Delta Pavonis (25 page)

"Island Worlds Starship
Avalon
, this is
Arumwoi
Starship
Shining In The Void
. Have we your permission to come aboard?"

Wyeth's mouth dropped open. "God must have sounded like that when he spoke to Moses."

Moore smiled wryly. "Nice of them to ask. They could probably open this thing like a beer bulb."

A small man stepped up next to Kimathi. This was the moment of glory. He was Avalon's Spacing Master, the man in charge of all the vessel's actual movements through space, and its titular captain. Ordinarily, he was an obscure functionary. He spoke crisply. "This is Roland Lau, commanding. Permission granted."

"I wish we'd have given this ceremony stuff more thought," Wyeth muttered. "We could have had a live orchestra, all sorts of honors."

Sieglinde patted his arm. "They're calling this one. You've done your best."

Dierdre was certain that nobody was paying any attention to all this byplay. All the holo instruments and the eyes of everyone actually in the dock were fastened on the inner lock hatch.

Slowly, majestically, it opened. Light poured like liquid gold through the gateway. Sparkling motes danced in the light. Everyone sighed in admiration.

It might be stage-managing, but it was expert stage-managing. Island Worlders appreciated such things.

The hatch swung wide. The light was almost a controlled fog now, amorphous but not straying from the area just before the lock, Dierdre almost expected to see a red carpet come rolling down the ramp, but there was no such spectacle.

The general humming stopped. The main show was about to begin but the aliens, true to form, were making everybody wait. Dierdre felt a nudge in her ribs.

" 'Starship,' " Sieglinde said. "They must have given our files a real going over. That's a word from those old holos of yours."

"So what?" Dierdre said. "It's a good word. I like it."

"Hear, hear," Moore said. "I wish we had more words like that one. We're too prosaic these days, if you ask me."

It occurred to Dierdre that Sálamid officers could be as crazy as anybody else.

A shape appeared amidst the golden glow. It descended slowly, a platform supporting a number of massive seats, each a throne.

"Anti-gravity?" a scientist said, whispering. Nobody commented. The aliens on the platform held everyone's attention, and there was little to spare for their conveyance.

All over the system, spectators were seeing the aliens in holographic closeup. There was a collective sigh from the onlookers in the dock. Dierdre knew how they felt. Like her, they had been prepared for bizarre, repulsive or at least strange aliens. These delegates were, if anything, even more beautiful than M'ats. There were both males and females, and a few whose gender was indeterminate.

Their garments were flowing robes of glimmering material and they wore a variety of jewelery, all of it beautiful and elegant. Except for Dierdre and Sieglinde, the viewers bore a look of stupefaction.

"Anything else," Wyeth said in a strangled voice. "I would have expected anything else. Not just human, but Greek gods."

"Let's not take anything at face value," Moore cautioned. "We can produce pretty convincing effects with holographs ourselves."

Sieglinde spoke into a handset. "Analysis?"

"They're real," said a voice from the cage. "There are some peculiarities to their skeletal structure and internal organs, but they're closer to us than any of our nearest primate relatives back on Earth. None of these has any mechanical or biomechanical implants." Another voice came in. "Whatever is holding that platform up is a field totally unknown to us. Anti-gravity may not be a myth after all."

Dierdre leaned close and whispered to Sieglinde. "My God, Doc, look at those women! They make every holo queen who ever lived seem ugly." The aliens showed great diversity in physiognomy and pigmentation, but none was less than dazzling. In size they ranged from a woman more than two meters tall with carbon-black skin and silver hair to a man little more than a meter in height whose skin was ruddy, his hair a blue cloud.

The platform made its stately way toward the awaiting delegation. Ten meters from Kimathi, it settled silently to the deck.

"I wonder," Sieglinde said, sotto voce, "if that's their genuine formal dress or if they just know what looks impressive to us?"

"Doc, if you could custom-build a planet, would you
try
to impress us?"

"Shh! Something's happening."

The
Arumwoi
were standing. They did this with great aplomb, swiftly but without regimentation. In the light gravity their flowing garments swirled lazily about their limbs, sparkling faintly. One of the men, a two-meter specimen with golden skin and violet eyes, descended a short flight of steps to stand two steps from Kimathi. His gaze swept the assembly, regal as a lion s. When he spoke, it was with another of the amazing voices.

"We are the
Arumwoi
." He did not speak loudly, but his voice was amplified in some fashion. The accent was strange, but as attractive as everything else about the aliens. "We welcome you to this system. We also extend our congratulations. You are the first of our experiments to reach us."

Kimathi was nonplussed for a moment, then began his prepared speech. "On behalf of the now-migratory Confederacy of Island Worlds, I welcome you aboard Avalon, our largest republic." He added: "I'm afraid you'll have to explain that last part."

"There will be time. We
Arumwoi
are well acquainted with time. Accept my assurance that there is not, and shall not be, any cause for alarm or hostility between our peoples."

Whatever knowledge-absorption system they had, Dierdre thought, it was efficient. He spoke with perfect assurance. She glanced over Sieglinde's shoulder at a readout coming from the cage. She had switched to visual in order to keep her ears open for the parlaying. Among other things, the readout affirmed: "No translation device operating. He is speaking as we hear him."

"I am Dedane Kimathi, Speaker of the
Althing
, which is our deliberative body. We arrived here as part of a great migration from our home system. Our intentions are peaceful. By the Articles to which we all agreed upon leaving our system, we may not remain in a system inhabited by intelligent beings who do not wish our presence. Although we do not know whether this is your home system, we have seen ample evidence of your prior claim. If you wish us to leave, we ask only ample time to make our preparations."

The speaking
Arumwoi
made a graceful gesture with one beringed hand. "I have said welcome, and I do not withdraw it. Stay for a day or an eon. Our races have a great deal to communicate to each other, and it will require time. Much of what you shall learn, you will find disturbing. Prior to establishing contact, we studied the transmissions you broadcast. We wished to have knowledge of you prior to contact. It was not—spying." For the first time he seemed unsure of a word.

"It is public information," Kimathi replied.

"We know now something of your nature, also of your history, from educational broadcast and files. We have not had time to meditate upon these."

Kimathi took a moment to clear his throat. "Mmm. Our, ah, history has been turbulent. I trust you understand we have matured as a species."

"But such history. To have crowded so much into so little time."

"It seemed like a long time to us, your, ah, shall I say, excellency?"

"Our naming and titling system is complex. Short names would be best. I am Dastan, a much-shortened form of my name. I have been chosen to speak because I have mastered your prevailing language best. These are delegates from our—forgive me, a precise translation is not possible—our disciplines. This does not represent what you would think of as government, although we are empowered to speak for our race. These things are done differently among us."

"These things are barely done at all among us," Kimathi said. "Our home system had a long diplomatic tradition, but we Island Worlders have had no practice at it for many, many years. Forgive us if we seem clumsy and unprepared. Our race has never made contact with another intelligent species."

"You will have to learn a redefinition of that word 'species.' That may come later."

"We, ah, look forward to it. However, it is customary to give honored visitors a guided tour of a vessel. May we show you Avalon?"

Dastan smiled, a folly human expression. "I propose a mutual visit. Perhaps some of your scientific personnel would like to be first to visit our ship?"

"I think that would be most agreeable," Kimathi said. He turned and studied the scientific contingent, most of whom were clearly salivating with eagerness.

"We would especially like to have the Doctor Sieglinde Kornfeld-Taggart who figures so prominently in your recent history. She is here?"

Moore whispered urgently to Wyeth: "We can't be sure of their intentions. I counsel we don't give them custody of our best scientific mind!"

"Don't be absurd, General," she chided. "I'm probably a witch-doctor by their standards. Besides, my best work is behind me. I have to see the inside of that ship." She stepped forward, signaling for Dierdre to follow.

Dastan saw them as they drew near. "Yes, and with her is the Dierdre Jamail."

He has trouble with the articles, too, Dierdre thought.

Kimathi turned his dark face toward her. "Our Miss Jamail has attracted your attention, too?"

"She was the first of you we saw," Dastan said.

"How many of us can you accommodate?" Sieglinde asked.

The very tall, black-skinned woman stood. This close, they could see that her eyes, like her hair, were silver. "I am Al'assa, and I shall be your—guide. I think that ten would be a good number for the first group." It was the first
Arumwoi
woman's voice they had heard. It was, predictably, beautiful. Sieglinde turned and named eight more to accompany them. They came forward without argument.

A group of
Arumwoi
followed Dastan off the platform and the Island Worlds scientists climbed up. To Dierdre's surprise, the small, ruddy man stepped forward and took her hands in his. "Welcome, welcome. I am Binat. We have waited so long for you." He seemed reluctant to release her hands and she was terrified of insulting him by pulling away. Keeping one hand in his, with the other he touched her face, her hair. "I am sorry. My command of your language is not yet good. There is so much we must speak."

The tall woman turned, her arm around Sieglinde's shoulders. "There is time, Binat," she said, smiling, "there is time."

To Dierdre's surprise, the other scientists, regardless of age or gender, were getting the same treatment. The aliens couldn't seem to help touching them. To Dierdre, who had never enjoyed this sort of physical familiarity from strangers, it was distressing. It made her feel self-conscious. She envied the ones who kept Italian or Russian customs, and didn't seem to mind at all.

Rostov, the gravitation specialist, bearhugged a man of his own height and kissed him on both cheeks. "This platform! How does it work?"

The
Arumwoi
erupted in the most musical laughter Dierdre had ever heard or imagined. "Patience!" Al'assa said. She had shifted her arm to Sieglinde's waist, but still held her close. "Some things we will explain, others not. But we will always tell you why we do not explain."

The platform was in motion and Dierdre hadn't noticed. It had lifted to about two meters and rotated toward the hatch. It was absolutely soundless, without vibration. She knew that all the holos in the system were trained upon them, but she had attention only for the tunnel ahead, filled with liquid golden light.

The umbilicus had an organic look, made up of translucent circular sections with no apparent rigid bracing. The gold light was all around them but the mist had no detectable substance. They drifted into a large room with a domed roof and the platform slid into a slot in the continuous floor. When it halted, there was no way to see where the platform ended and the deck began.

"Welcome to
Shining In The Void
," Al'assa said, "the last of our great ships of exploration."

"Does that mean you no longer explore," Sieglinde asked, "or that you no longer explore by ship?"

"Both, I am afraid," Al'assa said, in a voice of great sadness. "But, of that you shall learn."

There were more of the
Arumwoi
gathered in the docking area. All of these wore the paintlike garments Dierdre had seen before, and few of them wore jewelry. Like the emissaries, they came in a great variety of sizes, shapes and colors, all of them beautiful.

Al'assa made introductions among the emissary party, then gestured to the gathered crowd. An
Arumwoi
came forward.

Al'assa turned to Dierdre. She was still holding Sieglinde close. "This is Junior Technician M'ats, whom you two already know."

M'ats had a look Dierdre could only describe as sheepish, although he carried it off far better than any ordinary human. "They found out," he admitted.

The other scientists looked at them. "I'll explain later," Sieglinde told them.

"Since our M'ats and your Dierdre share something in common—a great desire to be first, he may be her escort." Al'assa said.

Reluctantly, Binat released Dierdre's hand and turned her over to M'ats.

"It's good to see a familiar face," she said.

"I am glad they have made me your escort. It must be that I am back in the good graces." Without awkwardness he took her hand and slid the other around her waist. This time she didn't mind a bit.

With swift assurance, Al'assa paired off the visitors with guides, retaining Sieglinde for herself. She sent them to different parts of the ship and dismissed the assembled crowd. The other
Arumwoi
went reluctantly at the conclusion of her songlike speech.

"They cannot get enough of you," Al'assa said. She, Sieglinde, M'ats, and Dierdre were now the only inhabitants of the dock. "I had to assure them that they would have ample opportunity to mix with our visitors."