Hex Read Online Free Page B

therefore, who got to visit their worlds. Since the distances between inhabited systems were usually so great that it could take an invasion fleet, traveling at sublight velocity, a hundred years or more to reach its objective, this made surprise attacks all but impossible.
    As a result, war was so difficult to wage that it simply wasn’t worth the time or effort. Far easier to reach an accord with one’s adversaries, or at least ignore them. So armed conflict between potential enemies was rare. Most races sincerely wanted to get along with one another, and even when first-contact situations occasionally went badly—such as when humans met hjadd —peace was nearly always seen as the first, and most preferred, option.
    â€œTrue.” Harker nodded, understanding what she meant. “Even so, there’s something about the danui that none of the other races care to share with us, even though they all seem to know about it. Something or someplace that the hjadd call tanaash-haq , which astroethnicists at the university tells us translates as ‘the living world.’ ”
    â€œ ‘The living world’?” Andromeda raised an eyebrow. “What the hell does that mean?”
    Harker shrugged. “No idea... and the hjadd aren’t telling us. Navy Intelligence has been trying to find out exactly what it is for quite some time, but only lately have they asked the merchant marine for help.”
    Andromeda nodded. There was a long-standing rivalry between the Navy and the merchant marine that went back to the time that private operators started competing with government ships for right-of-way through Starbridge Coyote. Ever since Coyote had begun trading with the Talus, the merchant marine had become the Federation’s most-widely-traveled ships. Although the Navy handled most of the diplomatic travel between 47 Ursae Majoris and the rest of the galaxy, if there was any group likely to ferret out info about the danui , it would be a merchantman’s captain and crew. “I’m surprised you haven’t come to me before,” she said.
    â€œWe would’ve, but you’ve been handling the soranta route the last couple of years. We figured that you probably wouldn’t have learned anything more from them than we already have... which has been zero... so we didn’t get in touch with you.” Harker shrugged. “Nothing personal, Andi”—Andromeda winced; she hated that nickname—“but the intelligence boys have been trying to let as few people know about this as possible, and...”
    â€œI didn’t need to know. Right.” Andromeda tried not to bristle, but this sounded like much the same sort of paranoia she’d had to put up with in the Union Astronautica. So much for Coyote progressivism, she thought sourly.
    â€œAnyway, we put out the word that we wanted to open a dialogue with the danui , with the purpose of establishing trade relations with them, and eventually one of our other captains came through... Frank Lewin, of the Bear’s Choice .”
    â€œI know Frank.” Like most merchantmen captains, Frank also had a cottage in the Riverside neighborhood. They sometimes played cards together, along with other ship commanders or senior officers spending a little ground time between flights. “He usually alternates the Rho Coronae Borealis run with you, doesn’t he?”
    â€œYes, he does.” An ironic smile. “I might have learned this myself, except that Frank’s ship gets out to Talus qua’spah more often than the Pride does these days, and that’s exactly what happened.” His smile faded. “But it wasn’t from the hjadd or the arsashi or the soranta or any of the other usual suspects that we learned what we wanted to know, but from the race I would never have guessed... the nord .”
    â€œThe nord ?” Andromeda gave him a skeptical look. “I never would have guessed