Mark glanced at his translator bug with real mistrust. "These things can look inside our brains? Creepy."

"Creepy doesn't begin to describe it. Mark, I don't know how nonhuman tech works! It's all slime and magic to me, and that's not just an issue, Mark. That's a problem."

A problem. And now Mark understood her lever.

Nelly wasn't coasting, she was holding still. She looked at the awesome possibilities stretching before her, and was paralyzed.

"Because you can't trust nonhumans." The suggestion slipped in without a ripple.

Nelly hadn't thought that way before. She hadn't felt that way either, but now she said, "Exactly!" Processes running in the back of her mind found a way to agree with Mark and continue to say what she wanted to say. "There could be literally anything in the code. No, it's worse than that. There is no code. It's a black box that might just as easily decide to kill you as tell you how to say 'good morning' in Quotidian."

With the ease of long practice, Mark reflected Nelly's assumptions back at her. "A frightening picture."

Nelly could do nothing but agree. She waved to indicate the Zogreion beyond the walls of the server room. "Anyone who does not look out there and scream? They are a total and complete idiot."

Mark had worked with programmers before. It didn't surprise him when they thought they were the only ones who knew what was happening. It would be a good idea to present the information to her in a way that preserved her ego… aha.

"What? What is it?" Nelly breathed out sharply, blinking at the workspace around them. "Are we done? What was that about Laura's suite?"

"Nelly." Mark paused, as if choosing his words. "You remember General Graa and his pet ape-man?

"A Homo erectus, yes."

"Koen kidnapped him."

"What? Kidnapped? No." Nelly looked back at her computer screens, as if for reassurance. "No, Koen just went to the nature reserve outside the city. He hasn't come back yet."

And he hadn't yet called General Graa to tell him that Mr. Grumbles had "run away." When Koen did call the Pick, Nelly would know about it. Mark was having this conversation at the very last minute. Living dangerously! He shivered from the mixture of pleasure and fear.

"Right," he said. "Koen's pretending to look for Mr. Grumbles in the nature reserve. But Mr. Grumbles isn't in the nature reserve. He's on his way here, to the Embassy. With Laura."

"No, he isn't." Nelly leaned closer to her screens, back turned on Mark. "There is a lost nonhuman Severo just let into the embassy…" A keystroke. "… and she told Laura to deal with it." She pressed a few more keys. And a video feed maximized. "See? There she is, right there in—" There followed a long, glutinous stream of French profanity. Mark's translator did the best it could.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"So," said Mark once the flood had ebbed. "What do we do?"

Nelly backed away from her desk as if it had turned radioactive. "We have to tell the higher-ups. Qani first, since Ambassador Li will—" She spun to face Mark. "Laura's doing this? What is she thinking?"

"I think she wants to go home." Mark shrugged. "And she's, you know, she likes Koen."

"That idiot. I thought he was supposed to be a scientist. Maybe that's why he quit and did something simpler. Idiot!" Nelly closed her mouth over more cursing and straightened her back. Mark looked away as she breathed deeply.

He cleared his throat and gave her fear another tug. "I'm worried what will happen if we tell Qani. It will be scandal."

"No f—" More deep breathing.

"General Graa will be very upset. Like, kick-the-UN-out-of-the-Convention upset," Mark suggested.

He checked, and was gratified to see the anger on Nelly's face had turned to fear. "No. Surely not. The Pick ambassador would never do something so rash, so extreme."

Mark shook his head. "You don't know Graa like I do. I've been to his residence. He's an angry, angry bird." Time to anchor Nelly's expectations, and also scare her some more. "I don't think he'll declare war or anything, but at the very least he'll hold a grudge against us, and he's the ambassador of a powerful species."

More oaths from Nelly. "You're right."

"Maybe there's still time to fix this quietly. Avoid a scandal. Keep Graa distracted until we can figure out a way to return Mr. Grumbles anonymously."

"That's why you came to me," said Nelly. "You know I'll see the security footage and you don't want me to blab."

Mark held up his hands. "Hey, I want what's best for humanity."

Nelly gave a short, cynical laugh. "What's best."

Mark hid his smile. "Just a few days of secrecy. That's all I'm asking."

Nelly furrowed her brow. "What about Severo? She must know already."

"Severo's on board," Mark assured her.

Nelly snorted. "I bet she is. But what about Yoshida? Is he okay with this?"

"Yoshida's next," Mark said. "But I've never been very good at talking to him. I'm a people person and he's more of a…thing person."

Nelly tugged on her ponytail. "I'll talk to Yoshida."

This time Mark allowed his smile to show. He could go to bed, finally.

"But, Mark, you deal with this." Nelly glared up at him, finger raised. "Get Mr. Grumbles out of here as soon as possible."

"I know. I will," Mark appeared to promise.

"We cannot afford a scandal. The stakes are higher than you can imagine. The Convention has never been safe for us."

"You can say that again." And he would. Over and over, until everyone believed it.

Mark left Nelly's office, a hand over his mouth to hide his grin.