Return
The Ex-president had been designated by the High Council of his people as the ambassador to the Earth. The Earth’s gravity was inconvenient to him. He was just over eight feet tall; not well adapted to a higher gravity than he had grown up with, but like most of his people he was much more of an intellectual than a man of physical action so the high gravity was not a real problem for him.
He thought that he would spend the next hundred years or so on the Earth before he changed careers again.
He was granted observer status in both houses of the World Government. The Earth ambassador to Homeworld would have the same privilege in the High Council.
A special chair was made for the ex-president to use in the chambers of government while he was observing. As well as being big, the chair had soft upholstery so the ex-president sank down and his weight was well supported. He found the chair very comfortable, and had a similar one made for his private quarters.
The ex-president became friendly with Ali and Mikhail. He had experienced the unexpected violent reaction of one of his people and knew that similar reactions by Earthmen were even more likely. Ali and the Ex-president were united in recognizing that the price of peace is eternal vigilance.
The ex-president would work on improving the understanding between Earth Humans and the Idaltus. As a first step he published an English version of his book. This was released under the title ‘The Earthman Cometh’. It was a best seller throughout Human space.
He wrote books and articles both for his own people and for the Earthmen. He had been given generous quarters next to the Secretary General’s quarters in South Pole City. Ali thought that it was unfortunate that the capital of the Earth was in one of the highest gravity areas of the planet.
Mikhail introduced him to the science fiction of the twentieth and early twenty first centuries. He found them very entertaining and could see that some of them transcended to accepted norms of the genre and had real insights.
Holiday
The whole of the steering committee of the Highway to Heaven decided to have a well earned rest on the Earth. The ship would be making its next voyage under Captain Christopher Ivanovitch, Ali’s great grandson, visiting the planet B2 in the Andromeda Galaxy to see if the scientists there had made any more progress in communicating with the intelligent trees of the planet. The ship would take out the next group of scientists and pick up the ones who were ready to leave.
Alter that the ship would explore a few more of the Trillion stars of the Andromeda Galaxy.
War and Space Page 9