The meeting had been arranged for late in the afternoon. The suns stood over Dolom Mountains when Mayor Adrian Humple and Captain Jacob Cruder entered the office of the First Citizen. Kevn and Sal rose and extended hands. Jacob shook each vigorously. Humple didn't.
"Please sit down. I'll let Sal explain what we have to offer you, in the way of gene switches. Go ahead Sal."
"Thank you, First Citizen," said Sal, very formally. He turned to Humple and spoke slowly. "The devil gene is a curious mutation. It has very few compatibles. We have discovered only three and we are convinced that there are no others. We can describe the ovum environment which will replace the defective gene with any of the compatibles which you -"
"Please describe the choices we have," said Humple gruffly.
"The first compatible is a gene which governs, to some degree, sensory perception. The result of swapping with this gene is to weaken the sense of touch. It's not that you wouldn't be able to feel anything, it's just that -"
"That is quite unacceptable," said Humple. Sal looked at Kevn then proceeded.
"Okay, the second compatible gene is associated with the ability to visualize, to see images of objects, in the absence of the objects of course. It's like being unable to imagine what your skooter looks like unless it is actually standing there in front of you and you are able to -"
"That is quite unacceptable," said Humple. Sal looked at Kevn, pleading. Kevn nodded for him to continue.
"The last is certainly the most acceptable. It means only a change in the visual appearance of the epidermis, a darkening. All other characteristics would remain unaffected. There is even reason to believe that there may be an improvement in - "
"I do not understand what you are saying," interrupted Humple. "A slight darkening? A darkening of what?"
"He means," said Kevn with a sigh, "that the result of this gene swap would be black skin."
Humple rose and stared at Kevn, then at Sal. "This is outrageous! You will certainly pay the price for this - this -"
Captain Cruder took Humple by the arm. "Adrian," he said, "thy choices are not determined by these citizens. They have been provided by God. It seems clear that there is only one choice, we must -"
Humple rose and walked to the door which failed to dissolve and he bumped his head. Kevn quickly poked a comtab and the door dissolved. Humple left.
"Jacob, please explain that we would be pleased to send a small team to oversee the gene swapping, to train your people. The choice of gene is, of course, yours. Maybe your Committee of Nations will want to debate the choice. Although we rarely hear from Earth you now know our comlink formats and can send us word when a decision has been made."
"Kevn," began Cruder, slowly, with head lowered. "I must explain. The plan of the Committee of Nations is to - to -"
"Jacob!" came Humple's voice from the door. "We must leave at once! Mayor Kevn, I would appreciate it if you could arrange for our immediate transport to the Andromeda."
Captain Cruder looked weary, very weary. He shook Kevn's hand, then Sal's. He turned and walked slowly out the door. Kevn and Sal looked at each other.
"Well, First Citizen?" asked Sal. "What do you think of that?"
TOM watched through a port as Andromeda rose and hovered above the landing pad. He watched as it rose quickly to several hundred meters. He watched it circle the Dome slowly.
"LIZ, have you put the ship's lasercannon on standby?"
"Yes, TOM."
"DOC, what is the status of the Dome defenses?"
ALL CANNON ARE RETRACTED
"What is the minimum time necessary to bring them to full -"
THREE POINT FOUR SECONDS
"It appears that they are investigating the location of the lasercannon which ring the Dome. We'll wait."
The Andromeda soon rose vertically and vanished into the black void. TOM walked to the console and sat down.
"I think you should rest, TOM," cooed LIZ, sympathetically.
Gry walked up behind Lori and put his arms about her waist, kissing her on the neck.
"Gry, stop that," she whispered, smiling and holding his arms tightly to her sides with her elbows. "Can't you see I'm preparing our evening meal?"
"Mmm ... I'd rather eat you." He bit her gently on the neck.
"Runr will be here soon. We must stop now."
Gry backed away. "Why is Runr late tonight?"
"He wanted to watch the Earth vessel leave from the observation tower. I said it would be all right, so long as he was home before mealtime."
Gry grunted then walked to a comfortable chair and pulled on the audiophone cap. Soon he was tapping his knee. Lori looked at him and shook her head. She couldn't understand what he saw in that music.
By the time Gry had cleared the table and put the platters in the washer it was late; almost twenty-one hundred. Lori had hardly eaten any of the green lasagna. Gry had to finish her portion and Runr's too.
"Gry, please phone Kevn," she sobbed. "Maybe Runr went to see -"
"Lori, you know we shouldn't ... uh, run to Kevn every time Runr -"
"But what are we to do? We can't just sit here."
"Zed and Wan ... I'll ask them to look about the Dome. I'll go out to K-47. Maybe Runr went outside to watch the Earth vessel. Maybe TOM saw him."