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.And some people, they ll run for the job of leader just for the thrill of the title.Just to becalledthe leader,not to be actually doing the job.I think that s what my dad wanted.To be called king.To be bowed to and respected, but not to actuallylook out for you guys.And what I think about that is, I think he must have been an ungrateful, treacherous bastard.I think if hewas here right now I d gouge out his eyes and show them to him for daring to try to put hands on theking.So that s where I stand on the whole Fred s dad tried to take over the world thing.I just thought we might want to get that cleared up before we went any further.There was another one of those rustling silences, and a lot of people looked at each other, then at her,then at each other.Finally, someone Fred couldn t see spoke up.Fredrika, would you continue your testimony, please?Someone else:The question before the Pelagic: should the Undersea Folk claim this planet along with thebipeds, or not?Fred tried to gather her thoughts.She d expected the crap about her dad to take up half the day.Boy,once these people made up their minds, that was it.Something to remember.Right.To come out of the water closet, or not.Okay.Okay.Well, as I was saying before, there are two sides to this question, and I due to being raised by asurface dweller I can see both of them.On the one hand, why shouldn t all of us all ofyou have the run of the planet? Why should you hide?I can say that as someone who can breathe underwater, I d sure like to be myself all the time, not justwhen I m with a couple of trusted friends, or my mother.Several of the Air Breather contingent murmured approvingly; she saw at once that many more peoplewere looking at her than had before.Despite Mekkam s warm welcome, despite Artur s stated intent,despite Dessican s scene, many of her father s people had seemed set on ignoring her. Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlNot anymore.But on the other hand, bipeds are treacherous.There s an excellent chance a lot of you could end up inan aquarium.Or a research lab.Bipeds have a way of thinking anybody different isn t human, isn treal,and therefore they can do whatever they like.And if you don t believe me, try to find a Sioux or aCherokee Indian and ask them.Those are the guys who usedto think the planet was just as much theirs.As a scientist, I ve seen first-hand what the bipeds can do to the planet.So what to do?I don t know.I wish I could tell you that if you all chose to show yourselves to the rest of the world,things would work out fine and you d be able to go wherever you like, unmolested.But I ve seen toomuch of the human condition to be dumb enough to make guarantees.On the other hand, if you stay hidden, you ve lost nothing.Of course, you won t gain anything, either.I guess I m saying it s up to you.All of you.I ll help you if you decide to show yourselves to mymother s people.I ll do whatever I can, even if that means coming out myself.Because I can hardlystay in hiding if all of you are brave enough to show yourselves to the world.I guess& I guess that s all I have to say.Fred stepped down, or whatever the Pelagic equivalent was.She simply backed off and took herplace in the crowd.Mekkam stood stock-still in the currents, his eyes closed, and after a long moment heopened them and said,Does anyone have any rebuttal to Fredrika s comments?I do.Meerna, the tiny black-haired mermaid, was swimming to Mekkam.How can we believe anythingthat comes out of her mouth? She was raised by bipeds, she admits it! And worse, she was fathered byhe whose name we no longer speak.She could be leading us to treachery.It would not be the first timefor her kin.I don t need to be treacherous to fuck you up nine ways to Sunday, Meerna, darling,Fred thoughtsweetly.Anytime I wanted I could pull your head off and use your blood to make the sea that muchsaltier.You see? She thinks like a biped; all her reactions are that of a surface dweller.She is unkind, and proneto violence.She is also she who would be my wife, Artur said, coming up on Mekkam s left flank.Do you darequestion my judgment?Meerna opened her mouth odd, for a telepath and then closed it.She was silent for a long moment,until& Highness, I do not.Well, naturally, Fred realized.What else could she say? Chickenshit.At least have the courage of yourconvictions.No, Meerna s got a point,Fred added, cursing herself once again for being burdened with a conscience. Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlWhy should you trust me? Not because of what my father did I never knew the guy, so he s not likelyto influence my actions today.And not because of what I said about what my father did.I could havebeen lying.Meerna s right: You don t know me.Which is why I couldn t advocate one course of actionover another; all I could do was lay out your choices.You shouldn t trust me, and that s fine.You needto make up your own minds.So there.Who are you to call anyone names, Meerna?Tennian said, out like a shot from her spot off to the side.Fredrika took your insult when she could have done much worse.She does not know our ways but shehas taken our rudeness without complaint& when she has the ear of the prince himself!Darn right,Fred thought.The ear and pretty much any other part of him I want.She could have made any of our lives difficult whenever she wished.And what did she do? Stood up infront of everyone and gave her honest opinion!Take that!But even that did not satisfy you, and I suspect there are things inyourfamily s past that would explainthat.Shall we explore your dark corners, Meerna, or will you remember your manners, remember youare supposed to be superior to the surface dwellers?I& meant no offense.This was a rather large lie, but Fred was feeling generous in her victory.And Goddamn it if she wasn t getting kind of fond of Tennian.Girl wouldn t have said shit if she had amouthful when they d first met, but now&That s all right,Fred said.It s the elephant in the room.We were bound to trip over it sooner or later.Ifshe d been speaking out loud, likely none of them would have had the vaguest idea what she was talkingabout.But they plucked her meaning from her thoughts, and many people were nodding.Anyway, I guess that s all I ve got to say.Before she could pull away, or scream, Tennian had seized her hand and was pulling her over to a largeknot of Undersea Folk, all of whom had much friendlier expressions on their faces than they d hadtwenty minutes ago.Damn, Tennian, remind me to never get on your bad side.Small-minded, close-minded, tiny-brained fools, Tennian was muttering, a constant stream of insults thatflowed across Fred s brain.As if we must be judged by the actions of one we had never met! Foolish,foolish&All right, calm down.Pay attention.Here comes more testimony.The daughter of the surface dweller is right!an obvious Air Breather testified.It is our land, just as it istheirs.Why should we hide? We have done nothing wrong! Why must we languish in brackish pools andnever feel the sun?The Air Breather Fred hadn t caught her name went on in this vein for some time
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