Fair enough. But Rachel, ex-Librarian, now recalled mostly the zip and lift of the flight, the suspense, the wonders, the ride…. Then she fell asleep right in front of them all.

After she awoke, there were more medical exams and she ate three meals in a five-hour period. Her body was getting itself back into its proper time sense. While she slept, Erma was busy answering their questions, so at least Rachel did not have to endure a lot of the cognitive proletariat. Plus, they had the recordings of a whole new world, and many questions to answer.

As it turned out, the star and the bigger planet were known—HD209458b, the evaporating planet. That awful designation got changed to Osiris, after the Egyptian god. In myth, Osiris was killed and parts of his body scattered across Egypt; to return him to life, his sister Isis searched for the pieces, and found all but one. Maybe this was the missing part?

So Osiris the planet had already been detected from Earth, 150.67 light-years away. The Earthlike world was a discovery, maybe the world that said it spoke for itself. Nobody had suspected an entire civilization there—if that term applied. Maybe humans could eavesdrop on their microwaves?—classic SETI espionage.

The physicists liked new questions, and within hours Rachel was hearing terms like “upwhen” and “time turbulence.” These accompanied equations that hurt her eyes. She fell asleep in front of the physicists again, which was embarrassing. But Tall Guy was looking better and better with each meeting.

At a coffee break, Tall Guy came sidling up to her. His ostensible purpose was to negotiate a contract for his employers, locking up her Very Own Personal Story of the voyage. She was ready for that and shot back, “Not in my prior contract. Needs a whole new negotiation.”

Subtlety had never been her strong suit. Still, he didn’t even blink. He kept up his pitch and just happened to mention that perhaps they could negotiate in private. She opened her mouth to say she needed her own lawyers present, then thought of her grandfather. Never pass by a chance to shut up.

She was sure Fraq—who was undergoing his own interrogations, frequently breaking into Yth-song as a defense—would understand. They had a sort of interspecies understanding.

She let Tall Guy keep talking and just gave him a long, slow wink.

FRAQ

Now returned, I report in adjacent documents. I send warm sing-truth to our Flock entire. One of our Flock has now given birth in midair, and so lays claim to be of this solar system—their airs we share. The inflight one is a female, who can now mate with my own earlier bud, a male of course, to start a new Flock.

Both voyages into the lore of the Worm-scape—as the grounders term it—proved immensely rewarding. We have flown to their star, and now I to far beyond.

Our central task here is done. Doors—no, Mouths—open to us.

After such perils, I am struck by the extravagant beauty of the worlds these primates have made. Their own lustrous globe, managed by filmy aerosols and species sculptures galore. The flying in the Luna volumes, for example. In their voids, seeds fly on the wind’s soft-tickling, a world’s procreant urge we sense, when aloft. Groundlings know not such subtle scents. And we can fly as never before our species enjoyed, in the small-grasping gravity of that gray moon.