"They're called humans," Wabek informed me, gesturing at the holographic image in front of us. It was a photograph of a kind of flat metal plaque, seeming to depict two life forms, along with a number of symbols that I couldn't quite decipher. I gaped at the screen.

"And you found this... when?"

"About five cycles ago. Remember that meteorite that was all over the news? That wasn't natural. It was a technological instrument from the humans' planet. Crashed in the Western Lake, just north of Ashrella."

"Along with this... message."

"Indeed."

I took a deep breath in, slowly let it out. "And why... why wasn't I informed before?"

Wabek's smile was sheepish and apologetic. "We... didn't want members of the general public knowing about it."

"The general public," I echoed.

"Not that you're a part of that," she quickly added. "We just needed to keep it to ourselves, you know?"

"I understand," I replied, hopefully concealing the annoyance in my voice. I exhaled again. "Well, there's no use dwelling on that. Who else knows? Just the Xenolinguistics Institute?"

"And the International Scientific Assembly, and affiliated organizations. Plus Ambassador Jasath. Believe me, it's been difficult to cover up."

I didn't speak for a couple seconds, watching the hologram rotate on the podium before me. After a couple seconds, I began again, eyes still on the humans' message. "And you want me to... lead a mission to their planet."

Wabek slowly gestured an affirmative. "Well... we have Jasath to lead it. We want you to to go along. You're two of the best diplomats in the country. With a team of scientists and linguists to back you up, this mission could go incredibly smoothly."

I almost laughed. A trip to another planet would be anything but smooth. But that was not my concern right now. "Where's Jasath?"

Wabek's smile slipped off her face; her voice dropped to just above a whisper. "He's uh... been having some trouble. With... you know."

"With...?"

She cocked an eyebrow at me. "You didn't know?"

"I don't know Jasath very well."

"Well, I don't suppose he'd exactly announce it to the entire planet...." Wabek hesitated, her face tight and conflicted. "About a cycle ago, he had a bit of an accident. Hover crash."

"No lasting injuries, I hope?"

"In the strictest, physical definition of 'lasting injury'... no. But... let's just say that hovers are made of particularly sharp metal."

"Oh." Wabek's implication was obvious. "Spawn?"

"Yeah," she responded.

"My gods. What limb?"

"Right foot. Grown back now, but still...."

"Incredible," I mused, "to grow an entire creature—a clone, if you will—from just one severed limb...."

"Indeed," replied Wabek, but her voice held a kind of grimness. "I don't expect Jasath to turn up today, of course, though he's certainly welcome to. The SCA has been requiring him to monitor his spawn."

I frowned. "Why? Spawn don't exactly have very high intelligence."

Again, Wabek's voice was hushed—even more so than before. "That's just the thing. This one does. This one has been reading Jasath's books, listening to his speech, figuring out how our society works."

"I can't say that's a bad thing," came a voice from the doorway.

The two of us whipped around. Jasath was standing just inside the room, a slightly amused smile on his face. Wabek's expression went from surprise, to anger, to concern.

"Jasath? But you weren't supposed to be here—?"

He shrugged. "Couldn't miss out an opportunity like this, could I?"

"Where's your spawn?" I asked. "Aren't you supposed to be with it at all times?"

"I've got someone to take care of him," responded Jasath, carefully enunciating the pronoun. "Jasathee is remarkably intelligent. I don't see why I should be there to monitor him all the time."

"Jasathee," I repeated. Jasath had followed the tradition of using his own name, plus an extra syllable, for his spawn.

"Well." Wabek crossed the room, stood before Jasath. She was slightly taller than him. "I don't suppose it's productive to dwell on... Jasathee. I've been debriefing Kaaris on the the mission."

Jasath smiled at me. "Kaaris. Hello. The two of us will be partners, huh?"

"I guess so." I kept my face neutral. The last time I'd seen Jasath was just under four cycles ago—coincidentally, at a debate on the rights of spawn. I remembered Jasath arguing vehemently against granting them full citizenship. Perhaps it was worth asking him about it, asking if having a spawn himself had changed his perspective on them. But I didn't want to put him on the spot.

We talked for maybe half an hour, Wabek describing some of the mission's details. Jasath stood in rapt attention, almost as if he were hearing all this for the first time. But that couldn't be true, I told myself. Jasath had known about the humans' message far before I did.

There was a click as the door slid open. The three of us turned to see three security officers, their faces stern and eyes set on Jasath. Jasath's eyes widened, and he took a step back.

The first officer—a short woman whose name, I believe, was Molk—spoke. "Jasath. This has gone too far."

"What do you—"

"You know right well that it's illegal to kill your own spawn."

Wabek started. Jasath's face went from astonishment to a kind of perverse pleasure.

"Well, look at that," he murmured.

"Is this true?" Wabek whispered.

Jasath didn't respond. He cast his eyes to the ceiling, apparently in thought. I watched him closely. The mixed signals were puzzling. One minute Jasath had been praising Jasathee for his intelligence. Next, he seemed to have murdered him.

"Why would you kill Jasathee?" I finally asked. "Look, I know all about the taboos of spawn, but that is no reason to—"

I was interrupted by Jasath's laugh, a sound that contained no mirth. "Kaaris, I didn't kill—"

"But Molk said—"

He raised a hand to silence me. "I didn't kill Jasathee. I killed Jasath."

The silence in the room was almost tangible. Oh, how easy it was to forget that spawn were genetic clones of their progenitors... especially when the spawn had an exceptional amount of intelligence.

"Jasath—" I started, then corrected myself. "Jasathee. Well. In that case... why would you kill your progenitor?"

"Do you even know the status of spawn in this country??" Jasathee's voice was scathing. "We are treated like inferiors from the moment we start growing because apparently the only people who deserve respect are the ones who have a fully functional brain. Perhaps I was lucky enough to mentally develop in a way analogous to a regular child. But not all spawn are like that. Some can't even speak."

"It all depends on the genetics," murmured Wabek.

"And the type of care the spawn receives when growing—"

I cut him off. "You haven't answered my question."

Jasathee took a deep breath, looked back at me with a glare. "Jasath treated me like shit, okay? You of all people should know how blatantly he opposed spawn rights. And besides—I wasn't even trying to kill him! I was going for his arm, but then he struggled, and I ended up jabbing the knife straight through his—"

"You were trying to make another spawn," I said quietly. "By severing his arm...."

"Perhaps two of us could have knocked some sense into him." Jasathee's voice was weary, dejected—all the contempt had drained out of it.

Molk cleared her throat from the doorway. Jasathee started—it seemed both of us had forgotten about the security guards in the room.

"I suppose you're going to take me away, aren't you?" asked Jasathee.

"And report you to the SCA." Molk crossed the room, laying a firm hand on Jasathee's shoulder. He didn't resist.

"I was looking forward to this mission so much," he told Wabek solemnly. She eyed him, but didn't respond.

Then it was just the two of us in the room, standing a couple paces apart.

Wabek let out a sigh. "Seems you've lost your mission partner, Kaaris."

"Perhaps Jasathee would have made a good partner," I responded.

She shuddered. "Are you kidding? He's a homicidal spawn—"

"Or maybe he's a victim of an oppressive regime. Who knows." I crossed to the center of the room, where the holographic message was still slowly rotating. "I wonder if the humans have problems like this."

"With spawn?"

"With any type of discrimination." I paused. Especially discrimination based on intelligence, like Jasathee was saying.

"Well," Wabek replied, "I guess we'll just have to see for ourselves."

The end.