User Guide

like drinking alcoholic beverages. It isn’t good for you, though…I’d say that smoking will kill me even-
tually, but I’m sure the Kilrathi will get me first.”
“Al-co-hol does not affect us,” K’Kai said. “We drink kika’li, t’ough. It is made from t’e kika seeds,
fermented to bring out t’eir natural flavor. T’e human diplomats like it, so now t’e Red Flower serves it
to t’e humans, too. T’ey call it Firekka’s Finest. Would you like some?”
“Sure,” Hunter said. Anything would be better than drinking water…considering what fish do in it.
K’Kai whistled again, sharp and loud. There was an answering whistle from below. She gave Hunter
another curious look, and scratched herself on the back of her neck with an extended claw. “How long
will you be on Firekka, Hun-ter?”
“I have leave for the next three days,” he said. “Then I’m back on patrol duty.”
“Good. So I can show you my home. T’is is the first time I have been home in several rotations. My
crew and I....” She gestured at the hovering flock of wide-eyed Firekkans. “We have been too busy to
travel home, too many important cargoes to deliver for t’e Confederation. But for t’e treaty-signing, I
knew I had to be here. I saw t’e first Terran ship land on our planet many rotations ago, and now I will
see our planet join t’e Confederation. It is a great moment for us, a good time to be alive.”
“Your family is important in local politics, aren’t they?” Hunter asked. “I remember you mentioning
something about that back in Vega, and later I saw a newsvid about Firekka on the Tiger’s Claw. They
talked about you and your crew, and that your family are major local honchos.”
K’Kai blinked. “Hon-chos?”
“VIPs. Politicos. Ah....” He searched for the right word. “Flock-leaders?”
K’Kai’s beak opened wide, the same gesture that Hunter recognized from the customs officer. “Yes.
My sister leads the largest flock on Firekka. It is she, wit’ t’e ot’er flock-leaders, who agreed to t’e treaty
wi’ t’e Confederation diplomats. She will sign it tomorrow for all of Firekka.”
“Your sister, eh? Does this mean that you’ll inherit the family flock someday?” Hunter asked.
The Firekkan was silent for a moment before answering. “No, her daughter Rikkik will claim t’e
flock. I am too…too different for t’em to choose me as flock-leader. Better for me to pilot a freighter for
t’e humans t’an try to lead a flock here.”
There’s more to this than she’s willing to talk about, Hunter guessed. I’d wager that K’Kai’s leavetaking of
her home planet was a little more spectacular than what she’s said so far. She was one of the first of her people
to leave her planet, she and Larhi…the newsvid people always talk about them as great heroes, as brave
adventurers, but no one ever asks the question, “Why?”
And something else occurred to him. How would a species whose entire culture was based on flock-
behavior regard someone who left the flock? As a kind of trail-blazer — or a traitor?
Another Firekkan with a brightly-coloured head-crest flew close to them, slowing enough that K’Kai
could take the tall tubes from his hands. She handed one to Hunter, who looked at it curiously. The
tube was made of a plant of some kind, hollowed out to hold liquid. Whatever was inside the tube
smelled spicy, a little like jalapeno peppers.
K’Kai raised her “glass” in a silent toast to him, and drank.
He took a careful swallow, and gasped for breath as the fiery liquid burned a path down his throat
and into his gut. It was hotter than hell, like drinking the juice of a cayenne pepper. A moment later,
the alcohol hit his system like a brick.
“I can…I can see why humans like this stuff,” Hunter said, trying to remember how to breathe. The
stuff is at least a hundred proof. And I think it just burned out my taste buds, he thought wryly. But good,
damn good. He drained the last of the drink, feeling like he’d drunk several stiff shots of whiskey mixed
with a gallon of Tabasco sauce.
K’Kai had already finished her drink, and was now chewing on the empty tube. Her beak was open
in what he now knew had to be a Firekkan grin.
“Another round of drinks for K’Kai and her crew!” Hunter called down to the Firekkans below, fol-
lowing it with a shrill wolf whistle.
K’Kai’s eyes widened. “T’at whistle-sound…do you know what it means in Firekkan?”
“Probably the same thing it means back on Earth. More drinks, mates! This round’s on me!”
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