He broke into a prolonged laughter. “It wasn’t bad. Everybody was after them. The week they were on gave us the biggest audience on record ever for a news show. In fact, for any show. Everybody loves them. On another subject: They sent your alien buddies back to Volaria on the Excelsior. With Ken and Beth Squires. What will they be doing?”

“Well, Kwylla and Arin were anxious to get home. They needed to deliver the good news and start getting everybody ready for Exodus. Ken and Beth went along primarily because they were so good at picking up the languages, both on Volaria and Tarka, which is where the other alien race lives. Those are the people who are going to help get the new world ready.”

“You call them ‘people.’ I’ve seen pictures of the creatures on Tarka. You can probably get away with referring to the Volarians as people, but—”

“Jack, I think we’re still a little behind on the learning curve. Appearance doesn’t matter. Intelligence does. And empathy.”

“Excellent, Priscilla. Though I have to admit that a year ago, I would never have believed this could happen. By the way, what specifically will the Tarkans be doing?”

“They’ve offered to help. And we need them.”

“To construct towns?”

“And supply food. And do a lot of other stuff.”

“Okay.” He smiled. “Good enough. I was surprised when Kwylla told me they hated to leave Washington. That they were planning on coming back when they could.”

“What can I tell you, Jack? They’ve been enjoying themselves here. Arin told me he loved being a celebrity. Which was good. We needed people to see who they were.”

Nobody was enjoying the public attention as much as Wally, who’d spent two months as a guest on every science panel and now had his own show with PBS. Derek, of course, would be traveling to DC in two weeks to receive the Freedom Prize from President Proctor.

Jack leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. “Can you tell me why Zhang Chao resigned?”

He’d been forced out, but Hutch didn’t want to say that. She hadn’t been particularly impressed with the WSA director, but he’d been a decent guy caught in the middle of an impossible situation. “There was a lot of pressure over this. First aliens arriving, and they showed up with only a few days’ notice. I think he just wanted to get away from the bureaucracy and go back to the Taibai Observatory for a while.”

“That’s in China, I assume?”

“Qinling Mountains.”

“Okay. Makes sense. How about you? You going to help evacuate the Volarians?”

“It’ll take about a year to get the project moving. But I expect to be on the first wave of interstellars.”

“Beautiful. Could you arrange to take me with you?”

“Sure, Jack. Bring a good book.”