Elena wrinkled her nose, and, damn it, Callie found the expression adorable. “They call themselves Liars?”

“That’s just about the only thing they don’t call themselves. The various clans claim a lot of different names – well over three thousand have been recorded, last I heard. There’s a fancy designation scientists use for the species as a whole, but yeah, most people just call them Liars.”

Elena nodded. “You said we can communicate with them, but it’s difficult. Because… they lie?”

“Oh yes. The first Liars made contact with Earth in the most dramatic way possible, appearing out of nowhere in the vicinity of Jupiter and moving rapidly toward Earth in a fleet of what were, for the time, impossibly advanced ships, though they look pretty ordinary by modern standards. Shaped like starfish, most of them – a pretty high percentage of Liars have a fondness for radial symmetry in their designs. That first group of aliens took up a position near the moon and began broadcasting at Earth in every language – including several dead ones. The message claimed they were emissaries from a vast galactic confederation, come to trade with us, solve all our pressing ecological problems, and welcome us into a thriving interstellar community. We were invited to join a league of hundreds of sentient species. In exchange, all the visitors wanted was several million gallons of sea water, and permission to inhabit Venus in perpetuity.”

“That’s unbelievable!”

“You have no idea how right you are.” Callie made herself a cup of coffee while she talked. “Earth was a mess when you left – that’s why you left – but it was in even worse shape by the time the Liars arrived. So Earth made the deal, and got some remarkable technological advances in return – improved communications technology, an early version of the Tanzer drive that propels this ship, new forms of programmable matter – they were miracle workers. The Liars collected their seawater, promised to be in touch soon about taking human ambassadors to the galactic central hub… and then they disappeared into the clouds of Venus. As far as we know they’re still there. When we send probes, the probes stop working, and the one time Earth was dumb enough to send a drone military force, they didn’t come back either. Technically the agreement we made to give the Liars possession of Venus is still binding, even though it was made under false pretenses.”

Elena frowned. “So… there was no confederation? I don’t understand.”