––––––––
Olivia and the others gathered in the observation car located behind the massive locomotive to get their first glimpse of Penumbra City. The farther south they traveled, the lighter the sky grew, until the train passed through a land of perpetual twilight. Scrubby plants dotted the landscape, which rose by gradual stages toward a range of sharp-fanged mountains, the higher peaks edged with sharp orange light. Olivia sensed the powerful locomotive taking the strain as it progressed up the gradient toward what she first took to be a blank cliff face. As the light increased, she saw it was in fact a massive wall, like one encircling some ancient city in Europe, built between two of the taller peaks. Towers stood at intervals along its length, the crenellations rimmed with amber light, throwing the ground in front of the wall into deep shadow.
"Quite a sight, isn't it?” Caveman sounded impressed.
"Yeah, it is.” Olivia pointed. "Are those gunports?”
Caveman squinted. "Sure looks like it. I told you the Penumbrans value their independence. They're more than prepared to fight for it.”
The train began to slow as it approached the wall. A quarter mile out, it sounded a mournful double blast from its whistle, raising echoes from the implacable surfaces of stone wall and mountain. The face of the wall flooded with light as a number of searchlights came on. Their beams picked out the approaching train and played over its length, making Olivia and the others squint. In the increased light, she saw debris from the recent railroad construction piled to one side on the sandy ground, the searchlight beams making shadows dance and sway about the heaps.
A bell rang, signaling the train's approach to the mouth of a huge gateway. The echoing sound of the wheels on the tracks increased to an almost painful level as the train passed through the cavernous tunnel and exploded into dazzling daylight.
"Wow.” Olivia shaded her eyes. "I'd forgotten what sunlight was like."
"Ouch.” Hernando winced. "I need to go below and grab my dark glasses.” He pecked her on the cheek. "I'll see you when we disembark.”
Olivia watched him go, regretting his sun-sensitive Quadsang nature prevented Hernando from enjoying the sight of the city as much as she did.
"This must be the Maidan.” Caveman indicated the broad sweep of open ground the other side of the massive wall. "It's the great public area the citizens use for recreation, exercise, and military assemblies.”
"It must measure several thousand acres.” Olivia waved to a group of people standing and watching as the train passed by. They waved back, and she heard their cheer over the engine noise. "Why do they call it Penumbra City?" she asked. "I thought penumbra meant twilight. This is more like late afternoon."
"From what I hear, when the city was established it did lie in twilight." Caveman shrugged. "Perhaps the sun got brighter over time or the world shifted, somehow. I don't know, but it makes you think."
"It does. If we could bring solar panel technology here it would have a terrific impact." Olivia leaned on the sill to watch the world go by.
Penumbra City spread in all directions, its multitude of buildings a bizarre juxtaposition of styles from medieval to modern, crushed up against each other with no discernible plan. The city filled the deep, broad valley between the mountains. Tall domes, steeples, and towers rose here and there. The buildings appeared to stop at a definite line short of the plateau covered by the Maidan. Olivia wondered at the reason behind such a boundary.
Caveman pointed. "I think we're here."
A building resembling an old-fashioned railroad depot stood alongside the track, a crowd of people gathering on the wooden platform. Unlike the preserved examples Olivia had seen during her occasional tours with her model-railroad hobbyist father, this depot looked brand new.
The train clanked to a stop with a weary but satisfied sigh. "Penumbra City!" came the unnecessary cry throughout the carriages.
Olivia followed the others as they threaded along the carriage and out onto the platform. Hernando had taken the time to cover himself up well with clothing and apply a special kind of sun block to areas of skin left exposed.
She eyed him. "It's warm here. You're going to boil in your get-up. You sure you don't want to peel off a few layers?"
He shrugged, a movement made comical by the heavy, brown leather duster he wore. "Better than frying in the sun."
"You're not the only one who thinks so around here, Hernando." Caveman nodded toward a sedate figure wearing a burqa and others wearing burnous. "Although those look lighter and more comfortable than your gear."
"You're right. I'll see if I can get one for myself."
A small reception committee had gathered to welcome the strangers to the city, and a much larger crowd pressed behind them. Olivia thought it all looked good-natured and organized. After a couple of mercifully short speeches from dignitaries, they were led to where honest-to-goodness trams awaited to take them into the city proper.
As they clanked along a set of rails set into the surface of a wide boulevard, Olivia gazed out at the passing scene, taking in what she could of Penumbra City.
Most of the city's windows faced the eternal sun as it hung like a great mandarin orange low on the horizon. Wooden doors covered in intricate and marvelous designs gave access to the buildings. Wrought ironwork and painted window boxes were everywhere. In fact, greenery flourished, on rooftops and in window boxes, in plazas and courtyards, the citizens utilizing all available space to grow fruit and vegetables. A multitude of public fountains shot upward, water droplets catching the sunlight to fill the air with rainbows.
A hint as to the source of the water lay to the east, where a broad avenue opened up to show a distant view of a mighty cascade tumbling from the mountain heights to feed a huge lake nestling in a high valley. Shaded alleyways opened between the buildings on either side. Unlike those Olivia had encountered on Earth, these alleys looked clean and quiet, places for people to live and work rather than to fear or avoid.
She'd been told an official ten-hour clock existed, but with the sun fixed permanently in the heavens, time in the city appeared to be a matter of personal choice and arrangement. Bright awnings and shutters provided the means of blocking out the light when it came time to sleep. Most of the citizens held the sun in warm regard, for it gave them life, light and, in the past, safety from predatory Pure Bloods.
The streets, arcades, souks, and bazaars thronged with people going about their business and pleasures. The party from the dark side drew curious stares but no overt hostility that Olivia could see. A few vehicles traveled the thoroughfares, some appearing to be steam-powered, although most were carts, wagons, and even caravans drawn by an ox-like species with russet hides and bad-tempered expressions.
Caveman came back to where Olivia and Hernando sat. He stood with his hands on the seat backs to either side of the aisle and smiled at them. "We'll have the equivalent of a day before heading off to see what those cave-dwellers are up to. Until then we can enjoy the city's hospitality."
"Oh, goody." Olivia clapped her hands and glanced at Annara. "We can go shopping."
Annara nodded. "Yes, we could. I need a new quiver and arrows and I thought I saw a sign for a fletcher's workshop."
"Shopping," Hernando murmured. He rubbed his temples and groaned.
*****
"Is that thing for real?"
Olivia grinned from ear to ear, enjoying the stunned look on Annara's face. "Oh, yeah. It's for real, all right."
Their guides had moored their airships to posts at the edge of the mesa. The Sandhill Docks were comprised of a small forest of mooring towers and a row of huge hangars spread across the open flatland to the south of the city. A massive airship floated in the blue sky like a barracuda grazing at a coral reef, the shoal of smaller craft around it resembling remora fish. The air resonated with the low pulse of engines and the stutter of propellers as airships maneuvered, docked or departed. It reminded Olivia of a busy airport, but with a lot more class.
She whistled as she glanced over the side of the mesa. One false step and a person would plunge at least thirty stories before splattering into a million pieces on the rocks in the ravine below.
"So, Olivia, you say you've always wanted to ride in one of these blimps on Earth? Over a football stadium?"
Annara slouched with her hand on her hip, doing her best to affect her tough fighter image, but Olivia saw through it. Her friend was terrified of the idea of climbing into the glass-enclosed gondola dangling underneath the gargantuan-sized hot air balloon. She needed to convince Annara their air journey was an adventure and not a suicide mission.
"Yes, I have a friend who has a cousin who had a neighbor who rode in the Goodyear blimp, and he said it was the most awesome trip ever. He took zillions of photos from a couple thousand feet up—he even snapped a picture of his own house from above."
"Earthers do have some strange ideas of what goes for entertainment, but still..." Annara frowned and pointed at the massive dirigible. "How are overgrown children's balloons going to take us all to the site in one piece?"
"Quite efficiently, or so I'm told," Dradix interjected as he approached them. Like most of the Pure Bloods and many of the Overseers, Dradix wore extra-dark sunglasses, a large-brimmed hat and gloves to protect his fair skin and sensitive eyes from the dusky sunlight of the penumbra zone. "I understand you are familiar with this form of transportation, Olivia of the Clan Brown."
Olivia nodded to the Pure Blood technician. "I am. I'm just surprised to see not one, but dozens of these airships on BloodDark. Why didn't you all know about airships in BloodDark City before now?"
Dradix scratched his narrowed chin in thought. "As a child, my father told me fanciful bedtime stories about evil human pirates who flew through the air and terrorized our peaceful dwellings, but I always thought these tales were flights of fantasy, fictional constructs to lure us off to dreamland." He chuckled. "I mean, really. How could mere humans, without the help of their Pure Blood masters, accomplish such feats of technology?"
Annara rolled her eyes. "How indeed."
Olivia bit her tongue, keeping her comment to herself. Annara's disgruntled tone didn't bode well for the several hours they'd be traveling to the site of the unimaginatively-named protective device. Before they’d arrived at Penumbra City, Hernando had emphasized the need of cooperation and respect. No arguing or name calling, no matter what. Olivia knew it didn't take much to provoke Annara to anger, so she took her friend by the arm and steered her away.
"We'll see you when we land, Dradix," Olivia called out over her shoulder to the Pure Blood Portal technician. They strolled toward the ruling council's designated airship.
"I could snap the skinny bloodsucker in half with one flick of my wrist," Annara muttered before turning to her friend and smiling. "Notice how I'm acting like a civilized person today. Aren't you pleased with me?"
"You're handling yourself very well." Olivia winked and suppressed a giggle. "Would you like me to ask Caveman if you could travel with our group?"
Annara sighed. "No, thank you. I already have an assigned group. It doesn't include Dradix, so rest assured I'll behave myself. I'm sorry I can't travel with you and Hernando, but our security team is stretched thin as it is." She scanned the crowds and made a quick head count. "It looks like a large portion of our 'casual tourists' chose to go by land transport. Afraid of dropping out of the skies, I suppose."
"You're not afraid." Olivia squeezed her friend's hand. "You've flown in aircraft on Earth, so you're a professional air traveler now."
"True, and the upside of airship travel is we'll get there faster and have more time to investigate the device and determine if Clan Alpha is telling us the truth."
Olivia nodded. "You doubt it's a weapon to protect BloodDark from an attack from space like I do."
"I think it does protect something," Annara said, narrowing her eyes in the unaccustomed light, "but who or what it protects is the question. The most likely answer is it's another full-sized Portal device. The energy signatures did resemble one. Perhaps Clan Alpha wants to transport their whole house at once to another world to begin again without us pesky humans in the mix."
"Pesky humans." Olivia sighed. "Pesky describes us well, I'm afraid. We can't quite leave well enough alone."
They halted in front of the lead airship, the largest of the fleet. Its gondola could carry one hundred passengers, and so the ruling council and their closest advisors were assigned to it. The sheer breadth and length of its blimp amazed Olivia. It was filled with hydrogen they had been told—not hot air—and so it was highly flammable. A spark of electricity or an ember from a cigarette could set it alight like the infamous Hindenburg crash of the 1930s. She was glad smoking wasn't a vice on BloodDark, eliminating that particular risk, as well as preventing her from becoming airsick from the acrid smell of tobacco smoke.
Why they didn't outlaw smoking altogether on Earth after the Hindenburg explosion, Olivia hadn't a clue. One unfortunate accident couldn't have killed off an entire industry, could it? Helium made for safer airships and didn't go up in flames as easily as hydrogen. It wasn't like cars, trains and planes didn't crash and burn on a daily basis.
"It's quite a magnificent aircraft, isn't it?" Moreau's voice interrupted Olivia's musing. "I'm told my great-great-great-great-grandfather once flew in one across the whole of BloodDark in several days, setting a record for travel."
"Yet another feat of Pure Blood daring we've never heard about until now, huh?" Annara quipped. She turned to Olivia and whispered, "I'd better get to my assigned station. You're going to be okay with your bloodsucking ex-boyfriend on your airship?"
"I'll be fine. Hernando and Caveman will be with me. I thought Valori would be here by now, too."
"I did ask around this morning, but her whereabouts are still a mystery. Drucinda was supposed to have arrived as well. Perhaps they're already on their way to the site in one of the land transports. We'll know when we get there. Good luck."
"Good luck to you too—and Annara—" Olivia winked as her fellow Resistance fighter turned to go. "If you feel a bit queasy, don't look down. Think how much you'd rather deck Moreau or Dradix instead. It'll keep you focused."
Annara laughed. "You do the same."
Annara assumed a military posture and strode toward the crowd milling about one of the smaller airships. Olivia recalled how brave her friend acted when they followed their Resistance cell into the winding catacombs of BloodDark city after admitting her fear. She had been a true role model for all of them. If anyone could convince others she wasn't deathly afraid of heights, it was Annara.
"Shall we proceed to our embarkation point?" Moreau asked.
Olivia startled back to the present. "Oh, yes, yes we should. I don't want to hold up our progress today." They strolled side by side toward the airship.
"I don't think I'll ever understand these concepts of night and day, morning and evening," Moreau admitted. "Even after spending time on Earth when I was younger, I find this idea of changing patterns of sunlight very strange."
"Your people would." Olivia furrowed her brow. "How long a time did you spend on Earth? Is it why you speak English so well?"
"I assume so. I studied at a private boarding school in England for a term. I found it to be quite a learning experience."
Olivia did her best to hide her surprise. The Pure Bloods appeared content to make brief visits on her home world to grab whatever they needed—captives for fresh blood for their DNA experiments along with plant and animal specimens—and go. To leave a young person for a school term, far away from his own kind, seemed more daring than an airship journey around the globe.
She tapped her incisors. "Didn't anyone at this boarding school notice your... physical differences?"
Moreau shrugged. "If they did, they never mentioned it. My family paid them well in gold nuggets, I recall. It kept questioning down to a minimum."
Olivia looked askance at him. "You didn't have to pull any telepathic tricks on the headmaster?"
"Just one or two little ones." He cleared his throat and changed the subject. "The four seasons of Earth are peculiar as well. We only need the two, growing and not-growing."
"It makes sense on BloodDark to have two," she agreed. "On Earth, we wouldn't have 'spring forward' and 'fall backward' to moan about if we labeled only two of the seasons. Also, without days and nights, babies wouldn't have anything to mix up, according to my mom and aunt. Folks would miss their griping if we messed with the natural order of things."
"The natural order? Yes, I understand. It's something I learned humans are very impressed by. You can't have things which don't fit your small concept of reality. You simply ignore them if they do."
"It explains why you successfully fooled a school full of people into thinking you were human." Olivia stopped. "Here we are."
They'd reached the airship, but so far only a handful of ruling council members and their aides had boarded. Olivia smiled at a guide standing at the gangway. Her father would be impressed with the historical accuracy... The guide dressed like a Zouave, complete with a fez-like hat with long tassel. He pointed to the massive airship.
"As befits your status, you'll travel aboard The Shadowy Daughter of Urthona," he announced with flourish of his hands.
Olivia swallowed a giggle. "Wow. It's quite a name."
The guide grinned. "I know. A big name for a big ship, but she's not the most famous. That privilege belongs to her—Oculus Nightingale." He nodded reverently to a corner of the docks where a solitary and somewhat time-worn airship floated from a docking mast. Olivia saw two eyes resembling the Eye of Horus painted either side of the envelope.
"She's beautiful. Don't you think so, Moreau?" Olivia asked.
Her Pure Blood companion shrugged. "It's an interesting design."
Soon the two men were discussing the size and specifications of the older—and, from what she gathered, infamous—aircraft. Olivia took the opportunity to scan the gathering crowd for signs of Hernando and Caveman, but they hadn't arrived yet from an impromptu meeting called between the councilors and some of their most far-flung subjects. Odds were Valori wouldn't be here, but it didn't hurt to reach out to her friend and check in with her. Olivia closed her eyes and concentrated.
Valori, are you in Penumbra City or somewhere nearby? I've missed you.
I've missed you, too, my child, came the mental reply. I've been occupied with important business. I cannot discuss it now. We will be together soon. Take care, Olivia. The future of our worlds is in your hands.
Valori appeared in a vision of red swirling dust and growing storm clouds, black and tumultuous, filled with lightning and brimstone. The image of total destruction flashed before Olivia's eyes and then receded. She shuddered and gasped.
Moreau turned and stared at her. "Are you feeling well?" His concerned tone touched her. He took her arm and guided her over to sit on a large crate dockside. "Your face paled. You appeared to have seen a... a ghost is the closest English word I can call it."
"I sure hope she's not a ghost."
"Our new high priestess?" he asked. Olivia nodded. Moreau frowned. "It's most unusual Valori and Drucinda aren't present. For such an important endeavor, it's traditional to have a blessing by someone of their high station in attendance."
"Is it?" Olivia took a deep breath and felt her equilibrium returning. "I liken this expedition to a military one. In my culture's traditions, those of high station usually stay home, and let the poor handle the messy details like blowing things up and getting themselves killed."
Moreau smirked. "Perhaps it's why the people of Earth suffer endless warfare. We of the Pure Blood realized sometimes war cannot be averted, and none are spared from service to the greater good. In the ancient times, our priests and priestess led us into battle through the power of their—"
"Olivia, are you ready to fly?" Hernando called out as he approached the airship. He jogged over and knelt down, eyes narrowing as he observed her. "You okay? Still recovering from the trip?"
"That must be it. A bullet train ride and now a flight in a Goodyear blimp—my stomach's doing a number on me." Slapping her thighs, she stood. "I'll manage. I'm ready to go."
Hernando exchanged an odd look with Moreau. The golden-haired vampire shrugged. "She saw a ghost," Moreau confirmed.
"Forget about it, guys," Olivia grumbled, marching past them to join the line to board the airship. They could forget, but she knew she never would. What did the vision of Valori mean?
The party ascended the mooring tower in an elevator, then crossed a gantry of unnerving flimsiness to enter the airship. All boarded without incident, and the pilot and crew cast off ten minutes later. Olivia and Hernando assumed positions on the lowermost observation deck as they soared into the skies high above Penumbra City.
"What a magnificent view." Hernando smiled. "I know this airship doesn't travel as fast as an Earth airplane, but it has its advantages."
"It does." Olivia enjoyed taking in the panorama below. She relaxed into Hernando's arms and sighed.
The denizens of Penumbra City dwelled in perpetual late afternoon or twilight. It depended on how you looked at it, Olivia decided. In this part of town flat-topped, adobe-styled buildings huddled together in a convoluted narrow maze of streets, punctuated by broad shopping plazas filled with colorful bazaars. A multitude of public fountains shot upward and water droplets caught the glint of the increasingly bright sunlight as they traveled southward away from the city toward the polar region.
"Amazing how the old city has sprung back to life these last couple of years. Humans and Quadsangs have flocked here in great numbers, and the Overseers who despised the light have been able to return to the dark side. I see now why my parents wish to retire here," Hernando said.
"Your parents want to live here?" Olivia squeezed his hand. "Great, because I do, too. I couldn't get enough of the shopping when we got here yesterday. We've gotta stay longer on the return trip."
"Women and their shopping." Hernando laughed. "I thought you'd shopped enough for a lifetime while back on Earth."
She stuck out her tongue. "Pfft! A girl can never shop enough."
Penumbra City's economy was primarily agricultural because of the nearby farms which fed the rest of the planet, but the city also encouraged craftsmen such as textile weavers and spinners. They created the beautiful cloth and tapestries she'd admired in Clan Alpha House. The newfound BloodDark fashion industry had just begun, too. How could she ever grow tired of designer duds?
Valori should really see this, Olivia had thought as they strolled through the bazaar the day before, admiring the locals' craftwork. Or did becoming a high priestess put a crimp in Valori's interests in sewing and fashion?
"Too bad this is just a two-hour trip, eh?" Caveman's grin filled the observation deck as he entered it a half hour later. He came to stand beside Hernando and Olivia and sighed. "Ah... These airships are the smoothest form of travel. No need for rails or our poor excuse for roads."
"I feel sorry for those who are traveling by land transport right now." Hernando pointed to the desert track below. "When we passed over them, I noticed how uneven the trail is they're following. The ruling council has to consider developing airships for public transportation all over the planet."
"Good idea." She grinned at him. "You know, Earthlings would love to come here and travel this way. It would bring in a lot of tourism money."
"Yes, it would, but we have to consider what else it could bring." Caveman's typical sunny disposition darkened for a moment before returning. "Are those things what I think they are? Those are rock-jumping sheep along the mountainsides up ahead." His eyes glowed with excitement as he pointed to his right. "Look at them jump! Magnificent creatures. They never miss their footing."
Olivia gasped with delight. Watching the brown, shaggy-coated, horned creatures jump from outcropping to outcropping among the rocks in the deep valley below was the best entertainment ever. All too soon, the airship passed over the graceful animals, leaving them to their frolicking.
"I thought the rock jumpers had gone extinct a while back." Hernando sighed. "There's so much we don't know about our own planet. The idea of sharing it with others before we have a chance to enjoy it for ourselves seems wrong, somehow."
Caveman nodded. "It does, but we can't deny it. We're not alone in the universe. Our ancestors come from Earth. We can't forget our heritage."
"You can't," Olivia agreed. "There's no use pretending you're something you're not."
Hernando chuckled. "Sounds like you've made up your mind about who you are."
She pouted. "Why, I'm Olivia of the Clan Brown, of course."
"You sure you're not Lauren, mail order bride of Clan Alpha?" he teased.
She stuck her tongue out at Hernando and laughed. "I'm never going to live down my foolishness, am I?"
He hugged her and kissed the top of her head. "I make more than my share of foolish mistakes. You're always free to hold me accountable on those."
They passed the next ten minutes in happy contemplation of the terrain below them, noting an occasional wild animal or unusual rock formation. The rocky spires cast long shadows in the strengthening sunlight since they had already crossed the dividing line between the dark and lighted side of the globe. Behind them, they spotted the shadows of the other airships following their lead like beads on a string.
"Well, I know we shouldn't keep our Earth cousins from visiting us, but we might have to exercise some precautions from now on." Caveman pointed to a dark circular object on a wide plain ahead of them. "If I'm not mistaken, I see movement."
Hernando leaned forward and dropped his arms encircling Olivia. "It must be our destination, but how... I thought we had a while to go yet."
"We do, according to the Alphans," Caveman agreed. "What we're seeing, I think it's some distance away."
Olivia gulped. She pressed her face closer to the observation window. "Whoa. The thing out there is beyond huge. It's enormous!"
Moreau, who had been conversing nearby with family members, approached and announced, "The protective device lies ahead. However, my father claims it's grown since the last time he saw it in person."
"Grown?" Caveman furrowed his brow and narrowed his eyes. "You're not saying it's organic, are you?"
"No, but it is biomechanical in nature. With the help of Earth technology, we have built small robots to repair the structure, and these robots are self-replicating."
Nanobots run amuck? Something about the idea gave Olivia the creeps. "Who is in charge of these small robots?" she asked.
Moreau hesitated, his brow furrowing. "We are. Our technicians are not there at present, so the robots should be deactivated."
"But they're not, are they?" Caveman barked. Every head on the observation deck swiveled and focused on their conversation. "So, who is in control of them?"
Olivia peered out at the growing circle on the plain. She was just able to make out land vehicles whizzing about the small city-sized area. There were lights and other signs of habitation coming visible. No one from their expedition traveling overland could have arrived yet—they wouldn't catch up with the airships for hours. A simple explanation was often the best.
Somebody else was already there.
Councilors and advisors gathered around Caveman and Moreau. Clan Alpha's supporters stood few and far between. In spite of all that had happened to her under their watch, Olivia felt the Alphans were owed a fair hearing. She had a very bad feeling it would end in tears if she didn't try to de-escalate things.
"Let's not leap to any conclusions before we land," she began, scanning faces as the mood on the observation deck grew tense. "The Alphans said they switched off their robots before they left and have no other reason to believe they'd been reactivated in their absence. I believe them."
Moreau's family members nodded their appreciation.
"Then whoever is down there is working on the protective device without Clan Alpha's or the ruling council's approval?" asked Councilor Winn, ever a stickler for protocol. "Who else besides our fellow passengers has been given permission to be there?"
"No one but a handful of technicians and scientists," Moreau explained. "All swore their loyalty to Clan Alpha. They would not disobey orders."
"Someone could have threatened or bribed the information out of them, could they not?" Winn probed. She turned to Caveman. "I believe we need to begin a thorough investigation of who had knowledge of this device before it was revealed to us in council chambers. I'd be happy to head a panel of investigators into this matter."
"Thank you for volunteering, but it can wait, Councilor," Caveman said, pointing ahead. "We're landing soon enough. We'll know who we're dealing with when we get there." He exhaled a long breath and stood taller. "All right. Everybody sit down and keep your wits about yourselves. Now isn't the time for making baseless accusations."
The crowd dissipated. Cavemen turned to his chief security officer and lowered his volume. Olivia leaned in closer to hear.
"Contact the other airships. Make sure everyone is aware of the situation, and make sure all security personnel are ready to deal with confrontation—just in case our surprised hosts aren't too friendly."