Restem is really glad to have had impassivity training, such that he only stares blankly for several seconds rather than making a face of utter confusion.

"Where do your governments find their income given that they don't collect taxes?

The Imperium used to be run autocratically, by the Imperator personally, but he transitioned the government to democracy slowly, fearing a power vacuum if he died. Which he did, a gross, three dozen and three years after the formal transition."

"Most government income in most countries is derived from auctioning the opportunity to have children."

...that was very unexpected. Impassivity training saves the day again. Wow. If such a thing was implemented here, the government would be overthrown instantly.

"Fascinating! The wood will be arriving very soon, and we would like to take a break to eat, process this conversation, and learn your language more. We want to take a break for three hours."

A mechanical clock is furnished with a second hand, so that they can demonstrate how they tell time.

"Okay! We can reconvene in three hours."

The purples get underway - they do have some of their own tools, just not, like, a lot - on clearing a site to build a meeting room complex thing in.

The Imperial linguists pore over the conversation transcripts. Drones deliver the wood using automobile trucks.

Right. Okay. Time to orient. It's really very stressful having the future of your civilization resting on your shoulders.

There are very powerful spacefaring aliens who want to live here. They seem friendly, but the issue with being weaker is that you have to hope that the stronger party isn't interested in squishing you. Their blue representative seemed to imply that they would want to be able to live here, but wouldn't extend that same right to Imperials, because they don't like immigration. And they have tons of children, presumably, because they auction off child credits – probably that was some sort of policy to prevent the population from getting too high. Actually, it definitely was, because Shenmi talked about 'carrying capacity'.

Would that be bad? People would be unhappy, he bets, but if they pay tax and follow Imperial law, then it's all good. The lack of deontological symmetry would be very displeasing, though.

What leverage do they have? They absolutely cannot defeat the Amentans, but they could potentially deny them what they want. There was a proposition in the Senate a while back that passed with narrow margin about preparing scorched-earth tactics in the case of invasion – although in that case it wasn't specifically about aliens.

If they were willing to commit civilizational suicide, they could destroy all their infrastructure, technology, and stores of knowledge, and release hazardous materials into the air, water, and soil. 

Would that make the entire planet uninhabitable? Probably not, but the most desirable areas would become unlivable, or at least very unpleasant to live in. Presumably if the Amentans had the capacity to clean up environmental pollution and also weren't interested in being antiantisocial, they could have just bombarded the planet from orbit and cleaned up afterwards.

Is he willing to do that? It only counts as leverage if he's committed to use it against aggressive actions. Does he have the conviction?

He's not sure. Decision theory says that he should be willing to. He really really hopes it doesn't come to that.

Okay. Time is up.

Are the purples done yet? The Imperials assume no, but the Amentans also have spaceship technology, so they have no idea.

They haven't got the place finished yet, no. They'd invite people into the ship but they're really too tall to be comfy there.

Discomfort is totally fine if it means being able to see space! One of the Legislators accompanying Restem, along with two of his attendants, volunteer to go. They can just crouch or crawl if the ceiling is too low.

Oh, okay! They really won't fit into the restraints, so they can't take them up flying unless they're okay with getting knocked around kind of a lot - probably won't kill them, but they could get banged up - but they can see the ship. Launch couches, comms and bridge, quarters, bathrooms, kitchenette, water recycling, propulsion engineering, cargo. It's all very efficiently laid out.

Ah, that makes sense. They say that they would be willing to have the drones go up carrying cameras, but that the Legislator himself wouldn't be comfortable with going up.

Amazing! The things you can do with this level of technology. The Legislator looks appropriately extremely awed, and makes comments about how the water recycling must mean their sanitation systems are really efficient. It took them a lot of time to figure out good sewer water treatment technologies. The other two remna – the name of their species – maintain their neutral expression.

If they'd like the shuttle to bring some drones and local cameras when it takes off they can do that! Are drones a... caste...?

The Legislator has to confer with Restem and the linguist for several minutes before answering.

"Yes, however, it's possible our understanding of your castes is wrong. The Keeper and drone division is set at birth, involves physical markers, and greatly influences which types of jobs a remna performs.

Trying to map our castes onto yours might help with both of us understanding. Blue and green work is done exclusively by Keepers. Yellow work used to only be done by Keepers, but is nowadays done mostly by drones. Orange, grey, and purple work is done by both castes, but in these cases Keepers mostly take supervisory roles. For example, a factory would usually have a Keeper plan the layout of the assembly lines and arrange the marketing and selling of goods, and also that the products meet legal standards, but the actual work of putting together the items is drone work."

"Oh, I didn't expect you to have castes just like ours, though having only two is a bit of a surprise," says Asauki.

"Yes, I was surprised at how many you had. Does the whole of Amenta follow that six caste division, or are there subpopulations where there are fewer or more, or divide the castes differently? For us, the two caste system is the same across the whole planet, although there is variation in what types of work are considered 'Keeper work' or 'drone work'."

"Castes were invented on Amenta long ago and crystallized into their current form also long ago, and nearly everywhere is standardized on the same set, with some minor variations in whether certain occupations are held by one or another caste, and a dubiously internationally legal dual-casteing setup in the small island nation of Ereith."

"Likewise for us. We don't know exactly when our caste system fixated, but it was before recorded history."

When Asauki mentions Ereith, the Legislator Suksub apologizes for having to pause again to check with the linguists, Restem, and the scientists.

"Could we have more information on dual-casteing in Ereith? If two people from different castes have children, do they belong to both castes?"

"Not usually! Intercaste marriage is rare, but every country has a rule of some kind - usually just simple inheritance from one or the other sex, most often the female - governing what caste the children are. Ereith had a lot of intercaste marriage in its early history and now construes practically its entire population as both grey and something else; the reason this is dubiously legal internationally is that it allows them to in principle flout some rules about grey numbers and combat positions, but as long as they aren't in fact in an armed conflict and are small enough that their so-called greys don't actually outnumber any neighboring coalition's, it's tolerable."

"Oh."

A shorter pause to check things.

"There's been a terrible misunderstanding, I think. Our castes are...biological. Drones cannot reproduce. We are...we do not know the Tapap word for this. Our species is divided into two groups with the same genetics but different physical manifestations, with one manifestation being capable of reproducing and the other being unable. Keepers can reproduce, whereas drones cannot.

It may be useful for both of our species to prosocially communicate basic information about ourselves before engaging in diplomacy."

"All Amentan castes can reproduce, in the springtime only. We live about forty Amentan years before dying of old age, if nothing happens to us before then. We are fifty percent male and fifty percent female. Amentans need water and food every day, air constantly, and in most cases a seasonal cycle and frequent social contact for mental equanimity."

More pauses. The Imperials are communicating through sign language between each other – they don't seem to be using devices to do it.

"Only Keepers can reproduce. Keepers can only be produced through sexual reproduction, but drones can be produced sexually and asexually. We do not senesce. We are hermaphroditic and Keepers can produce both male and female gametes. We are capable of reproducing regardless of season.

We also need water and food, preferably every day – it's possible to survive long stretches without them by becoming dormant but this is unpleasant and risky – and also need air constantly."

"Amentans can't become dormant. - do you choose, when reproducing, whether to have a drone or a Keeper?"

"It is possible to assure that only a drone is produced when reproducing sexually. Keepers can willingly try for Keeper children, but it is not guaranteed that a Keeper child will result."

"That explains why you have such low population density despite not senescing!"

"Having a Keeper child requires much preparation, since they must be given an allotment at two dozen years old. There is a legal minimum for the value that must be provided to the child – either one-twelfth of each parent's total wealth, or the total wealth of a person at the threshold of the bottom duodecile of wealth. This is legally mandated, however, it is more common to give more than that, and give an allotment at least equal to or greater than in value of the allotment one received from one's parents."

"When we have more of an idea of the relative values of our currencies I will be curious how much wealth that represents."