Jimmy Malone and Linkh got up before dawn and began their journey to Death Valley Junction. They arrived just before noon and were greeted by an upbeat Captain Winslow. After giving Linkh a once over, he took them inside the site that was covered by a large canvas canopy. They noted the walls of the cathedral were already four feet tall.
“Well, I’ve done my job,” Winslow said. “Now you two need to convince whatever creatures are in these walls to stop building and move back to the Bat Mountain site where the situation can be contained.”
Malone nodded. “Well, that will be up to them. Keep your fingers crossed that they will be reasonable.”
“I will. What do you need to get started?”
“Nothing. Just clear everybody out and let us do our thing.”
Captain Winslow nodded and ordered everyone to leave. Ten minutes later Malone and Linkh were alone.
“Okay. How does this work?” Malone asked.
Linkh looked around until his eyes settled on a dark spot in the middle of the structure. “Well, I’m going to go sit over there and lie down. It looks pretty cool and comfortable. It might appear that I’m going to sleep, but actually, I’ll be in deep concentration, so make sure nobody disturbs me.”
“Alright,’ Malone said looking for a place to sit down. He started to sit on one of the walls and then thought better of it.
Linkh went over to his spot and settled in. After closing his eyes he tried to summon the Nanomite speaker in his mind. The Speaker was the Nanomite given the duty to communicate with humans. He had no authority but simply passed on communications from humans to all the Nanomite swarmmasters.
“Speaker. I’m a Linkh Leode, a Seafolken from Ock Mezan. I traveled with you from Tarizon to Earth. Please talk to me. We have much to discuss.”
There was no response so he stretched, repositioned himself and tried again.
“Speaker. I’m the Seafolken from Ock Mezan who traveled with you from Tarizon to Earth. Please talk to me. There is much at stake.”
There was still no answer so Linkh cleared his mind of all thoughts and then tried again, “Talk to me Speaker. The future of your life-form on Earth is at risk. We must try to work out this disagreement with the humans or there will be dire consequences.”
“The humans here are just as deceitful as the ones on Tarizon,” the Speaker thought. “They don’t honor their agreements.”
“They tried to honor it,” Linkh thought. “It was only unfortunate circumstances that caused the trouble to begin.”
“To Nanomites, when it comes to action, trying and doing are the same. We intend to do everything that happens.”
“Yes, and that is an honest way to deal with people, but you have to understand humans don’t act collectively for the human race like the swarmmasters do for the Nanomites.”
“That is why humans are always fighting. Everyone is doing what they want rather than what the consensus has decided is best for everyone.”
“True. The Nanomites are wise in that regard, but you must take the humans as they come. You can’t change them and war is not an option. It would be devastating for everyone and accomplish nothing.”
“We must have justice. Those who have killed Nanomites must also be killed.”
“That has already been done,” Linkh thought. “The humans who have obstructed the peaceful settlement of the Nanomites or murdered Nanomites at the Bat Mountain site, have been killed.”
“You say that, but how can we know it is the truth? Did you see these humans brought to justice?”
“No, but your Nanomites at the Bat Mountain site will know. When you return there, they will tell you it is true.”
“But if they did not confirm it as the truth, it would be too late for us to protect ourselves and if the humans wanted to kill us all, as they did in Shisk, we would be defenseless to stop them.”
“Perhaps you could send a messenger to your swarms at the Bat Mountains Site and get confirmation. If what I say is true, you could then return without fear of treachery.”
“That is a rational approach to the situation, but all the swammasters must consider this action before I can agree. Come back here when the sun rises and we will have an answer.”
“Alright. I will return when the sun rises.” Linkh agreed.
Linkh stood up slowly and walked out from underneath the canopy. Malone came over to him quickly.
“So, how did it go?”
“They will need time to reach a consensus. We’ll know in the morning.”
Malone sighed. “Why so long?”
“They cannot act unless a majority agree.”
“I thought they did that instantaneously?”
“Normally they do, but this is a complicated situation and immediate action is not necessary. So we must wait.”
“Alright then, we’ll wait, but I’ve got to go report to General Thornton. Give me a minute and then we’ll go to the Bat Mountain site to spend the night. They’ll have a tent we can stay in and you can confer with the Nanomites there to tell them what is going on.”
“That is a good idea. I will walk around and take in the landscape while I wait.”
“Don’t stray too far. I don’t want to lose you.”
“I won’t.”
Malone went to the communication’s tent and got on the telephone with General Thornton. The general was not happy about the delay, but Malone assured him there was no choice, so he accepted the facts as they were and ordered him to report to him immediately after the sunrise meeting.
All the swarmmasters had been in on the Speaker's connection with Linkh. They immediately began to confer. “The humans can’t be trusted. . . .They are no different here on Earth as they were on Tarizon, deceitful, evil....They say killing our brothers and sisters was an accident. Perhaps it was. We should give them the benefit of the doubt....No! It’s a trick. They just want to gather us all together and slaughter us. We must escape now while we have a chance. . . .It is our duty to survive. We came to Earth to guarantee the survival of our life-form. We cannot betray that duty?. . . But the humans could wipe us out easily. . . .Not so easily. We could disburse and start cathedrals all over the desert. This desert is abundant with all that we need to thrive. . . .But we have a treaty. The humans say they will honor it. . . We had a treaty, but the humans have not honored it. We are no longer bound by it. . . . Do we have a consensus? . . . We do.”