Chapter Thirty-Five

The ambassador was quiet, probably because he was looking at the same thing I was. The ship from the viewscreen was roaring down from the sky, the birds gathered on the platform gave a wide berth to the ship and a low hum began from the underground facility.

“Stand clear, any personnel near the landing zone, stand clear. Do not attempt to retrieve any lost metal objects.” The announcement came over the speaker as the ship descended, the oscillating magnetic devices shifted power dynamically according to the position of the ship, slowly drawing it toward the center.

“Descent in Five.” The voice echoed over the ground and for a moment it seemed like the whole world was silent save for the ship and the machines drawing it close.

‘The first ship to land on Earth is dlamisan… our people will be remembered for this, all over this world, and maybe more… we can settle the misidentification later. For now? The whole world, no, two worlds, two worlds are watching…’ I was in reverential awe, the broadcasts from where we stood were live streamed to every corner of the globe, major cities from Berlin and Moscow to Timbuktu and New Kyoto… all eyes were on my people.

It was humbling. Humbling and proud, watching them come close, ready to kiss the Earth, their oxydraulic landing gear coming out as they were aligned into the center and drew ever closer.

I wondered, ‘What will their first words be?’ Humans are as fond of famous first words as we. It was one of the things their kind and mine had in common, in the search for immortal fame, what was said by those who went first was scrutinized long, long after the passing of the speaker.

“Landing in one.” The announcement came out, and even those full of hate, were for perhaps the first time in their lives, full of wonder.

“Thirty seconds.” The announcement came out as the ship was only a hundred meters off the ground.

“Ten seconds.” The announcement rang out, the hum from the magnetic devices began to die down as the power consumption diminished.

The thud of the touchdown was enough to shake the world, or so it seemed from where we stood.

And then the doors began to open, and a ramp slowly descended, no one spoke, no one made a sound, there was only the hum of the ship as its engines slowly died and the ramp came down to touch solid ground for the first time in who knew how long. I tried to see inside as the lights came on, but there was no one there. A human might have made themselves known immediately, but dlamisa tended to take our time about these things, giving others a chance to respond to a new presence, at least for a few seconds.

“That is not one of our official merchants.” The ambassador said the instant the female of my species came into view.

She stood in full view as the cameras zoomed in to take her figure in, definitely female, with a long tail and a shapely form, I hadn’t seen a female of my species in what felt like years. But my surprise at seeing her, was not nearly as great as it was seeing what she wore.

That she wore anything was a surprise, but more than that?

That was no uniform I recognized, at least… not from this century.

She stood in a kind of modified set of boots that rose up to the bend in her legs, like it was based on a human model and then altered to fit us. I will never forget what she wore. A dark bodice and a loose scarlett coat with long sleeves and a black skirt that was slit up to her right hip. Even that was less surprising than the eyepatch over one eye, the tricorner hat, and the sword on her hip. My people do not use, and have never used swords.

She sauntered down the ramp with her tail wagging wildly behind her, I looked at the viewscreen like I was in a trance, her fur was a bright and shaggy red, and her snout was middle length, much like mine. Her mouth was open and tongue lolled out happily. Gold rings in her ears wobbled back and forth with every step.

She stopped at the base of the ramp, staring down at the final step that would carry her from her ship, into the annals of our people’s history.

Then she stepped forward, and before the eyes and ears of an entire planet she said, “For all them what went out an didn’t make it back again.”

“Did she… what?” The Ambassador’s tail was stiff, “What is she wearing?! What did she say?! Is she not using a translator?!” I wasn’t sure if it was rage or dismay or that he was just at a total loss.

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I was no less confused, and from the look of them, the Earth ambassador, the security teams, including Boatswain and Byron, were as much at a loss as anyone. Perhaps then it is no surprise that it was Fauve who spoke up first.

“She looks so cool! She’s like a pirate!”

That was when it clicked, the captain’s clothes, her sauntering manner, even the sword and the way she spoke. All seemed like they were ripped from the pirate movies I looked at a long time before coming to Earth.

With nothing else for it but to go forward, the lot of us collectively approached, though I won’t pretend we didn’t hesitate for a step, there was simply no other option. And so we found our rhythm and as a gaggle of confused individuals, we approached the ship of my people.

To their credit, the security teams of both Earth and Dlamias spread out to surround each half of our dignitaries, save for Boatswain and Byron, who stood in front of Fauve and I near the back.

When we approached, it was the Earth ambassador who spoke first, he was a slender man of medium build and tan skin, a thin mustache beneath his lip, and horseshoe pattern baldness on his head. “In the name of the Earth government, we welcome you as our guest, please make yourselves at home for the duration of your stay.”

The Captain made a polite half bow to the lot of us, it was quite formal, and appeared to imitate the mannerisms of humans from centuries before the present, then she spoke in the most bizarre fashion.

“Thank ye, 'uman person. I be grateful fer the safe port in the storm, especially since I 'ave a small confession to make.”

She then straightened up and added, “First, thanks much fer invitin' us to Earth. Me apologies fer the tricky stunt, me colleague 'ere be right, I be not the correct ship. I beat them to it, played a sly 'and an' took their place. They be fine, just weeks behind us still, playin' it safe, sound, an' e'er so dull.”

Her tail wagged back and forth as she laid out her confession, “We was sailin' the void when we caught wind o' the transmission callin' a merchant vessel to earth. A new cargo, somethin' worth a lot to a lot o' folk. A cargo I once got a chance to try an wouldn't miss a chance to try again. With money on the table waitin' to be taken, I wouldn't miss me chance. So I turned me ship around an' 'eaded this here way to get what I could before the rum been gone into the bellies o' a crew a lot more dull than mine.”

“Thank ye, ambassador, fer grantin' permission to land, even if ye did nay quite mean it fer us. I've been a jolly admirer o' 'umans fer some years, an' I be 'onored an' grateful fer the chance to visit fer fun an' profit.”

She brought her hand down and clapped the slender human on the shoulder, her tongue lolling out of her mouth, she cocked her head to the side, clearly far from done speaking, she introduced herself, “An' before ye ask, the last 'umans I met couldn't pronounce me name in me language, so they gave me a name in yours that there I liked a lot, ye can call me 'Bonny Red' if it please ye. An if it don't, try'n pronounce it in me language."

She let out the little rooooo noise our species made when we were at our happiest, and from her wagging tail, I could see she was over the moon with glee, seeing the crowds well beyond our little gathering, she hopped up and down, ears flopping wildly about, she raised her open hand and waved it as much as her arms allowed like she was waving hello to dear friends. “Ahoy there, 'umans, it be jolly to meet ye! I 'ope we can be mates!”

With her giant gleeful… and to my eyes, frankly beautiful face, Captain Bonny Red seemed to grab hold of hearts and imaginations in the watching humans at the same time and just… squeeze the good will out of the lot of them, even the ones who had precious little good will to give. Maybe you couldn’t get blood from a stone, but it seemed you could get goodwill from one if you were a dlamisan in a pirate costume.

Professor Sxlith asked the question our ambassador, and everyone else, seemed to be too confused to ask. “Are you not using a translator, Captain? What is with your… way of speaking?” He licked his eyeballs with the nervous rapidity I was familiar with, clearly as disturbed as the rest of us.

She seemed to straighten up and preen, almost panting with pride when she explained, “Oh, after I met that there last crew o' 'umans, they told me I reminded them o' a gentleman o' fortune, showed me clips o' some movies, after I did a run o' supplies fer the University, I gave them a discount in exchange fer copies o' all the gentleman o' fortune movies made from the twentieth through the twenty-third centuries. That be 'ow I learned English.”

My entire student body, and our professor, let out the various noises of exasperation our species typically did. It was exactly the sort of thing the University would do to save credits. Copies of something cost nothing but a few minutes to make, and credits saved were credits that could be used elsewhere.

And now here we were, thanks to them. Face to face with a pirate crazy dlamisan ship Captain with a thirst for rum.

I won’t pretend I wasn’t nervous about this prospect, but with Earth having given them an official welcome, and the situation being what it was, it is a credit to my people’s ambassador… and perhaps to the influence of humans, that rather than kick up a stink on the spot, he rolled with the unexpected punches and answered. “You should get a translator… come by the embassy later to sign for one, I beg you.” His pained look and stiff tail said he did not care for the way Bonny spoke.

“O' course, sir, o' course. But where's that there one who sent me the rules o' that there game, the one what wants to see 'ow we work together? 'e 'ere?” She asked, and to my dismay, every eye turned toward me… and everybody stepped aside.

I had no idea at the time, whether having her attention on me was good, or not. But if I had known that what she asked was transmitted over the entirety of Earth all at once, I… at the time, would have thought it was a harbinger of disaster.