THE FOREVER GENE (THE SCIONS OF EARTH Book 1) (4 page)

Her approach had the desired effect and even the channel director was impressed at the improvement in Batu's conduct, if not in his consistently reticent demeanour.

Without fanfare the president of Mongolia walked into the cafeteria, accompanied by a knot of aides and trailed by a detail of security agents.  All of them, except the president, were engaged in animated 'mote conversations and she could imagine the diplomatic frenzy as other world leaders tried to find out whether the strangers represented a threat they should be concerned about or an opportunity they could exploit.  The president was a vigorous, relatively tall man in his late forties and she watched him gauge the readiness of the room over the heads of his aides.

"The press conference will begin in ten minutes," he boomed and then, catching sight of Qara, he gestured to her to join him.  He turned and strode into the empty kitchen, leaving his aides behind.

"Ten minutes," she hissed into her 'mote and left Batu and Oyugun to conduct their checks.  She lifted her head in a show of confidence, strode into the kitchen, knocked a large metal colander to the floor with a loud crash, picked it up and replaced it on its hook, and waited for the president to dismiss her in disgust.

He pretended not to notice and pulled a sheaf of papers from a leather folder he was carrying.

"Miss Qara-Chinua?  We have met before haven't we?"

"Yes, sir, sorry about the..."

"I am not going to tell you what questions to ask.  I don't want anyone to think that there is no freedom of the press in Mongolia.  Your channel director has told me that you are one of his most sensible reporters and that I can trust you not to ask anything which will cause embarrassment, either to us or to the strangers.  However, at the insistence of my advisers, I am going to give you a list of questions to avoid.  I am sure you understand that this is an unprecedented diplomatic situation and that there is a great deal of potential for misunderstanding."

He handed over the sheaf of papers, which contained a very long list of questions.

"This list has been drawn up by my public relations people at very short notice, so it is by no means complete.  I am sorry that you do not have much time to study it, but I have only just received it myself."

She cast an eye over the first page of questions.  Nothing of a political nature, nothing confrontational, nothing inflammatory. No attempts to be humorous either; in other words, don't spark an inter-species incident with a joke that might be taken as an insult.

The president softened his tone and placed an avuncular hand on her shoulder.  "Qara, in the press conferences of mine you have attended you have gone almost unnoticed.  I regard that as a good sign.  It means that you don't say stupid things and that you listen more than you speak.  If you apply those principles today, I will be more than happy."

He indicated a young security agent hovering in the doorway.  "Tegus will keep you updated.  Let him know when you and your crew are ready."

"Thank you, sir, I will do my best."  She turned and walked out of the kitchen, carefully ignoring the still swinging colander.  Somehow, with just a few words, he had banished her anxiety and replaced it with determination.  All she wanted now was to prove that his confidence in her was not misplaced.

She had once heard her father say that President Ganzorig was a great motivator, someone who could inspire you with a few well-chosen words.  She now knew what he meant.

She spent the next ten minutes scanning through the list of questions in an attempt to drum as many of them into her head as possible.  She couldn't memorise them all in the time available and concentrated on getting a sense of the type of question to be avoided.  She was so engrossed in her preparation that she didn't notice the room steadily filling with people.

When the buzz of conversation eventually caught her attention, she looked up and saw that Tegus had arranged for rows of chairs to be set up in front of the podium.  The hospital's senior staff members had already taken up a number of the seats and some of the president's aides joined them.  Some forty or fifty people, mostly hospital staff, had been allowed into the room and were standing in a loose semi-circle around the back of the seating.  The effect was to transform the atmosphere in the cafeteria from drab and hollow to colourful and vibrant, and her respect for the president's dramatic instincts went up a notch.

By then, Oyugun was happy with his sound levels and Batu had set up a tripod to ensure that the camera shot of the podium would be completely steady.  He held a second camera, which he would use to pan across onlookers to capture their reactions.  Tegus showed Qara to a front-row seat at the end opposite Batu's camera position.  He would have a good angle of her when she asked her questions.  She kept Tol informed with a running commentary of events and, as soon as the channel was ready to broadcast, signalled Tegus, who gave the president a nod.

With a refreshing lack of ceremony, Ganzorig stepped onto the podium and looked directly into the camera.  He paused for effect.

"Greetings to you, wherever you may be watching around the world," he began.  "Today, my humble country has received some unexpected visitors and it is my pleasure to introduce them to you.  But before I do that, I will share with you what I know so far.  The strangers have informed me that they are from an extra-terrestrial civilisation which is far more advanced than ours.  This is perhaps evident from the fact that they have been able to travel to Earth and land here without being detected."

Qara had a sudden mental image of defence ministers around the world wincing at the very thought.

The president had anticipated this concern and sought to reassure his audience immediately.  "The strangers' conduct so far has been nothing but cordial and co-operative.  They have given me no reason to fear that their intentions are not peaceful.  After all, it is they who willingly presented themselves at one of our hospitals and they who volunteered to undergo a battery of tests.  In doing so they literally placed themselves in our hands, trusting us not to mistreat them, and enabling us to confirm that they are indeed not human.

"We have also been able to ensure that they are carrying no harmful diseases or bacteria. They have consented to the full test results being made available to anyone who wishes to study them.  They have informed me that there are more of them within the Bogdkhan National Park.  As some of you may already know, I have ordered military units to seal off the park, but I must emphasise that this is not in response to any threat offered by the strangers.  The steps I have taken are more for their protection than ours."

This was new information. Until then Qara had assumed that the four strangers at the hospital were alone. Suddenly her imagination, which her father had always described as 'very active', began filling her head with ominous possibilities.  What if the strangers were not friendly after all?  What if there were hundreds of them hidden in the park?  The Bogdkhan was massive.  What if there were thousands?  Could they have been arriving in secret for years?  Did they have weapons more sophisticated than those on Earth?  Had they chosen to land in Mongolia because, despite its large size, it was sparsely populated and would be a relatively easy place to gain a foothold on the planet?  Was it their plan to invade neighbouring China, thereby gaining control of the world's largest economy?

Her sense of inadequacy for the task at hand returned.  Surely these were the questions a serious reporter would ask.  But the president had expressly forbidden her to ask questions of this nature and, she had to concede, for good reason.

He was winding down his introduction.  "As you will see in a few moments, the strangers are able to communicate in English, which they have learned by studying our satellite communications and Personet broadcasts."

The defence ministers must have winced again.

"As to who they are, where they are from and why they are here, they should speak for themselves."

He gestured towards the cafeteria doors.  Two of his security agents opened the doors and a hush fell over the room.  Every head turned in that direction and Batu panned his hand-held camera that way.

Bolormaa entered first, followed by four very tall, slim figures.  She led them towards the podium.  The strangers towered above the diminutive administrator and walked with long loping strides.  Their shoulders were a little stooped, as if they had to fight the effects of Earth's gravity.

The hooded capes they had arrived in had been discarded and they now wore long, elegant robes made of an unknown fabric.  The robes shimmered as they walked and continuously changed colour, passing through varying shades of blue and green.

When the bizarre little procession reached the podium, the administrator quickly scurried to a seat which had been reserved for her.  She hunched into it, clearly relieved to be out of the spotlight.  Three of the strangers took up position alongside the podium and the fourth stepped up beside the president.  The two of them exchanged a peculiar gesture, each briefly inclining his head to the left. Then the president left the podium and took up a seat in the centre of the front row.

The leader of the strangers turned to the camera and repeated the gesture, which Qara surmised must be a form of greeting.

Then he spoke.  "In my civilisation this is how we acknowledge one another.  President Ganzorig has been kind enough to adopt our custom when conversing with us."

His voice was high-pitched with a slightly metallic tone.  Until then, Qara had assumed that the stranger was male, but the lack of bass in his voice made her wonder if she was wrong.  She looked for a clue in his face.  He had two eyes, two ears, a mouth and a nose, but that was where the similarity to a human face ended.  His skin was a very light shade of green and he had fine, bone-white hair which hung down to his shoulders. The large ears protruding through his hair were set high up on the sides of his head, and tapered to a point at the top.  Below thin, white eyebrows were large green eyes with yellowish pupils, and the nose was not much more than a raised bump of skin covering tiny nostrils.  The narrow mouth had thin, dark lips and, as he opened it to speak again, she caught a glimpse of white pointed teeth.

"My companions and I have learned that, in your civilisation, each individual has a spoken name and it is the custom to exchange these names when strangers meet.  We do not have such spoken names, which makes it difficult for us to honour your custom.  Instead, each member of our race projects a mental image of the characteristics which make up his or her personality.  The best description of it in your language would be an 'aura'.  Individuals who come within range of each other's auras formally acknowledge each other in the way I have just shown you."

The stranger raised an arm, revealing a hand with three long fingers and a thumb.  The fingers ended in sharp white talons.  Nails, not talons, Qara corrected herself firmly.

"In order to introduce ourselves to you, we have decided to assume names that will make sense to you.  Initially, we thought that we could translate our personal auras into your language, but we found that this results in names so long and complex that they could not possibly function as intended.  We have resolved not to randomly choose names used in your society in case we unwittingly use names which give offence.  Instead we have chosen to adopt the practice of the land of our gracious host, President Ganzorig, who has explained to us that his people are named descriptively."

Qara couldn't help thinking wryly of the meaning of her own name.  As a child, she had grown up indignant of her parents' decision to name her 'Black Wolf' but her father had always explained that, the day before her birth, her mother had seen a beautiful black wolf watching her from the forest near their home. Her mother was from a clan which still respected nomadic traditions, one of which was to acknowledge natural signs.  As she lay dying from complications of childbirth, she named her daughter Qara-Chinua so that the infant would be protected by the spirit of the wolf after she was gone.

At least her name wasn't Batu Qorchi thought Qara, glancing slyly at her camera-man, although it could be said that 'Loyal Quiver-Bearer' was curiously appropriate to his chosen occupation.

"The most appropriate title for my function in your language is 'ambassador'," the stranger continued.  He waved his elegant four-fingered hand in the direction of the other strangers.  "The titles which best fit my companions are; 'analyst', 'translator' and 'physician'.  We have added simple modifiers to these titles to help differentiate us from members of your society who bear similar titles.  So, I am Ambassador Ba, and would like to introduce you to Analyst Ko, Translator Vi and Physician Ti."

The other three strangers briefly inclined their heads.

President Ganzorig spoke up.  "Thank you for your fascinating introduction, ambassador.  Perhaps you would be so kind as to give us an idea of why you have chosen to visit us."

Qara mentally scratched the first question she had planned to ask.

"Certainly", said the ambassador.  "We are members of an ancient race, at least compared to your own.  I mean no disrespect in saying this.  Yours is a young, energetic race with a great deal of potential.  We, on the other hand, have long since fulfilled any potential we once had and our civilisation has reached a state of stagnation.  For the past twelve millennia, we have travelled the entity you know as the universe, seeking out and contacting young races such as yours in the hope that, by mentoring and interacting with them, we can avoid the decline which tends to follow after a civilisation has reached its pinnacle.