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such a thing.
    “And you are…separate…from the politicians?” she asked carefully. Then she remembered to couch the terms more carefully. “Forgive me for my failure to understand your culture. I was the Earth Alliance representative closest to Epriccom when you requested Alliance presence. They chose me for my proximity, not for my understanding of your culture.”
    “That’s all right,” the ambassador said. “We do not have a deep understanding of your culture either. This is why we are confused about the asylum request. We did not know that one member of a culture can become alienated from that culture. It is not our way.”
    Oh, but it’s ours , she thought, but did not say.
    “My clan are the functionaries,” the ambassador was saying. “We maintain the systems of government. The Emir and his clan direct the government. In other words, we do not make policy. They do. But we enforce it.”
    “Ah,” she said. “Our jobs are similar then.”
    “No,” Uzven said. “They’re more like—”
    “Let me, Uzven,” Gomez said. “Just translate.”
    Or she’d grab Uzven’s scrawny little arm and snap it in half, just to hear if it sounded like the twig it resembled.
    All right , she acknowledged to herself, her level of frustration was higher than it needed to be. At least she was directing her aggression toward the Peyti, and not toward the Eaufasse.
    “I do believe our jobs are similar,” the ambassador said and tossed its other arm outward. Then its eyes flared gold. She hoped that was a good thing.
    “Well,” Gomez said, “I will work with you to make sure we make things easier for our politicians. The less they have to do, the better.”
    The ambassador wheezed. She glanced at Uzven in panic. Uzven was leaning back slightly, then it tapped the bottom of its breathing mask, as if it were trying to improve the flow of whatever it was that they breathed.
    “Do not worry,” Uzven said to her. “That is the sound of an Eaufasse laughing.”
    “Forgive me,” the ambassador said when it quit wheezing. “If your politicians are like ours, they do less anyway.”
    She smiled. “They are similar, then.”
    The ambassador wheezed again. “We shall do what we can together. What do you need from my clan?”
    She let out a small sigh, hoping it was inaudible. “If you have surveillance material of the dome, I would like to see it, particularly of the incident itself. You will not offend us if you do have such material. We expect it. Also, if I might meet the fourth person, the one who wants asylum. You may continue to protect him, but I would like to talk with him about the incident.”
    The ambassador’s arms dropped to its side. “You do not offend with your requests, although I am surprised that you approve of the surveillance. It heartens me, like our mutual jobs do.”
    She smiled. “It heartens me as well.”
    “We shall send you the materials within the hour,” the ambassador said. “As for the fourth, we shall talk with it. We shall encourage it to talk with you. But that is all we can do.”
    “I understand,” she said. “I do have one last request, however. Even if the fourth human won’t speak with me, I would like the name, the gender, and the place of origin, so that I might forward the information to the Earth Alliance. It will expedite the asylum proceedings.”
    “Will it?” Uzven asked.
    Damn translator. “Just translate,” Gomez said, just for him.
    Uzven did. Or at least, she hoped it did.
    “I shall have that information to you along with the surveillance materials,” the ambassador said. “And now, if you do not mind, I would like to ask you a personal question.”
    “I don’t mind.” She had learned over the years such questions were often the most interesting of any conversation in a first-, second-, or third-contact.
    “This is my first time working with humans,” the ambassador said. “Usually such matters are for a different clan.”
    “Yes,” she