Earth Husbands are Odd (Earth Fathers #2) - Lyn Gala Page 0,63
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?”
“Unknown.” Xander rotated a bit. “Perhaps they warn not to use designation Ugly one near Max Father.”
“That would be wise. I will admit that I feel a little homicidal every time I hear someone say that.” Max wasn’t sure how long he could control his urge to punch someone. In ROTC, they had made a big deal out of service members being unofficial ambassadors. They had to represent America well to the rest of the world. However, those instructors never had to put up with fucking aliens.
“Max generates unstable words.” Rick didn't pull away, so he wasn't too worried about Max's version of unbalanced.
“Will you protested the designation of human as unbalanced?” James asked. He had a weird bounce in his tentacles that made Max worry that James wanted a fight. Given his namesake, he might turn out to be the only Hidden one who wanted conflict.
“I probably should. The rest of the humans probably won’t be amused.” Max walked deeper into the ship. The door slid closed automatically when the family followed. Kohei hurried ahead to trigger the elevator. “But on the good side, if humans have a reputation for being unbalanced, the rest of the universe is less likely to poke us with a sharp stick.”
“Sharp stick is unprobable,” Rick said. “Sharp maintenance hook more probable.”
Max laughed. “Metaphorically, the universe has a lot of sharp sticks lying around—insults, unjust sanctions, maintenance hooks.” Max’s stomach rumbled. “Come on, let's get something to eat. There should have been a delivery of new foods.”
“Many, many,” James offered. “Available by computer.”
Max might get a decent meal. It had been so long that he wasn’t sure what good food tasted like anymore, but he had found several things at the market that he had liked, at least when sampling them. “We should talk about what we’re going to do with all of those new credits we’re going to have from Rick Father's program.”
“And credits from weapons Max Father and I sell,” James added with a furious little wave of his tentacles.
Max gave the closest waving tentacle a gentle tug. “Of course. We can't forget that.”
“No.” Rick bugled. “You must reserve credits of yours. When you are ready to be James