“No!” Rick bellowed.
Max immediately recognized his mistake. “Unbalanced ones use humor and exaggeration,” he explained. “If there is a small flaw, we exaggerate it into something large and ridiculous that no one is expected to believe. James likes his weapons testing, so I exaggerate that to say that he would place the ship in danger when he would not. It is Unbalanced one small talk.”
“It lacks smallness,” Percy bellowed, and Max could not argue with that. Hidden ones had no sense of humor about potential life-ending events, and he’d known that.
Rick’s tentacle was tight around his waist, and he shoved most of his free tentacles at Percy's head. “Offspring James is brilliant engineer. Unbalanced one father has Unbalanced one speech. Do not accept as truth.”
That wasn't quite the same as Rick calling him a liar, but it was close.
“Youngest offspring Xander can explain Unbalanced one humor.” Kohei said. “It is Unbalanced one attempt at amusement which includes no amuse.”
“Everyone's a critic,” Max muttered, but he did so softly enough that the others ignored him. They were loud by nature, and they tended to ignore any speech that didn't rise to a certain volume, which was convenient. Max spoke louder. “We should honor Rick and focus on the great feats of engineering Rick has accomplished,” Max said, shouting over the rumbles of unhappiness around them.
“Shield of defense,” a Hidden one shouted.
“Program of navigation,” Max said even louder
Personally, Max didn't care which they focused on, but he wished they would move the program along so that he and Rick could head back to the ship.
A smaller member of the audience said with an unhappy trill, “All guests are not yet arrived.” He waved a tentacle toward the congested mass of bodies pressing in from the corridor. The room was already crowded enough to give a fire marshall hives, but there was no slowing of the river of bodies pushing into the room.
Max tugged on Rick’s tentacle hard enough to be inappropriate in order to distract his cranky husband. “Maybe you can introduce me to some people you knew from before you left home.” At this point, he would do anything to get away from Percy and his little cluster of followers who Max suspected were all government officials.
Rick froze, one tentacle that had been stroking Max's uninjured arm now pressed into his flesh with enough force that Max suspected he would be bruised.
“Yes,” Kohei said happily, perhaps not recognizing his father's state of apparent horror. “I wish to meet —.” Kohei's voice ended with a series of burps and bellows that signified an un-translated name.
Rick’s tentacles curled at the tips. Apparently his shy husband did not have good memories of his old co-workers.
“Or maybe you could describe the local wildlife to me.” Max gestured towards a pillar aquarium. Rick seemed to grab onto that excuse with many tentacles.
“Yes,” he almost shouted. “I will explain —.”
Again the translator had no English words for whatever Rick was offering, but Max had gotten good at naming alien things. So he dragged Rick over to the nearest aquarium and let his shy husband explain alien jellyfish and squid and tiny little dots of carnivorous sea life in more detail than Max had ever wantedto know. At least it kept Rick occupied as the crowd at the door pressed inside.
The moment they left the officials behind, other Hidden ones pressed closer, but Kohei was a whirling dervish of activity, spinning from one side to another and madly careening into anyone who dared come too close. Some Hidden ones retreated with undisguised anger, and others appeared almost amused by Kohei’s antics, but no one got close enough to even threaten Max's toes, so he didn't complain. The room was crowded before the lights began to dim and conversations stilled.
Max leaned close to his husband. “I believe it's time to honor you,” he whispered. Rick’s tightening tentacles were the only sign he had heard.
A pedestal rose from the floor in front of the window, lifting Percy above the crowd. With the stormy skies behind him, it was an impressive sight, particularly because he was bathed in the red light that now filled the room. “We gather to sing of the Great Thinker,” Percy said loudly as the room fell silent. “The one who offered us safety from outsiders who would throng our waters.” A sound started like the rustling of tree branches as Hidden ones rubbed their tentacles together.
Max wondered exactly how old Rick was that he had time to build a planetary defense shield and a new navigation program and wander the universe in his ship and earn the respect of so many Hidden ones. Even if Rick was the alien equivalent of a dirty old man, Max didn’t care. But he was curious.
“We honor him for preventing the pollution of our waters,” Percy said, and Hidden ones circled lazily, their tentacles tangling with their neighbors’. “We honor him for protecting the legacy of our offspring so that they may choose their own path and not have their rivers narrowed by those who would take advantage of us.”
Soft clinks were now added to the shuffling noises as hidden ones began to spin fast enough that their decorations jangled. Some spun alone, some in pairs, their tentacles tangled together. But most moved in small groups of four and five and six. Their tentacles knotted to hold them locked together as the group spun.
Every once in a while a Hidden one would spin away from one group and collide with another that absorbed him into their dance. Percy continued. “We sing to honor him for hunting in dark waters to seek new hunting grounds.”
That got a twitch out of Rick, but he still wasn't moving. Max and Rick and Kohei were the only ones still standing in a sea of spinning bodies and twirling tentacles. Even Percy on his podium slowly rotated, his tentacles twirling as he spoke.
“We honor one who would force the outsiders to recognize our sovereignty.”
Kohei bellowed, “Two!” A second later, Rick echoed his shout.
Percy stopped, and the spinners on the floor slowed. Max could read the confusion in the various curling tentacles around him.
“Two of honor forced outsiders to recognize sovereignty,” Rick shouted to the crowd. “Two would fight for the right of Hidden ones. Two would force the outsiders to abandon the name Ugly ones. One would hunt from shadows and search for weakness, darting to bite predators until they bleed and weaken. One. My Max husband, who I will swim in stagnant waters with.”
