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etcetera. I
promised these would be written up during the voyage. Apparently
the Translators can attach to a printer and print out written
language too. Now you lot are back, I’m off to bed.” She left to
find the hotel and her room.
    *
    Showered and ready, Sarah returned six hours
later to find massive changes. Alan said “I’m now the quartermaster
and we are up to 380 confirmed, outfitted, and ready to go. Most of
the passengers are from Embassies or the local Universities or
people who just happened to be holidaying or working in New
Zealand. The quick, like Simone, contacted their Embassies. Some,
just turned up and asked to go. I tried to get a range of
Nationalities and occupations. I’ve been making decisions with the
Airport Manager. But there is a little problem. Two hours ago, a 20
person diplomatic team from America turned up. Their leader, Mathew
Western, declared he has been designated the leader of this
expedition.” Alan looked at Sarah to see how she would take this
but she shrugged. He continued, “Teams from Kenya, Britain, China,
Japan, Brazil, Australia, Russia, India and Indonesia are on the
way. Jolene has decided to go, as has Hine. The roll is filling
fast. This is going to be interesting!”
    Alan’s blue eyes were laughing. He
announced, “There are about 180 or so racing for the last 40 seats.
We’ve got a political war going on by conference vids. Madge, the
Airport Manager, has decided that the roll will be finalised 30
minutes before the deadline. Since there is no official New Zealand
team, Madge has decided she is the umpire. She will divide up the
seats between the Teams that are here. The American Team were
simply the first here. The time limitation and the distance has
been the problem. I’ve ordered some extra packs which I was paid in
advance for and the unclaimed packs will be auctioned off. Madge
wanted me to ensure they did not get left for her to deal with.
Fair enough. The auction house will pick them up.”
    Thirty minutes before departure, Sarah’s
Team and all except the last ones allocated, boarded. The American
Team had taken the ‘free’ seats but Sarah had anticipated a
diplomatic Team would consider those seats as theirs. That, she had
expected but she was disconcerted to lose the leadership. Unwilling
to cause conflict, Sarah decided to accept it and work with Mathew
Western but having looked him up on his website, she could not see
how he thought he was qualified for this. He was a business man.
His family were mostly military. Nowhere on his website did he
mention any interest in SETI or even science fiction and she did
not recall ever seeing him at any of her displays, exhibitions or
book releases. His major interest was War Games! Hardly a
qualification! His Team had already boarded.

 
Cattle
Class
    Boarding with the rest, Sarah was shown into
a large hold. They each had their personal items and one ‘Pack’
allocated to each person and she watched as the luggage was brought
in by what looked like robotic trolleys. The packs had already been
checked by the Aliens. Once 56 people had been counted into a hold,
the hold door was closed and locked!
    Sarah calmed down the unsettled people in
her hold explaining that this was probably for safety during
takeoff and got them organised setting up the tents and allocating
space. She noticed Stella and her mother were among the first to
get their tent up and their gear stowed away. They looked like they
were used to working together. Both then went to help others. No
one knew what was happening. There was no sensation of movement so
most presumed they hadn’t left yet.
    The organizing was very fast. Dan from her
Team, and an Australian, Con, were getting the toilet tents up and
securing them over the holes in the wall recesses. Still a little
unsettled most decided to go to bed. Most had had very little sleep
lately…Sarah decided that was a good idea. The few minutes she had
got were rather insufficient. Most