A Murder of Clones: A Retrieval Artist Universe Novel Read Online Free PDF Page B

not want to be.
    “I want you to translate everything,” she snapped at Uzven. It put out an arm toward her, its branchlike fingers tilted upward at a 90-degree angle. Finally, a gesture she understood. It was a Peyti gesture for shush combined with wait.
    After a moment, Uzven said, “The Ambassador wanted to know why the Multicultural Tribunal was involved. I assured him it was not. I told him that we have a law enforcement branch designed to take care of recalcitrant individuals. Apparently, the Eaufasse do not use the word ‘judicial’ the way that our two cultures do.”
    It was Gomez’s turn to be sarcastic. “Good to know.”
    “I am not entirely sure it understands the concept of law enforcement, so I might have to do extra explaining,” Uzven said. “I will inform you when I am doing so.”
    “Thank you,” she said as dismissively as she could. “Mr. Ambassador, is this the first time, to your knowledge, that the enclave has attacked its own members?”
    “We do not know about life inside the dome,” the ambassador said. “We have only seen a few of the humans outside of the dome, and then only on rare occasions. Generally, they walk to the clearing, look around, and then return to the dome.”
    “In a group,” she said, for clarification.
    “Always in a group.”
    “Were they in a group on this trip?”
    “No and yes,” the ambassador said.
    Great , she thought. More nitpicking.
    “Four emerged,” the ambassador said. “They moved quickly. A dozen more emerged. They moved even more quickly. They carried weapons.”
    Gomez remained still, but a tension filled her.
    “I asked him what kind of weapons,” Uzven added. “He did not know. Long ones, he said.”
    “Thank you, Uzven,” Gomez said. “So, Mr. Ambassador, for my edification then. Four left the enclave, followed by twelve. The twelve had weapons and chased the four.”
    “Not quite,” the ambassador said. “The four left some time before the dozen. The dozen tracked them, found them, and killed them.”
    “But we only found three bodies,” Gomez said.
    “Yes, that is correct,” the ambassador said. “The fourth is with us.”
    She felt a surge of adrenalin. That explained a lot. The bodies were in a state of decay, so they’d been dead a while—in theory, anyway. And if the fourth human somehow found its way to the Eaufasse before dying, the human’s death could have caused problems inside the Eaufasse culture. Gomez could think of dozens of cultures in which going from living to dead in the wrong location caused all kinds of interspecies squabbles.
    “Humans are particular about their death rituals,” she said. “We will have to request that the body be returned.”
    The ambassador peeped, like the Eaufasse in the clearing had. It was an odd and noticeable sound. Then the ambassador spoke.
    “The ambassador says he’s sorry,” Uzven said. “He was not clear.”
    “Word for word, Uzven,” Gomez said tiredly. She hoped that the diplomats ended up with a better translator than Uzven, although she suspected they wouldn’t.
    “The ambassador said,” Uzven said with emphasis, “‘I am sorry. I have spoken unclearly. The fourth human is with us. It lives and asks for asylum. That is why we contacted you.’”
    It would have been good to know the entire translation the first time. Gomez bit back her irritation, and concentrated. So the reason the Eaufasse had contacted the Earth Alliance had been because of the fourth human, not because of the dead bodies in the clearing.
    She had not expected this. “My understanding is that the Emir contacted us to remove the enclave.”
    “The Emir did that, yes,” the ambassador said. “Our politicians believe that the enclave will now be a problem and want it gone. But we contacted you before the Emir. We do not know how to proceed with an asylum request while we are under consideration for membership in the Earth Alliance.”
    Neither did she. She had never heard of