weaker. It’s photosphere temperature was barely above 3,000 degrees, and from the point of view of comfort on planets, such a star was of no use. However, the attraction of this star system became apparent immediately after the return of the first expeditions sent there. Thanks to the gas giant with half a hundred satellites and two resource-rich belts of asteroids with several dwarf planets the size of almost the Moon, this hinterland has become a space Klondike.
Now, three small man-made suns were shining cheerfully in the orbits of two terraformed asteroids and the giant planet’s satellite, allowing the locals to ignore the inferiority of their star, and huge orbital factories and shipyard complexes formed one of the most powerful industrial areas of the Federation. That picture was really impressive. Almost 1,500 cargo ships in the system at the same time were providing a good idea of the scale of human activity in this nondescript corner of space, besides, the Allies would be very interested in the 14th Fleet which was guarding the system, because they haven’t yet seen our warships bigger than a cruiser.
After coming out of a jump outside the asteroid’s second belt, we released the lizards’ ship from the hold, and, suiting our speed to its slow movement, headed towards the gas giant, where the core of the industrial infrastructure of the system was located.
We’ve been coming here from Iota Persei for almost a month. Naturally, I’ve met the lizards more than once in that time. Of course, we didn’t negotiate seriously, but it was just necessary to build some bridges, to organize the negotiating process, and, after all, simply to understand how and in what language we will communicate.
The reptiles decided for us the question of the language of communication. Lizards have demonstrated to us that, after all, the biological path of development had its advantages. Using several types of paste as feedstock, liquid modifiers and some subtle manipulations, they grew the most unexpected appliances, often on their own bodies. The Allies began by securing their ship in the hold with a system of ropes raised directly from its armor and reliably attached to the walls, floor and ceiling. As a result their «walnut» hung in the geometric center of the room, fastened in place by thick and firm ropes going in all directions. And then, when I arrived on the transport that took the Allies in, from the ship, still, through the holes opened in the armor, appeared the lizards, that really looked very much like the Komodo dragons on Earth, only they were upright and not neglecting clothes. Except these clothes turned out to be a direct extension of their bodies, growing out of their skin and at the same time being a complex of equipment that allowed reptiles to feel comfortable aboard our ship. However, our atmosphere and the temperature of the air did not seem to strain them too much, in any event, they did not need any isolation suits. It was enough for them to grow filters in their nostrils that cleaned up the air from minor impurities, not so much the harmful ones, but just the unpleasant ones for reptiles. And the problem of communication they solved by creating flat excrescences on the lower jaws that were capable of making sounds very similar to human speech.
The first couple of weeks, we had a lot of trouble building up our allies’ vocabulary and trying to explain to them the grammar of English, which was particularly difficult, given that we didn’t have the right people. But our students turned out to be very diligent and very intelligent, so the diplomats who came from Earth to the Teegarden’s Star system were satisfied, they could begin negotiations right now.
But before I gave the Allies into the grip of our negotiators, I decided to find out something for myself and ask the lizards some questions about topics that had long been of interest to me. These guys have been dealing with the quargs a lot longer than we have, and they could have known a lot about them.
The main lizard in the Iota Persei system was a female named Lit-ta. She held a position similar to the Governor-General of the British Empire. In the Iota Persei system, her authority and powers were absolutely indisputable. Outside the system, her power ended, but I understood, given the circumstances, reptile chiefs have given her the necessary authority to negotiate at any level.
Both Lit-ta and I were acutely aware that my rank as Rear Admiral and my position as commander of a small fleet fell far short of her status, but the lizard leader didn’t think it was possible to show off, knowing perfectly well thanks to whose help she and the other inhabitants of Iota Persei were still alive.
“Rrrearrr Admirrralsss,” Lit-ta pronounced it slightly roaring and hissing at the same time, tilting her head to the side, “You’rrre not the mossst sssenior here, by rrrank or age. You’rrre verrry young, but the ssseniorrrsss obey you. Why?”
“I was appointed to command the fleet by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Earth Federation, Marshal Tobolsky. His orders are binding on all Army and Fleet officers. Under my command, the officers of my fleet obey his orders.”
“That’sss ssstrrrange… Our… sssuprrreme commanderrr would never appoint a juniorrr officccerrr to command the ssseniorrr officerrrsss. It’sss neverrr possssible forrr usss.”
“Lit-ta, can a male be appointed to a higher position?”
“He can, there’sss no prrrohibittttion. But it’sss verrry rrrarrre. They can’t cope… Can’t keep theirrr emottttionsss in check, they’rrre too aggrrressssive. But they’rrre good sssoldierrrsss.”
So we spent hours talking like this, and the lead lizard has never been bored with it. She would regularly summon me to her hold if she thought I hadn’t come to talk for some reason in a while. It’s hard to tell what was going on in her head, but I got the impression that not only did she want to know as much as she could about people before serious negotiations began, but she was just being very friendly to me. It was possible I was wrong. You can be a man, a reptile or a quarg, but if you climb that high, any sympathy or friendships are forced to take a back seat, giving way to cold-blooded reckoning. And yet on a secondary level, the personal attitude of the interlocutor plays a role. When I asked my questions, I was not absolutely sure, but I was counting on a good lead lizard’s attitude.
“Lit-ta, tell me, what do you do to the quarg prisoners?”
“Prrisonerrrss?” She moved her head a little bit and squinted, “We don’t take prrrisonerrrsss. Actually, they never tried to sssurrenderrr to usss.”
“Haven’t you ever taken over their planets?”
“No. They’ve taken overrr ourrr planetsss. We haven’t. We don’t need them.”
“But haven’t you ever had wounded quargs? Because you fight ground battles with them, and you probably win them regularly. Then you must have wounded enemies.”
“Ourrr weaponsss leave no wounded. Everrryone diesss, and verrry quickly. But you’rrre rrright, Igorrr. We trrried to capture living enemiesss. It’sss not working. They die almossst immediately. The block in the brrrain goesss off. They know we can gut their brainsss out and take out everrrything they know. That’sss why they die rrright away.”
“Can you read people’s thoughts, too?” Lit-ta’s information was of great concern to me.
“We don’t rrread thoughtsss, Igorrr. We can extrrract informatttion from the brrrain. But it’sss a long processss that rrrequiresss special trrraining and kills the perrrssson being quessstioned. But the quarrrgs know we can do it and they die.”
“What’s this block in the brain of a quarg, Lit-ta?”
“It’sss a biological conssstraint. We also know how to ssset one. We can also rrremove such a block, unlessss, of courssse, an orderrr for unconditional death is issssued.”
“Lit-ta, quargs surrender to us. Rarely, but surrender. They behave reasonably, they don’t try to escape, they don’t attack the guards, they may even answer simple questions that do not concern the war or their home, they can work, keep order among their own, but they never answer any questions about war, their social structure, their economy, their industry, or anything except the simplest questions. We’ve tried force and chemistry and psychological breaking. It all works, but as soon as the quarg decides to talk, he dies. Now I see why. But now you and your skills are on the stage. Tell me, can you get the quarg’s block down before the death order goes off, if he doesn’t know that it’s you and that he’s in danger?”
“It’sss