“That’s a very political statement to make for someone who professes that his sole interest lies in flowers.”
“The Empire alwayss favorss the sstrong,” Thessu observed.
“We are all people of the ssand,” an unperturbed Jallrii added with becoming calm. “Wherever we go, the Empire travelss with uss.” Behind his mask and goggles, yellow-flecked eyes twinkled. “But to ssuggesst that we may have provided armamentss to thesse uneducated primitivess iss outrageouss!” Both clawed hands moved rapidly, executing a gesture of second-degree indignation mixed with an equal amount of resentment.
“I did not mean to imply any such thing,” she replied, when of course that was exactly what she had meant to imply. “And since you haven’t been advising the Sakuntala extremists on how to conduct their uprising and you haven’t been supplying them with advanced weaponry—Commonwealth weaponry, acquired on the sly so as not to implicate anyone from, say, Blassussar or Pregglin—then it stands to reason that you also aren’t in any way responsible for or involved with the disappearance of the human bioprospector Shadrach Hasselemoga or the Sakuntala-Deyzara team that was sent to try to rescue him.”
It was a long sentence and it resulted in a long and, as far as she could tell, genuinely perplexed pause on the part of her guests.
It was Thessu who finally replied, choreographing his response with a third-degree gesture of puzzlement supported by second-degree confusion. The elaborateness of his hand movements belied the brevity of his response.