Clink, Clink, Clink Polished white boots paced their way toward the control room, stopping just five meters away, turning and retracing their course. Johnathon Kenedity's hands came from behind his back, drew out a starch pressed white handkerchief and dabbed the sweat from his forehead for the third time. 'Why had they picked him? Who was he to be representing the entire human race? And what did a Dobleckian look like?'

He knew why they had picked him, as little sense as it had made. The ambassador was still in the lav, regurgitating his breakfast and trying to remember what his name was through bouts of fever. The doctor who had cleared the Ambassador for flight should have taken his head out of his ass before reading the chart. Bulgarian Influenza, not contagious but very debilitating.

Johnathon was the ship's captain, a sturdy man at the stick, calm and cool under fire. He knew how to bark orders and the kinds of motivational speeches that drive cowards into battle. His job was to get the Ambassador to the meeting and back safely. When a replacement was needed, he was the obvious choice.

A head peeked through one of the doors. "Captain 20 minutes till we dock."

Johnathon nodded, 20 minutes of rumbling butterfly nausea in his stomach. His stepping pattern continued and the handkerchief came out again, doing its duty. 'Of all the races in the universe, why the Dobleckians.' Of the few alien races man had come in contact with, only they had been hostile.

Technically first contact had been made 3 months ago when a transport ship has come across one of their white spherical cruisers. The captain had gotten off a brief message before being irradiated by the Dobleckians' ionic particle cannons. Two weeks later a second transport was attacked. After that all ships were sent out with defense fighter escorts. This seemed to stop the attacks. Then it had come.

The Dobleckians had sent a message, text only. The characters they had used were square yet fluidic and like nothing seen on earth. With some help, earth's best scientists and linguists were able to translate most of it. The message was an invitation to peace talks, requesting one of Earth's greatest leaders to attend.

Meetings were held, discussions started, debates fought and won, and when all was said and done, 30 names went into a hat. One came out. That same one made another gut wrenching cough and the sound of creamed corn being poured into a plastic bucket.

The head reappeared, "8 minuets sir, we should get you ready." Johnathon nodded. His boots made a left turn into a locker room. Two astronauts helped him into the suit. The pants seat were stitched a little high for him. He could see his personal suit hanging on a rack, laughing at him. The gaudy garment he was sliding into was far from a normal form fitting space suits. This one had been designed to represent earth, full of colors and designs and sized for the up-chucking ambassador. Also it was for a man 6 inches taller and 200 lbs fatter. If he had been two inches shorter this responsibility would have fallen to some one else.

Johnathon made one more pass with the handkerchief, before they locked the helmet down and the stale smell of recycled air surrounded him. He adjusted the AC unit to a cool 18C, and then shook back and forth to allow the suit to fall into place. In slow elongated steps he began to move forward, into the air lock. The door clanged shut behind him. Then the waiting began.

Small drips of sweat began to exfoliate from his forehead. The AC did what it could, but no temperature moderator could ever truly compete with a nervous man. A slight film began to form on the interior of the helmet lens. The airflow should have prevented that from happening. Johnathon could see the problem. There had been adjustments made to the solar guard, which should slide into place to filter out the sun's rays. Whoever had modified it had not been a suit engineer, as the changes redirected the flow of air away from the front of the lens. It was too late to fix it now.

A hard thud jerked the ship. Johnathon desperately blew on the helmet trying to open a larger hole of vision, but the vapor in his breath stuck to the glass and filling in empty spots. There was the shriek of metal rubbing on metal then the hatch opened. The astronaut peered out, seeing no one there to greet him he began forward. Two steps brought him inside, his boots first touching the alien's technology. A similar shriek closed the door behind him and the chamber began to pressurize.

The door in front of him swung open, still no representatives. Johnathon continued forward. He made a left turn into a room of what appeared to be black polished onyx and there it was, standing before him. Johnathon could just make out its features through the fogged glass. It was bipedal with two arm like limbs and a head and seemed to be wearing some sort of space suits as well. Probably worried about earth diseases and the like. The Earth's new ambassador raised his right arm in a waving salute of greeting and to his surprise the creature returned the gesture. Johnathon clicked on his communication box and began.

"Greetings from the people of earth. We wish for peace and prosperity between our two civilizations."

No response. Johnathon took a step forward. The creature seemed to move closer as well. His hand pushed the button on the box again.

"You asked to meet with us. I'm here to represent earth." He raised his hand again; the creature matched him but still did not reply.

From the Side Thnaxw and Xauroqp sat watching. Xauroqp oozed over slightly. "Should we tell him he is talking to the wall?"

Thnaxw vibrated a negative. "I want to see how this plays out."