"It figures," the Sub-Visser sulked, "that all he'd send was some low-rank in this repulsive human garb."
"Essam?" Edriss tried to keep her voice mild.
"What?"
"That's a cook."
"What's a cook doing here?"
"I would assume cooking. This is a cafeteria."
"Then he's late."
Edriss, not wanting to argue with the facts, sat down at a table.
"You should have known better than to trust him." Essam spoke with a sardonic twinge as he strode out.
Edriss lethargically rose and followed. As she did, she heard the noise of approaching footsteps, and experienced momentary relief that Essam's volatile mood swing had finally surpassed. But the noise wasn't lockstep enough to be that of a single person (or two, if one was infesting the other). Instead, an Under-Visser preceded Visser Three as if heralding his arrival.
"Did you see Essam?" Edriss called, omitting the proprieties of rank.
The Visser narrowed all four of his host's eyes. ((Not recently.))
His accompanying underling silently noted Edriss's attitude. Her emotion seemed to be getting the best of her; she behaved unprofessionally, letting them know that she was just as clueless as they were.
"Oh. Anyhow. We can get something to eat." She quickly made her way over to the cook. "A couple servings of some human fare."
The cook complied, working hastily but striving for accuracy, not wanting to get in the way. "I'll just leave you."
Edriss took her tray and sat down, leaving the second on the counter. The underling, trying not to appear too eager, stepped towards it, but was quickly cut off by a rapidly-disappearing tail as the Visser morphed human. He took the tray and sat on the far side of the cafeteria.
Edriss ate daintily, appearing to fixate on her food. The Under-Visser, realizing he was not going to get anything to eat, paced around and tried to look like he was accomplishing something. The Visser, having chosen his seat judiciously, focused on the clock, as the two hours which he had in human morph passed silently.
Finally, the Under-Visser spoke, harshly. "Does the Sub-Visser even want to restart at all?"
It sounded like something Efflit would say: only those with a reputation for such brashness could get away with it. But as Edriss analyzed what could possibly prompt such a stupid comment, she remembered the Visser's thought-speak capabilities. There was no reason to assume they wouldn't follow him into human morph. So he was relaying his message, tact excluded, to an expendable underling. Edriss felt momentarily chilled: she was dealing with a capable strategist, a rare occurrence. "It was your tardiness," she replied primly, "that made him doubt this would work."
"Considering his behavior in the discussion, I don't think we'll need him around to come to a consensus."
"What are you implying?" Edriss retorted sharply.
The Visser smiled vaguely, holding out his hands as if to placate her. "I only thought that he might prove a hindrance with his unreasonable demands."
Edriss quickly found herself at a mental impasse: she could not truthfully contradict him, and she could not loyally go along with that. "It might be difficult to get him to accept something that he wasn't here to negotiate."
"You'll do a fine job," the Visser unnervingly smiled at her.
Edriss cast a dark scowl out of view of the Visser, assuming he was trying to throw her off so that she wouldn't be able to perform.
The scowl was still set on her face when Essam reentered. "Fine greetings."
"Oh! I thought-we were-" She glanced at the stony Visser and his unimpressed underling, then back at the Sub-Visser. "Nice to see you're here," she lamely finished.
"Nice to see you have as much respect for punctuality as the ideals of the Yeerk Empire," the Visser addressed Essam.
"Nice to see you two getting along so well." Essam's voice dropped to a hiss for the last four words. "Shall we begin?"
"Indeed." Edriss's voice snapped back to its professional demeanor. "Both of you want to resume the debate, then?"
"Unquestionably," the Visser replied.
Essam merely nodded.
"So what terms will it take for both of you to do so?"
"That his underlings cease to be a distraction!" raged the Visser.
"That he ceases to be a nuisance!"
"That he ceases to be an idiot!"
At that, Edriss held up her hands warningly. "You're both here to debate the merits of your respective plans of action. You'll have plenty of time to…find flaws in each other's logic."
"Better we get our emotion out here than in public," Essam commented wryly.
Edriss rolled her eyes. "Is there anything worth codifying? I can't imagine that your implicit promise will go very far."
The Visser had given her an expression nearing pity after Essam's dark dichotomy. "Ah, but it will not be implicit, not if you remain to vouch for whoever cites it,"
"Besides," Essam added, "if we ever get restarted, people will know that both of us agreed to it."
"Both of you, equally, with no threat or coercion?" Edriss dubiously asked.
"Yes," the Visser solemnly stated.
"Sure," Essam halfheartedly echoed.
"Listen," she went on, "even if both of you were on your best behavior, your subordinates could singlehandedly ruin the event."
"What are you threatening?!"
"Nothing," she soothely placated, "from myself. But there are other people involved who enjoy distractions."
"So, you want us to make a public agreement so I have a piece of paper with which to hit my assistant over the head?" joked the Visser. At her stupefied glance, he explained himself. "I don't enjoy his company either."
Disgruntled, the underling accompanying him unceremoniously dumped his leftovers in the trash.
"Not you."
"So, are we going to write out this compromise or not?" Essam asked.
"How's this?" Edriss replied, fishing a piece of paper out from her pocket.
The discussion is to be resumed. Events leading to its delay were the responsibility of no single individual or group of individuals. Those who seek to halt progress or interfere with protocol will be duly punished.
Signatures:
"That's it?" Essam asked. "All we do is sign?"
"If you think that it is sufficient, yes."
"I wouldn't assume that he thinks," sneered the Visser icily. "Do you have a pen?"
"Oh, no, sorry…forgot." Flustering, Edriss looked wildly around the room.
"You wrote this all out and you forgot to bring a pen?" Essam made no effort to hide the tone of his voice.
"I've had plenty of time, what with the debate being postponed," she replied defensively.
"Yeah, but still…"
"Or, we could simply transcribe this electronically," the Visser pointed out.
"Oh! Right!" Edriss smiled, still on edge.
He gingerly took the sheet from her as he demorphed. "I'll send this over to you once both the Sub-Visser and I have affixed our agreement to it. Get online," he commanded Essam, as soon as you can.
Within an hour, the notice was floating around cyberspace. Edriss had posted it, as they'd agreed that it would look suspicious coming from one of the leading ideologues.
But in the ensuing debate, neutrality would be hard to find.