Read Ambassador 4: Coming Home for Free Online

children.”
    He was still looking at me with an expression of shock on his face.
    “Really, there is nothing wrong with these people.”
    The captain’s companion Tayron said, “They’re too short, their eyesight is weak in the dark.” I was surprised that he spoke up, because he rarely opened his mouth. His voice sounded just as haughty as that of his captain, only younger.
    “Does poor night vision justify extensive medical procedures?”
    “We could simply bring all the young women in and treat them,” Kando Luczon said.
    “All of them?” This conversation was getting increasingly absurd. Was this what they had come back for? Some misguided idea that the people they had created weren’t perfect enough and that they should be grateful that they could be “fixed”?
    I was glad that Thayu and Nicha weren’t here to hear this.
    I was meant to assist and protect this man, but I’d been proud when yesterday in the assembly meeting the new Barresh Aghyrian leader Feylin Herza had risen in the audience and had asked, “The story goes that when the meteorite was about to strike Asto, yours was one of the three ships that could evacuate people, yet you did not allow anyone on board, despite having room for thousands. Is that true?”
    By the time she made that remark, Kando Luczon had upset so many people that a chorus of cheers had broken out.
    And when the collective assembly had quietened down, Kando Luczon had said, “The story goes that it is now possible for people to visit Asto. Our measurements confirm this. Yet you maintain the restrictions. Are you going to prevent an old man from returning to his home before he dies?”
    This remark led to more shouting.
    I’d been sitting up there in my box cringing all the way, with all my staff and all their equipment ready to record, lobby and vote and solve this issue. To come to an agreement with this massive ship and where they could go. Where, possibly, the crew could settle, if they wanted. But the captain appeared only interested in causing as much offence as possible. Answering a blunt question with another blunt question. Come to think of it, had he ever answered any of our questions?
    More evasive than a gamra diplomat was an expression in keihu. Kando Luczon took evasiveness to uncharted heights.
    The train was slowing down and nerves returned. I hadn’t heard back from the council about the visit. I hoped that, for once, something about Kando Luczon would click with some of the local people. All right, the man was no diplomat, but it would be awesome if he was an academic.
    Outside the window Barresh’s main island slid by, with its jumble of roofs of the stately old houses intermingled with spreading tree canopies. The western side contained the airport, the administrative centre and the houses of the well off. The eastern side of the island was more quiet and unassuming in nature. The houses were a lot closer together and people who lived here were the middle-class workers and well-off Pengali.
    I leaned into the aisle so that I could see Thayu and Nicha in the next compartment. They were already on their feet ready to go. Above all, they remained professional. They removed themselves from situations where they might step out of line.
    It would be nice if I could do the same.
    The train slowed further while still being above the water and then slid into the station. The doors opened, letting in a waft of warm humid air. This station, on the southeastern line, was nothing more than a concrete platform raised over the water. It had a wide overhanging roof, so that passengers didn’t get wet in the monsoonal rains, and a small shed that might contain maintenance equipment and an electrical substation.
    A bridge connected the station to the land.
    I’d been here not long before we went to the Aghyrian ship. Back then, it had been dark and we’d come from the land. Back then, there also hadn’t been the giant white tent over a section of marshland, nor