Free Regeneration (Czerneda) by Julie E Czerneda Page A

offend—”
    “Offend?” Anchen’s triangular mouth shaped a tremulous smile, imitating the Human expression with devastating accuracy. “My dear Mac. I am overcome . . . the harmony of what you would achieve . . . I ask your patience while I compose my selves.”
    Mac’s confusion must have been apparent even to the alien, for she waved her own comments aside with a long finger, sinking back to her seat. “This is what I have longed to propose to you and Dr. Mamani, but did not dare.”
    “You did.” Mac closed her mouth, guessing she’d been gaping like a fish out of water. So much for marshaling arguments. “Why didn’t you?”
    “I had to assume you would resist this, as you have resisted every suggestion you be separated. Yet now, you offer to make a personal journey to achieve community.” The Sinzi-ra gave an almost orgasmic shudder. “Can a Human possibly appreciate the significance of this to Sinzi?”
    This Human? Mac resisted the urge to laugh. “Em at Base, me with the team—it just feels the right thing to do. I know it’s not thoroughly logical or rational.”
    “Both admit limits,” Anchen dismissed. “Limits are not useful in accommodating disparate ways of thought.” She seemed calmer, though still intent. “Based on my studies of your species, I see your proposal as a Human need to put affairs in order. You plan a leave-taking, a change of magnitude and risk. Part of this plan deals with what you leave behind, so you are free to go. Is this accurate, Mac?”
    Mac sat back in the jelly-chair, letting her shoulders sink into its soothing warmth. “I hadn’t thought about it that way.” She nodded slowly. “Yes.”
    “This is not how it ‘feels’ to me, Mac. In Sinzi terms, your proposal instills profound circularity by its plan to reattach sundered connections. The importance of any connection is demonstrated by the effort—the distance traveled—to accomplish it. Thus, this is a proposal I find aesthetically as well as fundamentally, worthy. ‘Right,’ in your terms. In our different ways, we seek the same result—to restore what was broken. To build harmony.”
    Mac held her breath, feeling close to grasping something innate about the Sinzi, about the transects and the IU itself. “The Atrium,” she said finally. “The layout is inefficient by Human standards—researchers have to use a levplatform or walk halfway around the consulate to meet face-to-face.” More than inefficient, Lyle considered it a slight, as if they didn’t belong with other scientists— archaeologists were touchy that way . Mac hadn’t been sure. “But it isn’t inefficient to you as a Sinzi, is it? Because the act of physically seeking each other matters.” Perhaps explaining why the Sinzi-ra, despite being in charge of the consulate, constantly roamed its halls and rooms. Intriguing. Mac wriggled to sit straighter again.
    Anchen tilted her head sharply left, as though Mac had drawn the profound attention of one of her personalities. “You are unusually perceptive today, Mac. Yes. To move to a common meeting point is the highest of courtesies. Effort reflects the significance of the desired meeting. Even symbolic travel, as done using the platforms, helps set the appropriate tone of connection.”
    “That’s why you brought experts from all over the IU here, to the Gathering.” Mac took the plunge. “Having them move through the transects was a message to all Sinzi. Or from the Sinzi. Or both. A demonstration of the significance of the Dhryn threat.”
    “We felt a profound need for congruence on this issue,” Anchen replied, giving a gracious bow as her fingertips sought one another. Mac wasn’t sure if it was agreement or explanation. The danger with interspecies communication, she cautioned herself, wasn’t when it went wrong, but when it seemed to make sense . “We value the synergy of coming together. The Gathering proved insightful, as you know.”
    “But now you’ve had to