Homeworld
Seven months later on Homeworld the chairman of the High Council received a message from one of their far detectors:
‘An unidentified ship has been detected heading towards this system. It’s not one designed by our people. We have to conclude that it is an alien ship.’
This caused great consternation. Homeworld was the first planet settled after the long migration from the Earth 150,000 years before. No sign of any other space faring species had been detected in that very long period.
Then they received a message directly from the intruding interstellar ship. The message was from the retired president of the Green Planet’s system explaining briefly what had happened and asking for the Earthmen to be received as honoured guests.
Then the president added the text and pictures of his new book. His people did not have money or an economy in any sense that a twentieth century Earthman would have recognised it, but people still liked to have their books read. There was no doubt that the ex-president’s book was going to be well read by the people of all the planets of his people.
War and Space Page 6
