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.' Nor am I."
"They don't talk to you either?"
"They do now. But it took direct orders from the Chief Officer and much patience on my part." She frowned. "Thorby, every excessively clannish culture -- and I know of none more clannish than this -- every such culture has the same key word in its language . . . and the word is 'people' however they say it. It means themselves. 'Me and my wife, son John and his wife, us four and no more' -- cutting off their group from all others and denying that others are even human. Have you heard the word 'fraki' yet?"
"Yes. I don't know what it means."
"A fraki is just a harmless, rather repulsive little animal. But when they say it, it means 'stranger.' "
"Uh, well, I guess I am a stranger."
"Yes, but it also means you can never be anything else. It means that you and I are subhuman breeds outside the law -- their law."
Thorby looked bleak. "Does that mean I have to stay in this room and never, ever talk to anybody?"
"Goodness! I don't know. I'll talk to you --"
"Thanks!"
"Let me see what I can find out. They're not cruel; they're just pig-headed and provincial. The fact that you have feelings never occurs to them. Ill talk to the Captain; I have an appointment with him as soon as the ship goes irrational." She glanced at her anklet. "Heavens, look at the time! I came here to talk about Jubbul and we haven't said a word about it
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