Part 23 (1/2)

Veffani was unabashed. ”Yes, I do, as a matter of fact. Count yourself lucky that I let you remove the green bands denoting punishment: I do not wish to advertise your disgrace to the Deutsche. Now come with me. The matter over which we visit the Deutsch not-emperor is, or at least has the possibility of being, of considerable importance.”

”It shall be done,” Felless said miserably, and got out of the heated motorcar and into the chilly atmosphere that pa.s.sed for summer in Nuremberg.

Up the stairs she went. The not-emperor's residence, like most official architecture in the capital of the Reich, Reich, was on a scale designed to dwarf even Big Uglies, to make them feel insignificant when measured against the power of their leaders. It trivialized males and females of the Race even more effectively. So did the immensely tall Deutsch sentries at the head of the stairs. was on a scale designed to dwarf even Big Uglies, to make them feel insignificant when measured against the power of their leaders. It trivialized males and females of the Race even more effectively. So did the immensely tall Deutsch sentries at the head of the stairs.

A shorter, unarmed Big Ugly stood between the sentries. ”I greet you,” he said in the language of the Race, and favored Veffani with the posture of respect. ”And your colleague is... ?”

”Senior Researcher Felless,” Veffani answered.

”Very well,” the Deutsch male said, and inclined his head to Felless. ”I am Johannes Stark, Senior Researcher. I shall interpret for you with the Reichs Reichs Chancellor. He will be able to see you shortly.” Chancellor. He will be able to see you shortly.”

”He should see me now,” Veffani said. ”This is the time set for our appointment.”

”The meeting he is currently attending is running long, the Big Ugly said.

”Delay is an insult,” Felless said.

Stark shrugged. ”Come with me. I will take you to an antechamber where you can make yourselves comfortable.”

Felless doubted she would be able to make herself comfortable in any Tosevite building, and she proved right. The chamber was chilly. The seats in it were made for Big Uglies, not for the Race. A servant did come in with refreshments, but they tasted nasty. Felless endured. What choice had she?

After what seemed like forever, the Big Ugly named Stark returned and said, ”The Reichs Reichs Chancellor will see you now. Please follow me.” Chancellor will see you now. Please follow me.”

The Big Ugly named Himmler sat behind a desk so large, a stars.h.i.+p might have landed on it. On one wall of his office was an enormous hooked and tilted cross, the emblem of his faction. On the other wall hung an equally enormous portrait of another Tosevite, this one with the hair on his upper lip cut in a pattern different from the one Himmler chose. Felless gathered that was his predecessor as not-emperor of the Reich. Reich.

Against all that immensity, Himmler himself seemed strangely shrunken. Even for a Big Ugly, he was unprepossessing, with a round, flat, soft-fleshed face with corrective lenses in front of his immobile eyes. He spoke in the guttural language the Deutsche used among themselves. Johannes Stark translated: ”The Reichs Reichs Chancellor greets you and inquires why you have requested this meeting.” Chancellor greets you and inquires why you have requested this meeting.”

”I greet him as well,” Veffani said. ”I asked to see him to warn him and to warn this whole not-empire against taking any course that would jeopardize the long-standing truce on Tosev 3.”

Stark translated that, too. Felless wished she had some ginger. It would have made time pa.s.s more quickly. Of course, it would also have made Veffani mate with her on the spot, which might have entertained the Tosevites but would not have advanced diplomacy. Listening to Himmler and the interpreter drone on in their own language made it hard for her to care. At least she wouldn't have been bored.

Himmler said, ”On behalf of the Reich, Reich, I must tell you that I have no idea what you are talking about.” I must tell you that I have no idea what you are talking about.”

”On behalf of the Race, I must tell you that that had better be so,” Veffani answered. ”Any movement against Poland, any attack on Poland, will lead at once to the harshest and most stringent retaliation.”

”I deny that the Greater German Reich Reich intends any attack on Poland,” Himmler said. intends any attack on Poland,” Himmler said.

”Do you deny proposing to the SSSR a joint attack on Poland, your two not-empires to divide the region between you?” Veffani asked.

”Of course I do,” the Big Ugly replied.

Felless spoke up: ”But you would deny it whether it was true or not, because it is in your interest to do so. Why should the Race take your denials seriously?”

Behind the corrective lenses, Himmler's eyes swung her way. She had dealt with him before, but not often. Only now did she get the strong impression that his stare said he wished she were dead, and also that he wished he could arrange her death. Considering the policies of the Reich Reich, he doubtless meant that literally. Had she been subject to his whimsy, she would have been terrified. Even as things were, that measuring gaze disturbed her.

”I repeat: I deny it,” Himmler said. ”And I speak the truth when I tell you this.” His features moved very little as he spoke; for a Big Ugly, he showed scant visible expression.

”Do you also deny troop movements toward the frontier between the Reich Reich and Poland have taken place?” Veffani demanded. and Poland have taken place?” Veffani demanded.

”I do not deny that there have been such movements, no,” Himmler said. ”I deny that there is anything in the least aggressive about them, however. The Wehrmacht Wehrmacht and the and the Waffen-SS Waffen-SS conduct exercises as best suits them.” conduct exercises as best suits them.”

”They would be well advised-very well advised-to conduct them elsewhere in the Reich Reich,” Veffani said.

”You cannot give me orders,” Himmler said. ”The Reich Reich is a sovereign and independent not-empire.” is a sovereign and independent not-empire.”

”I am not giving you orders. I am giving you a warning,” Veffani said. ”Here is another one: if you attack Poland, the Race will destroy you.”

”If you attack the Reich Reich, we will also destroy you,” Himmler said. ”We can wreck this world, and we will do it.”

”He means what he says, superior sir,” Felless whispered to Veffani. ”The ideology of this faction-perhaps of all the Deutsche-is full of images of battle destroying both sides.”

”I also mean what I say,” Veffani answered. He swung his eye turrets back toward the Tosevite leader. ”That does not matter. If we are destroyed to ensure your destruction, we shall pay the price.”

”It would be the end for you. Do you not understand that?” Himmler said.

”No, it would not,” Veffani made the negative hand gesture. ”It would be a setback for us. It would be an end for us on this world. But the Empire would continue on its other three worlds. For you Tosevites, though, it would indeed be the end. Please carry that thought in your mind at all times.”

”If we could reach your other worlds, you would regret this arrogance and insolence,” Himmler said. ”That time may come, and sooner than you think.”

”The better the chance you have of reaching our other worlds, the likelier it is that we will find it necessary to destroy you first,” Felless said.

Indeed, Himmler wished her dead. He said, ”We are the master race, and not to be trifled with.”

”We crossed the s.p.a.ce between the stars to come to Tosev 3,” Veffani said. ”You cannot match that. Who then are the masters?”

Felless thought-hoped-that would make Himmler lose his temper. She had read of the spectacular rages that would seize the not-emperor's predecessor, and had viewed video of a couple of them. Even across species lines, they were appalling in their intensity and ferocity.

But the present Reichs Reichs Chancellor seldom seemed to get very excited about anything. Through his interpreter, he answered, ”You have a much longer history than we do. We had almost caught you by the time you came here. We are closer now than we were then. Before long, we shall surpa.s.s you. If this is not the mark of the master race, what is?” Chancellor seldom seemed to get very excited about anything. Through his interpreter, he answered, ”You have a much longer history than we do. We had almost caught you by the time you came here. We are closer now than we were then. Before long, we shall surpa.s.s you. If this is not the mark of the master race, what is?”

His certainty was in its way as frightening as his predecessor's volcanic wrath. And he raised good points, alarming points. Where would would the Tosevites be in a few hundred years? the Tosevites be in a few hundred years? All over the Empire, All over the Empire, was the thought that sprang into Felless' mind. And if they came to Home or to Rabotev 2 or Halless 1, they would come as conquerors. The thought chilled her worse than the weather on Tosev 3. was the thought that sprang into Felless' mind. And if they came to Home or to Rabotev 2 or Halless 1, they would come as conquerors. The thought chilled her worse than the weather on Tosev 3.

But Veffani said, ”Have you not listened to a word I told you? If you are on the point of becoming a menace to the Empire as a whole rather than merely to this planet, we will destroy you and ourselves here rather than allowing that to happen.”

To Felless' dismay, Himmler yawned. ”By the time you perceive the threat, you will not be able to destroy it. We will have gone too far ahead of you by then. You of the Race had best bear that in mind and behave accordingly. Your time is pa.s.sing away. Ours is coming.”

Before Veffani could speak, Felless did: ”Then the best thing we could do would be to destroy you now, while you cannot hope to prevent us from doing it.”

That got through to the Big Ugly. Himmler fixed her with a glare that warned he did know rages like his predecessor's, even if he didn't show them on the outside. He said, ”If you try, we shall have our vengeance on you.”

”And yet, despite your knowledge of the ruin that would fall on your not-empire, you planned an attack against the Race,” Veffani said. ”You need to consider very carefully the likely consequences of your actions.”

”I have already denied your allegations,” Himmler said. ”I deny them again.” But his tone when he spoke his own language carried no conviction, and neither did the interpreter's in the language of the Race.

”See that your denial becomes and remains a truth,” Veffani said, rising from the uncomfortable Tosevite chair. He a.s.sumed the posture of respect, then straightened. ”I bid you farewell.” He left the Reichs Reichs Chancellor's office, Felless following him. Chancellor's office, Felless following him.

”Will he listen?” Felless asked when they had returned to the comfortably heated motorcar and begun the return journey to the Race's emba.s.sy.

”Who can say? You are the expert on Big Uglies,” Veffani replied, which was disingenuous; having come to this world with the conquest fleet, he had more experience with Tosevites than she did. But then he went on, ”You did well there, Senior Researcher. Your remarks to me were germane, and, while you irked Himmler, you did so without attempting to be deliberately inflammatory.”