Bud Sparhawk - Etiquette

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Etiquette

by Bud Sparhawk

_First appeared in RADIUS, an electronic magazine._

The Rix on Angel's right side pointed at the white cylinder on the table in front of her with one of its

limbs. "Pass the salt," it said abruptly.

Angel considered the request. The Rix's tone clearly indicated that it would brook no refusal of its

demand, just like the Rix ultimatum at Scroffulous IV. That demand had resulted in several millions of

needless deaths when the human colonists had refused to honor the Rix demands. "This is our home,"

they had responded adamantly, "and no authoritarian, bug-eating, mother killing troll was going to wrest

our hard-earned planet away from us." Angel shook her head slowly, trying to clear the memories of the

horrible efficiency of the Rix attack from her head. This was not a time to renew old grudges, not here,

not now.

Across the table one of the Chrrh was tearing apart a small furry animal of some sort. Watching the

Chrrh was enough to ruin her appetite. It wasn't their eating habits alone; after a few years of trading

with half a dozen alien cultures you're pretty inured to the bizarre. No, it was the wet, pulsing, orange

tumor-like protrusion on the side of the Chrrh's head that writhed and squirmed as if it were some alien

remora feeding on its host that turned her stomach. Normally quiescent, the Chrrh's tumors were now

throbbing with vigor, and it was more than the food; that she knew. Some scientists theorized that the

tumor-like organ was used for communications. Others suggested that it was some sexual organ, a

device for attracting members of the opposite sex; although, to be honest, she'd be hard put to imagine

anything that could be the opposite of those repulsive piles of flesh and

chitin. In all of her years of trading with them she had not seen those particular, peculiar organs putting

on this kind of disgu

On the other side of the Rix who had demanded the salt sat one of the Imperials; a largish alien who

represented some real power in most of the galaxy. Common squabbles, such as the eradication of the

human colonists on Scroffulous IV, were apparently beneath the notice and concern of the Imperials.

They seemed to deal in a larger sphere than the other races; planning their moves over a million years on

a board a trillion light years across and half as deep. Angel hated the haughty and uncommunicative

Imperials, for their ship had sat in orbit about Scroffulous IV and watched the Rix bomb the human

presence into extinction, doing nothing to help nor hinder either side. It had been so unfair; the colonists

with little more than hunting weapons against the Rixian military fleet, or what humans considered a

military fleet. Who knew what the Rix thought it was -- a welcoming committee,

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Bud Sparhawk - Etiquette

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