name Gotukkun. He got own authority, take what belong Afkkek too. After Gotukkun be Sakkfikktin. Kasotuk. Nifekekkin. Each more big.”
“Each adding his own followers to what he’d taken.”
“You got. Long time kif be fight at Akkht, lot internal stuff. Long time we know kif got more big and more big hakkikt. So we try-try push hakkikktun make difficulty with methane-folk. Sometime work good. Now-we got mistake. Big mistake. We been get human signal, longtime.”
“You asked them in? Gods blast-!”
“Not ask. We try take quiet look, see what be this kind. Lose ship. Lose two ship, we think be knnn, maybe kif take those ship. Maybe knnn same time got curiosity ’bout humanity. I think, me, I think Akkukkak set up trap, bring human, take. But we not know this: he be dead; maybe no one know.”
“Of course you didn’t share this information with anyone.”
“Who we tell? Stsho? Hani You got Tully. We don’t know what else you got. We don’t know what he tell you-I tell you, Pyanfar, you come mahen station, bring human- you trust us damn too much. ‘Cept we be friend, a? We don’t tell you all thing we know. But we fight with you keep kif off Anuurn. Lot thing then we don’t know. We got find out. You
know when Tully ‘scape kif? Lot time kif operate at Meetpoint, make trade with stsho. They got Akkukkak, got couple kif be rival-lot trouble with kif. Ana try-not know what that ship got; he know one kif ship chase ‘nother, Akkukkak come there ’cause he got no safe route else. Then he not be real happy find my partner Ana come in port. He ‘fraid stay, got other kif; ‘fraid go, ‘fraid Ana get on his tail, he got tail in vise number one good. So he sit at dock. He so damn busy watch Ana he forget watch other kif. One kif inside ship make snatch Tully; Tully run like hell down dock-you got rest. Now Ana lot worry, not know what this be, not know if this be species we know about, or be something lot different. He try find Tully. Kif try find. Tully go you ship and start damn lot trouble. Now you got stsho go crazy, all scare’ ’bout knnn, scare’ ’bout humans come, damn mad ’bout you damage station-Mahendo’sat work hard, bribe lot stsho, make so hani come back to Meetpoint. We need hani. Need balance with kif, damn sure stsho no good, tc’a and knnn lot disturb. We get hani back to Meetpoint, go try make careful new contact with humanity, try find out what they be, how big, what they minds be like-find out what knnn want.”