“Yes, Chief Thame.” Ekkatt watched the officer tap his nose with a long fingernail. “This race of females has done nothing more than leak from their eyes and make hideous noises like the Brum. In the two hundred years we’ve been harvesting them there has never been a reported incident like this. Not one has ever fought back, or for that matter, awakened during the voyage, or learned a single word of our language before they were auctioned off. Extraordinary. Perhaps our scientists would like to see this one. Is it a hybrid of some sort, do you think?” “No, I think not. I think…” “Yes, Ekkatt?” “My thoughts on the subject of human females are unimportant.” “But you spent time communicating with this one, did you not? You and Pana? I would be most interested in knowing what the two of you spoke about. If this female is one of a kind it could bring us a great deal of coin. If there are others like it we could become wealthy beyond our wildest dreams. We would just need to learn where to find more. Perhaps they are a specific breed. Perhaps there are others bearing the same mark.”
