Quiet Invasion(146)

D’seun turned his back on Semi-Familiar. We have to find out what this one’s real name is. The ambassador swooped down into the center of the arrivals. They lost sight of him among the others wheeling and diving in the twilight air.

Semi-Familiar looked over his shoulder at them, trying to send them some message they had no way to understand, and followed Ambassador D’seun down into the flock of newcomers. His arrival stilled them, and they fanned out in an uneven sphere around him.

“Scarab Three, Scarab Three,” called the intercom. Everybody jumped. “Scarab Three, where are you?”

“Not where we’re supposed to be,” muttered Sheila.

Adrian shot her an aggravated glance and opened the radio. “We’re doing a reconnaissance on the aliens, Venera. Everything’s okay. What’s up?”

Or maybe they’re doing reconnaissance on us. The newcomers were heading their way, fanning out like geese, if geese fanned in three dimensions.

“Dr. Failia’s on her way down to the Discovery site. She wants to talk to the People for herself. Is your ambassador back?”

The latest crowd of People surrounded them, hovering, peering and talking, unheard and uncomprehended, to each other. One large, bright Person with an amethyst crest hovered alone in front of the main window. The wavering tattoos around its muzzle matched both D’seun’s and T’sha’s.

“I think we’ve got a new one, Venera,” said Vee.

“Then bring them back with you, but get back there. Everything’s blown up, and we need to sort out what they’re doing here.”

“Roger that, Venera,” said Adrian, fervently. “We’re on our way back.”

“Okay, kids,” said Sheila as she and Adrian worked the controls, banking the scarab in a wide arch. “Time to play follow the leader.”

“That was the New People?” asked Z’edi, both wonder and amusement filling the air between her and D’seun.

D’seun dipped his muzzle. “Their engineers, rather than their ambassadors. No ambassador would have been so rude.” He could not believe Br’sei had brought them here to disrupt the welcome he had planned for Z’eth and the other ambassadors, to display the New People before D’seun had a chance to say anything.

“I would have thought they’d be bigger,” mused Ambassador P’eath. “From your description, Ambassador D’seun, I was expecting monsters.”

“Should we follow them?” piped up Ambassador K’ptai. “They only have a single working station for communication. Is that not correct?” She turned an eye toward D’seun.

“That is correct, Ambassador K’ptai,” he said, deflating a little in deference. “I was hoping we could take counsel first so that you could be fully conversant with the current status of New Home….”

Z’eth overflew him, gracefully, with plenty of distance. “Perhaps we can hear what the New People say and then what you say. It is rude to keep even mere engineers waiting, surely.”

The whistles of assent buffeted D’seun from every side.

“I hardly think we need a formal vote here,” remarked Z’eth. “Will you lead the way?”

D’seun forced himself to swell. “Of course, Ambassadors.” Well, let the New People show them. Let the ambassadors see what he had seen. It would happen. It could not help but happen. The ambassadors were not fools, not like Br’sei. They would see the truth.

Besides, he had Z’edi’s promise. With that secured, all would be well.

All the dirigibles that were not out with the engineers and surveyors were quickly summoned, including the one D’seun had been using since the beginning. It knew its way perfectly by now. It needed no prompting to take them across the plain and over the Living Highland 76 to where the two transports waited, low and gleaming in the dim twilight.

The dirigibles slowed, reaching out their anchors to each other so they made a waiting chain while the ambassadors spilled from the gondolas. The ambassadors swam against the thickening air to hover just above the crust, circling around the transports and the communication screens, peering closely at all they saw. The air rippled with their excited commentary.

Only D’seun came immediately to hover beside the perches T’sha had left behind.

The translator, activated by his presence, read the words that appeared on the New People’s screen along with the familiar image of Engineer Vee. Now though, instead of shades of red, she was many colors—cream and pink and gold in coverings of pale blue and green. The New People’s engineers had been busy.

“Ambassador D’seun?” The translator’s clear voice cut through the swirl of exclamation. “Good luck to you and to everyone who has accompanied you.”