"My Federation is not a hive like your own. I am unusual, but it is not out of the ordinary to wish to contravene the government on smaller matters."

"I have less than zero desire to discuss politics. Shall I inform my princess that you wish to speak to her again?"

"Yes, please."

The geneticist closes the connection. A little later a non-princess Hiver hails her ship. "Princess Zztk'n will be ready to talk to you in approximately thirty minutes. Do you mind waiting?"

"No, I'm not in a hurry."

"Somewhat. The Federation doesn't approve of interacting with people who don't have that technology yet. I could be in a lot of trouble for talking to you at all, let alone telling you how warp works. If you're willing to pretend to have invented it yourselves, when you encounter other Federation members, I am happy to explain it to you."

"And you ask for nothing more than our cooperation in your deception?"

"I would also appreciate your promise not to instigate conflict with the Federation. They may or may not offer to let you join them, when they detect your warp signature, but they will almost certainly at least invite some trade, which I encourage you to consider."

"I find your priorities strange, but I imagine the reverse is just as true. I will accept your technology. I have no intentions to be the aggressor in any war though I will not promise nonviolence in response to invasions. And the hive will certainly trade where trade is profitable."

"Does this apply to your entire species?"

"I recognize that you are an outsider and only have my word for this, but my species as a whole only turns to violence when someone tries to take what we feel is ours."

"...Could you tell me something about when and how you decide things are yours?"

"We have a saying that possession is law. A planet is ours when ten million Hivers are living on it. An object is ours when it is inside our hive. A ship is ours when the only crew onboard are from our hive. If the Federation started a hive on the asteroids in this system, we would not complain unless they removed our own installations in the process."

"But do you settle planets that have been claimed or settled by others - even smaller numbers - or remove objects to your hive when someone else considers those objects their own? This might cause problems."

"We can accept that a small hive represents a claim, but a planet that is claimed and not settled would be claimed only in name. Theft between hives is not common, and the farmlands and installations above and surrounding a hive are considered just as much a part of the hive as its tunnels and throne room. We would not steal things from other hives, or seize ships that attempt to trade with us, but things abandoned here become ours."

"Often settling a planet requires a lot of planning, and claiming the planet is the first step in a long process which people would be upset to find interrupted. Or the planet is claimed for strategic reasons rather than because anyone plans to live on it."

"A planet claimed but not used for anything is a wasteful and repellent idea. But I realize we must learn that other species value different things than ourselves if we want to not be at war with the entire universe."

"I am glad that is clear."

"I want to be equally clear that we will not simply accede without negotiation to whatever other species demand of us. Hivers must be involved in matters involving Hivers."

"No one would expect that. But if you have not met any other species before you may be less accustomed than Federation negotiators in compromising between the different needs."

"We shall see. Are there devices capable of locally inhibiting warp? We would like to build them around our planet and stations."

"It's not customary to warp very close to planets and stations for other reasons, but I don't know of devices that do that."

"It would seem that a faster-than-light projectile would be an exceptionally deadly weapon. Perhaps I misunderstand how the technology works, since you have not yet told us?"

"Warp isn't used as part of weapons used by people known to the Federation. I'm not personally a scientist, I only know the basic warp equations, but I don't think it works like that."