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“I don’t need to tell you how important this is, of course. You know as well as anyone that we only move forward by making ourselves stronger, and we only get stronger by combining what we can do with what others can do. That, my boy, is the essence of business relations.”

“Yes, sir...there’s nothing more important.”

“You seem nervous, Pat. You’ll want to shake that off before you meet with Songard’s executive council, they’ll want to see someone cool and confident...that’s how they can be the same.” Grandia Incorporated’s CEO, Armando Farthing, leaned back in his chair, smiling with just a hint of the smugness he was well known for. “This is the biggest deal you’ve ever lead on, isn’t it?”

“Yes, sir, by far the biggest. I’ve made some deals before, but nothing would compare to this one. I’m very excited to be bringing Grandia forward.” Patrick Riley never really got over how big Mr. Farthing was. The man looked like a kingpin, as imposing as his powerful corporation. Pat couldn’t hope to compete; he was on the shorter side, more stocky than he would have liked, and didn’t have the air of power and confidence that he envied out of his boss. Still, he had worked hard in life, and that hard work had gotten him all the way to assistant executive of business relations at Grandia Inc. It was a lucrative and prestigious position that made him reasonably important to the business, and there was little Pat liked more than feeling important. And a deal this big had the potential to launch him beyond the ‘assistant’ title, so he was quite eager to show his acumen to the big man.

“I’m sure you are. Just make sure you check your nerves at the door. Image is everything, especially when you’re trying to woo a business into a partnership. The more confident and worry-free you appear, the more you impress, and there is no such thing as over-impressing.”

“Valuable advice, sir. I’ve already been practicing my pitch, I’ve got several lines in mind to wow them.”

“Excellent. I’ve got a lot riding on you, Pat. I trust you know how much this partnership would mean to Grandia. Songard Technologies is by far the most successful firm of their kind, they hold dozens of patents and are making money hand over fist from them. They may be relatively new to the world but they’re a hot name, and there’s no question that anyone who works with them can take advantage. You know flexibility is the key to survival, Pat, and it’s hard to be more flexible than when you’ve got what they have...their entire platform is about adaptation, and they’ve done a wondrous job of it. Without a doubt they are one of the most valuable companies on the planet for what they can offer, and whoever partners with them first gets first access to their offerings. These could drive our business and profits into outer space! We need this, Pat, and we need it before someone else jumps in and gets to use it all.”

“Believe me, sir, I will do everything and more to ensure that Songard Technologies has some kind of exclusive partnership with Grandia Incorporated before the week is out.”

“That’s what I like to hear. I’m counting on you, Pat.”

Pat rose from his seat to leave, then paused as a knock came to the door. He looked over as the door opened slightly, and his expression tightened as he saw a scaled head peer past the door. The reptilian creature only half-looked at Mr. Farthing, a meek expression on his face, very clearly intimidated. “My apologies, sir, I didn’t mean to interrupt…”

“Get to the point, Artay.” It wasn’t exactly nasty, but hardly a gentle reply from Mr. Farthing.

“Your 4:00 has arrived, and she seems...insistent on your attention.”

“Well, then, I suppose you’d better get her here before she shrivels up. Send her on in.” There came a quick nod from the creature as he closed the door behind him, and Mr. Farthing let out a quiet huff. “If he set her off, there’s going to be hell to pay.”

“Hard to find good help these days,” remarked Pat, making no mystery of his disgust. “Especially among their kind. Why do you bother keeping those alien freaks around?”

“Find me the human administrative assistant who would do a forty-k job for twelve and I’d jump. I say a toast every night to cheap labor...using those Raathii for the trivial work saves us millions. For whatever their other flaws, they are very hard workers...not always very GOOD, but the effort makes up for the skill. I’ll have to show you the figures sometime, it’s a sight to behold. But that will have to be for another time, you have more important tasks to focus on.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll see you when I return!”

---

Pat felt a giddy thrill as he drove home; already he was looking forward to making his pitch to Songard, imagining their eager faces and excitement to settle their deal. He was certain they would be all too happy to partner with Grandia; after all, Grandia was one of the biggest and most profitable businesses in the world, and Songard could easily increase their profits fiftyfold if their technologies were to be put into Grandia’s products.

The real concern to him was that someone would jump in and get to them before he even had a chance. However, even that was unlikely; they had contacted Songard privately, and no news of talks had been made public yet. Songard was known for being rather deliberate about their business dealings, and their council had kept them independent for a long time; only recently had they even begun to entertain the idea of a business partnership. Certainly, it likely had something to do with the numerous patents they had filed, their efforts to keep their own lid on their technologies. Pat was sure Mr. Farthing had ideas in mind about Grandia’s techs reverse-engineering some of those and making their own versions, but it sounded rather daunting given that Songard seemed to be far ahead of the curve. The business partnership was the best course of action.

As he slowed to a stop at a red light, he saw a pair of scaled figures in ratty clothing run across the crosswalk. His brow furrowed, and he briefly entertained laying on the horn to startle them, but they were past before he had the impetus to act. He shook his head, wondering once again what had possessed them to allow the creatures to remain.

It had been nineteen, almost twenty years since the ships had descended out of the sky, packed to the gills with reptilian aliens who called themselves “Raathii.” They had appearances not terribly unlike the monitor lizards of Earth, and surprisingly seemed to have no trouble with Earth’s environment and atmosphere. Speculation in the scientific community as to the remarkable similarities between the two worlds was rampant, but so far no one had a good answer for how two seemingly independent worlds developed in such parallel tracks.

It had taken quite a bit of time and effort, but over the course of the first few months the language barrier was overcome and the story of their arrival became clear. An invasion had taken place by an unknown race, and a dangerous war had broken out between the Raathii and the invaders. The ships were packed with refugees fleeing the danger, not knowing whether the Raathii would succeed in preserving their world. There were a good few million Raathii on the ships, and they were in pretty bad shape, barely able to sustain themselves.

Pat didn’t understand why they were allowed to stay. Were it up to him, they would have been packed back up and shot off again, back to where they belonged or somewhere else in the cold dead of space, anywhere but in his backyard. Illegal immigration was bad enough without green alien lizard freaks from somewhere he’d never heard of coming in and taking up jobs and resources. But it hadn’t been his say, and the government had eventually decided they could remain on the planet.

At the very least, they weren’t granted all the privileges that humans were. It was perfectly fine to discriminate against them, pay them less than minimum wage, deny them patronage to a business, segregate them, and so forth. And all of that was done, quite routinely. Pat was glad for it; the less he had to put up with them, the better, and they should be happy they were even given the chance to stay. They weren’t human, only lizards. They didn’t belong.

Another stop light had Pat at a standstill again. He glanced out his side window and saw two police officers confronting a Raathius right outside an alley between two tall apartment buildings. Unable to hold back a grin, he rolled down the window slightly to listen in.

“You ain’t staying here, buster. We’ve gotten half a dozen complaints in the last week.”

“I don’t have anywhere to go!”

“How about a jail cell?” The second cop seemed to be a lot hotter than the first. Pat preferred his approach. “Vagrancy is a crime. You want to live around here, get a fucking job and pay rent like the others.”

“I’ve got two! I work fourteen hours a day! I won’t have enough for a motel room until Thursday! And the shelters are all full! I don’t have any choice!”

“Oh, we’re giving you a choice right now!”

“All right, settle down,” the first cop said. “Look, you can’t stay here, and that’s final. You either find somewhere off the streets, or we bring you in for vagrancy. That’s you’re choice.”

The lizard slumped against the wall. “...Will my stuff get held onto while I’m in there?”

The light turned green, and Pat wasted no time rolling his window back up and getting a move on again. “Arrogant bastard,” he muttered to himself. “Thinks he can just park his ass anywhere. He deserves a jail cell.” With that, he let thoughts of the reptiles pass from his head and back on his fantasies of success with Songard.

---

The next day came and went, as Pat drove virtually nonstop, only breaking for a few minutes here and there to fill up the gas tank and pick up some food. Pat preferred driving on business trips as opposed to flying - he wasn’t exactly comfortable in airplanes, and even less so in unfamiliar rental cars. Besides that, a road trip was less expensive, and if time wasn’t an issue, there was no need to take a pricey flight.

That, he felt, was also an asset to Grandia, and anything he could do to make himself more appealing to the company was a good step towards improving his own standing there. Cost-effectiveness had been key to Grandia’s exceptional success during the big recession several years back, allowing them to maintain profitability even as gross income slowed. Executive compensation limits, efficient business models, and luxury cutbacks all meant more black ink, and hiring Raathii at no more than a quarter human wage didn’t hurt, either. Pat thought they could have gotten them for even less, but the upper management seemed to think that they needed what they had to keep them from jumping ship too quickly - there were only so many Raathii that were around to be hired.

Darkness had fallen a while ago, and he found himself just a bit across the border before he felt he could go no longer. He had reached a moderately-sized town and decided that would be a good place to stop for the night. His eye caught a nearby motel, and he turned into the parking lot. Motels weren’t the kind of place he especially enjoyed - they tended to be less classy, less welcoming, and it wasn’t uncommon to find Raathii at those places, as they tended to be inexpensive enough that the reptiles could occasionally afford a room for a night. Still, that inexpensiveness was the reason he settled on it - again, it was about being less expensive to Grandia, and they would appreciate the reduced bill.

All seemed normal as he entered the lobby. He gave the desk clerk a smile, which she returned. “I’d like a room for the night.”

“Certainly, sir. Please let me see your card.”

Pat handed over his expense card; a minute later, everything had been processed, and he had his room key. “Thanks. Had any trouble with the green lately?”

The desk clerk gave him a strange look. “Trouble with the green?”

“You know, the lizards. Or do you not get a lot of them out here?”

“Oh...um, we do get Raathii, but I don’t know why we’d have trouble with them.”

“Hm. So long as they pay and stick to their own wing, I suppose you’d be fine with that.”

“Own wing?”

That made Pat pause. “You know, their own part of the building? You have a designated section for them, don’t you?”

She looked confused. “No...why would we?”

This was shocking to him, though he did his best not to show it. No separate wing? Does that mean I could be sleeping in a room that one of those things has been in? Unbelievable, I should speak to the management about this…I just hope they cleaned up those rooms well. “Never mind...thank you.”

As he shuffled off to his room, he mulled over this unpleasant information. He’d never heard of a motel that didn’t separate humans and Raathii. Of course, it wasn’t the desk girl’s fault, she had no say in it, and he didn’t want to bother her unnecessarily. But someone had to have made a very strange decision at some point. What possible reason would they have for that? They can’t have that many Raathii that they couldn’t accommodate them all with their own rooms. I hope there aren’t any near my room...can’t trust them, who knows what they might pull?

As he passed by the pool area, he heard a splash and glanced inside. Then he stopped dead as he saw the scaled figure swimming in the water. One of them in the pool? Now I’ve seen everything… If non-segregated rooms was unheard of, allowing Raathii into the pools was categorically ridiculous. They’d never have another human visitor in the pool. Who knows what kind of contamination those aliens had? He was starting to wonder if he’d made a mistake stopping at this location, but he’d already paid and he was far too tired to continue driving. He made a mental note to try to find the number for the management and let them have it after he was done with his trip.

---

Despite the peculiarities of the place, Pat found himself unharmed and refreshed after a good night’s sleep. He checked out with the desk clerk, a new girl this morning, and managed to get a card with the number for the hotel’s management. He slipped it into his pocket, putting it out of his mind for the time being as he left the hotel. His meeting with Songard wasn’t until tomorrow, and it would only take a few more hours of driving to reach the city. Since he had the time, he decided to spend a little time in the town. It was a rather interesting town, with part of it having a nice city feel and a downtown area with a quaint old-town atmosphere.

He stopped by one of the local establishments, a café in a red brick building on a corner of the old downtown. It seemed like the perfect place for a nice breakfast. The inside was an interesting mix of antique and modern; it seemed designed to retain the feel of the town while trying to also accommodate customers to their best effect. It looked like it could seat about twenty people, and that was almost the number that was there that morning; still, there was an open seat at a small table that Pat quickly claimed.

He glanced around. It quickly occurred to him that there was a rather larger number of Raathii in the café than he would have expected; they were perhaps a quarter of the patrons seated inside. Where he was from, that was practically unheard of; they simply didn’t make up enough of the population to be that highly represented, unless they were in a Raathius-specific establishment - but you’d never see a human in one of those. It made him feel a little nervous, but for some reason no one else in the café seemed to mind. In fact, that started to register with him next; the human patrons were interspersed with the Raathii, not separated out as he would have expected.

Like the motel...what’s going on here?

His eye landed on one of the Raathii near the counter. He was leaned back in a chair, reading a newspaper, drinking what looked to be coffee. Pat felt himself staring a bit as he realized the creature was wearing a suit. He’d never seen that before...Raathii couldn’t afford suits. And he didn’t seem to have that anxious air that he normally saw when Raathii were around humans. This bothered Pat more than anything; he didn’t like when they weren’t afraid of him.

He saw a waitress come out of the back, and straightened up a bit in his seat to make himself more visible, in hopes of catching her attention. But she didn’t appear to see him, instead heading right for the Raathius in the suit. He strove in to listen, hoping he would hear her tell him off or ask him to leave. “Excuse me, Mr. Rasmed, but you’re here a little later than normal. I was just wondering if you were aware of that?”

The Raathius looked up at her in surprise, and then quickly back down to his watch (which, Pat noted, was far more upper-end than he would have expected on a green arm). He shook it once, then scowled. “Oh, jeez...damned thing’s stopped. Please tell me it’s not 8:30 yet.”

“It’s getting close. Would you like me to get your usual to go?”

“Yes, please. Thank you, Lea, I owe you one.”

The waitress turned and went back behind the counter, starting to prepare something. Pat was stunned; he thought she would have seen him by now. He stood up and went to the counter. “Um, excuse me, miss-”

She looked up. “Oh! I’m sorry, sir, I’ll be with you in just a minute. I just need to take care of something quickly.”

It was all he could do to keep his jaw from dropping. Numbly he nodded and returned to his seat, feeling an anger roiling within him. She just brushed me off? For a lizard?! He looked back over at the Raathius, who had rolled up his newspaper and now seemed a little more perturbed, but to Pat it was for the wrong reasons. He was getting preferential treatment over a human - over him, no less!

It was perhaps something that he should have let go, like the strangeness at the motel. But Patrick Riley was a proud man, and while the motel was far from his expectations, it was simply circumstantial. This...this was a direct insult, a personal defamation. That Raathius wasn’t fit to even be in the place, and here he was getting special treatment while Pat was forced to wait. It was wrong, and he knew he had to set things straight.

The waitress returned with something in a bag for the Raathius. “Here you go, Mr. Ramsed. I’m sorry about your watch.”

“Thank you, Lea. I hope you have a good day.”

Finally, the waitress came over to Pat’s table, giving him a warm smile. “I apologize for the delay, sir. What can I do for you today?”

Pat gave her a dark look. “You can get me your manager, this instant.”

“My manager? Um...why, sir?”

“Because I am disgusted with the treatment I have been given here! I cannot believe you would give me the brush off for one of those!” He pointed at the Raathius for emphasis.

The waitress looked like she’d been slapped. “I...okay, sir, I will be right back. Just a minute.”

As she left, Pat spotted the Raathius standing to leave. Before he really knew what he was doing, he was on his feet and in front of the reptile, nearly causing a collision. “Hey, you!”

The Raathius stepped back a bit. “Um, excuse me, I’ve got to get going-”

“Oh, no you don’t! Who the hell do you think you are?” He was doing his best to be intimidating, though the Raathius had a couple inches on him, making it a little more difficult. Still, he had attracted attention, as the rest of the café had their eyes on him, something he relished as he set himself up to put the lizard in its place. “You think you’re better than I am? You think you should get special treatment? You have some gall!”

“What are you-” The Raathius’ expression went from confused to irritated. “...Right. I don’t have time for this. If you don’t mind-”

“Oh, please. What on earth can you be doing that’s so important that you need to rush out that fast?”

A sigh from the Raathius. “If you must know, I’m an investment banker and I’m running late. Can I go now?”

“Invest...” Now Pat’s jaw did fall, and as he gaped, the momentary lapse was enough for the lizard to slip by him and hurry out the door. Pat turned just in time to see him round a corner and disappear. He couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. Investment banker? One of those things? What filthy lies! They’re barely fit for menial labor, they’re certainly not fit for such a high-power position!

“You had a problem?”

Pat snapped out of his reverie and turned back. He’d almost forgotten about the manager, who had come out with the waitress and did not look particularly pleased. He was bigger than the Raathius as well, and for a split second Pat was regretting his demand; however, his pride took back over before he could rethink himself. “I can’t believe you let refuse like that in here. Why does that lying piece of scum get served before I do? You know he calls himself an investment banker?”

“That’s because he is an investment banker,” the manager growled. “He manages our café’s entire hedge fund. And he does a damn good job of it.”

“You...are you nuts? Not only do you buy his story, you’d put your money in his hands? He’s not even worthy to lick an investment banker’s shoes-” Pat caught himself as he saw the manager’s expression go from unpleasant to restrained anger. He glanced around for support, but all he got was dirty looks from the rest of the café patrons. Why aren’t they backing me up? What’s wrong with them? Didn’t they see what happened?

“I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Now.”

Pat huffed, but didn’t bother continuing to argue. He didn’t want to spend any more time there anyway; clearly, this was not a class joint, it was well beneath someone of his importance. He turn on his heel and walked out, fuming.

---

With his stomach rumbling and his desire for local flavor gone, Pat did the next best thing and went to a cheap fast food place. It wasn’t the healthiest option, but he could get something for very little expense. His fortunes seemed to be far better than the previous location, as he got there just before a rush, and had to spend very little time in line. As he waited, he spent time observing the people around him. Once again, the number of Raathii was greater than his expectations, though at least he had an idea why they might be here; when they got paid so little, fast food was generally all they could afford. He couldn’t imagine why they weren’t all overweight slobs, though he supposed they didn’t really need to be any more disgusting.

He placed his order and waited at the end of the counter, his eyes scanning the back. There were two Raathii in the back that he could see, manning the food stations. He didn’t know exactly how comfortable he was with them around his food, but it was hard to help; they were cheap labor, and there were few businesses that didn’t take advantage of that. At least they weren’t pretending to be investment bankers.

The lines at the registers were getting even longer, and he noticed that one of the cashiers was getting somewhat flustered, entering orders slower than her counterpart at the other register. After a few minutes of this, a third Raathius came up to her. “Suzy, you’ve gotta pick it up a bit. We’ve got a long line here.”

“S-sorry, Ezzie. I’m not...I can’t keep up with...”

The Raathius sighed. “All right, you hop on drive-thru, I’ll take over here. But you’ve got to get more comfortable with serving the customers face-to-face. I know you’re working on it but when it’s busy we need the help on the registers.”

Pat stared as the girl left the register, looking relieved, and the Raathius took over and started processing customers with ease. He’d seen lizards working at these places but he’d never seen one trying to boss around a human employee. And even crazier, not a single person seemed to react to the spectacle. Don’t they realize what happened? It’s like the café...are they obtuse or something?

As an employee brought his food, he couldn’t let it rest. “Hey, what the hell was that?”

“What was what?”

“That...what happened at the registers!”

“You mean Suzy? It’s nothing that bad, she’s just seems to have some trouble with dealing with people face-to-face. You know how some people are, right? Least she’s more comfortable with drive-thru.” Indeed, from what Pat could hear the girl sounded much more at ease in that role.

“But...that reptile! He acted like he was her boss, criticizing her like that!”

He saw the boy’s eyes narrow at him. “That’s because he is our boss? You see anyone else here with ‘Manager’ on their name tags? Jeez, dude, wake up.”

“Wh-they let him be the manager? But...but he’s-”

“He’s what?” It was a clear goading statement, and suddenly Pat found himself wanting to drop it. He’s had enough of dirty looks for a day...he couldn’t understand why he was getting such a poor reception from what seemed like very reasonable protests to him. But whatever the case, he didn’t feel like it would be worth the trouble, so he took his bag of food and left.

---

Though it was early October, the weather was still fairly pleasant, and the warm morning gave Pat the desire to spend some time out in the open air. He did not have to search long to find a nice quiet park, not far from what appeared to be a school. He took a rest at one of the picnic tables and began eating, watching as he saw children start to cross towards the school. They appeared to be younger teenagers, so he surmised that it was a middle school. He smiled; the younger generation didn’t know how lucky they had it, growing up in a world with such amazing companies as Grandia and Songard. He wondered how many of them would end up working at one of those businesses, partaking in such a grand changing of the world.

He couldn’t get his mind off of the incidents with the Raathii, though. Something about them still hung with him, giving him some disquiet. There was something about them...their attitudes, their appearances, their abundance. Especially their abundance. There were so many of them, he couldn’t even imagine such numbers back where he lived. And especially strange was that the Raathii tended to congregate in the cities, not in places like this. That made it all the more confusing.

And then, as he observed the kids heading towards the school, he realized just how many of them were green. At first he thought his eyes were tricking him, that he was just having trouble seeing in the distance, but as it continued, he became certain: there were quite a few Raathii among the student body. And if their numbers had been surprising before, here they were astonishing, at least one for every two humans.

Pat had heard of Raathii attending human schools before. Usually they had their own schools, though they could barely be called that; generally they got so little support that there wasn’t much they could do to provide a strong education. The few Raathii that had the honor of attending a human school generally were able to do so as part of an agreement between the parent and a human sponsor, which usually resulted in the parent becoming a kind of indentured servant to the human sponsor. The students didn’t have a good time in the schools, he was sure; they had to feel extremely out of place and were probably badly bullied. It was a good way to show them their place in life, in Pat’s eyes.

But that couldn’t possibly have been going on here, not with so many. There weren’t that many humans willing to sponsor Raathii, and there was no way a school would accept that many in the first place. That left him with only one possibility…

This can’t be an integrated school?

Usually when he heard about school integration it was treated as a joke. Having a couple of whipping boy Raathii wasn’t considered real integration - they still weren’t on equal standing with the human students, and were mostly there for show. He’d once heard about a school district considering integration until the parents nearly rioted and forced them to back off. He figured it was only natural they would feel that way - he certainly wouldn’t have sent his kids to a school where lizards were more than a novelty.

Yet, here he was, looking at a school where apparently humans and Raathii were both attending. And interacting...there weren’t any altercations between the two, in fact they seemed to be getting along quite well. It made Pat’s gut twist a bit - what he was seeing here, it was...unnatural, somehow wrong. He wondered if he wasn’t misinterpreting - perhaps the integration was forced and he was just imagining things?

A pair of boys, one human and one Raathii, was crossing the park, and passing reasonably close to him on their way to the school. Pat guessed they couldn’t be more than about 6th grade, definitely on the younger side of the school’s attendance. His curiosity getting the better of him, he stood up and walked over towards them. “Hey, can I ask you boys a couple of questions?”

The two boys stopped, and exchanged nervous glances. They were definitely wary of him, and he didn’t blame them. “It’s all right, I’m not gonna ask you to come in a suspicious van or anything. I’m not from around here and I just want to ask a couple quick questions.”

“...Okay, I guess?” They still didn’t look completely at ease, so Pat decided to proceed carefully.

“Ah, the school you’re going to...is it...integrated?”

“Yeah.”

“I see...how long has it been that way?”

The Raathius boy shrugged. “As long as I’ve known.”

“Do you know why they did it that way?”

“Why wouldn’t they?” the human boy asked. “Doesn’t make much sense to do it any other way, does it?”

“Er...I mean, where I’m from, humans and Raathii go to different schools. Why not do that here?”

“Psh. That’s so stupid! We live right next to each other, why not just go to the same school?”

The Raathius nodded in agreement. “I know, I wouldn’t want to have to go somewhere else! All my friends are here!”

“Oh...well...um...all right, thank you, I won’t keep you any longer.” Pat watched as the two boys walked off, maybe moving a little more quickly than they had before. His mind was almost reeling now; it was an integrated school, and a willingly integrated school as that...but even more than that, they were living in the same neighborhoods. Those lizards were living in houses. It was preposterous - who would sell a house to a Raathius family? No way they could afford to pay for one, to say nothing of what that would do for property values. It was madness, unheard of, simply unacceptable.

Integrated schools...another thing Pat couldn’t get over. How could people have been okay with that? Those reptiles didn’t belong, they didn’t fit in. They were being given privileges they didn’t deserve in the slightest. The only thing he could think of that could have been worse is if they could have been allowed to teach.

...Were they allowed to teach?

Pat felt dread swell in his gullet once again. Were they allowing those things to actually teach humans? That was a prospect he never thought he would have to consider, but now he couldn’t put it out of his head; everything in this town was already so crazy and backwards, why couldn’t this be possible?

He saw another group of students passing through the park, these ones older, most likely among the older grades at the school. There were a mix of boys and girls, humans and Raathii, and Pat felt himself get nervous at the prospect of talking to them; however, his concern about the question he was considering overrode that. He cautiously approached the group, which slowed as it noticed him approaching. “I’m sorry, but would you mind answering a question for me?”

“Depends.” It was a very teenager answer, and it had Pat on guard.

“Well...you attend that school, right? Do you have any Raathius teachers?”

“What kind of question is that? Of course we do!” one of the girls said rather snippily. The answer stunned Pat; he hadn’t expected her to treat the question as so unnecessary.

“Bet he’s not from around here...” He couldn’t tell which one said it, but it made him burn a bit inside. Why were they treating him like this? He just asked a simple question...it was their casual acceptance of those reptiles as teachers that was crazy, not him.

“Okay, okay, I was just asking. You go get to class.”

“Tch. Weirdo.” The kids walked away, and Pat finally decided that he was done with this place. This strange treatment of Raathii here was more than he could tolerate now. He had to leave and get somewhere where things were more as they should be, more normal. He tossed his garbage in one of the waste bins and hurried to his car, vowing to give the town a wide berth on his way home.

---

He thought it was only a matter of time before he would feel relief from the craziness of the town. Things had been off there, but surely the city would have to be better; it wouldn’t tolerate nonsense like Raathii being in the same schools as humans. And there would have to be fewer of them, too...surely the only reason there were so many Raathii in that town was because the people there were crazy enough to let them get away with it.

But even on the highway, he was starting to notice a disturbing trend. There were more than a few Raathii behind the wheels of the vehicles he was passing by. The first time, he thought the car had been stolen, but as he saw more and more of them he knew there couldn’t possibly be that many stolen cars. For all the life of him he couldn’t fathom why - Raathii couldn’t get driver’s licenses, and certainly couldn’t afford to buy cars. Why weren’t they using the public transportation like they were supposed to?

It was baffling to him. Allowing those things on the road couldn’t have been anything other than a public menace. Whoever had allowed this had to have gotten into big trouble, but why hadn’t it been stopped already? He didn’t know, but it bothered him greatly. Every time he noticed a Raathius in one of the passing vehicles, he moved as far away from it as possible. He didn’t want to risk their terrible driving wrecking his car and his trip; he was far too important for that.

His fraying nerves made the drive feel a lot longer and more stressful than it should have, but eventually he did safely reach the city. As he passed through the streets, following his GPS towards the location of his hotel, he cast his eyes around at the streets, and his gut wrenched once again. The Raathii were once again far more numerous than he was used to - it seemed like ten times the number there were back home. He couldn’t imagine living here, with so many of those reptilian freaks around...he didn’t see how he could walk the streets safely. Thank goodness they couldn’t vote...and now Pat was very much NOT wanting to ask the question of whether they could vote. That was a line he couldn’t let himself even think had been crossed.

But it was more than that, more than just the numbers. It was the way they were...they walked alongside humans, talked with them casually, went around like there wasn’t any problem at all. And the humans weren’t trying to distance themselves, weren’t looking over their shoulders or crossing the streets to avoid them. He could see numerous groups with both kinds represented, acting like nothing at all was wrong. It was almost as if the lizards were being treated like…

Like people.

It made him burn with rage on the inside. How dare they act so casual? They weren’t human, they weren’t even close, they didn’t have the right to be treated like them. They should be put in their place, thanking their lucky stars that they were even allowed to live on this planet. And the humans, how could they just let that happen? Why weren’t they taking their rightful role as the dominant species? If they didn’t assert themselves, it could be disastrous...those reptiles might just start an uprising before they knew it!

He was so frustrated and out of sorts that it caused him to miss his turns more than once, leading to a fair bit of extra driving before he finally got to the hotel He hoped against hope that this place would be classy enough to refuse those lizards - it was reputed to be one of the best hotels in the city, and it had been Grandia’s gift to him for taking on this important task to set him up here for the two nights he was supposed to stay. He was sure they wouldn’t set him up in a place that accepted those reptiles…

He entered the hotel, carrying his bag with him, and approached the desk. The clerk was a human, a fact that gave him intense relief. Putting on his best smile, he approached and handed the clerk his itinerary.

The clerk grinned at him as he looked over the paper. “Ah, Mr. Riley, I see you’ve got one of our single-person suites. You must be quite important to get one of these.”

“Well, if I do say so myself, I’m on quite an important business trip, so I’m sure they wanted me to be very well-rested.”

“Of course, sir, we only have the best here. Here is your room key, and you may make use of any of our fine services simply by using your billing code right here. Thank you for staying with us.”

“Thank you very much!” Pat received his key and papers and turned from the desk. The lobby only had one of those green freaks; he was dressed far classier than he would have expected, but he supposed they had to make a good image. He walked over to the Raathius and tossed his bag down. “Take this to my room, bag boy. And be careful with it, don’t lose anything.”

The Raathius did a double-take and looked at Pat in confusion. “Bag boy?”

“Don’t you learn what you’re supposed to do here? Make it snappy, I’ve got things to do.”

“Sir, I’m sorry, I don’t know who you are, but I don’t work here.”

“Then why are you here?”

The reptile looked at him with clear confusion. “I’m...staying here? Isn’t that why you’re here?”

Pat’s expression turned to one of unbridled anger. “Now don’t you dare get smart with me! I’ve had enough sass from your kind today already! This is one of the top hotels around, they wouldn’t let your kind stay here for anything! Now you do as I say or I’ll be calling your manager and getting you canned in a heartbeat!”

He expected the lizard to back down meekly, apologize and take his bag, like any good lizard should. But he certainly didn’t expect the response he got instead - the Raathius actually glowered back at him. “Another one of you? I’m getting sick of you people coming in acting like you own us. We haven’t done anything to you, so just leave us alone already!”

“You think you have any right to get pissy with me? Oh, I suppose you’re going to tell me you’re an ‘investment banker’ or something else your kind couldn’t possibly do? You’re just here to serve, not to talk back!”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m a marketing manager. And I’m just waiting for my wife to finish checking on someone so we can go out for our show.”

Pat laughed acerbically. “Marketing manager? Do you just lie like that because it sounds impressive to the other green freaks? What does your ‘wife’ do, human resources directing?”

Now the Raathius’ eyes glittered in anger. “She is a doctor, and I will not hear you say a word against her!”

Again, he laughed, louder and even more rudely. The idea of one of those lizards being a doctor, treating sick people, was unthinkable to him. “Wow, you know how to tell ‘em! Playing yourself up like you’re important or something! You freaks just can’t accept your limits, can you? Doctors, bankers, managers, those are human jobs, jobs for people who matter! Stop trying to pretend you’re something you’re not!”

Now the Raathius looked seconds away from physically lashing out, but held back just long enough for the elevator to ding and another Raathius to exit. This one, a female, was also dressed far more nicely than what Pat was used to seeing, and as she looked between Pat and the other lizard, she could tell something was up. “Yace? What’s going on?”

“Another irritation,” the male said. “Let’s go.”

“Oh, please, don’t run off!” Pat said sarcastically. “Tell me all about how she’s a doctor again, I need the laugh!”

The female rolled her eyes, and quickly pulled something out of her purse. She handed it to Pat insistently. “My card. Though you probably don’t need my treatment...mental health is more likely your problem. Good day, sir.”

Pat stared at the card, then back at the lizards, then back at the card again. What had been amusing at first had become an unpleasant surprise. She had given him a copy of a medical credential card, showing her to be a licensed general practitioner. The image on the card was clear, and he knew this was something that not just anyone could get - they were very strictly controlled after the incidents with the fake doctors killing people at three New York hospitals. He looked back up to the lizards again, but they were leaving, the male saying to the female “That’s why I love you, darling.”

Being dumbfounded was becoming an unpleasantly familiar feeling for Pat, who simply stared after them as they left. Surely this had to be an elaborate joke. They wouldn’t give doctorates to lizards? How could they even afford to attend an institution of higher education? Even those that theoretically allowed them to attend were out of their price range. And putting them in charge of people’s health...it was insanity. What if he fell ill here? He couldn’t go to a hospital where they let lizards work as something other than janitors, and even that made him uncomfortable.

He took his bags himself and headed towards the elevators. Along the way, he got a number of dirty looks from people in the lobby, including the clerks behind the desk...he returned them with his own. They had some nerve, acting like that towards him! He was the one in the right, they were the freaks who were letting aliens walk all over them. He wouldn’t let them intimidate him, he would come out unscathed, whatever it took, and leave this freakish place for good.

---

The next day brought fair weather, a nice sight to accompany him to Songard’s corporate headquarters. Which also turned out to be their main work facility; an unusual set-up, but they were still a fairly upstart company with novel ideas for how to operate. Thankfully, Pat didn’t have any more actual encounters with any Raathii, but the sight of them all over the place was disconcerting. Having them around made him uncomfortable; he wished he could force them away. He seemed unique in that regard, though...other people around didn’t seem to be at all uncomfortable. And that made Pat very uncomfortable.

Entering Songard’s building, of course, things were no different. The Raathii were everywhere, mingled with humans in astonishing proportions. He was working very hard to follow Mr. Farthing’s advice and check his nerves at the door, but it was difficult, what with all the reptiles running around. How the others ever dealt with it, he never knew...but he knew he had a job to do, and he had to try to focus on that.

It was only then that he realized he didn’t know who would be meeting him. He had been told only that one of the members of the executive council would be taking him on a brief tour. He knew Songard had a rather unorthodox set-up, with the chief executive officer role split into a council of several members of equal power; at the time it had been an unprecedented setup, but having witnessed Songard’s success, other companies had started to try to emulate the concept, with mixed success. As far as Pat knew, Mr. Farthing and the company shareholders had never even entertained the idea.

He approached the secretary at the front desk, clearing his throat and trying to sound as important as he was. “I’m Patrick Riley, I’m supposed to be meeting with the council regarding a business partnership contract.”

The young woman smiled brightly at him. “One moment please, I’ll let them know, one of them should be down in a moment.”

“Oh? I figured I would be going to meet them…”

“Ah, yes, the council likes to personally come down and greet their most important guests. Sitting in an office and letting things come to them isn’t the style they prefer, they like to be active and make things happen. It’s part of their philosophy.”

He was rather surprised that she would be so familiar with that, but didn’t inquire further - that would only lead to a delay, and he wasn’t interested in wasting time with idle chit-chat. “All right, then, thank you.”

He sat in one of the chairs near the desk, waiting for any sign that someone was looking for him. His eyes wandered over the people traveling through...the amount of green was rather stomach-turning, Songard employed far too many Raathii for his comfort. But he supposed that wasn’t that unlikely, if they had that many to use Grandia probably would be hiring quite a few of them too. Cheap labor was a big asset these days, with so many people searching for jobs...Pat had to wonder if he’d even bother, though. Was it worth it to be giving them money, even a little bit? If he’d had his choice, only humans would be in his employ. He’d take the hit on labor costs if it meant not having to work with those creatures.

His train of thought was quickly derailed as he saw a smartly-dressed African-American man coming down the steps. Pat stood up and started walking towards him, and instantly he smiled and greeted him. “I presume you’re Mr. Riley, from Grandia. My name is Christopher Warren, I’m one of the heads here at Songard Technologies. I’m glad you could make it.”

“I’m very glad to be here. My bosses have so much good to say about you and Songard, and I’m hoping I can make the case for a partnership between us. It would be very much to all of our benefit.”

“I have no doubt. Come, let me give you the short tour.” Mr. Warren took Pat down a hallway, seeming to have a destination in mind.

“So, you said ‘heads’ plural. I’ve heard you have an unusual leadership structure, a council rather than a chief executive?” Though he already knew the set-up, he wanted to hear a bit more about it from one of the executives. Plus, small talk was good for establishing a rapport.

“You’ve heard correctly. From the start, Songard was a collaborative effort, and we decided that instead of having just one person at the top, it would be to everyone’s benefit for us to have a group of people making the executive decisions. I’m part of that council. There’s eight of us, and we’ll have you meet with them once we’ve finished the tour.”

“I see,” Pat replied, feeling a bit nervous. There being a council meant his and Grandia’s success didn’t hinge on just one person, but on the other hand, it was that many more people he had to convince of his company’s value to them.

The tour was almost a whirlwind. Mr. Warren brought him around to many different rooms and showed him dozens of developments that Songard had been working on. There was no question to Pat that they were ahead of nearly everyone; some of the works they showed him were things he thought were more science fiction than science. Most shocking were all the Raathii around. Pat’s mind boggled at the sheer number of them; there was almost one for every two humans, by his estimate, and they worked practically everywhere. It was distinctly bothersome to him, but he forced himself to hold his tongue, since complaints about the workforce would no doubt leave a poor impression on Mr. Warren. Cheap labor had to be more important to a new company like them, perhaps they’d upgrade to actual people once they had the capital. Perhaps Grandia could help with that.

“Did you have any questions so far?” Mr. Warren’s voice cut him out of his reverie.

“Ah, no, not at the moment...well, I might, actually, but my head’s spinning so much that I’m not sure I’ll be able to come up with it.”

“Ah, yes, that was a lot to take in, wasn’t it? You’ll have to excuse me, I get so excited about what we do here that I sometimes tend to talk ears off. I presume your interest is in truly getting down to business?”

Pat smiled, doing his best to seem open and friendly about it. “It’s no trouble at all! I wouldn’t want to rush to business without giving you a chance to show all you’ve accomplished!”

“A splendid response, Mr. Riley, and one very much appreciated. But yes, let’s take you to the rest of the council, and you can explore more after we’ve had our initial meeting.”

They finally got into a set of nice-looking elevators towards the rear of the building. Mr. Warren took him straight to the top floor making idle chat with Pat as they rode their way up. Pat did his best to be polite, but was more focused on bracing himself for the coming meeting...one-on-one was difficult enough, but eight-on-one was a truly daunting prospect.

As they exited the elevators, he followed Mr. Warren to a rather ordinary-looking doorway. Mr. Warren entered in a keycode on the security pad to unlock the door, and pushed it open. Though it looked nondescript from the outside, the council room itself was pretty nice. Not quite as nice as the executive offices at Grandia, in Pat’s opinion, but it certainly looked cushy and there was no question there was a nice view out the large wall-size windows curving around the back. There were quite a few plants around the room as well, large flowering shrubs as well as some trees and ferns. A circular table sat in the center of the room, sixteen chairs placed around it. Seven of the chairs were occupied, forming an almost-semicircle in the direction of the doors. Pat scanned over the occupants and barely suppressed a gasp.

No...no...not here. It can’t be! Not here!

Mr. Warren waved his hand towards the table. “Mr. Riley, please allow me to introduce the rest the council. Mrs. Sylvia Winthrop-” A white lady nodded and smiled towards him- “Mr. Ryslath Abardna-” A Raathius gave him a solemn nod- “Ms. Min Li Ni-” An Asian woman waved at him- “Mr. Muhammad Radyani-” A man of some kind of Arabian descent regarded him with a fairly expressionless face- “Mr. John Sakano-” An asian man gave him a small bow from his seat- “Mr. Siklar Sreknontampret-” The second Raathius grinned and saluted him with two fingers- “And Mr. Clyde Russman.” A larger white man was looking Pat over, making him even more uncomfortable than he thought he could possibly be.

“Glad you could make it!” the second Raathius, Siklar or something, Pat could barely remember that name, said to him. “I’ve been wondering when Grandia would make its pitch, you guys are huge! You’ve got the whole company buzzing, wondering what kind of economic power we’d have if we get together!”

“Er...really?”

“We’ve got pretty high hopes,” Mrs. Winthrop agreed. “There’s a lot to get on both sides. But we still have to take many things into consideration. If you would take a seat, we’ve got many questions to ask you.”

---

All in all, Pat thought, it didn’t go as badly as it could have. He gave his spiels as best he could, but they appeared to have heard most of them before. They seemed intent on peppering him with what felt like scores of questions about the company, some of which he had solid answers to and others that he felt completely clueless on. He did his best to keep up an air of confidence, but it was a challenge with such pressure. It didn’t help that every time one of the Raathii asked a question, he felt a twinge of mingled anger and contempt, and only barely managed to hold himself back and keep a civil tongue.

After the meeting was finished, Pat was given leave to look around Songard at his leisure, at least where the security clearance was minimal. He had a hard time concentrating on what to look at, though; his mind was mired with confusion concerning the Raathii on the council. The sheer lunacy of putting those things in a position of power, he couldn’t wrap his head around it. Did Mr. Farthing know about this? How could he have? Surely he wouldn’t have dealt with Songard if he knew that they let lizards run their company.

He wandered aimlessly for a time, eventually coming to a set of doors that led to an overlook over what could best have been described as a large workshop area. Except one that was almost futuristic - very clean, organized, bright, and with machines that he couldn’t even imagine what they were supposed to do. Except for one, which he’d seen in some of his research into Songard, an engine that was supposed to have potential for use in space shuttles. It was supposed to use highly efficient fuel cells which would mean much cleaner, easier take-offs, and would be a step in the direction of a renaissance in space travel. Looking over it, Pat couldn’t quite tell whether it was capable of such a feat, but it certainly looked impressive.

“Quite a sight, isn’t it?” Pat turned and saw Mr. Sakano walk up next to him, leaning on the railing and staring in awe at the machine. “It seems so fantastic, and yet we’re able to bring something like that into true reality...the future is upon us, Mr. Riley.”

“Ah...yeah, no kidding.” Feeling kind of foolish for not having more to say, he attempted to make some kind of conversation. “So, uh, I’ve got a question. You mentioned you would be talking about some stipulations for the partnership with Grandia. It may be none of my business, but it did get me curious...”

“Well, we normally bring those up later in negotiations, but I see no reason to keep them secret. You know that we are on the cutting edge, Mr. Riley, and we realize that in order to stay that way, we must be very forward-thinking. We want the best and brightest minds to see us and think, ‘this is where I want to work.’ For that reason, we also have some very critical philosophies, and a partnership with another company would require some...concessions to those philosophies. For instance...Mr. Riley, does Grandia employ any Raathii?”

“Yeah, some.” There was oh so much more he could add to that, but he got the impression that Mr. Sakano wasn’t interested in any diatribes.

“And what do you pay them?”

“Huh?”

“Their wages. What is their pay rate?”

“Oh, uh, well, depends on their tasks, they’re in various different positions, but I know the standard menial rate’s between five and seven an hour.”

“Ah...” Pat saw Mr. Sakano shake his head slightly. “All too typical. Here at Songard, we have a firmly-entrenched standard that equal position means equal pay. We also abide by the living wage standard for our pay rates. It is state law here, of course, but we embrace the principles behind it as well - well-paid employees are happier, healthier, and more productive. And personally, I feel that any company that requires fleecing its employees to stay profitable was never on solid ground to begin with. So it doesn’t matter that federal law has no mandate for Raathii pay, we pay them an equal rate to any other person for the same job, and the bare minimum any position can pay is the current living wage standard. And any partnership we were to engage in, we would have to see improvements towards that. Of course, I understand that we cannot demand anyone change their pay scales to suit our own desires...but, we are not bound to make any deals with those we don’t wish to collaborate with. Our philosophies have served us well, and we do not intend to shed that for someone else’s profit.”

“I see.” Pat cringed inwardly at the thought; the raises for the regular employees alone would cause labor costs to jump dangerously. The Raathii wouldn’t be as big a deal, they could be fired with no problem, no way Grandia would pay them that much. At least there was no state law of the sort for them...what kind of state was this that had such laws?

“As you have probably seen, we at Songard are equal opportunity employers. As I said, we must be forward-thinking. There is no room at this company for treatment such as one might find in other areas of the world. It does not matter to us what a person looks like...it only matters that they are capable of doing the job and that they do it well.”

“And...and you have no problem with that?” Pat asked hesitantly.

If Mr. Sakano was offended by the question, he didn’t show it. “Why should I be? They are people like any of the rest of us. They are extremely capable in many respects, especially around the technology sector. Much of what we do is building off of the technology they brought with them, they know it better than we do and they have taught us quite a lot. It is an honor working with them.”

Pat contained himself, but only barely. An honor working with bottom-feeding lizards? Perhaps that was just part of the whole kookiness of this place, but he certainly didn’t see any honor in it. What would be an honor would be working with hard-working humans, people who deserved to be here, to be on this planet and ruling it. Lizards need not apply. He kept his tongue, though, as Mr. Sakano kept talking.

“These philosophies we have carried from the start, and that we were proud to champion...and it made us all the prouder when those around us supported it. It was immensely gratifying to hear, while others were saying ‘not in my backyard,’ our governor was saying ‘we welcome you with open arms.’ The first to do so, and thankfully not the last. It was not always easy, nothing of this nature ever is, but it’s amazing what starting out from a place of acceptance will do. You stop seeing the insignificant exterior and start seeing more of the soul...and then you realize our souls are hardly any different from each other.”

“I see.” He saw crazy, that was what he saw. Pat felt almost insulted enough to lose his cool again - there was no way HIS soul was anything close to some damn alien lizard’s. There was no question he was going to have to do something to prove that, and the sooner the better.

He excused himself from the workshop, and decided to look around the computer technology sector. Songard had a programming division, a type of workplace that tended to be much more casual and laid-back. Pat didn’t really trust that type of workplace, it seemed liable to be lazy and inefficient, and if he saw signs of that here he would no doubt be able to tell Mr. Farthing about it. It would provide, perhaps, a bit of leverage when they discussed financials.

His first impression of the programming division was more favorable than that - definitely more casual than his workplace, and even most other parts in Songard, but still appearing to be a fairly tight ship. He slowly wandered around, making note of how people were working...or whether they were.

It wasn’t really procedure, but Pat made it pretty standard. Inevitably there were those employees that weren’t dedicated, who slacked on the job, leeching money from the company that generously employed them. One of his favorite things to do was catch one of those slackers in the act and make a big show of it. Their bosses would rush in, apologizing profusely, perhaps firing or severely punishing the worthless employee right then and there, but even if they didn’t he got the enjoyment of putting himself in a more powerful position, one where he could ensure they shaped up to his standard. It made him feel even more important, and that was one of his favorite feelings.

This time, he had a specific goal. He knew there were plenty of Raathii here, and they’d been grating at him ever since he started this trip. It would be worth everything to get one of those reptiles in trouble. He stalked as silently as possible, eyes and ears open for any sign of weakness...it took some time, and he even passed by a human who would have otherwise been a good mark, but finally he heard it. From one of the cubicles, the sound of light snoring. Cautiously, he moved towards the source of the sound.

In one of the cubicles, he caught sight of a Raathius, slumped over on its desk, unmoving. Pat grinned viciously. This one was going to be gone in a hurry. “Hey! What the hell are you doing, sleeping like that on the job?!”

The Raathius awoke with a start. “Hwa...ugh...oh, man! I’m sorry! I just spent the past 30 hours coding and...” He blinked a couple times when he finally saw Pat. “Huh? You’re not Jake. Who are you?”

“Who’s this Jake?”

“He’s my supervisor. Uh, who exactly are-”

“Your supervisor! I’m sure he’d love to know that you were nodding off and wasting this company’s precious time! You’d better start packing up your things, you’re gonna be out on the street in record time!”

“Whoa, whoa, hold up, what the hell are you talking about?”

“Hey, excuse me, what are you doing?” Pat turned to see a man about his height giving him a strange look. A name tag identified him as the supervisor the Raathii had spoken of.

“Well, I should have you know, your employee was sleeping on the job. I want to know what kind of action you’re going to take against him! This has to be a clear violation of company policies!”

“Dude, first off, pipe down. Second, no action’s gonna be taken. Kyr’s one of our best programmers, and he stayed here all night, so he’s getting a sleep break. Oh, and Kyr, thanks for the CIN-U script, I’ll have it reviewed by Thursday and get you a list of edits.”

“Thanks, Jake.” The Raathius rubbed his eyes tiredly. “Man, I need a coffee.”

“You can’t be serious!” Pat almost yelled. “Grandia wouldn’t stand for this crap! If we caught an employee sleeping they’d be on the street in minutes! Especially if they were a lizard!”

“What the hell is your problem?” Jake shot back. “We’re not gonna fire some guy just because you’re going off on him!”

“This kind of business practice is not acceptable! Letting one of those aliens slack off while you pay him way more than he’s worth, you people are insane!”

“I dunno what kind of sick problem you’ve got with Raathii, but you’ve no business pushing it on us! Get outta here before I call security!”

“How dare you!” Now it was more than business principle. Just like the waitress, this guy was elevating some Raathius above him! Not just that, but a slacker, someone who wasn’t worth anything! He wasn’t going to stand for that anymore, not with these people. “You’re just gonna let him get away with this? You’re gonna ignore me and take his word? You’re just as bad as the rest of this city! You’re all crazy, acting like they’re worth something, like they’re just like your next door neighbors! Well, they’re not! They don’t belong here, all of them aren’t worth a billionth of one of us, and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna sit here and let you prostrate me to some fucking lizard alien freak!”

“Excuse me?!”

Pat nearly had a heart attack on the spot. He twisted around, hoping against hope that it wasn’t what he thought, but it was. Mrs. Winthrop was standing behind him, and next to her was Mr. Abardna. She looked furious, and he looked very unpleasant.

“...‘fucking lizard alien freaks’...” Mr. Abardna said, speaking quietly but drawing from a very deep well of scorn. “So, that is what you think of us, Mr. Riley? That we are not worth the dirt on your shoes?”

“I...it’s not…” Pat stuttered, unable to find the right words. He couldn’t be asked to excuse himself to one of those...he couldn’t, but he had to, this one held the fate of the deal in his hands. He tried to look in desperation towards Ms. Withrop in defense of himself, but her shaking fury was all too clear a sign that help was not coming to him.

“I think you’d better come with us, Mr. Riley. We have to address this matter.”

---

Sitting before the council the first time, Pat had felt like he was being grilled, but that it was a more cordial or friendly kind of atmosphere. As he was seated in front of them now, seeing the dark and angry or disappointed expressions of their faces, he was dreadfully certain that it wasn’t going to be the same this time around. In his mind, he clung to the hope that they would agree with every word he said, immediately change their tune and restore the world to something that made sense...but that was a bare fantasy, one he knew wasn’t going to be fulfilled.

Mrs. Winthrop was shaking in rage, her expression by far the angriest of any of them. “I have never heard such vile disrespectful filth come out of the mouth of someone we invited into our building! That you would come in here, slander our employees, harass them on the job, and act like it was your right...I’ve had to deal with some idiots in my life, but you, Mr. Riley, are one of the absolute worst! Because you, a man in a position like yours, should be above that!”

“You know, I thought we had something here. When we spoke with Mr. Farthing, we were given the impression that they were willing to be open to understanding where we were coming from and what we wanted.” Mr. Sreknontampret also looked quite angry, though less loudly so. “I can’t believe this is what they sent us...was Grandia just playing with us, thinking that we would just sign on blindly?” Pat dearly wanted to say he didn’t think they would ever have let Songard sign on if they knew they were run by lizards, but he was in hot enough water already.

“I don’t know how they do things at Grandia, Mr. Riley, but that’s not how we do things here.” Mr. Russman looked even bigger than before, and now he was making Pat feel a lot smaller. “It’s not how anyone does things here. When you’re a guest, our job is to make you feel welcome, but a guest is expected to maintain a certain amount of decorum as well. You don’t enter another person’s house and start judging them or their family.”

Ms. Ni was no less forgiving. “Do you even know the history of Songard Technologies? Did you even bother to learn about our company? We spearheaded the Raathius Rights Movement from the very start! It was because of us that the state passed the very first Raathius Equality Act when everyone else ignored the issue! And do you know why we pushed so hard? Because we saw the Raathii for what they really are! Wonderful, brilliant people whose knowledge could be the solution for dozens of this world’s problems! People who are kind and caring, who are no different from the rest of us except for their appearance! This very company is founded on a principle of equal treatment, and for you to come waltzing in here and spit on that is the grossest violation I can imagine! If this is how Grandia wants to represent itself, then they won’t see so much as a circuit board come their way!”

“I...I just don’t...” Pat didn’t even really know how to respond. On the one hand, nothing short of begging for forgiveness would salvage the visit at this point, but on the other, he couldn’t accept that they would value any Raathius above him. He just couldn’t accept that. It was inconceivable. He was a human. They weren’t even close. And he simply could not, would not grovel to one of them, not even one who somehow held a position above his own.

“I had hoped that you would understand after our little talk, Mr. Riley,” Mr. Sakano said, shaking his head in disappointment. “Even though you seemed reluctant, I thought at least it would help you think about things in a different light, and at least respect us and those who we asked to work for us. It seems I was wrong, and I truly am sorry about that. Perhaps we’ll have to vet our prospects even more thoroughly next time.”

“Part of the reason I’m so dedicated to our philosophy is my own experience,” added in Mr. Warren. “I’ve been on the wrong side of prejudice and discrimination in my life, and I know the pain that it brings. We’ve strived for diversity and equality, tolerance and kindness in everything we do, and we emphasize the importance of this those we partner with. We cannot force people to change their minds, but we can use our influence to promote those who agree with our mission. Your use of racial slurs and your obvious harassment of some of our employees based on their kind...it’s like a personal insult to me. You couldn’t have done any worse if you’d come up to my face and called me the N-word.”

“We’ve had to put up with a lot since our arrival here, and here we’ve finally found a place for our people to call home, a place where we’re widely accepted and treated equally,” Mr. Abardna said solemnly. “We never asked for more than this...but for many, it seems too much to ask. Perhaps it’s a bit selfish of me to say that I won’t subject my kind to abuse they don’t deserve, but the others here will certainly back me up. I think we are done here, Mr. Riley. We’re rejecting your offer.”

“But...but...you can’t do that! Don’t I get another chance?”

“That would accomplish nothing, I fear.” Pat looked over to see Mr. Radyani staring at him, and even what must have been a tempered expression was almost more impactful than anything he’d seen on any of the others. “I doubted you were capable of holding yourself to a higher standard from the start, and your actions have only confirmed this. A second chance would be of no use, as even now you are unwilling to own up to your actions. You may think you deserve special treatment, but we do not see it that way.” His glower cut into Pat like a chainsaw, forbidding him from any defense. “It is time for you to leave.”

---

Everything had gone so wrong. Pat didn’t know if he’d ever be himself again, not after a catastrophe like that. And it was all those Raathii’s fault. No, it was the fault of everyone around here. They were completely nuts. None of this was right. Raathii weren’t supposed to be in charge of anything. They were only good for menial tasks, and they didn’t even do those well.

He found himself in a coffee house, more upscale than the one the previous day. He sipped at his coffee, his hands shaking madly and making even that slight action difficult. He felt a very strong desire to escape the city, get back to somewhere where things made sense, but at the moment he was so agitated he could barely keep his hands on the steering wheel. Coffee probably wasn’t going to help with that much, but he more needed the time to collect himself.

His eyes settled on a pair of figures in the corner of the building. He scowled. One was a human, one was a Raathius. He was sick of seeing the two together, acting like neither one was better than the other. It was a repulsive sight, wrong in every sense.

For him, it was about to get a lot more wrong.

“I’ve got something to tell you...” the Raathius said, sounding a little nervous.

“What is it?”

“I...I got the job at Songard. I’m going to start work there next month.”

The human’s eyes lit up, and he clasped the Raathius’ hand eagerly. “Oh my god! Tray, I’m so happy for you! You’ve been working so hard for this, I’m so glad it paid off!”

The Raathius smiled. “Thanks, Jace. I don’t know if I could have done it without your help. You being there meant a lot to me.”

“I’m always gonna be here for you. I’ll make sure of that.” The human put an arm around the Raathius’ neck, drew him close, and kissed him deeply on the mouth. The Raathius likewise wrapped his arms around the human and closed his eyes, adding his own contributions to the very public display of affection.

It was about that time that things became hazy for Pat. He started screaming, almost incoherently, startling the two out of their lip-lock. He didn’t hear the words either of them said, or the words any of the other patrons used to try to cool him down, the only thing that was on his mind was the vile, disgusting sight he’d been forced to witness. The Raathius tried to get in between Pat and the human he’d been kissing, and the moment he got close to Pat he received a hard slap to the face, knocking him down. Pat threw his coffee down onto him and ran out, yelling about how sickening their behavior was, screaming that he couldn’t take it anymore...the rest of the people could only watch, completely perplexed at the unprovoked outburst.

---

Pat wasn’t thinking about anything but escape as he raced down the highway. Escape from this place that was so outrageous, so abnormal, so wrong. He couldn’t handle it anymore. It was like being on an alien world. It shouldn’t have felt like that, they were the aliens on his world, they didn’t have the right to do that to him.

There was something that he should have been thinking about, however. And he didn’t start thinking about it until the flashing lights in his mirror caught his attention. He had easily been doing 25 over the speed limit.

“Crud...this couldn’t get worse.”

Only a moment later, Pat would dearly regret those words. He pulled over and killed the engine on his car. As the officer got out of the car and began his approach, Pat thought something was off about him. It wasn’t until he got close that the darkness couldn’t hide the truth from him, and he felt his heart rate skyrocket.

The police officer was a Raathius.

A knock at his window. “Sir, roll down your window, please.” He complied, his hands madly shaking. “Sir, I need to see your license and registration-”

“No.”

The Raathius paused. “Excuse me?”

“No.”

“...I’m going to ask again. Your license and registration, please.”

“No! You have no right to pull me over! I demand another officer!”

“Sir, the police are not at your beck and call.”

“You’re just some lizard freak! You shouldn’t be allowed on the roads, much less pulling people over!”

The Raathius officer sighed and took a couple steps back. Pat heard him speak into his radio. “Unit 217 requesting backup on 494, mile marker 117. Out-of-state plates.” He then looked back into the open window. “Sir, please step out of your vehicle.”

Pat unclicked his seat belt and exited the car. He noticed that the Raathius was eyeing him suspiciously. It was bringing his blood to a boil.

“Do you know how fast you were going?”

“What do you think? I’m not some goddamn moron! I’ve had a very bad day today!”

“Just calm down, sir. Have you had anything to drink this evening?”

“Wh...how dare you accuse me of that! You have no right!”

“SIR! Have you been drinking tonight?” The Raathius was sounding increasingly impatient. Just another reason Pat couldn’t stand them, they had no control.

“No! I haven’t had a damn drop!”

“Not a drop?”

“Did I stutter?”

“Are you on any prescription medication?”

“I’m not on anything, you asshole! You had no right to pull me over!”

“Sir, you were over the speed limit by almost half. We pull people over if they’re going that fast, whether you like it or not.”

“You’re not even human. You’re just some fucking lizard thing that doesn’t belong here! You don’t have any right to pull me over, I’m better than you are! I should be owning your ass!”

“Right, whatever. At this time I’m going to perform a field sobriety test. I need you to stand in front of me-”

“No! I told you, I haven’t been fucking drinking!”

“Sir, that’s what a lot of people say, and a lot of the time they’re not telling me the truth. Now stand in front of me and let me explain the test.”

“I don’t have to do anything you order me to! You’re a fraud! You’re a fraud cop! I’ll have you arrested!”

“Sir, if you refuse to perform any field sobriety tests, I’m going to have no choice but to bring you in on suspicion of DWI.”

“Fuck you! Don’t you even touch me!”

The Raathius’ radio came to life. Pat couldn’t make out what it said, but the Raathius apparently did, as it answered with a “10-4” and started walking around his car in front of Pat. As he got close, Pat felt himself lose control. Barely thinking as he did it, he took a wild swing at the Raathius. He jumped backwards just out of Pat’s reach. Then he shot off towards his car, aiming to get in and hightail it before that fraud cop knew what happened. He didn’t even get the door open before the Raathius grabbed him by the shirt collar, dragged him back, and slammed him on the hood of the police car. He used his body weight to hold Pat down while wrenching his arms around behind him and cuffing him. “That was a really stupid move.”

“Fuck you! I’ll have your head for this!”

“You’d better stop digging, unless you want another charge against you!” The roar of sirens nearly drowned out the last few words, and Pat could see through the police car’s windshield that two other cars had arrived. He felt a sense of relief; they would save him from this faker who had assaulted him.

Two humans rushed up, apparently having seen the end of the commotion. Pat practically screamed out. “Officers! This freak has been harassing and assaulting me! He had no right to harass me! He’s-”

“I’d shut up really fast if I were you!” the first officer roared at him. Pat couldn’t clam up fast enough. The same officer looked up at the Raathius. “You okay, Zel?”

“Fine. He didn’t get me, but he got close. We almost got a chase.”

“Lucky break. What’s his deal?”

“Dunno. Either he’s on something or he’s just extremely against my kind.”

“Wh...how...how can you take his side?” Pat wanted to yell, but it was more of a squeak. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the other officer searching his car. Like he was some sort of criminal. How could they treat him like this? After a reptile had violated him like that?

The officer leaned in close to him. “We just witnessed assault on a police officer and attempted evasion. You want any leniency at all, you’d better shut your goddamn mouth this instant!”

“He’s not a-” Pat wasn’t allowed to finish as he was jerked back up, led bodily into the back of one of the squad cars. As he was forced to sit down, hands uncomfortably forced behind his back, he felt anger pulsing through him. They would have to take his side eventually...the courts knew they couldn’t side with a non-human. They didn’t HAVE rights...they didn’t DESERVE rights. And they certainly couldn’t be the ones ENFORCING those rights...everything was wrong here, he’d have to make an example of things to set them right. They’d see.

---

They didn’t see.

A few days of dealing with his lawyer had gotten him a hefty fine, but nothing worse; they’d been able to argue that he’d been through a very bad day and things had just gotten to be too much for him. The judge had had some admonishments about his attitudes towards Raathii, but he hadn’t really heard or listened to them. The absurdity of it all...he’d wanted to fight it every step of the way, but the lawyer had been right, it wouldn’t have been to his benefit. At least the judge wasn’t a lizard...although he dreaded that some of them might be.

Then he was back home, back where things made sense, but there was no comfort for him. Because he knew that what was coming was going to be no less unpleasant than what had already happened to him. Walking into his boss’s office, having to face down the angry man who was glaring at him without any sort of restraint...if he’d learned one thing at Grandia, it was that the fury of Mr. Farthing could turn mountains to dust.

“You have a lot of explaining to do, Patrick! I just spent the past three days trying to fix the Songard deal after you fucked it up, and it may be too late to even do that! We spent a lot of time and money trying to get them, too much to have to put up with antics like yours! And not only that, but assaulting a police officer! Everything you do is attached to us, now we have to try to fix that as well! What the hell is your problem?!”

“S-sir! Mr. Farthing, please! It’s not my fault! It’s because of those fucking Raathii!”

“What the hell does that have to do with anything?!”

“They’re the ones who screwed everything up! People were treating them like they mattered! They were acting like they were people or something! And they all used that to screw with me! It was, it was like they were all organized, a conspiracy to get me off my game!”

“And you’re telling me you couldn’t keep your mouth from running off for one damn minute because of Raathii? You think THAT makes anything better?”

“But Mr. Farthing! They...they’ve got Raathii in charge of their company! They would have forced you to pay them like real people! How can you want to partner with-”

“It doesn’t fucking matter who’s in charge of their company! This is business, you idiot! It’s not about who’s what! It’s about getting ahead! They are the most valuable company on this planet right now because of what they’re capable of! Do you know how much a business like ours could profit if we had their resources, how much they could make if they had ours? When you have a chance to do that, who fucking cares what they look like?!”

“Wh...you...sir...you...even you’re putting them above me? You’d cater to those-”

“Shut up! This isn’t about you! It wasn’t about you from the start! This was about Grandia! You were representing Grandia! And you blew it because you couldn’t keep your mouth shut about something that didn’t even matter! All you had to do was smile and nod and you couldn’t even fucking handle that!”

Pat had no response. He could barely think at all at that point. Mr. Farthing saying things like that...that it didn’t matter that Raathii were being put above him, that the company was worth it no matter who was in charge...even he was betraying Pat. He was going to let Pat be crucified because of those lizards. It had turned him numb, unable to process anything else.

“Get out of my office. I’m too pissed off and stressed out to even fire you right now. Don’t bother coming in next week. Once I’m done sorting out the Songard issue, I’ll decide whether you still have a job here or not, but I don’t even want to see your fucking face until it’s done with. Get!”

Pat couldn’t have left faster, like a rat scurrying from a predator. As soon as he was gone, Mr. Farthing slumped back in his chair, sighing heavily. Patrick had been so promising, he’d had such high hopes, even envisioned him taking over his position one day...but he let his personal issues get in the way of business when it mattered most. Now he was left to clean up the mess, if that could even be done...

Another knock at the door, and a familiar Raathius peer in, looking very nervous and cautious. No doubt he’d heard the yelling. “Mr. Farthing...I w-wanted to update you on the Hillman account…”

Mr. Farthing sighed deeply. “Artay...please tell me you have something good. I need some good news today, badly.”

Uncomfortably, the Raathius walked up to the desk, some paper in his shaking hands. “Yes sir...the Hillman account’s been accepted. They were, um...a bit difficult to negotiate with, but we, uh, I think we got generous terms from them, I hope you’ll find the details to your satisfaction.”

Leaning forward, Mr. Farthing took the offer sheet in his hand and looked it over. It looked good...very good, enough to mollify him a little after the last meeting. He hadn’t told anyone about it, but this was the sixth account Artay had worked on...the first had been one he’d figured impossible given the client’s demands, and he’d sent Artay more as an insult directed at them for how obstructive they’d been. It had been quite a shock when the Raathius had returned with something to sign off on, even more so when it had been fairly agreeable terms. Since then he’d been giving Artay occasional dealings, and while things could be rocky due to his species, he had been pleased with the quality of the work for sure.

“Well done, Artay. I’m impressed, I didn’t think we could get terms this good.”

“Thank you, sir. It’s somewhat easier when it’s only over the phone, and they don’t know what I am. I’m glad to be of service.”

He’d turned to leave, while Mr. Farthing mulled things over. He was an ambitious man, and the idea of failure on the Songard account was not something he was ready to accept. He understood the nature of dealing with them, not like Patrick had...if there was to be any hope of salvaging the mess, it was clear that drastic action had to be taken. Much like Songard, Grandia too had its philosophies, and perhaps the most important one was flexibility. Success, after all, rarely happened without flexibility, and if that meant doing what few others in his position would ever consider...well, Grandia had thrived off of breaking from tradition.

“A moment, Artay...do you enjoy doing this kind of work? This kind of dealmaking, this kind of business work?”

Artay gulped nervously. “Honestly, sir, I’m thankful for any kind of work, as hard as it is for us to get it these days…”

“Yes, but that’s not what I asked. Do you enjoy it?”

“I...suppose I do, sir. I...not to mean any disrespect, but it feels far more fulfilling than making coffee and delivering messages. It’s not always easy, but I’m grateful for the challenge.”

“Good, good...then I believe I have a challenge that will certainly test you. Patrick bungled the Songard job, and we’re dangerously close to losing it. I’m going to send you on a business trip, to meet with them and try to regain their confidence. If you can pull this off, Artay, then you can expect a very large promotion, one that will be very much worth your while...I’m fairly certain I’ll be able to make an opening.”

---

“Another one, pal?”

Pat nodded somberly. He wasn’t quite drunk yet, but he wanted to be. Finding out he didn’t have a job anymore was bad enough...finding out he’d lost it to a Raathius had been such a kick in the gut that he couldn’t imagine worse. If anything was worth getting drunk over, it was this.

The bartender, thankfully, didn’t try to make conversation beyond filling his beer. Pat wasn’t in the mood to talk; he just wanted to drink, and loathe everything. Those fucking lizards...they were everything wrong with this world. They were the reason everything was bad. They were the reason his life was bad. They’d cost him his chance, they’d cost him his job, they’d mocked him every step of the way. What gave them the right?

He’d have the last laugh. He’d land on his feet, surely he had better things in store for him. And then he’d make them pay. They’d know who was in charge when he was done with them.

His head buzzed a bit as he knocked back his fifth beer. Blearily, he could hear the TV in the corner of the bar, playing one of those all-day news channels.

“California today became the 16th state to establish equal rights for Raathii, when Governor Descartes signed the act into law. The governor described it as a historic moment for the state, which became the largest yet to grant all the protections of the law to Raathii and bar discrimination and segregation against them. California’s movement followed the near-lynching of three Raathii in Sacramento late last year, which sparked national debate about the treatment of Raathii nationwide. Since then, six other states have had equal rights acts signed and four other bills are currently active in state legislatures, and discussion of a federal Raathius Rights Act has been steadily growing…”