Final Inquiries by Roger MacBride Allen Page B

layers of cloud above and below.
    The sphere began to slow down as it approached the lower cloud deck, then, in the blink of an eye, they were in the clouds, and the universe outside was a formless grey nothing. A heartbeat later, and they had broken through the last of the overcast, and the city of the Grand Warren, of Rivertide, was laid out before them. The command sphere paused where it was, about two thousand meters up, affording them a long and admiring look at the city.
    It was Oz, Oz inside a three-quarters-sphere dome, a dome so graceful, transparent, and ethereal it barely seemed to be there at all. It was gleaming towers, lofty spires, broad avenues, elevated travelways linking the buildings, shimmering lights, the bustle of aircars and groundcars in purposeful motion--a full-scale, brought-to-life, all-expectations-met rendition of a city of the Elder Races, the archetype of what every schoolchild on every human world was convinced that every city on every xeno planet should be like, must be like.
    Plenty of the Elder Race cities Hannah had seen were run-down affairs, almost as much partially-occupied archeological sites as they were functioning settlements. But the Grand Warren showed no signs of decrepitude. It was the very embodiment of vigor, confidence, power, and purpose.
    "This is their capital city," said Brox. Then he pointed south toward a dusty quarter of low, flat buildings. "And that is our capital city. Or more accurately, that is the zone of their capital that we are allowed to move about in without excessive restrictions. But you will see more than enough of it soon enough."
    The command sphere flew on toward the city. It entered the central-city dome through a portal midway up. Looking down from inside the dome, the Grand Warren reminded Hannah irresistibly of the canyoned streets of midtown Manhattan, with swooping ramps and elevated roadways and buzzing, darting aircars thrown into the mix. Everything about what she saw spoke of grandeur and power. The streets were full of life and activity, hustle and bustle--but all of it was strictly ordered. All the ground vehicles moved at precisely the same speed. The Vixa she could see walking along moved in packs, in groups, that marched along in more perfect unison than any precision drill team back on Earth.
    But there was more to it than that. The groups--packs--swarms--none of the words seemed quite right--were sorted by color and size--and, as well as Hannah could judge from this distance, number of legs.
    "If you view each cluster of Vixa as an aggregate individual, what you are seeing will make more sense--and, I expect, be less disturbing," said Brox. "At least it's less disturbing for me."
    It did help, in a number of ways. Once Hannah starting thinking of each cluster as a unit, patterns jumped out at her. Clusters made up of larger, brighter-colored, and fewer-legged individuals seemed to take precedence over clusters of smaller, darker-colored, many-legged Vixa, which gave way to them whenever a group of one type encountered the other. The higher-ranking clusters also seemed to have fewer individual Vixa in them.
    Hannah didn't have time to make any further sense of what she saw before the command sphere swept forward to a large building--or possibly a collection of buildings--that looked like a collection of giant, opaque, milky-white soap bubbles clustered together. Part of one bubble drew back somehow, and the command sphere flew inside.
    "We have arrived," said Brox. "The hatch will open in a few moments, and we will disembark. You will see things that I have not the slightest doubt will disturb you greatly. As your Commander Kelly conceded, you are about to be in violation of standing orders against dealing directly with Vixa of these castes and ranks. All I can ask is that you make the best possible use of your training as to how to deal with surprises and unexpected situations--particularly unpleasant ones."
    "Great," said Jamie. "That