He stepped out of the shuttle and smiled as he felt the rain pounding down, drenching his uniform within seconds. Behind him, the ambassadors slowly righted themselves, their aides working desperately to change their clothes before they caused a diplomatic incident by turning up smelling of vomit. Henry had no idea if the aliens had a sense of smell — he’d certainly never thought to ask — but they probably had a point. There was nothing to be gained by taking unnecessary risks.
“Here, Your Highness,” one of the Marines said. “You’ll need this.”
Henry sighed — everyone called him by his title or honorific now — and took the proffered umbrella, unfurling it above his head. He suddenly felt hotter as the rain started splashing off the fabric instead of his uniform, but fought the reaction down. Moments later, he started as a handful of aliens emerged from the mist and stopped at the edge of the landing pad. They seemed in no particular hurry.
“Out you come,” he called into the shuttle. “They’re waiting for us.”
The Ambassadors staggered out of the shuttle, followed by their aides. Some of them looked so thoroughly traumatized by the flight that their legs were still wobbly, despite having had a few moments to recover and change their clothes. The aliens made no comment, merely waited until the humans had joined them, then motioned for the humans to follow their path through the rain. Henry hesitated, then took the lead. He was the only person who had spent time on an alien world before.
It grew easier to see as the rainfall slowly abated, but not to walk. Off the landing pad, they found themselves squelching through muddy paths that seemed to be on the verge of turning into swamps. Henry managed to keep his footing, but others were not so lucky. They slipped and stumbled as they slowly made their way down the path towards the ocean. And, piece by piece, the alien city came into view.
Henry sucked in his breath, unwillingly impressed. The city seemed to be set within the water, almost like a fairytale castle. And yet, it was covered with aliens, just like the city he’d seen before. They lay on the sloped rooftops like seals on ice floes, watching the humans through large unblinking eyes. Henry forced himself to walk onwards, despite their silent observation. Behind him, the Ambassadors fell silent as they followed their escort into a large building. Inside, it was surprisingly cool. Henry found himself shivering at once.
“They’ve prepared it for us,” Ambassador Melbourne noted. “They’re trying to be welcoming.”
He was right, Henry realised, although by any normal human standard the alien negotiation chamber was ridiculous. The humans had been assigned chairs that looked to have been designed for children, while the aliens themselves lounged in a swimming pool that would keep their skins hydrated. Maybe they’d cooled the air to make their guests feel more at home, he considered, although it was impossible to tell for sure. One smaller pool, crammed with strange fish, might have been intended as a buffet.
They told us to bring our own food, he thought, recalling the hampers that had been packed on the shuttle. It might have been dangerous for us to eat their food.
There was a splash as one of the escorts entered the swimming pool and vanished beneath the water. Henry looked into the murky depths and realised that the swimming pool was linked to the ocean — and the thousands of aliens gathering outside. Some of them had different coloured skin, he saw, as they pressed against the glass and peered into the negotiation chamber. Was that a reflection of their faction, he asked himself, or merely nothing more than a slight biological difference? There was no way to know.
He added it to the list of questions to ask when the aliens were more inclined to talk about their biology, then stepped backwards as a handful of aliens entered the pool. Several rose to the surface and eyed the humans with their massive eyes, others remained below the waters, as if they didn’t want to be seen. Henry wondered if they were other negotiators or if they were something different. Perhaps the surfaced aliens each represented a different faction and the ones lurking below the waves were their aides or supporters. But there were more alien representatives than human ambassadors.
They must have mistaken the aides for additional ambassadors, he thought, slowly. Or perhaps they just don’t care about who has the most aides and other assistants. We would, because we often mistake perception for reality. But the aliens might have different ideas of how to proceed. They might not give a damn if we want to send a hundred aides and they want to send none…
The lead alien waved one slimy hand. “We greet you,” it said. As always, the voice was produced by a voder and seemed completely atonal. “You are welcome to our” — there was a gap, as if the translator couldn’t find a suitable word — “and we will talk to you.”
“We thank you,” Ambassador Melbourne said. He was keeping it as simple as possible, hoping to avoid translation problems. “We will talk to you.”
There was a long pause. Henry realised, slowly, that the aliens were discussing how to proceed amongst themselves, even though it was rude. But he’d already reasoned out that human concepts of polite or rude behaviour meant nothing to the aliens. They probably wouldn’t notice if one of the diplomats picked his nose or scratched his ass at the negotiation table.
“You settled a world we had already settled,” the alien said. There was no emotion in its voice, even though a human would be screaming accusations. “And one of your people killed one of our people.”
“That is correct,” Ambassador Melbourne said. “However, we were unaware of your presence, let alone your claim on Heinlein.”
And you did nothing to mark your presence, Henry thought. The Heinlein settlers would never have landed if there had been anything to suggest the presence of intelligent life forms on the planet below. Why didn’t you put a satellite in orbit to tell us you were there?
He shook his head. The aliens had been as surprised to encounter humanity as humans had been to encounter them. There probably hadn’t seemed any reason to put a satellite in orbit or place a permanent guardship in the system. They’d just assumed the colony could grow normally and settle the surface area when they had finally built up a large population. Given how they bred, it was quite likely the alien population would have expanded faster than any comparable human population.
And there’s another problem, he thought. Will they simply out-breed us in future?
“Our people did not realise that you were an intelligent race,” Ambassador Melbourne said, drawing Henry’s attention back to his words. “The death of one of your people was a tragic accident. Your response was equally tragic.”
“That is correct,” the alien said.
Henry frowned. Several of the underwater aliens didn’t seem inclined to agree. One of them pulled the designated speaker under the water, where he was promptly surrounded by several other aliens who seemed to be making a point. The discussion — if discussion it was — lasted several minutes before the designated speaker returned to the surface. Clearly, Henry decided, whatever the underwater aliens had wanted to say had been too important to risk saying out loud, even when they had good reason to believe their words would be inaudible to human ears.