“They know you’re here right?”

  “Yes,” I replied, “they must have cameras watching your ship.”

  “Do you know what they’re waiting for? Why haven’t they tried to contact me, tried anything?”

  “They’re secretive about their treatment of us. If they were to reach out, ask what was going on, in the middle of the night, that would be admitting not only to monitoring your ship, but to controlling our movements. If I had to guess they will wait until morning, when my shift would start, and ask about me under that pretext.”

  “Okay okay, but we can’t wait that long. Is there a venalia that is, um, sorry I’m not sure what word to use, responsible? For you?”

  “Not exactly, but, Kellam was who would’ve been …”

  She stopped pacing and looked at me, “Don’t talk about what you don’t want to talk about.” It seemed more like she didn’t want to listen but I was in no position to argue. Sitting down, tapping her fingers on the table again, she continued, “Do you care what happens to them?”

  “No.”

  “Good, good, that makes it easier. How much do they know about humans?”

  “Just what everyone else does, informal, violent, there’s a lot of you.”

  Lee thought for a moment, “fuck it, I’ll get them aboard, see if I can get them to say anything daming, and if it doesn’t work or it goes to shit or whatever I’ll just kill them.” I was too tired to be surprised at how casually she suggested it.

  Lee needed me to call Kellam. The translator was still struggling with names and Lee wasn’t used to base 12 and she didn’t want to risk calling the wrong person. The phone was on speaker again so I could hear the conversation and unsurprisingly Kellam answered far too quickly for someone who was supposedly asleep in the dead of night.

  “This is unexpected, why are you calling my personal number captain, and at this hour?” He was obviously lying, but that doesn’t really matter with cross species communication, there was no way Lee could tell.

  “Nothing serious, something no one else needs to worry about. An ioe, says their name is Saria, showed up at one of the exit hatches. I assume you want them back.” Lee was also not doing a great job of lying. Her voice was different, sounded almost exactly like the even, robotic, voice of the translator. It was a comfort, meant that Lee wasn’t lying to me, a double bluff like that seemed beyond her.

  “Yes, I do, thank you for your discretion.”

  I followed Lee out of the mess even though she didn’t ask me to, didn’t make sense to be alone. Outside were three humans in what I assumed were space suits. They looked armored, had the same camouflage as the top of the Chang’e, but grey instead of blue, and each one was holding a short barrelled two handed gun.

  Lee addressed them, “There will be a venali –”

  “Nali,” I corrected.

  “Sorry, nali. I’ll take them to the bridge, pretend to be interested in acquiring some ioe. I hate it but they won’t be able to tell that so it should work. Wait outside the bridge, I’ll call you in when I need you but use your best judgement. Stop me if I’m about to do something stupid, and stream the bridge cams to the admiral.” There was no acknowledgment of Lee’s order, not one that I could tell, they simply left to do what they were told or whatever they had to.

  “You don’t have to be there for this.” Her voice was soft again.

  “It’s better that I am.”

  “Still.”

  “It’s better that I am.”

  Lee didn’t change her clothes, which I took as strange. She clearly wasn’t in uniform, and that might come across as disrespectful, but I was used to keeping my thoughts to myself so I said nothing as we stood waiting by the hatch, in the hallway where I first met her, both of us standing in silence for a long while, acting like the other wasn’t there.

  “It’ll be alright.”

  “I know.”

  It wasn’t the time for a lack of confidence, no matter what I actually believed.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Kellam was in his dress uniform of course, and looking at him I understood Lee’s logic a little. There was something comical about the whole situation, sneaking off in the middle of the night for a (at least supposedly) clandestine meeting with an alien that could decide the fate of who knows how many, but first, he put on his fancy little outfit, tied on his fancy bracelets and fancy little shoes with fancy little knots. He meant it as respect, a way of saying I put in effort to look good for this meeting, so I will put effort into the meeting itself and I respect the person I am meeting with, but when it was my fate on the line, when I was more anxious than I thought possible, it was enraging. I was waiting in that agony for something so irrelevant. That being said, I didn’t think Lee thought through all that and chose not to wear a uniform. Even across the species barrier and the translator Lee had this thoughtless confidence. The idea of stopping to change into uniform never occurred to her, and why would she “look for something to worry about,” as she likes to say, so she doesn’t think of it, not giving a chance for any self doubt.

  “I’ve heard good things about you captain, it is a shame that we don’t meet under better circumstances.” Kellam said as he walked up the stairs onto the Chang’e.

  “It is what it is.” Was Lee’s response and I struggled to keep my expression even. One of the things drilled into me was don’t use idioms when the translators are still new and so much depended on this conversation and it was fucking ridiculous that these two were the ones having it.

  “I can collect them and leave,” he said, in reference to me, “or if you would prefer I am happy to answer any questions or explain anything you want explained.”

  “Let’s go to the bridge to talk.”

  At least he was nervous, I enjoyed that.

  Lee sat down in what I guessed was her usual chair and even though there were plenty of other places to sit she made no indication of where to Kellam so he stood, back against the wall, trying to give her space. I stood behind Lee, a little off to the side, I am not ashamed to admit I was afraid of him, and while I did not trust Lee at that point, she was the better option by far.

  “You must be nervous,” her voice was still as even as the translator’s, “and I suspect Saria sharing the information they have is a serious security breach –”

  “I –” Lee cut him off by raising her hand, “It’s such awful things, or they seem awful, to an alien like me. However I’m sure you’ve studied ioe and know the best way to treat them, and for all I know this is fake, some rival nation or space program, lies from someone who would benefit from sabotaging your relationship with the new warp capable aliens.”

  “I promise you –”

  “And to get rid of any doubts I’m sure you could provide our fleet with the corrected information about ioe and how to care for them, and maybe even a few ioe themselves, as examples, for us to see how they live first hand.”

  A blunt lie, but it worked. Even if he was unwilling to sell us, whether he thought Lee was telling the truth or not, he had to pretend to be open to the idea, and that’s all Lee was after, one little bit of video, he didn’t need to actually believe what he was saying, he just had to say it.

  There was only the hum of the ship as he tried to find any rips in the net around him.

  “I am interested, but it is beyond my power, there is potential. It is against standard practice with ioe adapted to space, but from the homeworld, yes, it will take time, but I am sure our superiors can work something out now that we have started the process here.”

  “The thing is, my superiors might look at what Saria has handed over with an uncritical eye. It would be better if I could give them only the facts.”

  “I appreciate the care you have with our precarious position.”

  “And Saria, if I could give a first hand account, if they could give one, that might help.”

  “While it would be nice if I could offer, there is a medical issue that requires monitoring."

  “One that explains Saria’s erratic behavior, I am aware and it is my reason for asking.”

  “That, that. It is more difficult, almost impossible. You can keep them for a day or two, and we can have some meals together. I will do the impossible for my friends, but we are not friends yet.”

  Lee took a deep breath, “that’s the best I’m gonna get isn’t it. Fine.” She stood up, and said “fuck that felt gross.” quietly to herself.

  “They don’t speak english right?” It took a moment to realize Lee was talking to me.

  “No, they're an accountant.”

  “Good.” Lee took the translator off of a confused Kellam. “That enough for you admiral?”

  “Yes.” Her reply came through speakers I couldn’t see.

  “And?”

  “We need to have a meeting.”

  “Sorry sir, not good enough.” Lee gestured to someone through the camera and handed the translator back to Kellam.

  “You have a day, free all ioe, hand over every bit of property that could reasonably be considered theirs, all medical information you have, everything they require to live good lives. If you corporate no one will be harmed, if you don’t, if you hurt any of them, I will retaliate.”

  “That’s not enough time.” He flickered with rage, but his voice stayed calm. He knew humans couldn’t see ultra-violet, it was a message for me, only for me. I wish I had a response.

  “It’s the time you have, everyone already knows. What Saria had, our conversation, every human, every alien on the sphere has it, everything’s public now.”

  “It doesn’t have to come to this.”

  Lee laughed, “If I want to sleep at night it does, sorry.”

  “We are the same in that.” A desperate attempt at connection, one Lee didn’t answer, she didn’t need to. An armed human opened one of the doors and Kellam got the message, leaving, escorted by the human.

  “So how’d I do?” Lee asked, falling back down into her seat. In a way it was easier to understand her before I learned english or figured out human body language. I know if that bit was recorded, if it was played back to me now, I would see her subtly smiling, most of it in her eyes, maybe a single laugh, a convincing act of confidence she perfected long before I met her. But in that moment, in my memory, and in truth, she was small, and had, in the middle of the night, been forced to decide something that was too much for one person. I know because I had wanted to collapse from the weight of what I chose to do, so I’d passed it onto her, and she seemed to be determined to carry it. A kindness maybe.