Playing chess with a Guest was a case of diminishing returns, so Ash had found. You could thrash their scaly fundaments at your ease, until they learned your attacks, then they simply defended until you missed your step. The only way he could beat Gilly now was to throw in random moves, in the hope of confounding her intellects.
       Ash was busy essaying a feint, so it was a pure astonishment when Gilly's scintilla riffled, and she sang an emphatic harmonic tone. "Checkmate!"
       Ash looked down at her in something approaching indignation.
       "Gilly! You feinted."
       "Am I not clever and good?"
       It was a moment before Ash could answer. "Yes, my dear. I've just never heard of a Guest feinting before."
       "It is a considerable challenge to comprehend such wicked deception, but…"
       "A feint is hardly deception!"
       Gilly's foremost scintilla folded inwards. "You are angry."
       "Not at all."
       "You are showing your teeth. A reliable sign that humans are angry."
       Ash forced a smile, politely hiding his teeth. "Not at all. A famous victory, my dear. Famous."
       As was their habit, they were alone in the atrium, Gilly's favorite place on the Columbus. She never tired of looking down at New Mars, watching the shadows on the red planet change as the ancient ship orbited. And she could gaze for hours when her own home world, the blue planet Alifee, came into view.
       Alifee was visible now, a tiny azure sphere in the distance. It was to Alifee that both Ash and Gilly hoped to go in a few short weeks, leaving the ancient ship and its decaying orbit for good and all.
       Ash, as he often did, sank deep within himself, watching the shadows deepen behind the dusty red McCorkadale Mountains.
       Gilly was saying something, and Ash had to pull himself into the present to attend his Guest. "Sorry, dear." They were, of course, talking in Alifee, their conversation a series of harmonics and melodies, usually with heavily accented vibrato.
       "I said, as The Blessing draws nearer, my fear increases."
       "What fear?"
       "That The Blessing becomes a curse."
       "What a girl you are! Without The Blessing, your people would still be half in the mud."
       Gilly made one of the sounds that even Ash, the best Alifeean linguist on board, could not comprehend, but the tone was so deep, and the vibrato so disjointed it could not be pleasure. Then she said, "The second watch begins in five minutes."
       "Oh."
       "You are officer of the watch."
       Ash didn't respond and so Gilly, as any Guest would, simply repeated, and would keep repeating.
       Ash shook himself. "Yes, I'm officer of the watch."
       "Are you angry, Ash?"
       "There you go again. Why would I be angry?"
       "Humans get angry about many things. Perhaps it's being covered in skin."
       "What's skin got to do with it?" He relaxed his expression, conscious of the frown in his own face's skin.
       "It would make me angry."
       "I've never seen you angry."
       "That's because I'm not covered in skin."
       Ash looked quickly at his Guest. They didn't have humor in a way a Christian would recognize, but they could surprise you, like with today's chess feint. Ash and Gilly had been together for almost thirty years, and Guests were so very good at learning.
       Ash picked up his handle, reordered his testicles for optimum comfort, and walked to the door, turning at the last moment to make a respectable leg. Gilly curtseyed her many limbs in response and Ash slotted the handle into place, cranking the clunky door open. There was a jarring bump every couple of turns, but Ash ignored it, thinking that the days of patching and re-patching this old ruin were almost done.
       In the passageway, he switched his torch on, installed his handle and cranked the door closed, turning to follow his beam to another bulkhead. Keeping every door closed was ingrained, the only way to survive in this three-hundred-year-old ship.
       The bridge was shocking crammed when Ash arrived, and for some reason the Captain was there, who should by rights be asleep. Picking up on the air of excitement, Ash moved beside Ditar, who was concentrating on his screen. "What's afoot?"
       Captain Le Claire fixed him with a furious look. "Where have you been lurking, Lieutenant Ash?"
       "The atrium Sir. What's afoot, your honor?"
       "Damn your impudence, Sir! Take your position and look alive. And speak like a Christian on the bridge, none of that damnable roach-trill. Where is your cockroach?"
       "The atrium, Sir."
       The Captain glared at Sergeant Davis. "No damned roaches on the bridge, for now, Sergeant."
       There was clear satisfaction in Davis' voice. "No damned roaches on the bridge it is, Sir."
       "Mr. Ditar, have you anything to tell yet?"
       Ditar's voice was high with excitement. "It's a file, Captain. A proper file."
       "A Christian file?"
       "Sir. Like the old Earth system."
       This silenced the bridge, even the great man.
       Ditar asked, "Beg permission to rouse out the Old Computer."
       Le Claire pretended to consider. "Granted."
       The door opened a couple of clicks and Nobby Stiller, from first watch, put his head into the gap. "Begging pardon Your Honor, but we was wondering. . ."
       The Captain's polyphonic ululation of outrage sent Nobby scurrying back the way he came, with instructions that the next person coming onto the bridge out of turn would be fired out of the missile port. A jest, but perhaps not by much.
       Minutes ticked by as the unfamiliar colors of the old Earth computer consolidated on Ditar's monitors. So vibrant and wasteful, color and light illuminating the bridge, brighter than the torches. They gloried in their colors, those old Earthers. Whenever he saw this screen, only half a dozen times in his life, Ash felt he was looking at a powerful and very alien civilization.
       Ditar sang a long note of excitement. "Sir, the computer has sussed it. It comes from Earth, sure! I think it's audio, your honor."
       "Curse your fundament, what are you driveling about?"
       A speaker crackled into life then, making everybody jump. Words, tuneless and guttural and ugly, but unmistakably human. "ES Trek to ES Columbus. Do you read us, Columbus?"
       Everybody held their breath, listening to the only new human voice they had heard in their lives. The message repeated. And repeated.
       Ash, his voice trilling with excitement. "A ship? From Earth?"
       Ditar. "Bless you, Mr. Ash, what else can it be?"
       The Captain stared hard at the monitor. "Where away, Mr. Ditar?"
       "Only about half a million kilometers, Your Honor."
       Davis, in a low, under-the-breath tone, "What does bloody Earth want, coming here after all this time?"
       "Stow that, Davis! We are all Earthers here. This is a prodigious fine day."
       But the Captain didn't look like he thought there was anything prodigious or fine about it. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, deep in thought, and after a while it grew too much for Ash, who risked the Captain's wrath by asking, "What are your orders, Sir?"
       Le Claire looked up, then smiled. "Why, a reply, Mr. Ash. Say ‘Columbus to Trek. What took you so long?'"
       It took a moment for the bridge to realize that the Captain had made a joke. Then everybody was laughing, humming their amusement and slapping their bare stomachs.
       Eventually, The Captain left the bridge to Ash, with instructions to wake him at the slightest provocation, and hours passed before the speaker crackled into life again, this time with a different voice, although no less brutish.
       "Trek to Columbus. Delighted to hear from you. Captain Daltry here and we'll join you in orbit in around 100 hours."
       "I stand amazed." Ditar shook his head. "In a hundred hours we'll meet other Christians."
       "That's all fine and well." Davis voiced the opinion shared by many. "But what will they be wanting? We've orbited that stinking red lump near three hundred year, stuck to The Blessing since my grandfather was a pup. I've a right to my life on Alifee."
       Several voices raised in agreement and Ash snapped, "Quiet on the bridge, damn it! My compliments to the Captain, Mr. Davis, there's something might interest him."
       Another message was coming through, "Do you have video capability Columbus?"
       Ash frowned. "Video?"
       "He means viewing, Sir."
       Ash glared. "I was aware of that, Mr. Ditar."
       "Sorry Sir. Of course you was, what I was advising the others."
       "Do we have video?"
       "No, Sir."
       "Can we see theirs?"
       "Trying to figure it, Sir. Ah!"
       The screen changed, showing a group of humans, brilliantly lit. Ditar cried, "Look at them! All covered up. Prodigious great hairy beasts they are."
       Ash nodded. "Hair all over their heads. And look at that one all swollen like he's plagued."
       They stared in wonder at the strange humans. Davis, in a slightly embarrassed tone, sang, "My Mother had hair around the back of her head. Had to set all to rights with a blade."
       Nobody quite knew where to look for a few moments, Davis mentioning out loud that he had been born out of a woman.
       Ash, conscious of the Captain's imminent arrival, spoke sharply, "We've got better things to do than blab about hair. No more hair talk on the bridge!"
       "Aye, aye Sir. No more hair talk it is."
       Moments later, the door cranked open, Davis straightening to sing, "Captain on the bridge."
       The first thing the Captain said, catching sight of the monitor. "That's them? A prodigious hairy bunch."
       "They are Sir," cried Davis, in a passion, "Hairy like a lot of damned apes. And them coming to take our world off us, I make no doubt. Knowing nothing of stalwart generations, sticking to The Blessing like gum. The black thieves, that they are."
       Once Davis had been ordered off the bridge in disgrace, the Captain listened to the messages.
       "Send another reply, Mr. Ash. We look forward to meeting you, but our video machine has fallen into disrepute. How many of you are there? We have an establishment of fully sixty-two."
       Once the message had gone, The Captain sang, in more human a voice than Ash had heard him use since becoming leader, "I never expected it. Not a word in all these years. Why now? Just when The Blessing is so close to its fruition."
       Ditar stared at the screen. "I can't believe they look like that. So. . ."
       "Primitive." Offered Ash.
       "Just so, the very word I were a-searchin for. Like monkeys all covered up with cloth, like they was out roamin' and scavengin' for cats on the savannahs. And the sound from their mouths!"
       "What will be our relationship, Sir?" Ash asked the Captain.
       The Captain's tone changed, hardening. "Relationship?"
       "Beggin your pardon, but will they accept our seniority?"
       "We have centuries of seniority here, man! This is our world they are coming to."
       He looked back at the frozen image on the screen and dropped his voice to a low hum. "They know nothing of Alifee. Nothing of The Blessing or the immense cleverness of our workings across generations."
       He straightened, nodding. "We will certainly make them welcome. But they will accept my jurisdiction."
       Then he caught himself.
       "Damn your innards, there is a Captain aboard that vessel! We'll have no more cheek out of you, Mr. Ash, with your talk of seniority."
       The reply came through, then, saying the Trek had a compliment of 2,328.

       Ash was telling Gilly about the oncoming ship, the little Guest showing her agitation through a series of discordant tones.
       Eventually, she said, "It's been like chess. A game across generations, only we didn't know we were in play."
       "We haven't been after defeating you, dear heart!"
       "What's the difference between defeating and ruling? With your clever feints and stratagems."
       "Gilly, this isn't like you. We only want someplace to live in harmony with the Alifeeans."
       "Why this long game of subterfuge, then?"
       Ash sang a note of frustration. "You know why more than any. Your fellows would not accept us easy, looking as we do."
       "Not unless you gave us things we could never give up. You have debauched us."
       "Gilly!"
       But Gilly was becoming more and more upset, shown through wild pitch changes and dramatic amplification. "Only now do I see I have helped you place my own people in a checkmate."
       "I thought we was friends."
       "I love you, but I can't trust you. You expect me to believe it's a coincidence that this giant ship appears just before Contact?"
       "Do you regret that The Blessing has made your family the richest on the planet?"
       As soon as the splenetic tones were out of his mouth, he regretted them. Gilly turned and hurried to her corner, burrowing under her mulch.

       The Trek had been sending its automated message for many months, without expectation of response. So, when the reply came through, it ran through the ship like a current, people hugging and laughing in the corridors.
       "They're still alive!"
       Captain Daltry was present when the second message came through. No surprise that they didn't have video capability. The real mystery was how they had kept the ship operational for so long.
       First Officer Tan asked, "Why are they orbiting New Mars? Why not Alifee?"
       "There can only be one reason. They are hiding. The Alifeeans must be more advanced than we believed."
       Tan shook her head, picturing it. "Hiding behind that little red planet, for hundreds of years."
       On the spacious bridge, they could speak without being overheard, so long as they kept it low. Tan asked, "What's happening though? They sang rather than talked."
       "It was most unsettling, but that doesn't mean they are insane."
       Tan was skeptical. "How could you not go insane? Hiding for hundreds of years, on a ship the size of our landing bay."
       "They would not have survived if they were crazy."
       "I wonder if they've made contact."
       Daltry gave a quick shake of his head. "Their mission parameters were clear. Anyway, we've got new orders for them."
       Tan shook her head in wonder. "It's hard to accept that our journey is really ending."
       "My grandfather was the communications officer, when Trek launched, but think how that must be for them. Sixty-two people, dear God."
       Later, when, the first grainy images of the Columbus came through, Tan and Daltry were once again stunned. They stared at the dark little ship, seeing the scores and marks on its hull; some sort of alien retrofit near the rear.
       Tan was the one to say it out loud "Can people really be alive in that?"
       Only twenty-four hours later, the Captain's launch docked with the ancient vessel. Daltry straightened his dress uniform and stood by the hatch, Tan and Lieutenant Grubber just behind him. The door opened to reveal the inside of an airlock, with Columbus' entry port still closed. It was an anti-climax, but Tan gasped to see the ancient lettering. She reached out to touch the most famous vessel in history.
       Five minutes later, they were still standing there with the Colombus hatch firmly shut. Daltry turned to look at his officers. "Do you hear shouting?"
       Tan said, "More like singing. But angry."
       Daltry shrugged. "Can you raise them Lieutenant? Ask what the problem is."
       Grubber had been getting increasingly anxious. "Shouldn't we close the airlock Sir? There must be a chance of seal failure."
       "Be ready, but do nothing for the moment. We don't want to offend them."
       Grubber leaned in to press his ear to the metal.
       "Somebody sounds furious." He frowned. "What's a fundament? Ah!"
       He pulled away, holding his ear as the door shook under some fairly huge metallic thumps. They looked at each other in fright, but, before anyone could do anything, the door to the Columbus started to clank open, moving in short jerks. A couple of unmuffled bursts of song, something about damning somebody's lazy ass to buggaree, and a lot of harmonic background droning.
       Later, Tan would try to explain the shock of what was in there, how it overwhelmed the senses. It was dark, lit only by dim torches hanging from the belts of the Columbuses. And it stank. Tan gulped at the warm, oily air and gagged, thinking, I can't go in there. Interlinked harmonies boomed from the crew, ten of them, naked. All men, but tiny, filthy and hairless. They were adults, but the tallest couldn't have come up to her chin, and they were so thin that their bones showed painfully through their pale skin. Their chests seemed to vibrate with their extraordinarily dramatic singing.
       They were wearing belts, carrying torches, long knives and what looked like a handle of some kind. Then, apart from the man at the front who stood straight as a poker, they all bowed deeply, extending their right legs far in front of them. The song dipped too, to a single deep note.
       Captain Daltry walked into the reeking, filthy ship, and Tan had to follow, sipping the air. Daltry approached what had to be their Captain, holding his hand out in greeting only to be dragged into a tight embrace. Any hope that Tan had that a handshake would do was dashed as a tiny naked man ran forward and hugged her tightly, his head pressing into her chest.
       "A woman!" he intoned, pulling back. "A big hairy woman! Look at the prodigious great bosoms on her!"
       The others crowded round to look, and Tan had to knock away some inquisitive hands. The tiny Captain, still hugging Daltry after more than an agonizing minute, released him.
       "A woman. That's. . ." he issued a short falsetto chirp, struggling for a word it seemed, "useful."
       Tan heard Grubber curse under his breath and turned to see that some of the filthy little men had rushed aboard the launch, gaping and humming and pointing. She caught Daltry's eye and saw what he was thinking. Let them gasp and gape.
       Daltry said, "Captain Le Claire, I presume. An honor to meet you, Sir."
       The man's bony chest swelled, and he glared pointedly at his crew, who scurried sheepishly back behind him.
       "Captain Daltry. Delighted to welcome you aboard Columbus, Sir, what we haven't welcomed another Christian since the day our ancestors left the old world."
       Then, to the man who had hugged Tan. "Jump to and lend a hand, Mr. Davis. Get that hatch rumbled shut before we all whisk off into the abyss."
       "No whisking into the abyss it is, Sir."
       Tan watched the brightly lit interior of the launch disappear with anxiety, and they were locked in the darkness and stink of the Columbus. She became aware that there was some sort of debate amongst the Columbuses and the tiny Captain was turning to point himself at her, in a pose of exaggerated gallantry. He held his hand out, leg jutting before him. "I congratulate you on your bosoms Madame. They are most charming."
       The Columbus crew nodded in satisfaction, some high protocol apparently having been satisfied. She heard herself thanking the little man, but could not meet Captain Daltry's eye.
       They were shown around the ship by the proud crew, signs of severe corrosion, wear and unlikely repairs at every turn. In the mess hall, a meal was waiting, and Tan would have been shocked at the sight of it, were she not too busy being shocked at the sight of alien life.
       Six alien life forms, the first any of the Trekkers had ever seen. Tan later described them as a cross between a dog (everybody knew what a dog was, from year one Earth studies) and a cockroach (infestations aboard Trek were stubborn).
       The aliens, known as Guests, trilled and hummed in what was obviously their language, one that the Columbuses often fell into themselves.
       Ash said to her, "This is Gilly. She says she is pleased to meet you. Our Guests cannot fathom your speech, but we can translate for them."
       Daltry was clearly trying to keep a lid on his shock. "These are Alifeeans?"
       Le Claire nodded. "Indeed."
       "But Captain. You have made contact."
       "Not open contact, yet, Captain dearest. Not quite yet."
       "Are these… abductees then?"
       A vibration of disapproval from the Columbuses. Le Claire looked hard at Daltry. "We are not uncivilized brutes, Captain. Nobody has been abducted for the best part of eighty years."
       Then Le Claire shook himself and smiled, waving a hand graciously. "But where are our manners? Gentlemen! Gentlemen, the aria!"
       As the Colombus crew stood to attention, readying themselves to sing, Le Claire leaned in. "You will, of course, be familiar with Bohemian Rhapsody. We have taken it as our own."
       Tan sat, astonished, as the bizarre performance progressed, having to force her face into an expression of quiet appreciation. As the final words were sung, the Treks applauded, then food was being heaped onto the plate in front of Tan and, when she realized she was looking at meat, her gorge rose. She glanced at the Captain for help, but he looked straight ahead before picking up a piece of meat and biting into it.

       Later, alone with Ash and Gilly in a space they called the atrium, Tan learned something of the history of the Columbus. Ash and Gilly sat side by side, not quite touching.
       Tan pointed to the red planet. "I'm guessing that you are in orbit around New Mars to avoid detection."
       Ash nodded. "Columbus carried out its orders to the letter, arriving in orbit around Alifee. Spent the next century watching, taking samples, learning about the Alifeeans."
       He fixed Tan with an accusatory expression. "Never a murmur from Earth, though."
       That surprised Tan, both what was said and the little man's obvious irritation. She was still taking sips of air, struggling with the stench. Still overwhelmed by the strangeness of every word being sung, and the sight of a very alien life form, only feet from her. She forced herself into the moment.
       "This is Earth history we're talking about! I learned it in school. The scientists who built Columbus expected to communicate through deep space, but that's problematic. And, of course, the war changed everything."
       "So, we was forgotten."
       "My Grandmother said that, when she was a little girl, the story of Columbus was already from another time, like a fairy story."
       Ash seemed troubled. "Your grandmother was a woman too?"
       She looked at him under her eyelashes, seeing his discomfort. "It's common amongst grandmothers. Are there no women on board?"
       He shook his head, vehement suddenly. "Never in life."
       "Why not?"
       Ash blinked, frowning, apparently at her stupidity. "We have eggs enough in storage. There is no requirement for such things."
       Tan wanted to say, there is surely no more requirement for men than women, but held back.
       Ash, perhaps thinking that more explanation was required, pointed to her chest. "We're not primitives, my dear."
       She opened her mouth to protest, but Ash cut her off as a thought struck him. "You can't communicate with Earth, then?"
       Tan smoothed her uniform and sat straighter, so that she was looking down on him.
       "Communication failed, during my mother's time as Captain. About fifty years ago."
       He absorbed this silently.
       "But you were telling me about when the Columbus arrived at Alifee, Lieutenant Ash."
        Ash nodded. "My ancestors were forced to go to the planet, for food and water. The Alifeeans were about as advanced as Victorian Earth at this time. They had rudimentary vehicles, and something like radio.
       "The real fascination, though, became the Alifeeans themselves. I'm embarrassed to say that in the early days they caught them like cats for the lab." He looked at Gilly and hummed sadly. "Before we realized that they was people too."
       Tan spoke before she had time to think. "Not people, surely?"
       "Not human. But people, certainly. We got to know their language, their culture. Started to learn what they were saying on their radio."
       "What sort of thing?"
       "Some believed aliens were amongst them. Others thought the idea ludicrous."
       "Had your ancestors been spotted?"
       "Stories of strange lights in the sky, witnesses who had seen humans." He barked out a short musical trill of laughter. "Their description of us was terrifying."
       "They made us into monsters?"
       "Alifee doesn't have anything with a skeleton on the inside. We look like we have our innards hanging out to them. At any rate, our ancestors became more careful. They had stopped killing Alifeeans, and learned to abduct and frizzle the memory out, but it didn't work entirely, and stories multiplied like pigs. Then, one of the landers crashed."
       Tan blinked in shock. "So, they know."
       "They had a crashed lander, and two bodies. But their Government kept it secret."
       "That's understandable."
       "Not for them! They have little concept of deception. Luckily, Alifeeans are vulnerable to very low frequency sound and we have become really rather clever with acoustics. So, we knocked out their base and took back the lander and the crew. My great grandfather was on that mission."
       "What did the Alifeeans do?" Tan found herself swept up in the story.
       "Said nothing, again very strange. Some of it leaked out, of course. Some think we are benevolent creatures, incredibly advanced, capable of anything."
       "But they aren't advanced themselves?"
       "They've come on prodigious fast. A blessing. Some milk, dear? It is Gilly's own."

       The Captains were standing in the near darkness of the atrium, overlooking the red planet. Daltry had been complimenting Le Claire, telling him how amazing it was that he had held the ancient vessel together.
       Le Claire smiled, gracious. "We'd given up on Earth generations ago."
       "Sorry, I have trouble making you out sometimes with that vibrato thing."
       Le Claire slapped his hand against his shiny scalp, making Daltry jump. "Damned roach talk gets into your head. I'll talk like a Christian, Captain dear."
       "I'm pleased to hear that you are still followers of Christ."
       "Who?"
       Daltry hardly paused. "I have wonderful news for you. I carry new orders from Earth."
       Le Claire glared at the red planet, but held his peace.
       "I have them here." He tapped his pocket. "But, first, I must explain what happened before we left. The last war left poor old Earth all but uninhabitable, so Trek was built, at ruinous expense, to ensure the survival of mankind. I know that sounds dramatic, but it is true. Trek was built to colonize Alifee."
       Still, the little man did not speak.
       "Trek is also a ship of war, Le Claire. We aren't here to make friends with the Alifeeans. Our orders are to destroy them entirely."
       Finally, Le Claire burst into dramatic song. "Damn your impertinence man! How can Earth presume to order me?"
       "You are from Earth!"
       Le Claire stepped up to Daltry and snapped his fingers in his face, "Hah! That to Earth! I am the Government and the law here."
       "But Captain. . ."
       "The Government of Earth is not what my ancestors knew. It may not be the same now as when the Trek left."
       Daltry blinked in surprise. "I'm sure…"
       "You can be sure only that your stinking orders was scribbled off by men who died a century ago, with no idea of my solar system, damn their thieving eyes."
       "Le Claire, we are all under orders from Earth. You still have your mission. Or have you abandoned it?"
       "Mind your manners, Sir!"
       "Captain, please. Calm yourself."
       Le Claire made a visible effort to control his emotions. "Mission you say? A distant ancestor of mine fulfilled his mission. I have none. And you, what do you know of Earth, Daltry? They might be massing warships to send at you. In this solar system, you will take your orders from me."
       Daltry had heard enough.
       "Sir, your little vessel has done well. We have gained great intelligence, but you are stood down, Captain."
       Le Claire moved with shocking speed, sliding his knife from his belt and making a slicing pass under Daltry's nose. He could as easily have slit his throat.
       "You are claimed, Sir!"
       "What do you mean?"
       "Draw your weapon."
       "I have no weapon."
       Le Claire was infuriated, and disgusted. In another sudden movement, he sliced off part of Daltry's shirt collar and stood back, waving it in his face.
       "Curse you for a craven cowardine. Off my ship with you before I ream your fundament."

       In the mess, Davis was recounting the scene, which he hadn't witnessed. "The Captain took the measure of them. Claimed Daltry fair, but Daltry reneges. Says, I have no weapon."
       High tones of disapproval met this.
       Ditar shook his head. "Shocking in a Captain. They are morally disparaged."
       "What's more, they mean to wipe the Alifeeans out entire."
       Ash nodded. "The woman thinks Alifeeans are too dangerous and Trek is a ship of war."
       Davis. "A good nuclear up their pipe and they'll know about it."
       This was greeted with laughter.
       Ditar had to tell them. "None of those things work."
       "We could shoot them with a normal missile though, eh?"
       "Possibly."
       Ash shrugged. "We'll probably just do that then."

       In Daltry's conference room, the mood was just as bleak.
       Daltry fingered his ruined tunic. "They've gone native. The extraordinary way they speak is no accident, they have been infected by the Alifeeans. And that bizarre rhapsody thing…"
       Tan nodded. "What do we do, Sir? Destroy the Columbus? If they are a threat to the mission. . ."
       "It's not as simple as that, though, is it? They are humans and we are not barbarians."
       "They think we are."
       "They do indeed. Part of the trouble is this claiming thing. We're reduced in their eyes because I won't dual."
       Tan raised her eyebrows. "You aren't thinking about it?"
       "God, no. Did you see their scars? Le Claire told me the previous Captain was killed in a knife fight. Some argument about whether all the birds of Earth were venomous."
       Tan, proud of her expansive knowledge of Earth fauna, frowned. "I wouldn't have thought all birds would carry venom."
       "Before we had our disagreement, Le Claire was talking about taking his rightful place on Alifee. As though they were descending in glory. Believed he was being gracious, offering me a position."
       "I understood the same from Lieutenant Ash. They have done something, Sir. I just couldn't quite get to what it was. Called it The Blessing."
       Grubber, looking uncomfortable, asked, "You think there might be anything in what he said? About Earth."
       "What do you mean?"
       "It's been eighty years since last contact. If they launch again, how would we know if they would be friendly? To us, I mean."
       "Why wouldn't they be?"
       Daltry face darkened, because the answer to his question lay plain in the ruin of the old Earth. He shook it away.
       "For now, we have our mission. The survival of our species."

       When Daltry heard that the Columbus wanted to send over a deputation he was pleased, but suspicious.
       "They want to send over one of their officers, and one of the Alifeeans, Captain."
       "If they had a bomb, would we detect it?"
       "Yes, Sir. They want to show us their acoustic device, for stunning or killing Alifeeans."
       Daltry thought about it, weighing the risk.
       "Tell them I will send my own launch to collect them, by way of courtesy. Tan, check anything they want to bring, including that acoustic device. Anything that you suspect might be a danger to the Trek, refuse access. Who do they want to send?"
       "Lieutenant Ash and his Guest, Gilly."

       It was the first time that Tan had conversed properly with an Alifeean, albeit through Ash, and she could see what the idea was. Gilly was fascinating. Intelligent, interested in Tan as the first human female she had ever spoken to. Her voice was a delight, more melodious by far than the Columbuses.
       There had been a tour of the bridge that hadn't been as short as Tan had intended. Ash had been fascinated with the controls, and they had spent quite some time in explanation. They even allowed Gilly to talk to another Guest on Columbus, using the comms desk. It was incredible, watching her clever appendages working the controls.
        Now they were in the conference room, with the Captain himself and most of the senior officers, all agog to meet their first alien life form. Ash translated as Gilly talked about Alifee, but her love of the world came over clear in the stunning beauty of her song. She talked about her family, her pride in her children. About the Columbuses, coming to take their places in society, lauded. Their Blessing, the immense contribution to the advancement of Alifee appreciated for the first time; the humans valued, despite their unimaginable ugliness.
       Daltry leaned forward. "Can you explain, Lieutenant? What this…Blessing is?"
       Ash regarded Daltry proudly, his eyes cool, demonstrating his contempt for this non-fighting Captain. "Why Captain, were you not appraised of the high state of advancement of Alifee, with regards to computing and internet?"
       "Yes, I was a little concerned."
       "They had no dream of such things, only a hundred years ago."
       "Wait, now. You gave them this technology?"
       Ash raised his tiny, filthy chin. "That is The Blessing. We have disseminated it quietly, secretly, through our Guest families."
       "You have made them more powerful by far! In God's name, man, why?"
       "The Blessing is a prodigious clever plan. Alifeean society has become entirely reliant on systems that we control. They will be made aware that it is to us they owe thanks for that, that we have been their secret benefactors, helping them ascend to their golden age."
       He raised a finger. "And that our munificence can end in a moment. Acceptance into the highest levels of society is their only logical course. Alifeeans are very logical."
       Then he leaned forward and sang passionately. "Do not follow this barbarous course, Captain. Come with us. Share The Blessing."
       The Captain looked away and, for a long time, nothing was said. It seemed, though, that both Gilly and Ash were comfortable with long silences.
       Finally, the Captain nodded towards Gilly. "Does she know what I intend?"
       "She does not. We hope you will come to understand that the situation has changed from when your ancestor accepted his orders."
       The Captain slapped his hand on the table, making Gilly jump. "Enough! I am a soldier, Sir. I follow my orders." Then, holding his hand up, "Please apologize to your Guest, I didn't mean to startle her."
       Ash's cheeks had colored. "Apologize for startling her, when you mean to wipe her entire race from their own world? Pshaw!"
       "I have my orders."
       "You will not bend?"
       "I will not."
       Ash brought a large briefcase shaped box onto the table.
       Daltry. "Your acoustic device?"
       "Yes. The Alifeeans have no scientific concept of sound, though they are so vulnerable to it. We have become marvelous adept in the use of sonic devices."
       Daltry was staring thoughtfully at the strangely archaic device. "So, they can be destroyed without damaging the fabric of the world?"
       "Just so."
       "Excellent. But why are you telling me this?"
       "If you are to destroy them, I would it were done with as little pain as can be managed. And, I want to see you do it."
       "I beg your pardon?"
       "I want to see whether you can take this beautiful, loving creature, the friend and companion of my life. Kill her whilst you look upon her, and me her loving friend nearby."
       "This is grotesque!"
       "Genocide is grotesque. Can you kill this good, kind person as she sits? Strike this button and she dies, whilst you and I won't hear a thing."
       "I will not."
       "Then my Captain has the right of it and you are a coward, who would sit in splendor to murder a billion but cannot do the deed when you see who it is you kill."
       Daltry, red in the face, stood.
       Tan held her hands up. "Captain!"
       Daltry pressed the button.
       Seconds passed, and Daltry all but shouted. "What is this? Some kind of test?"
       Ash looked suddenly tired. "It was indeed, Captain. Which you have failed."
       Tan put a hand to the side of her head. "Can you hear that? A great chord, building."
       Daltry pointed to the device. "Is this what you said it was?"
       In reply, Ash simply nodded and clapped his hands around his own head, trying not to scream.

       Aboard the Columbus a light sparked into life on the main consul, and there was a collective note of grief from all those on the bridge.
       The Captain sang, "Ash has done his duty like a Christian. Mr. Davis, raise Gilly, if you please."
       Davis sang into the comm, but received no reply.
       "It may take time for the creature to bring herself to bear on the controls, your honor. And she may have been stunned."
       Davis sang his message again, then turned in concern. "Can we be sure everyone has died, Captain?"
       "Only Gilly will have lived. Three cheers for our fallen hero, Mr. Ash."
       Every hour, Davis tried to raise Gilly, and soon the crew were speculating, wondering if the aria, calibrated for humans, was so strong it also killed the Alifeean.
       Davis had been at the consul during this, and now he sang out. "The mendacious, black hearted thief!"
       "Mr. Davis!"
       "Sorry Captain. The damned roach has been busy all this time. Singing her arias, only not to us."
       "Explain yourself man!"
       "She sings to Alifee."
       This stunned the crew into silence.
       "Raise the deceitful little creature, Mr. Davis. Tell her she is sussed."
       Eventually, after an extended period of shouting and waving knives at the intercom, the crew of the Columbus grew quiet. Many of them stood at the portholes, chewing their lips and looking out at the glowing bulk of the Trek. There was some talk of landing parties and missiles, but it was no more than half-hearted as it seemed the Captain had been temporarily stunned into paralysis.
       The minutes drew out into hours, and a moment came when the bridge was lit by a fierce white light.
       Ditar. "Something has been discharged, Captain. A weapon of horrendous intent aimed at New Mars. See how the dust boils yet!"
       Then, "She is making contact."
       He flicked a switch and Gilly's singing was suddenly clear over the intercom.
       "Why," sang Le Claire, "it is our own Bohemian Rhapsody. She mourns Ash, I make no doubt."
       Ditar, watching his monitor, sighed. "I think not, Captain dear. The weapon points at us now. We are claimed."
       Le Claire straightened, as Gilly's song rose in the air. "Then she honors us at the end, with our own aria, gentlemen, and we must meet our fate as Christians. Strike up lads!"
       One by one, the crew straightened, placed a hand to their heart, and held their chins high, joining the Alifeean in song.