Chapter 15

James watched the second Quatyl ship approach their position. It was slowing down, but its approach was still a lot faster than that taken by the first ship. This approach convinced him that the initial approach by the Quatyl had been relatively slow. He said, "They're almost here. I estimate they'll park in our vicinity in about ten minutes."

Captain Klein said, "At least we won't be taken by surprise this time."

James looked down at his console and, with a smile, said, "Speaking of surprises, where is the she-demon?"

"I have no idea who you are talking about," Captain Klein answered watching his wife sneak up on James with a balloon in one hand and a pin in the other. It was hard not to let his pleasure in the sight be visible on his face.

James reached into his pocket and pulled out a plastic spider. He tossed it over his shoulder. His effort was rewarded with a startled screech and the pop of a balloon. He had watched her approach in video feed that he had set up to run through the sensor console. Without turning around, he said, "I got you."

Shaking her hands in reaction to a spider landing on her, Anke bent down and examined the plastic spider on the floor. If there was one thing that she absolutely hated it was spiders. Shaking her head, she said, "We are in the middle of space. There isn't a place within hundreds of thousands of kilometers from us where you can buy something like that plastic spider. Where did you find it?"

"That's Irving. I never go anywhere without Irving. You never know when you need a plastic spider," James answered with a smile.

Looking down at the plastic spider, she could only imagine what other kinds of things he had brought with him on the space ship. First it was balloons and then it was plastic spiders. What kind of person traveled to outer space with those kinds of things? Then an even nastier question came to mind. What other kinds of things did a person like that bring with them? She didn't want to find out. She said, "Okay. Truce."

"Truce," James said turning around to face her with a smile.

Anke looked at her husband while shaking her head. She said, "I have no idea how you can put up with him."

James went over and retrieved his plastic spider. Putting it into his pocket, he said, "You're safe now, Irving. The bad people won't hurt you any more."

It should be noted that Irving was not one of Ann's favorites among James' little toys. She found Irving in the most remarkable places and it never failed to startle her. She looked up from her console and said, "One of these days, Irving."

Anke patted Ann on the back and, in a consoling voice, said, "You must have been very young and stupid when you married him."

James returned to his console and said, "The second Quatyl ship has arrived."

Captain Klein looked at the screen and shook his head. He hated himself for what he was about to say. Looking over at James, he said, "I am going to send you over to the Quatyl ship to discover what you can about how they became a space faring race."

"Can I wear my cape?" James asked.

"No," Captain Klein answered. After thinking about it for a second, he said, "On second thought, I going to have to insist that you wear the cape."

"You just had to take all of the fun out it," James said shaking his head.

Confused, Captain Beac listened to the news concerning the rather sudden cessation of hostilities between James and Anke. Using the Slathern aboard the other space ship, he said, 'Siegfried, I don't understand how throwing a small plastic toy at the female would have any effect.'

Knowing that he would never be able to explain all of the subtleties of human behavior to the other Quatyl, Siegfried replied, 'It is very complicated.'

'Are you sure that this species is sane?' Captain Beac asked. The Dromat had come to the conclusion that the humans were insane. None of the participants in the minor feud had displayed even the most rudimentary logic in their actions. He tended to believe them.

Siegfried answered, 'We're pretty sure that they are mostly sane. James is just a rather unique example of a human. He's a lot like the first pet. He possesses a quality that is called humor and humans tend to appreciate humor.'

'Mostly sane?' Captain Beac asked sounding worried. He didn't like the sound of that at all.

'Yes, ' Siegfried answered knowing that his answers weren't helping the situation at all.

'Mostly sane?' Captain Beac asked again with a little more panic in his voice. His reports back to Quatyl Space Command were getting worse with each message. He had a feeling that the entire Quatyl race was about to go into hiding.

'It is not like they are totally insane in a bad way, ' Siegfried answered.

Feeling depressed, Captain Beac said, 'I'll be sure to add that to my report. They aren't totally insane in a bad way.'

When the hatch of the shuttle opened, James peered out and looked at the small crowd that had gathered to welcome him aboard the Quatyl ship. He immediately spotted the three Dromat standing to the one side and recognized Cousin Itt. James smiled and waved to the hairy little creature.

Cousin Itt wasn't quite sure how to respond until Starman used the Slathern to announce that the wave was a greeting. He waved back wondering how the gesture was both a greeting and a farewell. He shouldn't have been surprised. His studies of the Earth language had pointed out that just about every word of their language had multiple meanings. He, along with the other Dromats, had been shocked to discover that there were multiple languages among this species.

James looked over at the Margots gathered together. He said, "Whoa, giant blue lizards. I bet Anke would just love to find you standing behind her. I bet her screams would echo off the walls for an hour."

Starman translated James' comments using the Slathern. James didn't realize that his words were taken as great compliments by the Margots. They were still trying to figure out who had won the fight for status between James and Anke. In their little power plays, there was no concept of a truce. They assumed that his presence on their ship meant that he had won.

James took a moment to stare at the Andicor. His first thought was that the large crab-like creature would probably taste good boiled and with a little butter. His second thought was that such a pronouncement probably wouldn't be a good idea. For a change, commonsense won out. Deciding that it was probably best to ignore the Andicor for the moment, he turned his attention to the little Dactites. The Andicor actually appreciated being ignored.

The orange little monkey-like creatures were more interested in his ship than in him. Looking at their small size, he said, "I sure could use you little fellows when I'm working on the sensor arrays. You could fit inside the equipment housing and still have room left over to swing a cat."

The Dactites had no idea what a cat was, but the invitation to examine alien engineering was quite a surprise. They looked at each other and then at James. Half of them returned to studying the ship while the other half studied James.

James then turned his attention over to the Gnord. He wondered what one was supposed to say to a centaur. Unable to come up with anything original, he asked, "You wouldn't happen to speak Greek, would you?"

Starman looked up at James for a second and then translated the question. Although the Gnord were not a very curious species, this particular individual couldn't understand why the human was asking if it spoke a human language. The Gnord stared at James for several seconds before it answered, "No."

"That's okay. Neither do I," James said despite being a little disappointed. His comment further confused the Gnord. James looked around for Captain Beac and, not finding him present, said, "Take me to your leader."

That announcement created more than a little consternation among the servants gathered in the room. The Quatyl almost never left their safety pods and never invited a member of the servant races into them. Of course, the safety pods were too small for anyone except the Dactites so that wasn't really an issue. Finally, Cousin Itt said, "You wouldn't fit in the room."

"Oh," James said. He stood there looking at everyone in the room for a second. He shook his head and said, "I've waited my whole life to say that line and then I get told I won't fit in the room. The movies never covered that situation."

The Slathern started making a lot of noise. After about a minute, Starman said, "They will take you to your quarters. Captain Beac will join you there in a little while."

"Okay," James said.

As James was getting settled into his new living quarters, a small fleet of seven ships were observed approaching the lone Quatyl ship parked two light years away. There was one ship in the middle of the fleet surrounded by six other ships equally spaced apart around the central ship. It was an unusual flight pattern and one that Captain Beac had never encountered. He listened to the reports about the fleet with concern. These were ships that were of unknown origin.

Thinking that they might be exploratory vessels from Earth, he sent a message to Captain Klein to find out if he knew anything about them. Upon learning that the only ship the humans had that was capable of deep space travel was parked beside his ship, Captain Beac began to get very concerned. He sent a message to the lone Quatyl ship to prepare for first contact with another alien race.

Captain Beac turned to his mate and said, 'We are unlucky this trip to have encountered two alien races. One race is mostly sane, but not totally insane in a bad way. We know nothing about the other race.'

'They can't be worse than the humans, ' Bear said. She had never been able to get the horrible images from the movie out of her mind. The idea that humans would cheer while one of them killed another just sent shivers down her spine.

'I should have stayed retired, ' Beac said. He thought about everything that was happening and said, 'I have to go meet the Beast now.'

'The beast has a name, doesn't it?' Bear asked. She knew the answer to her question. She had followed the conflict between James and Anke with the same degree of puzzlement as the rest of the Quatyl.

'Yes. It is James, second generation descendant of the first pet, ' Beac answered. He shook his head and said, 'I wish I understood the significance of throwing a plastic replica of a small species of animal at someone.'