The San Angelos day was hot and humid, the air off the ocean laden with moisture, the air coming down from the mountains to the east was hot and dry, mixing together and creating heavy clouds and thick rain. Nakteti watched the rain lash at the windows of the car she road in.

Even human vehicles are so different, she thought to herself. I am used to a plasteel frame, a light ceramic engine, and the humming of electrics. This thing uses steam to drive pistons and is built out of heavy durally and durasteel with battlesteel armor.

It just felt different to Nakteti.

Major Carnight sat across the passenger section of the back of the limo from Nakteti, quiet, as always, looking at something that Nakteti couldn't see.

She sighed and looked out at the rain.

She was heading out to meet a Rigallian Saurian, one of the first races encountered by the Terrans, back before they had even started their diaspora. Apparently for nearly fifty years, almost nothing to the tens of thousands of years of history for the Tnvaru but an eternity for humans back at that time, the only two members of the Terran's First Republic were the Rigellian Saurians and the humans.

She had looked them up, just so she knew what she was walking into.

Taller than a human, more muscular, thick broad shoulders, thick arms and legs, bluish-gray pebbled thick skin, red eyes, wide mouths full of sharp meat tearing teeth.

The sight of them made Nakteti more than a little anxious.

"Do you know any Rigellians?" Nakteti asked Major Carnight.

The Major nodded slowly. "Quite a few actually. My brother lives with two Rigellians."

Nakteti shook her head. "I do not like to admit it, but they frighten me slightly."

The Major nodded again. "They can be intimidating. They're good people though. Fought side by side with us against the Treana'ad and the Mantid back when we were a hair from going out forever."

Nakteti nodded and turned to look out the window again.

Pack bonding. Stand beside a Terran in times of danger and they will be your friend until the heat death of the universe, she thought to herself. That seems to be the coin that none be able to easily understand when it comes to humans. Shared trials and tribulations. They say 'blood to blood steel to steel' and unlike a lot of the 'warrior cultures' of the Unified Civilized Species they mean it.

The limo was slowing, turning off the street and into the driveway of a luxurious manor. The gate was guarded humans in body armor with weapons and she was startled to see that there was at least a dozen just at the gate and she could see others walking the grounds.

"Why so many armed soldiers?" Nakteti asked Major Carnight.

The human looked out the windows and shrugged. "Probably they have children here."

"Are their children in danger?" Nakteti asked, looking around. She could see where the shrubs had been trimmed into shapes of animals, see fountains and paths.

Major Carnight. "No, but that doesn't matter. They're very protective of their young."

That made Nakteti pause a moment. Humans were known to be murderously protective of their young almost to extremes and for a human to make that statement made Nakteti imagine tiny muscular bipedal lizards guarded by a dozen warborgs.

The car came to a stop and after a moment one of the armed men, this one wearing a fashionable but formal black suit, opened the door.

"Mistress Nakteti," the man said.

"Yes," Nakteti said, accepting the offered hand and letting the human help her out of the car.

To be honest she half expected to be subjected to a search.

"Mistress Wornkreg is ready to see you if you are too are ready," the human said. "If you will allow me to guide you and your escort to her."

"That would be splendid," Nakteti said, hiding her nervousness.

She half-hid behind Major Carnight as she was led through a set of double doors, down an opulent hall, and out a set of armaglass double doors to a back patio.

There were two large pools on either side of the back patio, both of them full of lilypads and weeds and other plants. There were two fountains, both of which showed muscular beings flexing as they poured water into the base of the fountain from large jugs held over their heads or on their shoulders. There was other statuary of muscular male and female specimens from several different species.

The only ones Nakteti recognized without the help of her implant were Terrans and the Rigellians.

When she saw the Rigellian stand up from a lounge chair she had to resist hiding behind Major Carnight.

The pictures had not done the Rigellians justice. It stood just a bit over 3.3 meters tall, nearly a meter wide, shoulders broad and layered with thick muscle to the point that the neck was largely hidden. Her hands were large and obviously powerful, her legs and arms were almost as thick as Nakteti. Her skin, what was revealed, was bluish-grey and slightly pebbled, with almost no body fat, just rippling muscles.

She wore a short skirt of leather trimmed with fur and heavy leather boots that came up to her knees, brown leather wound with thin blown strips, and nothing else. Nakteti was slightly startled at how odd it seemed to her that the Rigellian female would be uncovered from the waist up even though the Lanaktallans often wore little more than a sash or a vest on their upper torso.

I have been in Terran space too long, Nakteti mused to herself.

"Mistress Nakteti," the Saurian said. Nakteti was surprised at how musical the Rigellian female's voice was. The saurian made a motion at the two outdoor lounge chairs where one had a rain-protector over it. "Come, have a seat."

Nakteti nodded, coming out from behind Major Carnight and moving over to the lounging chair. It took her a minute to get comfortable until she realized that the chairs were not supposed to be too comfortable.

An offer of drinks was made and accepted. The saurian, Mistress Wornkreg, seemed to be enjoying the rain. After some light small talk the Rigellian sighed and waved her hand out to encompass the city, the world, around them.

"Your movie needs music," The Rigellian woman said.

"Our people don't put a high value on music historically," Nakteti said, shrugging. "Our historical records don't make any mention of important musical works." Nakteti wondered if the Rigellian would pick up on the unspoken part.

The Rigellian shook her head. "Then your historical documents have been vandalized by a force that seeks you from having your own identity. All races have music in their past. Even crystalline beings that we only know of through their ruins had music."

Nakteti nodded. "Then you see my conundrum," she said.

"Hmm, quite," Wornkreg said, nodding as she sipped at her drink. "So you have no..."

Her words stopped as a set of glass double-doors opened. Nakteti turned to look and clasped her gripping hands together wondering just what she was seeing.

There were five large bird-like creatures waddling out of the house. They were making chirps and flute-like noises to one another. They had bills, long necks, brown feathers, and looked rather chubby, each of them larger than Nakteti.

Underneath the lead one was a group of a half-dozen smaller ones just like it.

"GWARK!" the lead one suddenly called out. It waddled forward and splashed into the pool, paddling around it. The littler ones followed suit, spreading out, while the other four splashed into the large pool and started moving around.

"What..." she started to ask.

"Who," Wornkreg corrected. When Nakteti looked at her she gave one of those teeth exposing smiles. "They're 'who', dear, not 'what'."

"My apologies. Who are they?" Nakteti asked.

"Those are the mates of myself and my pair bond," Wornkreg said. "The littler ones are toddlers."

"Oh," Nakteti said. She looked back and forth, trying to come to grips with the fact that they were the same species.

One of the larger ones made the "GWARK!" noise again, stuck his beak in the water, and pulled out a mouthful of weeds and began chewing, his eyes wide and content.

"You didn't know?" Wornkreg asked.

Nakteti shook her head. "I looked your people up but only saw ones like you. I wasn't sure if you were male or female."

Mistress Wornkreg laughed. "Mammals," she said, shaking her head. "I don't have any mammary glands so you aren't sure if I'm male or female," she flexed one biceps, the muscles standing out on her arm and chest. "I assure you, I am female."

Nakteti's implant tried to help by throwing out -a picture of a well muscled Rigellian female with high muscle definition in a pose that seemed to flex all of her muscles, bringing it up in Nakteti's vision, with the caption "I AM PLEASED TO REPRESENT THE SOVIET UNION IN WOMEN'S BODY BUILDING" at the bottom.

Nakteti frowned and her host laughed. When Nakteti looked at her she simply smiled. "Sometimes your implant isn't much help, is it, dear?"

Nakteti shook her head. "I do not understand the image."

"Let me guess, the Soviet Union one?" Mistress Wornkreg asked. Nakteti nodded and the Rigellian female laughed. "That one is one of my favorites. So funny, even after thousands of years."

Nakteti felt a sudden surge of jealousy toward the Terrans and the Rigellian female in front of her.

Mistress Wornkreg nodded. "Now you feel the pain of that theft, do you not?"

"Yes," Nakteti said, nodding. "Which is why I am making this movie."

To the side another male went "GWARK!" and the smaller ones all started making trilling and whistling noises in a strangely comforting melody.

"To reclaim, or at least restart, your people's culture and history," Mistress Wornkreg said. She cocked one wrist, bringing up a holographic keyboard, and tapped in a few commands. "Will you sing a little for me real quick?"

Nakteti shook her head. "No. I cannot sing. I don't know any songs."

"You do not know how to sing or any songs, not you cannot sing. Perhaps you cannot sing well, even for your species, but everyone can sing," Mistress Wornkreg's smile got wider. "Even if it is terrible sounding, any being can sing."

She whistled and one of the brown males climbed out of the pool, shaking its feathers for moment, then waddled over. He put his head on Wornkreg's legs and looked at her with large adoring eyes. Wornkreg smiled again and petted the male's head.

"Listen," Mistress Wornkreg said. Nakteti nodded and sat up, holding both sets of her hands together.

Mistress Wornkreg started humming, then singing a wordless tune.

First the brown one beside her started singing along, then the ones in the pools, then finally the smaller ones peeped and chirped their own contributions.

Mistress Wornkreg leaned back, going silent, petting the one next to her, as the song continued for several minutes. After a bit it went silent, the littler ones losing interest first and going back to pulling up weeds to chew on.

"See? Music makes the world much sweeter," Mistress Wornkreg said. She petted the one who's head was resting on her legs, his eyes closed and his breathing slow and steady. She looked down and smiled again, a smile Nakteti noticed was full of love and affection. "He went to sleep."

The large saurian woman looked at Nakteti. "I think I know how to deal with your people's loss of music," she spread her hands out. "A terrible crime, Mistress Nakteti, to have your music taken from you."

Nakteti just nodded, feeling overwhelmed.

Does every being in the Terran Confederacy live slightly outside their skin? Nakteti wondered.

"I have decided that, if you will allow it, I will help you recover your people's music," the large saurian said. "Or, if we cannot recover it, then build your own. Take a little here and a little from there from others and create something all new, a new fusion, all your people's own."

"Why?" Nakteti asked.

The Saurian gave an odd chuckle. "Because, like you, we know what it is like to have to rebuild everything. The Terrans, our friends, helped us rebuild, and so I will help your people."

She leaned back. "Besides, your movie needs a soundtrack. All good movies have a soundtrack."

------------------

When she got back to her hotel room Nakteti felt bruised. Her throat felt like it should be sore even after the soothing drinks. Her ears felt like someone had rubbed them against the fur of her head.

Sangbre watched her daughter come out on the balcony and swiped away the video she was watching on her palm projector.

"And how was your day, child of my heart?" Sangbre asked.

"Odd," Nakteti answered honestly. She sat down and ordered up a fruity frozen drink and took a long sip off of it.

"How so?" Sangbre asked.

"I spent the day with a Rigellian female," Nakteti said.

"Getting into body building, my dear child?" Sangbre smiled. "You never struck me as the type who would enjoy lifting heavy weights for hours at a time."

Nakteti frowned slightly. "No, I was learning about music.'

"Just as well. As you're one of the younger sect you'd have to wear those terrible Nuke Chic fashions and I don't think you have the temperament for the leather chaps without buttock covering that are all the range among young Rigellians," Sangbre smiled.

"You knew where I was," Nakteti accused.

"There are two Tnvaru on the entire planet. It's not hard to keep track of my beloved daughter," Sangbre smiled. She pointed at Major Carnight. "Did she try to trade you for him or did she just outright try to steal him?"

"Huh?" Nakteti asked.

Sangbre's grin got wider. "Rigellian females have a, shall we say, taste for Terran military males."

Nakteti suddenly felt slightly nervous. "You mean she would have eaten him?"

Sangbre snorted a laugh, almost spitting her drink out. "Not... exactly. Although she may have expected to be eaten."

Nakteti realized with some confusion that Major Carnight and Captain Manners were both bright red.

"I don't get it," Nakteti said.

Sangbre's smile got wider. "It's all right, light of my twilight years, don't worry about it because in Soviet Russia it get you."

Nakteti wondered if her mother had been hitting the drinks too hard.

-------------------

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

so I says to Maybelle I says...

TVNRAU GELSTAT

Hello?

--------

BAH! Holy Divine Egg!

Where did you come from?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

URAVNT TLATSEG

?olleH

------//-0--

TRAENA'AD HIVE WORLDS

SIS! Sis! Get in here!

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CYBERNETIC ORGANISM COLLECTIVE

Let me see if I can clear their signal a little.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

Man, just when I was getting to the good part.

SIS!

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

What are you bellowing about?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TNVTALT GESARU

He?oll

...088...777---END STATEMENT MAYBE?---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Oh, there you are. Come here, dear.

Don't be afraid. Nobody will hurt you.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

Try spiking the gain. It's a good distance.

I think we're going to have to put gestalt boosters along the Great Gulf to help these guys.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

Don't be scared. We're all friends in here.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TNVARU GEOLLOWS

Oh. Hi. I'm Tnvaru.

---NOTHING FSTALT---

BIOLOGICAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

Welcome to the clubhouse. You'll figure it out soon.

Mantid can help show you the ropes.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TNVSTATL GEARU

.uoy Thank

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---