by Clyde Key
* * *
Arlene Sisk, accompanied by Andersen Curvin and Melanie Royal, waited for The Visitors on a runway at the recently abandoned Dulles Airport. The airport was a rare isolated location in the Washington, DC area, but the Dulles Magport was not far away. Sisk and her proteges had taken the magtrain there and then took a high level floater from the government pool. The entrance gates to the old airport were all barricaded and locked, but the high level floater went right over the fence. Curvin, who was driving, set the vehicle down in the middle of a long concrete runway, where they waited.
Since Arlene and her minions arrived a few minutes before the appointed time she used the interval for last minute instructions. She told them to let her do all the talking, unless they were specifically questioned by Veezee. They were also reminded of the various taboos to be observed in dealing with The Visitors. They should not call them aliens and they must certainly not make reference to their physical appearance, the shrill noises they make, or their rather noticeable odor. “Above all, you must not make any comments that can be construed as specist,” said Arlene.
“As what?” asked Royal. “Specist?” She pondered the new term, but Curvin was already writing it in his notebook.
“Specist,” said Arlene. “You are forbidden to say anything that even sounds intolerant of another species.”
“But...” Royal was about to say something else but thought better of it. The session then lapsed into awkward silence until their visitors arrived.
If nothing else, Veezee are punctual. At precisely 10 a.m., they saw three gleaming silver globes appear over the fence at the opposite end of the airport from where they had gone in. In seconds the three globes hovered atop their rocket flames right in front of Arlene and her subordinates. Then the thin flames faded and the globes settled to the pavement.
For a couple of minutes, nothing at all happened. “What’s going on, Ms. Sisk?” whispered Curvin. “Why aren’t they coming out?”
“They’ll come out,” said Arlene. “They don’t move around easily.”
Then The Visitors began the arduous process of exiting from their globes, simultaneously. A dark hole appeared in each globe, and then alien goo spilled from each globe onto the pavement. This was followed by the skin-and-bones part of the aliens. Curvin and Royal watched with amazement as the aliens soaked up their body substances and filled out to full size. Arlene was pleased to note that each Veezee wore a silvery voice disk. She would be able to talk to all of them.
Then Curvin clamped hands over his ears. “Oww, that hurts!”
Arlene glared at him. “What did I tell you?”
“You didn’t tell me this was going to kill my ears!”
“It hurts me too!” said Royal. “I don’t feel well. I’m nauseous. I’m going to...” She vomited violently, then turned to Arlene. “I can’t take it! I’ve got to go!” Royal ran back to the floater and jumped inside and pulled the doors down tightly.
“I am so sorry,” said Arlene. “I must apologize for the way my assistants are acting. I can assure you there will be no repeat of this unfortunate scene.”
Then the center alien sloshed over to the puddle of vomit and spread folds of its mottled skin over the puke. When he moved a minute later, it was all cleaned up. “Thank you,” said the alien in its raspy artificial voice. “That was very thoughtful of you.”
Curvin suddenly realized what had happened and almost lost it too. He fought the need to vomit, and turned to run back to the floater but Arlene yelled at him. “Get back here! If you ever want to work again, you’ll stand here and support me!”
Curvin returned, reluctantly, and stood several feet behind Arlene.
Arlene held her hand high in symbolic gesture. “On behalf of President Litton and the Government of the United States of America, I welcome you to Washington, DC.”
The center alien spoke. “You are not the President. Do you speak for the President?”
“Yes, yes. I represent President Litton in all matters that pertain to Veezee.”
“Does your president wish Veezee to fare well on this planet?”
“Of course. President Litton is very concerned about the welfare of your people... I mean Veezee.”
“Then you will tell the soldiers to let us travel freely on the portion of the planet’s surface that is occupied by the United States of America.”
“I would like to,” said Arlene. “I would really like to, but President Litton is still afraid that humans may not interact well with Veezee. I assure you that the problem is our own—the humans, that is. Certainly we don’t wish to imply that Veezee are in any way at fault in the incidents where you and humans have clashed.”
“The Eldest agrees completely. Veezee insist therefore that humans responsible for the conflicts be punished. The Eldest demands that Veezee be given passage to all parts of your land.”
“I’m very sorry! President Litton will not allow that just yet, but I’m trying to change her mind. Believe me, I’m really trying!”
“Will you be able to change her thoughts?”
“Perhaps. But it would be more likely if you would help. And not just with the President, either. We need to change the thinking of the entire American people.
“Let’s start by having you participate in a news conference,” said Arlene, as she took a paper from her bag. “I have a list of questions that I believe most Americans would be interested in having answered, and also some responses that would be comforting both to Americans and our government.”
“This list—is it human words attached to the surface of this thin material?”
“Yes. Of course it is. Writing words on paper is one of our prime means of communications. Don’t you have some equivalent?”
“This list is useless to Veezee. Veezee are not like you. Veezee cannot see words on paper, but this is not needed for Veezee to communicate because Veezee are one. Veezee thinks one thought.”
“Oh my! I didn’t realize you can’t even see it! Well, I’ll just have to read it to you!”
“This idea is strange. Do you represent your President as you claim, or do you represent Veezee instead?”
“Actually, I represent all of us,” said Arlene. “It’s my job to bring us all closer together.”
“Very well, then. The Eldest Veezee agrees to the news conference, so you may present your list.”
“But... No one has presented this to your Eldest! How can he agree?”
“I am one. Veezee are not like you.”
Arlene turned to see if Andersen Curvin was taking notes about the event as she had ordered. She halfway hoped he did not, since she had no doubt her report would be better, but Curvin held his recorder high, so that it didn’t miss a thing. “You can shut that off now,” said Arlene. “I’m just going to go over these notes with the Visitors now.”
