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Even the Federation needed time to plan and organise, but it was quite remarkable that an ambassadorial team arrived only four weeks later. Earth scientists were dumbfounded that anything could travel from one star system to another so swiftly and there was much speculation about which star the aliens came from. In the meantime, good to their word, there had been no further use of the QE transmitters by the people of Earth.

Down on the planet, although there had been some violence and a riot or two, the population was calming down. The stock market soon bounced back to just below its normal levels and the same with the foreign exchanges.

Soon, suspicious people began to wonder if the brief visitation were some sort of hoax. Conspiracy theories developed, many along the lines that the flying saucer had been connected with Area 51 and NASA had taken the occupants hostage. Anyone who'd actually seen the visiting vessel would have immediately known that it was not something which could have been captured by the, still experimental, Space Force.

The arrival of the ambassador took wonderment to a whole new level. The vessel was spectacular. This wasn't a saucer shape like the previous one, but more of a graceful space liner. The ISS estimated that it was in the order of four hundred metres long and twenty in diameter. The front section was a mass of glazed panels and a number of aliens could be seen looking out towards the ISS and the planet beneath. They appeared to be the same sort of mixture of strange alien beings.

'Ambassador Garincha Dela Moroforon brings greetings to the people of Earth and requests a meeting with your leader,' came over the radio in perfect English.

'That'll flummox them!' said Brett.

'Why do you say, that?' asked Fiona.

'Who is the leader?'

'Oh, yes, see what you mean.'

An hour went by before NASA responded, 'It will take some time to set up a meeting. Would you prefer to wait in orbit or descend to the surface?' Obviously, a diplomatic team was applying itself to the conversation.

The Ambassador's response took less than a minute. 'The Ambassador will descend. We understand you use a system comprising three sixty degrees around your equator and the zero line passes through a place called Greenwich. Please provide a suitable and convenient location reference for our ship. It will hover a short distance from the surface and will not require any special facilities other than a clear area.'

'Please stand by,' was the NASA response.

[I discovered, much later, that there was considerable panic taking place in the seats of power around the world. This was because there was no world leader, only the leaders of individual countries. RBB]

As luck would have it, a climate crisis meeting had just finished at the United Nations, so the Secretary General called a special meeting of the United Nations Security Council at the Headquarters. The leaders of the countries of the world actually felt embarrassed that they had no single individual to speak for humanity. Smaller, non-security council members were not at all amused with the situation, particularly the large Muslim bloc countries and the African nations. They felt they were being side-lined, but the Security Council promised to be inclusive. Many smaller countries like New Zealand and much of Latin America were dismayed, and Canada protested that, as the world's second largest country, it should be added to the Security Council for the meeting. The others felt they couldn't do that for just one nation without setting an unwelcome precedent.

Canada eventually relented, but considerable bad feeling had been generated throughout the world. The Secretary General managed to calm things down by suggesting that the Ambassador could address the entire General Assembly. Almost all leaders cancelled their plans to return home and remained in New York to await developments.

[A book I stumbled across in Ambassador Trestogeen's archive, was a biography of the United Nations Secretary General. In the section which dealt with the arrival of the Federation starship, it said that the meeting would be held in the presence of the entire General Assembly of the United Nations, but only Security Council members and the Secretary General would be allowed to actively participate in any discussions. RBB]

The inclusiveness of this decision pacified even the smaller nations eventually, but the United Nations were put on warning by the Muslim nations, to ensure inclusiveness and to not assume their agreement to decisions taken.

Arguments flared up between individual nations. Smaller nations lobbied for the permanent members of the Security Council to include other countries on an improved roster in the future. Whether that would be enacted wasn't clear. There were, of course, a number of other countries who took part in Security Council meetings, but only as temporary members. It was still only a small percentage of the total number of nations in the world.

[I think this clearly shows the total lack of any organisation on Earth in the 2020s. It seems no one ever expected the planet to have to speak with a unified voice. RBB]

A location in Central Park, New York was provided, and an American diplomatic team was hurriedly prepared to meet the ambassador when the ship touched down.

Brett Pinner and Fiona Ferguson watched from the ISS as the starship slid out of orbit and soon disappeared from view through the mantle of swirling, pristine white clouds above the North American Eastern Seaboard. There'd been no atmospheric-entry heat or jets fired, as far as they could tell.

Only eighteen minutes later it was hovering, a metre above the ground in the North Meadow of Central Park. A military guard surrounded it and the diplomatic team waited to discover from where the ambassador would emerge.

It was a beautiful, crisp, sunny morning in Central Park. The only dull thing about the ship was its matt silver-grey colour for most of its length. Some brightness was added by the sunshine reflecting from and passing through its forward windows, casting rainbow lighting effects upon the sandy coloured baseball diamonds over which it rested. Hieroglyphs ran the length of the main hull, framed between two red lines, and a circular logo or badge appeared at each end of the text. It comprised a yellow circle, surrounding a blue interior. It was adorned by a spiral galaxy being pierced by a rocket, not unlike the ship itself. Either side of the galaxy were two distinctive hieroglyphs. The Earth people correctly assumed it was the logo of the Federation.

The welcoming team comprised Colin Hall, white, sixties, silver hair, immaculate blue suit, once Ambassador to the Court of St. James; Colonel Whitley Bark, black, wearing a suit instead of uniform, forty-eight, distinguished looking, one of the negotiators in the recent Palestine agreement; Morwenna Blaney, thirties, white woman, fluent in more than twenty languages, interpreter from the UN, wearing a chic skirt and jacket; Charles Eden, White House media consultant, mixed race (white and Asian), sharp suit, forty, balding and short.

They'd been chosen because they all had experience with difficult situations and could be guaranteed not to overreact or be fazed by the momentous event which this represented. As there was no protocol for such a visit, these four talented individuals had been given carte blanche in dealing with the ambassador until he arrived at the UN for the meeting.

Circling the ship was a contingent of elite US Marines, lightly armed, with specific instructions to do nothing but keep human spectators from approaching the ship or any of its occupants who disembarked.

A line appeared in the hull, the shape of a doorway, with the logo central at the top. The crowd fell into silence. The door swung outwards and back towards the hull. A platform extended from the doorway and, from that, a stairway descended to the ground, comprising approximately forty steps. Two strange-looking creatures emerged onto the platform. There was a lot of mumbling in the crowd. One or two people screamed and were seen to run off. Perhaps they hadn't believed it was real until actual aliens appeared. One of these was a slender, green-looking individual with feelers rather than arms. The other was a powder blue coloured apelike animal. They seemed to be checking the arrangements and fittings, before returning to the interior.

The diplomatic team looked to the top of the stairway in apprehension, but also with curiosity. Ten minutes passed. Colonel Bark asked Colin Hall if they ought to climb to the entrance, but consensus was that the first move should come from the visitors.

After what seemed an age, Ambassador Garincha Dela Moroforon emerged from the door onto the small platform. Again, excessive mumbling was being emitted by the crowd. It was growing in volume. From the human perspective, it was difficult to work out if this alien was male or female, but she was, in fact, a female Racutaan. Her dress might have provided a clue as it was a flowing gold, red, and black garment which fell from her neck and encompassed her forelimbs, ending a third of the way down her two-metre height. Beneath that, loose trousers fell to meet what looked like practical, but glossy black shoes. However, any assumption that she was female because of her garb, would've been wrong. Male Racutaans actually wore even more flowing and flamboyant outfits when meeting socially.

Her hands and face were an ochre colour. She had two deep-set eyes and a sponge-like organ slightly above and between them. The lower part of her face was covered with a breathing apparatus. Her overall appearance was not so inhuman as to scare many more in the crowd. The noise level fell a smidgeon.

Colin Hall stepped forward and stood a couple of metres from the bottom step. He bowed to the ambassador who reflected the movement before gracefully descending the stairway.

Immediately behind her, emerged another of the powder blue apes. This one did inspire some additional noise from the spectators. He was indistinguishable from a full-sized gorilla apart from the fact that he wore a loose-fitting green outfit and his hair and skin exhibited a rather lovely powder blue colour. He said something to someone inside and a small humanoid figure flew out of the doorway and hovered above the ambassador's right shoulder. Its wings were vibrating at an incredible rate and it looked, for all the world, like a fairy, but with jet black skin, a face like a shrunken head and enormous ears. It, too, wore a green outfit matching that of the powder blue gorilla. The flying creature did cause panic and many of the crowd ran off as they realised this thing could easily pursue and overtake them. To be fair, the bulk of the crowd was quite calm, and the well-trained soldiers gave no indication of any apprehension they felt. Just as well, really, as they were bristling with weapons.

The ambassador reached the bottom of the stairway.

Colin Hall said, 'Welcome to Earth. My name is Colin Hall and I am a career diplomat. How should I address you?'

The voice which emerged from the face mask sounded electronic but spoke very clearly. 'I'm pleased to meet you, Yol Colin Hall, and to visit your planet. My name is Ambassador Ya Garincha Dela Moroforon, but you may address me as Ya Moroforon. This flying person is Ya Heldy Mistorn and my main assistant; behind me, is Yol Slindo Merofort.'

Indicating those behind him, Colin Hall said, 'These people are Whitley Bark, Morwenna Blaney, and Charles Eden. The meeting with the leaders of our planet is planned for three this afternoon. Does our timekeeping method mean anything to you?'

The powder blue ape said something in another rather guttural language and the Ambassador said, 'Yes, I understand. You said, "leaders", are there more than one?'

'Yes, Ya Moroforon, there are several and most will be present this afternoon. As we've some time before the meeting, would you like to accompany us on a short tour of the city?'

'Thank you. That sounds interesting, Yol Hall.'

'Please come this way,' said Colin and the diplomatic team all turned towards the edge of the meadow. They were followed by the ambassador, her assistant, and the fairy person who flitted among the human delegation, looking closely at faces, causing the people so inspected to cringe or step backwards. Charles Eden stayed at the ship in case any other passengers needed information.

Whitley Bark began talking to the ambassador and pointing out some features in the park including the baseball diamonds. The ambassador seemed to be interested but had few questions.

They all boarded a midi-coach which was parked in West Drive, just a short walk from the ship. There was also a selection of limousines and large coaches available in case the party had been smaller or larger.

The guided tour took in many features of the city and ended at the United Nations building at three in the afternoon.

Once the coach had departed from Central Park, all manner of strange creatures disembarked. By this time, the xenophobes in the crowd had already run off. Those who remained were more curious than frightened. Soldiers stood between the aliens and the inquisitive bystanders. Their orders were to protect the aliens unless there was an unmistakable act of aggression.

Charles Eden approached the nearest group, introduced himself and let them know he was at their service. The largest of the four, a stocky biped with aubergine-coloured skin thanked him. He said, 'I am Yol Mariol Breton and speak English. Your world is very green. A pleasure to see.'

'You are welcome to travel within it. Let me know if you would like to do so.'

'Thank you, Yol Eden, but for the time being we are not allowed to leave the proximity of the vessel, but many wanted to sample the aroma of your atmosphere and stretch their limbs.'

'You prefixed my name with yol. What does yol mean?'

'I see. Thank you, Yol Breton.'

'My pleasure. Is there more you wish to ask?'

'Do you mind?'

'Not at all.'

Charles continued to learn about the aliens until later in the afternoon, when a klaxon sounded, and they all returned to the ship. The crowd, becoming bored at the lack of action, had begun to drift away. There was, of course, a continual stream of sightseers who just wanted a picture of the starship.