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Jul had al in front of the door For a lanced at the oing on at the table, just staring at a point soer to his ear Jul realized he was listening to sonusson, tapped her on the shoulder, and motioned to her to switch off her translation device

She nodded, and spoke with hilish words that Jul couldn’t fol ow, except for two: Sanghelios, whose nized but stil didn’t understand Whatever the guard had told her had made her smile For a fewthe papers laid out on the table in front of her, and then touched the translation device again

"Things are getting quite tense on Sanghelios," she said "There’s been a bomb attack in one of your cities and reports of Jiralhanae attacking Sangheili I thought thata revolt"

So ‘Telcaht orry for Raia, and his second was frustration that he wasn’t there to fight "As I said, ‘Vadanusson said "It’s costing us a fortune to ar bankrol ed by ONI Stil , we did get a Huragok out of it"

So I was right--at least partly

Jul had seen the fe arms to ‘Telcam But he hadn’t realized thewith Jul had been so sure that ‘Telca Truth strike a deal with the ene their senses

"What did he offer you in exchange?" Jul asked

"We agreed to stay out of each other’s keeps, so to speak We help ‘Telcaree to stay away fro with that stylus, twirling it slowly between her thin, worers "But it’s capability that counts, not intent I’ain, no iving when it coenocide"

Jul should have known better than to expect anything else fro up their expansionist habits The Arbiter was a fool, as Jul suspected, and thought he could trust thes would be different This was exactly what had ainst him

"We should have wiped you out," Jul said "We could never coexist in one galaxy"

"But you never got the chance" Magnusson did one of those tight ss but oozed conteree with you--one of us has got to go, and my job is to make sure it’s not us"

"You’ve lost hundreds of warships You can’t possibly threaten Sanghelios"

"Oh, come now, Jul You knoon’t be that old-fashioned You’re already sliding into civil war for the second tis differently to Admiral Hood None of that Nelsonian square-jawed stuff "

The translation software didn’t lish Magnusson pushed back froot up to wander around the room What could he possibly do for her that was of any use? Unless this was al a bluff, unless the hu warships, then al Jul knehat ONI seemed to know already In fact, they knew more than he did

For a moment he found himself distracted by the idea that the Forerunners could have built stars That dwarfed the technology of the Halo Array

Mil ennia later, no civilization had even coods been able to do?

"I don’t like the food here," he said, changing the subject "It upsets estion"

"The more you tel us about your native foods, the ht you were satisfied with the as"

"Wheat, you heili crop Can you not acquire soain and sat down "I never saw you people as farmers"

"We’re not The San’Shyuum kept us supplied, and what farms we stil had wereto learn to take care of yourselves again No hired help in the fields No Huragok to build and repair machines for you"

Jul felt a little nant Could this creature survive without the trappings of technology she didn’t understand? "Andour nusson just nodded "We’l find so-Yar na it click, and pushed it across the table to hiain the translation failed "Write down a list of common foods I’l do what I can"

Jul fumbled with the stylus It was short and slender, far too srip it like a dagger and held the paper steady with his free hand while he scrawled unsteady ideograms It looked like a child’s first efforts, and he was enusson didn’t knohat passed for neat handwriting in an alien system He pushed the paper back across the desk to her and watched her frowning at the shapes, eyes scanning

"These are al staples, are they?" she asked "Anything exotic?"

"No Just basic grains and fruits"

"What do you feed your livestock?"

She was trying to be sociable by chatting about irrelevant nonsense to him Humans always assurain," Jul said, wishing she would get to the point and si to keep this sinusson folded the paper and put it in her pocket "Do you have children?"

"Of course"

"They’l be heili is al owed to knoho his father is"

"I’d heard that So it’s true"