The leader of the Convention's party stepped forward, or rather scuttled on four mylar-covered origami legs. She was mix Gargoyle, a Quotidian of middling rank, clad in a space suit that made her look even more like a vacuum cleaner than usual.

"Pitiful sophonts!" she screeched. "Cower before the might of your alternate selves, convened here to crush your resistance."

The Parturians folded their heads close to their bodies in an unguessable nonhuman emotion.

Oh, wait.

"Translator," she said. "Toggle on translation nonverbal communication."

"I am afraid. I am resolved," chorused in her ears.

"We will resist until we grow powerful enough to overthrow you," said Expendable Intern. "We will resist with all our effort."

"A very different script from one the one we used," said Ambassador Li on their private channel. "'We will strive with all our effort to take our place upholding the noblest goals of sapience,' wasn't it?"

"I am beginning to wonder how that was translated," said Laura. "But the Parturians are afraid, just like we were. Like we still are."

"Afraid?" Li said.

For the first time in years, Laura appreciated her boss. A lesser man would have angrily declared that he wasn't afraid. A man with quicker wits would have figured out where she was going with this. The ambassador only frowned seriously and squinched his eyes, standing erect in his spacesuit while Laura explained things to him. He trusted her to speak, and she could trust him to listen.

"Attempt with all your effort to improve yourselves, or else fail to uphold our conventions and end up as a husk on the embankment next to the canal of history," said mix Gargoyle, swishing her tail and quivering with threat.

Laura let her continue and said, "I believe we have missed opportunities. Many opportunities. In the past month, members of the UN Embassy have had more personal interactions with nonhumans than in the previous six years. I'm not assigning blame," she said, because after all Li was only human, and what she was saying could be interpreted as a catalog of his incompetence. "We, our Embassy, have fulfilled all the duties placed on us by both the United Nations and the Convention of Sophonts. But beyond those duties, we've been very cautious. Conservative. We were waiting, I think, for warmth from the nonhumans, an invitation that never came."

"Nonhumans are difficult to deal with," he observed, tone neutral.

"They are almost impossible," Laura said with feeling. "But I think that's an engineering problem. Our species don't understand each other, and we can't start learning until somebody makes the first move. We've been waiting for them, and they've been waiting for us."

A brief silence as mix Gargoyle withdrew and the next delegate hopped forth on a small jet of rocket exhaust. This the Immortal-in-Vector Corundum, a lead-gray dodecahedron with spiky grasping arms and jewel lenses. These glowed and pulsed in a pattern that brought to mind a fanning peacock's tail. The translator bug rendered its voice as deep and grinding, as if an oil rig could speak.

"Parturian embassy, I am eager to disassemble the gifts of your civilization and incorporate them into the structure of my power."

"Alright," said Li, "what does this have to do with our part in the ceremony?"

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"Unassimilated, our value to you will increase indefinitely with time," said Expendable Intern.

"The Pick didn't specify that you take the lead, did they?" Laura asked. "They left that decision up to us. I think that's standard Convention practice. Hands-off, let species do what makes sense to them, test them."

"And you think we would pass the test if we were warmer?" Li's head moved within his helmet. "More…human?"

"The Parturians have sent their delegation as if making sacrifices to an evil god," said Laura. "They expect at worst attack and at best cold formality. But what if we welcome them? The sort of welcome that we humans never got?"

"For example?"

"I invite them to dinner. After their quarantine period is over, of course."

Still squinching, Li nodded in his helmet. "I understand you. But this is too sudden. We've made our itinerary for the ceremony and published it."

Yes. Ambassador Li followed orders. It was a survival strategy, and Laura envied how well it worked. Li followed orders so well, on a level so deep, that neither he nor his superiors even seemed to be aware of it. To them, Li simply made every right and proper decision. Li banked and turned with the agility of a starling in the heart of a murmuration, expertly flown by everyone around him.

But now he was alone, except for Laura. He needed her to pilot him.

"If we do something spontaneous, that won't look good," he said, meaning it wouldn't look good to the humans back on Earth who watched the videos later. Of course, from most humans' perspective, this ceremony was about humans. That was the problem.

"Caught between action and inaction, I am serene in my frustration," Rumbled the Immortal-in-Vector Corundum. "I will neither devour nor ignore you. Let us have commerce." Flashing a new message in laser-light, the Tensor lifted on its jets and hopped to a position behind Laura and Ambassador Li. It was their turn.

Expendable Intern's head swiveled to regard the Pick and two humans. "I am poised," he said. "I am reconciled. My civilization has sacrificed me to yours."

"When we refrain from killing you, we build trust," said Secretary.

Just the sort of thing a damn bird would say, Laura thought, and chided herself for her prejudice. Just because every bird she'd met so far has been a cold-hearted bastard, that didn't mean she should give up hope for the Parturians.

Ambassador Li stepped forward. "Your Excellency, on behalf of the United Nations of Human Earth, welcome to the Convention of Sophonts." It was the only line given to any human during this ceremony, but it was the central one. The hope was that the Parturians would remember it and deal with humans as friends. They did have a lot of history in common, after all. The spread out of Africa, the big civilizations on the Nile, Euphrates, and Yellow River. Paper money. The domestication of the plum tree.

Laura chewed her lip. If only she had thought of this earlier, she could have made Koen put together a package of food that she could give them. But even if she had, Koen was out in the forest with Mark, distracting General Graa. Back at the Embassy, they had left a spoiled man-ape and political bomb in the extremely unreliable care of their security and IT people. Too late to go back and change things. And eight days from now, she would probably be out of the Embassy anyway. So, why bother with this conversation? Why try to do anything better?

Because Laura's gut told her so.

Expendable Intern ducked his head and waggled his tail. "I am deferential."

Laura bowed, human fashion, the top of her head pointing toward the giant bird.

He shuffled forward, feet uncertain in lunar gravity, and stretched out his long neck. The side of his beak tapped against the side of Laura's helmet.

"We'll take care of you." Laura spoke the words she wished some nonhuman had said to her. "We'll help you find your place in the Convention."

"I am frozen with surprise," said the Parturian. "Clarify?"

Laura tried to channel the spirit of a bird. "I am dominant," she said. "I am patronizing. I will give you what is mine for no reason."

"Not no reason," said the hornbill. "We will show you hospitality until you beg for us to stop."

"We will give you more. And sooner," Laura told him. "When your quarantine is over, come to the UN Embassy. We'll feed you."