Authorial Magazine - Manila Edition

the basics of when and how the trial
would occur.
“No doubt the Advocate has already
instructed you, but there is a high
probability that you will benefit from
secondary instruction,” the Sovereign
said.
Even though he kept his face and
voice expressionless and toneless,
it still seemed to Nathan that his
words were dripping with contempt.
It seemed as though the Sovereign
were going out of his way to remind
them of the power relationship and
difference in intellect between his
people and theirs.
Patience, kindness, long suffering …
Nathan recited words of peace and
wisdom in his mind in order to
temper his mood as the Sovereign
went on. However, his recitations
did not prevent him from getting
the gist of what the Sovereign was
saying. The conference was to occur
mostly in the Krenth language, even
though all of the Martian councilors
knew English. The Axis and Allies
would both be present so that if a
proposal were made the other side
could make a counter-proposal, and
so on and so forth.
When the Sovereign finished his
rundown of the procedures, all of the
guests were invited for dinner on the
floor below. Unfortunately the Axis
representatives would also be there.
They descended a stairwell to the floor
below, with the Krenth councilors
leading the way. On the way in,
the humans were given temporary
nametag stickers, with their names
phonetically spelled in the Krenth
language. As Nathan stepped into
the room, he saw the Axis delegation
was already there, although they were
not yet seated. They stood near the
other side of the room talking quietly
among themselves.
Once all of the American and British
delegation were inside, the Sovereign
made a brief announcement.
“This banquet is largely unstructured,”
he said. “The purpose is to engage in
undirected preliminary interactions
with one another, and to sample
Krenth cuisine.”
“Small talk?” Nathan asked quietly,
to no one in particular.
“Not small talk,” Kor-Neev said
overhearing. “Preliminary interactions,
to establish a basis for further
interaction. How should I render
this in Earth terms? Ah yes, it is an
opportunity to ‘sound out’ or ‘get a
feel for your opponents,’ as it were.
Consider it a type of reconnaissance.”
“Got it.”
“And now,” the Sovereign stated. “Do
feel free to eat and mingle.”
The food was served buffet style, and
although Nathan was hungry, he had
no idea what to take or where to start.
He decided to stick closely to Kor-
Neev to see what it she was taking.
“I’d like to follow you through the
line,” he said.
“As you wish,” she replied.
“I need to know what the Earth
equivalents are to all your Martian
food.”
“There are no direct Earth equivalents
to Martian plants and animals,”
she said, “And do not use the term
‘Martian,’ even if we are conversing
in English.”
“Why not?”
“It will be taken as an insult by anyone
who comes to know the meaning.”
“But—“
“Come, we must select our food.”
Nathan followed, and for the most
part he got what Kor-Neev got, but
he often took smaller portions, just in
case he did not like something. If he
did like something he could always
go back for more.
As they went through the line, the
most information he was able to get
out of her was whether something
was root, stalk, leaf, or fruit, and when
it came to meat, it was a matter of
whether it was a sea or land animal.
When he sat down to eat, everything
was quite different, but it all tasted
good. Nathan finished quickly and
went back for seconds. When he
came back to his table he found the
Sovereign there, talking quietly with
Kor-Neev.
“Greetings Captain Benson,” the
Sovereign said when he saw Nathan.
“Greetings Sovereign,” Nathan
returned.
“I had hoped to meet you at this time,”
the Sovereign said. “I wanted to thank
you, as a father, for delivering my
daughter safely and without incident
to Krentholkan.”
“Thank you, sir,” Nathan replied.
“You’re quite welcome.”
The Sovereign gave Nathan the
Martian salute as he sat down. Now
that he saw Kor-Neev and her father
sitting next to one another, he noted
that there was a strong resemblance,
although her father had ice-blue eyes
instead of gray.
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authorial magazine | 55
“The trip was adequate father,” Kor-
Neev said.
“Indeed it was,” the Sovereign said.
“I must admit, I did have certain
reservations, and I am not speaking
of the low-tech navigational systems
or primitive combustion based
propulsion system, although that
was certainly a cause for concern…”