(I didn’t say we don’t need the language, I said we don’t have time to sit outside their burrows and win their trust little by little, like the Second Envoys did with the dharmakoi.)
(So what do you suggest, Thariinye-always-in-a-hurry?)
(Isn’t it obvious? We’ll have to catch one. The one -we’re following is handy.)
(That’s unethical! We can’t deprive a sapient being of liberty without its understanding and consent!)
(So we’ll calm it down until it consents.)
(Wait a minute, Neeva. Thariinye has a valid point. It could take a long time to win these barbarians’ trust… and they seem to have formidable weapons systems. If they are more khievn than linyarii [more like vermin than like us, the People] then they might -well exterminate us before we can even begin negotiations.)
(If they are so khievii that they kill strangers who come to them peacefully, there’s no point in negotiating. Those are not the kind of allies we need.) (Agreed, Neeva, but if you don’t terribly mind, I would prefer not to die finding this out!) Khaari thought with a wry twist other mind that set all four Linyaari laughing in agreement.
(Perhaps if we could win the barbarian s consent after we have captured and tamed it… ?) Melireenya suggested.
(Bending our laws instead of breaking them, Melireenya?)
(Any good system must be flexible,) Melireenya stood up for herself.
(Hmm. Well… )
(We might want to use the barbarian as an envoy, too, rather than speaking with them directly. Just at first, while we’re finding out what happened to your sisterchild. It might be betterif they think it’s one of their own people inquiring, then they won’t get scared and hide her.)
(You’re assuming a lot of cooperation from this captive barbarian whom we don’t even have yet.)
(If this people are at all linyarii, then surely every one of them will be happy to reunite a youngling with her family.)
(And if they aren’t?)
(Then it’s best we find that out first-even if it does mean bending the Linyaari code of ethics slightly. After all, our forebears who devised the code governing first contacts never envisioned encountering something like the Khieevi.)
(I should hope not! Who could imagine anything like that?)
(But now that -we know such beings exist, it is only rational to amend our code accordingly. Ethical interspecies contact should not require that -we put ourselves into avoidable danger.)
(Ah, but which is more important-our danger, or the fear and anguish we shall inflict on this hypothetical captive barbarian who will have no idea what is going on?)
(We can dampen the fear and anguish.)
(Even if it were ethical to mess with its^ mind, we don’t know the effects we might have on its memory. This one may know something about our little lost one; we daren’t use it for a teaching tool.)
Eventually a compromise was reached. They would not attempt long-distance contact at first, but neither would they kidnap any members of this species. Nor would they approach whatever sentient beings were on the ship they were following, for fear that the necessary clouding of their minds would also cloud their memories of the desired information. Rather, they would ascertain the ships destination, then intercept and board some other ship headed for the same destination, relying on signs and whatever telepathic abilities this species might have to make it clear that they came in peace and meant to harm no one. If one of the barbarians on the ship would come with them willingly, they would use it for a language sample and maybe later employ its services as an envoy. If not, they would let the ship go on its way and try to think of some other stratagem. In either case, since they would be physically present on the vessel, they would have the power to heal any fear experienced by the barbarians during this brief captivity, as well as to blur their memories of the experience so that they would be hesitant to speak of it to others.
(What if we find we cannot heal this species?) Neeva fretted. (And even if we can, isn’t it just as unethical to fool with their memories as it is to take one of them captive?)