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adventures with a giraffe in a business suit, but when the dapper giraffe shows up and is ready to whisk you off to the stars, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to want to crawl into the fetal position.
    Even so, fear was not calling the shots. If all other things had been equal, I don’t think excitement would have had any problem beating out terror. I was not about to miss out on new life and new civilizations simply because the thought of leaving the planet made me want to wet my pants.
    I was backing out because I wasn’t up to the task. My mom was dying, and she was going to die about the worst death imaginable. If the right person went and convinced the aliens that the human race was worthy, we would get advanced alien medical knowledge, and my mother would get to live. I didn’t want to miss out on the time she had left, but more importantly, I couldn’t risk messing things up. I would pass on the adventure of a lifetime and let someone halfway competent take my place.
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    Dr. Roop stood up and actually blocked my way. He looked down from his eight-foot vantage, and held out his long arms soI couldn’t pass. Apparently, he was taking no chances. “I don’t think you understand.”
    â€œI understand perfectly,” I said. “Dr. Roop, I really, really appreciate this offer, and you have no idea how much I want to go, but I’m not your guy. I’m completely average. I can’t fight or play champion-level chess or do math or any of that stuff. I have nothing to contribute. You’re better off getting someone else.”
    â€œThere is no one else,” Dr. Roop said, lowering his arms. The dramatic gesture had apparently run its course. “This is how the process works. The decision of the selection committee is final, and it has to be that way.”
    â€œTrust me,” said Ms. Price without bothering to look up from her computer. “They won’t budge on this point.”
    â€œWe’ve learned from experience that nations will go to war to get more of their own people in the initiate delegation,” Dr. Roop explained. “The only way to make the process successful and peaceful is to render it immutable.”
    â€œSo if I don’t go, humanity is one man short?”
    Dr. Roop cocked his head and looked at me with his big yellow eyes, which appeared sad. “If you don’t go, Zeke, humanity is out of the running. We’ll try again in sixty years, but if we can’t recruit the delegation selected by the committee, then there is no delegation.”
    I stood there, speechless.
    â€œI know you are thinking about your mother,” Dr. Roop said. “If you want her to have a chance at being cured, you must agree to participate.”
    That changed the scenario. I nodded and sat my butt back down. Ms. Price continued typing away on her laptop. A glanceat her screen told me she was using my time of personal crisis, my moment to make a decision that would affect all of humanity, to catch up on her e-mail.
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    I had so many questions, I hardly even knew where to begin.
    â€œWhen do we leave?”
    â€œAs soon as you are ready,” said Ms. Price, looking up. “The other candidates began meeting with their governments three days ago. They have all agreed to participate. At this point, we are waiting for you.”
    They met three days ago. “You tried to get someone else too. That’s how you know you can’t change their minds.”
    Ms. Price did that thing that, for government employees, stood in for a smile. She blinked and pursed her lips. “We had hoped to put our best foot forward.”
    â€œBut I’m the foot you’re stuck with.”
    â€œWe are delighted that an American citizen will be part of this delegation,” she assured me.
    â€œI can understand why you might feel inadequate,” Dr. Roop