But, God and Mother Creation, they were beautiful.

One of the People drifted forward from the others, until its (his? her?) muzzle floated a bare centimeter from the thick layer of quartz that separated the humans from the outside.

"Isn't he one of T'sha's engineers?" Josh traced the air with his finger, indicating the interlocking circle pattern on the underside of its wings.The tattoos stayed black, despite the sur-rounding light. The effect was startling.

Vee nodded. They never told us the engineers' names. Why? But he did look familiar. She stepped forward, leaning between Adrian and Sheila, and looked straight into his eyes.

Do you see me? Do you know me?

Outside, Semi-Familiar swayed from side to side, as if he were taking the measure of the window. Adrian seemed torn between working the controls to keep them steady and staring at the People to try to guess what Semi-Familiar might do. Semi-Familiar circled the scarab. He flew above and under-neath. He peered into the rear hatch window. He hovered a long time beside the treads.

"What's he doing?" demanded Sheila all of a sudden.

"He's an engineer," Josh smiled. "He's saying, look, here's a cool new machine. How's it fit together?"

Vee managed to stifle her laugh. But Josh was right. That would be the first thing an engineer would do.

At last, Semi-Familiar returned to the main window, and he stayed there for a long moment, doing nothing but looking in at them, not quite touching the window while his fellows talked-maybe argued-behind him.

Finally, he backed away, drawing almost level with his com-panions. He said something, and they responded by lifting their muzzles, and deflating and reinflating. Agitatedly? Ap-provingly? She could tell nothing from their eyes.

Semi-Familiar flew off to the northeast a little and then darted back.

He repeated the move several times.

"I think he wants us to follow him," said Vee.

Adrian's hands clenched the wheel and then released it. "Okay," he dragged the word out like a sigh."I am officially protesting this," said Sheila. "I end up like Heathe, I'm coming back and haunting the hell out of you, Makepeace."

"You end up like Heathe and I'll deserve it." Adrian adjusted his controls and eased the stick forward. The scarab flew gen-tly after the Person they thought they recognized.

Their passage did not go unnoticed. The People swarmed around them, thrusting their glowing muzzles toward their win-dows, and peering inside the scarab with their silver eyes.

"Keep out of the damn way," breathed Sheila, but it was more like a prayer than a curse.

They did, barely sometimes, but they did. They were born knowing what was needed for flight, and they did not interfere with the scarab's wing or block the forward path. They did swoop in wide circles all the way around the transport and hover alongside, keeping pace with the machine easily.

"I swam with the dolphins once, in Hawaii," said Josh. "That was like this, only, this is more..."

Vee nodded, understanding perfectly. She remembered the time her mother took her and her brothers and sisters to a but-terfly atrium in St.

Louis. She'd stood still in the middle of the garden, sweat and humidity soaking her clothes, while butter-flies fluttered all around. The little blurs of color appeared here and there, holding still for a moment before taking off or land-ing, according to their needs of the moment. She'd felt herself to be in the center of a whole new world, one that belonged to butterflies instead of people.

That feeling came back to her now, impossibly magnified.

Now the portal spread underneath them. Vee hadn't been prepared for how big it would be. It must have been at least a kilometer across. More. It stretched out until the darkness hid the far edge in her sight. The support struts hunched up like mountain ridges.

The air at the portal's center trembled, and the scarab vi-brated in response. Adrian gritted his teeth and eased the scarab backwards and up.

He glanced at Vee as if he wanted to tell her they were leaving now, but hedidn't say anything, and Vee silently thanked him.

Outside, Semi-Familiar stopped, fanning his wings to keep his place.

Another Person rocketed up from the portal's edge. This one had a blue-and-white striped crest that Vee definitely recognized.

"Ambassador D'seun," she said. Josh nodded once.

D'seun swelled up in front of Semi-Familiar, and whatever he was saying, he was saying it fast and there was a lot of it.

Up until then, Vee would have bet nothing could make her take her eyes off the People, but, beneath them, the center of the portal began to glow.

A net woven of strands of pure, white light formed in the massive portal. The strands thickened and strengthened until they became a sheet of light that twisted and folded, and Sheila and Adrian were shouting at each other, and the scarab was backing away and the world clenched itself up for a minute and a whole flock of shining golden bodies shot out of the center of the portal like a living fountain.

D'seun turned his back on Semi-Familiar. We have to find out what this one's real name is. The ambassador swooped down into the center of the arrivals. They lost sight of him among the others wheeling and diving in the twilight air.

Semi-Familiar looked over his shoulder at them, trying to send them some message they had no way to understand, and followed Ambassador D'seun down into the flock of newcom-ers. His arrival stilled them, and they fanned out in an uneven sphere around him.

"Scarab Three, Scarab Three," called the intercom. Every-body jumped.

"Scarab Three, where are you?"

"Not where we're supposed to be," muttered Sheila.

Adrian shot her an aggravated glance and opened the radio. "We're doing a reconnaissance on the aliens, Venera. Every-thing's okay. What's up?"

Or maybe they're doing reconnaissance on us. The newcom-ers were heading their way, fanning out like geese, if geese fanned in threedimensions.

"Dr. Failia's on her way down to the Discovery site. She wants to talk to the People for herself. Is your ambassador back?"

The latest crowd of People surrounded them, hovering, peering and talking, unheard and uncomprehended, to each other. One large, bright Person with an amethyst crest hovered alone in front of the main window.

The wavering tattoos around its muzzle matched both D'seun's and T'sha's.

"I think we've got a new one, Venera," said Vee.

"Then bring them back with you, but get back there. Everything's blown up, and we need to sort out what they're doing here."

"Roger that, Venera," said Adrian, fervently. "We're on our way back."

"Okay, kids," said Sheila as she and Adrian worked the con-trols, banking the scarab in a wide arch. "Time to play follow the leader."

"That was the New People?" asked Z'eth, both wonder and amusement filling the air between her and D'seun.

D'seun dipped his muzzle. "Their engineers, rather than their ambassadors. No ambassador would have been so rude." He could not believe Br'sei had brought them here to disrupt the welcome he had planned for Z'eth and the other ambassadors, to display the New People before D'seun had a chance to say anything.

"I would have thought they'd be bigger," mused Ambassador P'eath.

"From your description, Ambassador D'seun, I was ex-pecting monsters."

"Should we follow them?" piped up Ambassador K'ptai. "They only have a single working station for communication. Is that not correct?" She turned an eye toward D'seun.

"That is correct, Ambassador K'ptai," he said, deflating a lit-tle in deference. "I was hoping we could take counsel first so that you could be fully conversant with the current status of New Home..."Z'eth overflew him, gracefully, with plenty of distance. "Per-haps we can hear what the New People say and then what you say. It is rude to keep even mere engineers waiting, surely."

The whistles of assent buffeted D'seun from every side.

"I hardly think we need a formal vote here," remarked Z'eth. "Will you lead the way?"

D'seun forced himself to swell. "Of course, Ambassadors." Well, let the New People show them. Let the ambassadors see what he had seen. It would happen. It could not help but hap-pen. The ambassadors were not fools, not like Br'sei. They would see the truth.

Besides, he had Z'eth's promise. With that secured, all would be well.

All the dirigibles that were not out with the engineers and surveyors were quickly summoned, including the one D'seun had been using since the beginning. It knew its way perfectly by now. It needed no prompting to take them across the plain and over the Living Highland 76 to where the two transports waited, low and gleaming in the dim twilight.

The dirigibles slowed, reaching out their anchors to each other so they made a waiting chain while the ambassadors spilled from the gondolas.

The ambassadors swam against the thickening air to hover just above the crust, circling around the transports and the communication screens, peering closely at all they saw. The air rippled with their excited commentary.

Only D'seun came immediately to hover beside the perches T'sha had left behind.

The translator, activated by his presence, read the words that appeared on the New People's screen along with the familiar image of Engineer Vee.

Now though, instead of shades of red, she was many colors-cream and pink and gold in coverings of pale blue and green. The New People's engineers had been busy.

"Ambassador D'seun?" The translator's clear voice cut through the swirl of exclamation. "Good luck to you and to everyone who has accompanied you."The words touched the circulating crowd of ambassadors and reminded them that the formations in front of them were not just some growth on this strange crust. The ambassadors arrayed themselves in a politely interested tier, all facing the transports. Ambassador Z'eth came to hover directly beside D'seun.

Lest I forget who is senior here, thought D'seun. I forget noth-ing, Ambassador. You will understand what I am doing, soon.

"With me is the Law Meet of New Home," said D'seun to the translator.

"They wished to hear you speak on matters pertain-ing to this world on which we find ourselves. Is this you to whom I wish good luck, Vee?" Let it be seen that I am civilized and polite. That I am a whole person.

There was a pause while the translator displayed the words for the New People and they formulated their response.

"Vee is here, but does not speak. I am Helen Failia. I am the ambassador for Venera Base." The image of the New Person on the screen shifted slightly and became smaller, rounder, more wrinkled, and a little darker, with a more abbreviated gray crest. This image too raised both its hands in greeting.

Finally they see fit to send someone we can truly speak to. "Good luck to you, Ambassador Helen."

"Ambassador Helen," spoke up Ambassador Z'eth. "Forgive me if I do not observe necessary ceremony, but the Law Meet is assembled here to seek an understanding of your claim to this world." D'seun reformulated her words into the translator's command language.

Words appeared under the New Person's, Ambassador Helen's, feet.

The translator read the words out.

"Our claim to this world is that we live here. Before we came there was no life at all on Venus. Now, there are ten thousand of us in Venera Base.

Four thousand of those were born in that base and have no other home.

Our work is the study of this world. That study gives us both individual reward and our means of exchange with others of our kind. Without it, we have no home and no purpose to our lives."

Behind and above, D'seun heard the rustle of wings and skin. "Now,there," said K'ptai, "is an answer that is neither greedy nor insane."

"Such a difference to deal with an ambassador," said D'seun, his voice carefully neutral. He spoke to the translator. "Then why is there no life beyond your habitat? Why have your peo-ple not expanded in the last eighty years?"

A pause. "You have been watching us for that long?"

"We have been working with New Home that long. We needed to see what your claim to this world is."

"And because you do not recognize our claim, you will throw us off this world?"

K'pta froze. "Is that what they think? That we're insane?"

Ambassador Z'eth swooped a little closer to the translator. "We make no claim on anything used to support and maintain your life or the lives of the other New People on this world. These things are yours and are acknowledged as such without question."

New words appeared on the screen. "I understand you wish to make this world your home?" read the translator. "How will you do that?"

D'seun looked to Z'eth for permission to speak, but it was P'eath, Ambassador for Ba'detad in the Far Southerns, who came forward to answer, swelling her aging body as she did. "We have already established that this world is capable of sup-porting the life that supports us. If, and only if, no one else has a valid claim to this world, then we will attempt to establish a biosystem." She waited while D'seun translated between her and the tools. "If the biosystem takes hold, then we will birth settlements for our people and we will live here while the changes on our home rebalance themselves and we can again live there. When we are gone, this world will be left as fallow to rebalance itself." P'eath had proposed the original idea of New Home. She carried her pride of that accomplishment like an extra tattoo on her wings. But her vision extended no fur-ther than finding a new world. She did not see the wider im-plications of allowing the New People to remain here.

"What about the rest of the planets that orbit this sun?" asked the translator for Ambassador Helen."We do not need them," said Z'eth without hesitation. "They will not help us spread life."

"What about us?" The image gestured toward the clouds. "The humans here on Venera? While you are... spreading life, what will you do with us?"

"Ambassador," murmured D'seun to Z'eth, keeping his words light as pollen. "Do not answer. Make no promises. There are consequences here..."

But if Z'eth heard him, she gave no sign. She kept her gaze fixed on the communicator.

"Community is a resource," said Z'eth. "One which we hope you will provide for us. You have studied this world for a long time and we hope you will share your knowledge with us."

No, no. There can be no community here. This world must be ours alone. They cannot be controlled, cannot be predicted. I hold your promise!

"In return," said Z'eth, spreading her wings to show their scope and the canopy of her tattoos to the New People waiting in their shelters, "we hope we can help you." No one ques-tioned her right to speak or her words.

D'seun's gaze swept the assembled ambassadors, and he wondered how many of them owed promises to Z'eth.

The image of Ambassador Helen bobbed its face several times. "This all sounds very good, but what assurance can you give us that you will not change your position later, when there are more of you here?"

That was a tricky question. It raised implications of sanity. If the People were insane, they'd lie. But there was no way to prove sanity in advance. After a moment, Ambassador P'tkei descended to within the translator's range and spoke. "What assurance would you accept?"

There was a long pause, even after the words had been fed to the translator. "Good question."

D'seun fluttered, inflating and deflating rapidly, angry at this show of understanding and aware his anger was absurd. They would betray themselves soon enough. This was a thin shell. It would crack. "This worldwas declared New Home by the High Law Meet. Since then, miles had passed under us both and we have done nothing but debate your status and save your lives. If we were insane, as you fear, and meant to destroy you, would we not have done so already?"

Another pause. Were they debating over there? Or were they just trying to understand?

At last, the answer came. "I can accept this."

"Then we have our understanding?" said Z'eth. "You agree this world is ours to make our new Home?"