Two days later, most of the Arrurran food had been cleared for consumption by any Ooafan, and a small portion was only safe for those who had received a treatment from Dr. Vickall. That part stayed aboard the Kalash-Quovo, and the rest was shipped down to the refuges on the planet.

The delivery was a big help, but the Ooafans would need to be supplied regularly until they got themselves to a stable situation. Nick heard that Grrmyip was happy to promise the aid—assuming availability of the Goldaskian ship to transport it—and was busy negotiating access to resources on the planet in exchange.

They're probably offering him the location of their version of Fort Knox, he guessed. Who needs a pile of gold when you can't even get at it, and you're starving besides? Although, to hear Grrmyip, a pile of gold isn't as valuable to his people as it might be. Still, it should be worth something, at least. It's a starting point.

Grrmyip was still in isolation, though one of the Ooafans had volunteered to visit him and share air a bit before leaving to a separate quarantine area. Dr. Vickall was closely monitoring both of them. Assuming no viruses jumped species, Grrmyip would be allowed to leave isolation in a few more days.

The Kalash-Quovo traveled to Arrurran space, and immediately headed for the coordinates Gooraroo had offered. It took longer to move around between planets than it did between stars, something that still boggled Nick's mind whenever he thought about it. They had been in the system for over an hour before the messages started pouring in. I guess they couldn't see us until then, Nick guessed.

Grrmyip was a huge help in sorting through the messages this time—bearing in mind that he was probably quite biased. He had sent a long message to his father as soon they arrived, but had to wait for the reply. Geh!aoa and others also looked through some of the messages, and found four different groups offering loads of foodstuffs.

Two of them promised that they had already eliminated all germs and viruses on the exteriors of the packages. Each offer came with a list of requests. Most items on the lists were for knowledge of advanced technologies. Some were for knowledge of science and Goldaskian history. A few were for parts for Goldaskian equipment. None of those last translated to English. We haven't even invented the words for the things yet, let alone the things themselves, Nick mused.

When he asked, Doctor Vickall tried to explain what the devices did. He couldn't understand most of what she said, but she did get across that one of the requests was for artificial gravity, and another was for instantaneous communication over great distances. "We will not give them the gravity. It can make too many big weapons," the doctor commented. "We might give them the communicators, but not right away. We don't want them to tell the galaxy where we are, yet."

Captain Geh!aoa decided that they would continue to deal with Gooraroo, but would also make trades with a couple of the other groups offering foods. Negotiations went much more easily with the detailed grasp of the Niranar language they had gained already. They traded with Gooraroo first.

Grrmyip told his father which foods the Ooafans had trouble with, and the older Arrurran was quick to make changes. He had brought a second ship this time, and they made the rendezvous the same way as before. It was straightforward to transfer the goods. This time, the Goldaskians were parting with a semi-functional medical scanner, and a power source to run it. Gooraroo looked overjoyed, if Nick was reading his body language correctly.

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They also took the gold and silver ingots, though they seemed like an afterthought. Grrmyip received a large number of books and reference materials, and some broken pieces of Arrurran equipment. Everybody has the same idea, Nick thought. Well, if it works, it works.

Gooraroo had not been able to obtain elements 62 and 70 in bulk yet; it had only been four Earth days, after all. He also asked about sending another Arrurran or two over on the next trip, once he had time to get volunteers onto ships. The visitors had no objection. It only made sense that Grrmyip would want at least a little contact with his own kind, and the medical issues were only negligibly greater.

When they explained that they were going to deal with other groups as well, Gooraroo predictably advised caution, and did his best to talk them out of it. Grrmyip added his voice to the argument, though he did not push nearly as hard as his father. Privately, Grrmyip told them that there was a good chance of trickery with groups that had had time to prepare, but it was also possible to trade successfully.

Captain Geh!aoa decided to go ahead with a second rendezvous. They had enough space on board to take on more foodstuffs, so it made sense to grab them if they were available.

When they reached the next meeting spot and began to match velocities, however, Mallik warned them that there were a dozen Arrurrans in spacesuits apparently hiding amid the packages of food. Scans also picked up what were presumably weapons. Geh!aoa ordered the helm to break off the approach, and they headed for the next ships offering supplies, ignoring the calls from the intended boarders.

This time, they had better luck. The latest group of Arrurrans had specific, reasonable requests, and a wider assortment of foods than Gooraroo had managed to gather on short notice. They even had some element 62 to offer. It turned out that they also had a volunteer to come aboard as another ambassador for their species; apparently not everyone liked the idea of Grrmyip having exclusive access to the aliens.

"It's nice that this group doesn't seem to be plotting anything," Nick commented on a private channel with Grrmyip. "Thinking to do bad things," he expanded when Petra beeped.

"I do not say that," the Arrurran ambassador said slowly, looking at frozen video of the latest message.

Nick frowned. "What?"

"It is not a problem for you, Nick. It is a problem for me. Well, some good and some bad, I think."

"What, are you two going to be at each other's throats?"

Grrmyip barked twice. "Not exactly. If she is... ready to make children, she will try to make me think of her and not of deals with you."

"Ohhh," Nick said, nodded. "Yes, we have people like that too."

"I am sure she is very smart as well as very good to see. I will try not to be stupid. It is possible I am thinking wrong about her. But, it is very difficult to look that good without knowing how to use it. And they do not send a stupid person to do this."

Apparently, this new "ambassador" was a real beauty by Arrurran standards. Nick squinted at the frozen image. She did have very symmetrical features, and her fur seemed flawless and very even-colored. He had no idea what counted as "sexy" versus "beautiful" for Arrurrans, and had no interest in finding out. She's his problem, not mine, thank God.

I wonder if the CIA will send me a very talented blonde bombshell, trying to do the same thing, when we get to Earth. Oh, who am I kidding? They probably can find out easily what porn I look at; they'll send me a busty redhead with a girl-next-door vibe, who is probably also a top agent and a nuclear physicist or something besides. Yeah, that'll be trouble. I'll probably fall for it, too.

Good luck, Grrmyip. You're gonna need it.

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