CHAPTER 25 [TIM] THE STARS
The weird thing about Harr-giss taking off his mask was that he didn’t really look all that inhuman. Sure, humans don’t have scaly gray skin. But he was put together pretty much the same way that we are. I think it was the shock of it that really upset people. Well, that and the way his hair stood up and started moving and hissing like hundreds of tiny snakes.
The two guards who had been about to carry me out of the studio put me down.
Jordan fainted, which was fine with me. At least it shut him up.
Meenom Ventrah stood and faced the cameras. “People of Earth! I am as shocked as you by this turn of events, and wish to apologize to you on behalf of all the ethical members of the Interplanetary Trading Federation. I guarantee you that I will work in concert with the governments of Earth to discover how this charade came to pass, and if there are any other disguised off-worlders working in positions of power.”
That was when I understood that it wasn’t really over. Even though we had proved Harr-giss was a fraud, the hate and suspicion he had been fanning were not his creations. He simply took advantage of what was already there. And that hate was not going to go away just because he had been unmasked. It might even get worse, because his unmasking would convince the people who believed in alien plots that they were right.
And maybe they were. Suddenly I realized it was possible there were more Harr-giss types out there, ready to undercut what Meenom was trying to do.
I’d been waiting all my life for the aliens to get here. But at the same time other people had been fearing it, or had simply believed it would never happen, or perhaps had never thought about it at all. They were the ones Meenom was speaking to now, as he looked directly into the camera.
“My friends, I understand that all this is strange and frightening. Please believe me when I say that every planet in the federation—and there are over a hundred thousand of us—has gone through the same thing. You exist for centuries, for millennia, thinking that your planet is the center of everything. Then, slowly, you start to understand how big the universe really is, how your own little planet is no more to the universe than a single grain of sand is to the vastness of the ocean—and you feel very alone. Alone, and small.
“And then, one day, another world makes contact, and it turns out you’re not alone after all. It is as if you were raised in a tiny room all your life, and suddenly the walls were torn down and you found yourself facing the vastness and the strangeness of the world around you. It is exciting, but terrifying.
“I tell you now that the universe is even vaster and stranger than you yet imagine, and the opportunities it holds even more exciting than you can guess. But it will take time to build the bridges that will connect us. I ask that you be patient with us—and I vow that I will try to be patient with you.
“There is much to be done. Let us do it together, in good faith.”
My mother was waiting outside the studio. When we came out, she rushed over and threw her arms around me.
“Mom!” I said, feeling embarrassed. I was even more embarrassed when I saw Linnsy standing behind her.
“Listen, buster,” said my mother, “you scare me that much, you can suffer a public hug. Linnsy had come down to tell me you were going to Pleskit’s house, and we saw it all on TV. I can’t decide whether I should ground you for a year or give you a few hundred ‘Get Out of a Goof-up Free’ passes.”
“Give him the passes, then ground him,” said Linnsy. “They can balance each other out.”
“Thanks, pal!”
Linnsy shrugged. “Anytime, buddy. Just remember, if you do something like this again and don’t include me, you’ll wish you were grounded.”
“Come on,” I said. “Let me introduce you to Pleskit.”
Meenom invited Mom and Linnsy to come back to the embassy with us so we could all have a full tour. Unfortunately, once we got there, we discovered that Mikta-makta-mookta had managed to escape. But even that could not dampen our high spirits for long, since Meenom would be sending word of her crimes back to his bosses.
“As they were the ones who assigned her to me, they now owe me several pounds of apology,” he said, sounding quite satisfied. “This will give me more freedom in how I make deals here on the planet—which will be good for all of us.”
I had already seen most of the embassy, so for me the best thing about the tour was that it got me off the hook with Linnsy. But when Shhh-foop invited us to stay to dinner, I was the one who had to beg off.
I really didn’t think my stomach could handle it.
Late that night I slipped out of our apartment. Standing in the darkness I looked at the bridge, hung with twinkling lights, that led across the river. Next I gazed at the strangely beautiful embassy, rising from the top of the hill, and thought of my new friend. Finally I turned my eyes to the vast sweep of the heavens and studied the stars, where Pleskit had come from, where I plan to go.
I stood there for the longest time, just looking.
