“Welcome to Earth, Ambassador.” The human stood in the rain, a Doberman sitting quietly beside him. “I believe you are here to discuss our Canine Alliance so I brought someone along to meet you. This is Cranky, one of our security guards.” He turned to the dog as it sat motionless in the wet. “Say Hello, boy. This is your big moment.”

The dog looked up at him ‘ /Guarding/Playandtreatslater/LongnoseImportant?/’

The Ambassador knelt low to sniff the dog only to be met with a growl and a warning ‘/Working/noPets/noTreats/StandAway/’ The human patted the dogs head, “Sorry about that, he takes his job seriously. It doesn’t matter who gives him orders when he is wearing his official coat. On-duty is important to him.”

The Xeno stood back,’/Nooffense/noThreat/Joyinthemeeting/’ He resisted the urge to continue to speak to the Canine. It was the humans he had to win over today. “Thank you for such a welcome. My people are, I’m afraid, rather attached to the idea of your Canines and we would like to come to some suitable arrangement.”

The XCC had dealt with many strange requests and many difficult or plain bizarre treaties had been written. No-one in his office was likely to forget the recent treaty on restricting the sale of honey to the old swarm worlds. It was seen as odd and perhaps suspicious that very few of them were ever signed on Earth itself, instead mostly confined to the Mars Orbital with its supremely designed eco-system and integrated atmospherics. The reason was simply that Earth was still wild, as demonstrated by the sudden downpour on the Ambassador. Today was different, almost a test. As every teenager on Earth has learned you don’t get a dog if you aren’t prepared to walk around in the rain and cold if required. The /Longnose/ Ambassador passed admirably by ignoring it.

Cranky sat up and growled, ‘/Wet/Cold/Necessary?/’

The human held out his forelimb, “My name is Atos, XCC Diplo Corp. Our vehicle awaits. I believe you requested a tour of a normal habitation that supports one of our Canines. I’m afraid I don’t have a dog, I spend too much time in space so we will stop off with Cranky and drop him home and you can have a look around.”

Ambassador /NewSunondrygrass/ shook the extended limb, “You may call me NewSun or simply Ambassador. That sounds like an excellent plan, I’m afraid that ‘/Cranky/’ is the first canine that I have met. My information comes from one of the Captains that encountered the species on his ship and shared his experiences with us.”

Atos nodded, “Yes, we are familiar with the Dangerous Toys and its Captain. I’m afraid our people have been using the term given to him by the dog Loki to refer to your people. I hope it is inoffensive.”

The Ambassador smiled, “Loki was quite close to our own name, certainly better than any translator we have encountered. Roughly speaking the verbal expression of our name is ‘People-of-the-many-found-scents’ but we like his more literal translation and take no insult from it. I imagine your young have such simplified terms for things and we regard it as something similar and rather sweet.”

The trip passed in a haze of strange flavours. The overwhelming taste of human engineering was everywhere, filling the vehicle and reaching out from the spaceport. At some point, he was startled by a scent coming from some open ground. It was so...seductive that he asked the driver to stop before he had even taken a moment to think about it. The human looked at him curiously, “We are some distance from our destination. Is something wrong?” He scrambled to explain. “My apologies but I must investigate this. My people produce many perfumes, indeed that is our major export to the verbal peoples and I have some training in the profession. I must know what is producing that scent.”

Atos sniffed. He got nothing. He looked at Cranky,’/Scent?/ The dog sniffed, ‘/Cats/catsplant/’ he offered nothing more, clearly bored by the experience so far. He shrugged to the Ambassador, “It looks like we could all do with a walk.” Cranky’s ears perked up at that word and he jumped out as soon as the door opened, his tail betraying his professional pride.

Ambassador /NewSunondrygrass/ could feel the scent as a physical force, a taste that filled him with...something. A /warmth/home/happy/ that he needed to find. The canine Cranky walked with him and then sat dismissively beside an uninspiring plant. He growled at the Ambassador, /Catplant/NotFood/. Then he began his patrol, scenting for anything actually important. The Ambassador smiled to himself since for all his gruff manners the canine was still wagging his tail, something he had been trained to watch for. He reached down to touch the small jagged leaves, gently breaking one and inhaling the scent. It was.../YesterdaysWarmth/Sunonhotstone/Childssmile.../ He turned to his human, “Forgive me but what is this plant? Is it widely available? Can we buy it or is it protected?”

Atos was bemused. He had been given a very long briefing about what to say and do. Cranky had been chosen because of all the Guard dogs they employed he was the least likely to give away secrets but his knowledge of botany was minimal. “Ambassador, going by what Cranky told us this is the plant Catnip, a common herb around here. As far as I know, its sole use is as an amusement for cats. I believe you can purchase it or grow it without restriction.”

Ambassador /NewSunondrygrass/ inhaled deeply, absorbing scents of ‘/sunshine/hugs/calmcloudsafterrain/’, “Astonishing. Perhaps you could tell me what a ‘Cat’ is?”

Atos and Cranky made themselves comfortable in the car, the Xeno Ambassador clutching his fistful of herbs tightly. The dog had enjoyed his walk but was now making it clear that the Xeno bored him. Atos was working out what to say next. He could afford to take his time because the Xeno was totally zoned out by whatever he was inhaling from the weeds in his hand. He laughed to himself. This was why he preferred to meet Xenos on Mars Orbital

“Dogs are not the only animals we have domesticated, although there is some debate about if we domesticated the cat or they domesticated us. It is a different relationship anyway. They live with us, we feed them and protect them and they, well they sleep most of the time. Cats and dogs have been with us so long that it doesn’t matter. The translators don’t work on Cats because literally anything they say works out as *‘/Feedme/LetmeOut/LetmeIn/WhatsThat/’*or something equally simple. They are clever but they are closer to a true predator than Canines.” He thought for a moment and added, “Or humans.”

Ambassador /NewSunondrygrass/ was only half-listening, his professionalism being dragged away by the scents from the strange human herb he clutched in his hands. It was bringing up memories that had been long forgotten, the scents of his mothers, his first day in the sun...so many things long forgotten. To have such treasure simply sitting on the ground, ignored by the humans was extraordinary. In a moment of clarity, he stuffed the plant into one of his bags and sealed it quickly. He opened the window and let the scent of burned metal and humanity bring him back to the moment.

“Forgive me, that was not an experience I expected.” He paused and quickly reviewed everything the human had said. “This world of yours becomes more complicated at every moment. We did not even have the concept of pets in our world, indeed they are now called ‘/Loki’s/’ from our first encounter. I have much to learn. Then to find such a plant simply growing in the wild…” He shook his head. “There is much I need to learn about your people.”

Atos grinned to himself. To bind a Xeno close to the human race was the whole point of his job. From the look of it, a puppy and a handful of seeds would turn these strangers into friends and allies. Silently he saluted the Engineer that had earned another bonus today as he tried to calculate how much Catnip humanity could grow in a hurry. Probably a lot.