"Human Gina, I have been wondering about something, but I'm not sure how to broach the subject."
"For the eighth time, Angroood: just 'Gina' is fine."
Angroood settled back in his chair. It creaked under his weight; for the local sapients he was one of the larger ones. Gina did not sit in a similar chair; they couldn't hold her mass. "Yes, I know. Human Gina, you took me on in a fight not too long after your arrival in the system..."
"Right?" Gina sat on a bar stool which was built for someone about Angroood's size, which was good, since it brought her head level with his, even though his lounger was, for him, quite low. Standing, Angroood was nearly three meters tall. He carefully poured a measure of beverage into a glass that, in his hand, appeared almost comically small, and held it out to her. She took it with a nod of thanks.
"And since the outcome of the Hunt, it's plain to anyone here that you are a formidable specimen. You are strong and fast, especially compared to someone like, for instance, me."
"You aren't still upset about that contest, are you?"
Angroood waved in a very human gesture. "No, not at all. You taught me some valuable lessons. Plus I made a fair amount of money on that fight, even if I did get a ceiling fan to the face." He chuckled, a low, booming chuff chuff chuff, and shifted in the lounger and waved a drink at her. "The Hunt went very well for you, didn't it?"
"Oh, yeah. I made one hell of a lot of money, Booj made one hell of a lot of money...shoot, everybody in the Hunt made out well."
"Except for the Llobban that quit."
"Except for them, yeah."
"Are you dangerous to us?"
"What...me?"
"No, not you specifically. You had me at your mercy and as soon as I yielded the fight was over. No animosity. Your bout with Algo..."
"That was an interesting contest."
"Yes. Your bout with Algo was intense and even did you a defacing injury..."
"Ah, the little guy - the subset, not Algo himself - was just reacting on instinct. He didn't mean anything by it. The scar is healing fine."
"Yes, that illustrates my point. You, despite your capabilities, are not a threat to us, to members of this system and its species. We've seen that over and over, that you are extremely powerful and would be considered extraordinarily dangerous except despite your capacity for great violence, you are actually quite peaceful."
"Right? I don't have any arguments with anyone on any of these planets. I've met lots of great people...a couple of assholes too, it has to be said..."
"Assholes are universal, evidently. I was amused to hear that the word in your language carries similar meaning."
"...but I wouldn't disrupt the peace around here for anything. People just want to live their lives, for the most part."
"Yes. You are not a threat."
"No. Of course not."
"But you are not representative of all humans."
"No. I'm afraid not. And I'm not the strongest of my kind, I'm far from the best fighter, I'm not the smartest. And not everyone would come here with the same motivations."
"So what do we do, if a human - a bad human, someone who doesn't share your motivations - were to come here? What do we do to defend ourselves from someone who intends violence or exploitation?"
Gina thought. Angroood had struck her as not a deep thinker upon their first meeting. But in the weeks and months since, they had crossed paths a few times and her appreciation for his intellect had grown. When not lubricated by spaceport booze and skillfully goaded by Booj into a fighting mood, Angroood turned ideas over carefully. He was always good for an interesting conversation.
"I'm probably not the girl you need to talk to. I'm not good at diplomacy. I mean, look at me...I'm famous all around this star for being the tiny fighting human. I'm not brilliant at talking things out."
"So if a human with bad intentions comes here, what do we do? Someone stronger, smarter than you could cause havoc. I supposed with sufficient weapons we could bring a human down, but what if there's more than one? We have access to your media; we have seen the kind of violence humans can achieve and we know that charismatic leaders aren't always morally good. Charismatic leaders can be motivated to lead groups of humans to do unequivocally bad things."
"Yes, I'm afraid that's true. That has always been true."
"So what do we do?"
"People like that don't listen to reason. They don't respond to diplomacy. You'd have to eliminate them."
"You mean kill them."
"Yes."
"Humans have lots of synonyms for 'kill.'"
"Yes."
"We would not be well able to do that. We don't kill like humans do. We hunt for food but when it's a matter of disagreements between sapients, we might fight like you and I did, but mostly we argue. We argue for a long, long time. Killing doesn't come easily to us, Human Gina."
"It comes pretty easily to humans, Angroood. The easiest way to kill a human, especially for members of this system, would be to get another human to kill them for you. Humans have been killing each other for thousands and thousands of years. We're good at it. We study ways to kill each other, we perfect tactics and strategies for killing each other. We expend a lot of time and energy at developing weapons that kill humans faster, more humanely, despite defenses, whatever. If you need a human killed, get another human to do it. We're brilliant at it."
"If a bad human comes to this system, Human Gina, will we be able to call on you?"
Gina swirled her glass. The beverage was delicious, evidently intoxicating to the locals in sufficient volume, though it had no effect on her at all. "Of course. It would be immoral to stand by and let someone do harm to the people and environments of this system."
"Would it be immoral to kill another human in such a circumstance?"
"I don't think killing anyone is ever moral, but in such a circumstance it may be the less-immoral thing to do. Morality doesn't exist in a vacuum."
"Indeed." Angroood raised his glass toward hers. "To morals." She tapped her glass against his. It rang mutedly, like a bell underwater.
"To morals."
They drank, and watched ships come and go.
-end-
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