least here. Being poked and prodded wasn't as bad as he'd
thought it would be, even as closely as he was being checked out.
Naturally enough, his examiners were paying closest attention to the
points where the two races differed most: head, hands, and skin. He
was willing to swear, for instance, that a dentist couldn't have gone
into more detail over his teeth.

But finally that was over and it was question time. Tarlac seated
himself cross-legged on his sleeping mat, where Hovan promptly joined
him to translate for the others. Then the questioning started,
hesitantly at first, not touching on anything too significant until
Tarlac's quiet manner and responsive answers put the commandos at ease.
When that happened, the questions became more searching.

"Do humans honor have?" one asked.

"I'm not really sure just how you use the term," Tarlac said slowly,
"so I'll have to go by the human ideal. We have a few cultures, mostly
warrior ones like the Sandeman and Tharn, that are honor-directed, but
in the rest of the Empire I'd have to say most people don't. Not the
way warrior races define it, anyway, and I've got a hunch you're more
like them, at least in that way, than you're like the rest of the
Empire. Outside of the warrior cultures, it's the military that thinks
most about honor, though not even all of them care; to a lot of
civilians . . ." The Ranger hesitated, frowning. "Well, honor and
profit just don't seem to mix."

"You different are," another said. "Why?"

Tarlac shrugged. "I don't quite know. Maybe because I've always been
something of an idealist." He grinned. "Though I was called a lot of
other things before I was recruited."

"All Rangers like you are, in that?"

"Idealists? Yes, or they wouldn't be Rangers."

"Is it true there female Rangers are?"

"Sure. Right now, three of them. We can't afford to discriminate, not
for any job. Local affairs aren't an Imperial concern, so some do
things differently, but the Empire itself doesn't judge anything but
what you can do. Especially if the comps and Sovereign agree that
you've got what it takes to be a Ranger."

That got a murmur of some sort, and from the tone Tarlac guessed it was
disapproval. Hovan didn't translate; instead, he said something that
silenced them.

"It's okay, Hovan," Tarlac said, not offended but curious. "What is
it?"

"They say that insane is. Not only that you females in such danger
place, but that you