She tied the sash with trembling fingers. "Just a minute!" She ran into the living room and to the front door. Unlocking the door, she pulled it open. In the street before her house was a blue staff car flanked fore and aft by AP jeeps, red lights still flashing. She turned on the outside light and a graying Air -Force officer, accompanied by an AP, removed his hat.
"Mrs. Baxter. I am the base commander, General Stayer. I must ask you to come with me."
"I… General, is this about my husband? Is it?"
The officer looked down. "I'm sorry. I don't know. Please hurry. We haven't much time."
Deb turned from the door, opened the hall closet and pulled out a raincoat. As she put it on, she found the first thing handy, and slipped Baxter's rubber galoshes over her bare feet. Moments later, she sat by the general in the back of the blue staff car as the procession screamed its way toward the field.
The car stood silently on the edge of the field, the dim blue taxiing lights diffused by the droplets on the windows, illuminating Deb's face with a cold glow. She looked across the back seat through the windshield, but could see nothing but the rain. Pulling the raincoat around her, she shivered.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Baxter." The general turned to the driver. "Bill?"
"Yessir?"
"Turn on the car and let's have some heat."
"Yessir!" The driver hit the ignition, the motor caught, and in moments warm air blew against Deb's legs. She turned toward Stayer.
"Thank you. I didn't realize how cold I was."
Stayer nodded, then reached for a microphone attached to the back seat. He keyed the mike. "Tower, this is Stayer. Has GCA got 'em yet?"
"Affirmative, General. Ground con—"
Stayer switched the frequency indicator next to the mike hanger, then keyed the mike. "GCA, this is Stayer. You have an ETA yet?"
"This is GCA. Yes, General. They should be over the field in about a minute, although with this visibility you probably won't be able to see them until they land. The other ship didn't use lights."
"Stayer out." The general hung up the mike, looked at Deb, then turned back to the driver. "Bill, hit the wipers."
"Yessir." The car's electric wipers whined and thumped back and forth, but the field before them, as well as the sky above, remained empty.
Stayer leaned back, keeping his eyes on the deserted runway. "This is the first contact of any kind that we've had with them for three weeks, Mrs. Baxter. I know how difficult this is, but they specifically asked to meet with you. We tried to ask, but they ended the transmission before we could ask about your husband."
Deb nodded and turned to face Stayer. "I'll do whatever I can—"
The entire field grew bright with a blinding, yellow-white glare. Deb put her hands over her eyes, then peered through her fingers. The driver was leaning forward, over the steering wheel, looking up through the windshield.
"Jesus!" The driver craned his neck further, trying to get a vertical look. "Jesus, General, the size of it!"
Stayer, his head pressed against the rear window, simply nodded. Deb held her breath as a glittering shape filled the landing field before her. She was startled to realize that the only sound she heard was the car's motor and the patter of the rain on the roof. Without thinking, she reached out a hand and grasped Stayer's forearm.
The area beneath the ship grew bright as it came within a few meters of the ground. Red light joined the white as the belly opened, and a small, black craft was gently lowered to the runway. "It's the Python, General. And there's something else. Looks like two boxes."
Somewhere on the ship, a blue panel illuminated. The general took a breath, leaned forward and tapped the driver on the shoulder. "That's the signal, Bill. Get going."
Deb saw the driver looking at the controls of the staff car as though it was the first time he had ever seen them.
"Damn!" He put the car in gear, the car jumped forward, then died. "I'm sorry, sir… I…"
"Take it easy, Bill. Just start it up, and take it easy."
"Yessir." The car started, then began approaching the ship. Deb's hand dropped from her eyes as she stared at the vessel, growing larger just at the moment she would have sworn it could grow no larger. The car stopped. Deb watched as an illuminated ramp extended from under the blue panel on the ship and touched the ground. A moment later a creature with massive legs for walking, smaller clawed legs held in front, and a thick tail behind, walked down the ramp and took up a position next to it.
"Mrs. Baxter?"
Deb turned toward Stayer, realizing she still held his arm. "What… what do I do?"
Stayer nodded at the creature. "Go over to… that. It'll tell you what to do. Good luck."
Deb opened the door, stepped out, and stood facing the ship. She could tell it was still raining, but none fell around the vessel. Leaving the door open, she walked toward the ramp, keeping her eyes on the creature. When she was ten feet from it, she stopped. "Well?"
The creature looked down at her. "You are the mate of Captaincarlbaxter?"
"Yes." She looked up the ramp into the ship, and at the top she saw a familiar face. "Baxter!" She ran past the creature, onto the ramp, and then reached the top. Tears streamed down her face as she looked at him, then ran to him and held him tightly.
"Easy, Deb." He kissed her and held his cheek tightly against hers.
She pushed back and held him at arm's length. "Baxter." She sniffed, then laughed. "That's some dynamite entrance you've got there, Baxter!"
Baxter smiled. "Wait until you see the rest of my act." He looked from Deb's wet hair, to his old raincoat, then to his old rubber galoshes. He looked back at her face and shook his head. "That's my Deb. All class. Why didn't you dress up? You're going to meet some important people."
"Oh, you jerk!" She embraced him again, then withdrew her arms as she heard a rasping sound behind her.
Baxter nodded in the direction of the open ramp door, where the creature Deb had seen was now standing. "Deb, I would like you to meet my friend, Deayl. If you would be friends with him, he would be called Illya."
Deb nodded at Deayl. "My name is Deb."
The creature nodded back. "You must call me Illya, then."
Baxter bent down, picked a helmet up from the deck, and turned to Deayl. "Illya, there's something I have to do. Would you keep Deb company for a few minutes?"
Deb frowned. "Baxter!"
He kissed her, turned and walked down the ramp. Both she and Illya stood at the head of the ramp as Baxter went down, walked to the edge of the concrete runway, and knelt down. She turned to Deayl. "What is he doing?"
"Something that he wishes to do." He turned his head down toward Deb. "I asked Baxter if I could explain to you what has happened, and he consented." Deayl looked back at the hue-mun kneeling on the edge of the runway. "I tried to kill Baxter." Deb looked at the creature's clawed hands, then to the coal black eyes. "I hurt him very badly. This was to make you humans angry, and make impossible a settlement between us."
Deayl nodded toward Baxter. "Our medicine saved him, then he saved me. I was to be tried by the council for my act, and Baxter interceded. What was said is not important, but he showed us something we had never seen before." Deayl looked back at Deb. "When we see the right, that is what we accept and follow. But the right says Baxter should have demanded my death. Instead, he pleaded for me. He understood why I had acted the way I did. He… showed mercy. You hue-muns are everything evil that we had feared becoming, but you are also greater than we could hope to be. Because of this, and because of the things the knowing ones found, our ships will leave. Earth is yours for as long as you can keep it."
Deb looked down the ramp and saw Baxter at the bottom. In his arms he carried his helmet, and as he came close to the door, she saw that the helmet was filled to the brim with mud. He stopped, held it out toward Deayl, and smiled as the Nitolan took it and bowed. "A home for you, Baxter."