Chapter Twenty-Two
“Rick Father, Max Father!” Xander flew at them the second the ship door opened. The unemotional translation computer didn’t communicate excitement, but Xander’s volume and speed did.
“Xander!” Max gave him a hug, and when James followed, Max bent over to pull him in close. It took Rick a couple of seconds, then he was there, curling his tentacles around the younger two kids, and finally Kohei joined in. Max had tentacles everywhere, and he assumed the one down the back of his pants was Rick’s.
“I’m so glad you guys are safe.” Standing safely in their ship with his whole family around him, the cold fear that had wrapped around Max’s heart eased.
James twitched all of his tentacles. “We are much with safety. We were always much with safety. You and Rick Father were not with safety. We worried.”
“Sorry, buddy.” Max hugged James tighter for a second before standing.
“Max Father,” Xander said, “Al Bundy sent a message. He says he can sell Rick Father's navigation program. He says people pay almost as much as when Rick Father was unknown.”
“Hey, that’s great.” Not as great as getting full price, but “almost” was going to have to be enough. He could only ask the universe to improve so much because the prejudices against the Hidden ones went deep. Max wondered how much of the prejudice was the whole asymmetrical issue and how much came from the aggravation the rest of the universe felt at having navigation in that part of space shut down.
Rick's people weren’t warriors. From what Max had seen on the videos, they still considered hunting a skill every Hidden one should possess. They hunted the small prey on their planet. But the idea of fighting something nearly the same size or fighting another sentient creature didn't exist for them. And the rest of the universe could not respect that a species whose only survival strategy was hiding might not want warriors running around their part of space. Max could testify that when aliens ran past your planet, sometimes it did not end well.
“Do you hear that?” Max asked Rick. “You are going to get credit for writing that program.”
“My hearing is unimpaired to hear Xander's words.”
Apparently Max’s enthusiasm had been lost under the literal translation of his words. Max was going to miss that business translation program.
“Max Father,” Xander said, “The official translation program now translates human as Unbalanced one.”
Max grimaced. “Is that a reference to human walking or human thinking?”
“The translation of the word unbalanced implies both.”
Rick blew bubbles.
Max rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is that you saying I told you so?”
When Rick stared at him, Max realized that Rick hadn't understood the question. “Query,” he started. “Are you implying that I should have listened to you when you warned me that I was making myself sound violent?”
Rick bugled. “Yes.”
Max pulled Rick closer. “Well, at least the rest of the universe has fair warning that they need to leave my husband and my children alone. I can be unreasonable when people threaten them, even if the threats are only economic.”
“Is more,” Xander said, his tentacles flailing. “Translation of Ugly one has asterisk.”
Max assumed that wasn’t a literal asterisk, but that someone had flagged the translation in some way. “What does that mean?”
