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anything for a minute or so.
    “Thanks,
Shiny,” he finally said. “This is exactly what I need. Wow, I have a lot of
work to do, though.”
    “I
will assist,” Kirizzo said. He assessed the materials nearby and entered
another long planning stage. Magnus stood by, doubtless confused by the alien’s
announcement in contrast to his sudden lack of activity. Some small segment of
Kirizzo’s long, thin brain noted that Terrans differed as much from Gorgalans
as the Bel Klaven did. He considered the notion that maybe their relationship
would end as tragically as the Bel Klaven one had. After a minute of planning,
Magnus stirred.
    “Thanks
for that, but you’ve given me what I need,” Magnus said. “I’d rather fully
understand what I create, so better if I take it from here. Besides, I have
time to burn.”
    Kirizzo
considered the words of the alien. The surface sentiment seemed reasonable;
still, the possibility of a switch to competitive mode by either side required
a model of hidden motives. Magnus probably feared the possibility that Kirizzo
would install hidden control mechanisms if he had a direct hand in the
construction of the device. But Terrans seemed to prefer extended periods of
cooperation or competition over rapid switching; witness the continued
cooperation between Telisa and Magnus. They were a mated pair, though; perhaps
their race had optimized for slower switching within a family unit. If the
Terrans did generally prefer extended periods of cooperation, why would Magnus
fear the possibility that Kirizzo could be trying to get access to the robot?
Probably because Kirizzo had revealed too much of his own race’s behavior
patterns already. The Terrans were intelligent and they saw the possibility
that Kirizzo would switch to competitive mode very soon, so they guarded
against it.
    Could
the Terrans have better models of Kirizzo’s behavior than he had of theirs?
    The
one called Magnus worked a great deal on the scout robot. He seemed to follow
the directions Kirizzo had provided, with a few modifications. The most notable
deviation was in control software. This supported the hypothesis that Magnus
kept his own software out of a sense of wanting the security of knowing more
about how it would work—and knowing that Kirizzo wouldn’t have control of it.
    Kirizzo
felt confident that should the need arise, he could take control of it anyway.
It would be trivial to do when the robot was using the Gorgalan componentry; less
trivial if using Terran controllers, but still very doable.
    Kirizzo
returned a line of thought to their long-term behavior. The Terrans still
seemed to be mated pair. Kirizzo hoped they would not stop the mission to
produce offspring, as he felt certain that would slow things down. As it was,
it was already painful to wait around while the Iridar made its way back
to his homeworld.
    The
Gorgalan tried to distract himself with some entertainment from the Terran net.
He participated in various virtual games and explored many artificial alien
environments posing as a Terran participant. These activities only accentuated
the loss of his own Gorgalan network. He was able to spend time in artificial
Gorgalan environments using his own hardware, but it lacked the depth provided
by the others of his race. He was very alone now.
    He
learned from their games and simulations that Terrans did have a concept of
competition. However, perhaps like the Bel Klaven, their loyalties were more
stable. The typical conditions causing a shift from cooperation were that one
side or the other had feigned alliance in the first place, then initiated a
shift when it was beneficial. These types were much more like Gorgalans. The
shift was considered to be a bad thing to do before the other side did it, and
there were dirty words for it: deceit and betrayal. It was clear that Terran
mores demanded that loyalty remain in place long after it became detrimental to
one party.
    Kirizzo
formed the hypothesis that