All That Glitters Ch. 37

Cynthia then cornered Ciara Collins to ask her a few questions about the upcoming concert, matching the level of excitement that Ciara transmitted to her in the interview. Once she cut the feed, Ciara took Cynthia over to meet some of the other big name entertainers.

Ciara introduced Cynthia Stewart, the reporter who broke the aliens story last year to the other entertainers and they were hooked, asking her as many questions as she asked them. She even gave out her autograph to the performers! And, of course, getting theirs in return. Overall, it was a very profitable morning for Cynthia, professionally and otherwise.

Presidential Compound, Capital City, Terra

The President was speaking to the various delegates prior to the presentation of Ambassador Mayute's credentials. He finally turned to the Toolend delegation, shaking hands (tentacles) with Dagrame, their Minister of Interspecies Affairs, with Mayute, and Augraf.

"I see you wearing something new, Ambassador," the President said, noting the new emblem that the three were wearing on the right side of their body. Mayute wore a green coloured sleeve with the symbol of the Toolend Diplomatic Corps on a tentacle on her left side, which indicated erht was an ambassador, while Dagrame wore a similar but blue coloured sleave with the symbol of their government which indicated erht was a senior official in the government. Augraf did not wear anything on erht's left side.

"I am sure, Mr. President, that you are aware we Toolend are telepathic?" Mayute asked, getting a nod from the President. "This is the symbol for telepaths, the symbol of our order, which has yet to receive a formal name. To achieve this symbol, we must swear to the order of telepaths that we will follow the laws we have agreed on and not use our powers indiscriminately or face a fine and possible sanctions.

"We hope, that in a few years time, the people of the Greater Community will recognize this symbol and no longer fear the Toolend when we move amongst them, Mr. President," Mayute informed him.

"A worthy goal," the President admitted. "Somehow it sounds familiar?"

Mayute gave the Toolend shrug that indicated his acknowledgement of the point.

"It is borrowed from the Council of Empaths, Mr. President," erht admitted.

"They have a good track record, Ambassador," the President indicated. "It must have been difficult to apply their philosophy and laws to your people."

The three Toolend blinked in unison, telling the President that they had been speaking to each other via their mental link.

"Yes, Mr. President, it was difficult and is still an ongoing thing. But we have a direction to travel in now, thanks to the conference we just completed with the Councillors of the Council of Empaths from Hollander's World," Dagrame informed the President.

"That means I need not fear being scanned by you?" the President asked.

"Mr. President, do you know why animals hiding in the bushes do not move?" Augraf asked.

"Movement attracts the eyes and focuses our vision on the animal," the President replied.

"Correct, Mr. President. The thoughts of your brain, to us, is like the movement of an animal in the bushes. We can sense those thoughts at a surface level.

"The surface level, however, only tells us limited things, such as your name, your occupation, and whatever you might be focusing on at the moment. For more information, we must deliberately look deeper into the mind we are focusing on.

"In much the same way that your eyes cannot help but be attracted to movement, we cannot stop interpreting the surface level of another's mind. However, for you to understand what the movement is, you most focus on the object that is moving.

"That is also true of us when we scan the mind of another. We must focus past the surface layer. It is this that we are restricting our kin from doing without permission, Mr. President," Augraf finished.

"What would give you permission to do this?" the President asked.

"Judicial permission, such as a judges warrant, medical requirements, when a patient is unconscious, working with intent, such as a police officer, who might scan select people who appear to be up to no good," Dagrame gave the examples.

"All of this would be done only under the parameters of the laws of the order, Mr. President. It will take time for the people of the Greater Community to come to understand this, however, we believe that we are on the correct path now to take the stigma away from being a telepath, Mr. President," Mayute finished for the trio.

"I do hope that you succeed, for your people's sake," the President commented. "I know from our history that it took time for people to reconcile with the empaths. It will likely take time for the telepaths to gain a strong footing in the community as well. Having said that, I think that you are indeed on the correct path to your goal."

At that moment, the President's people started calling the delegates to their seats. Not long after, the President, Augraf, Mnst. Dagrame, and Ambs. Mayute were called into the Presidential Communication Center for the presentation of Mayute's credentials.

The Beach, Denders Resort, Terra, The Sol System

The stage had arrived and was slowly being led down from the shuttle port to the beach where it would be set up. The people at Denders were becoming excited now that they could see the equipment moving through parts of the resort, headed to the beach.

A large section of the beach to the South of the resort had been set aside for the setup of the stage and concert venue. Sylvie had not wanted to block the Asocan's from the swamp, so had directed the concert officials to set up South of the resort.

The curious came to watch as parts of the large stage were brought into place and joined together. It was slow progress mostly because of the sheer size of the stage.

The roadies were going slower too, simply because they were looking back at who, or what, was looking at them. They were used to being the center of attention when they set up a venue but this time, they were just as curious as their onlookers.

The manager had to get their minds back on the job, telling them they would have the chance tomorrow to mingle with the crowd. Reluctantly, they did get back to work, and slowly built the stage, testing the sound and light systems.

Hradk, was introduced to the sound and video people, assuring them that she could translate the sound and imagery to the necessary requirements of the Greater Community. She identified what she would need and it was provided for her. She watched the feeds being given to her, humming a popular Asocan bar song as she worked, getting grins from the humans whose lives, like her, were more on their connection to their equipment than on their connection to people. They understood her and were sure she understood them. It didn't take long for Hradk to set up the necessary translation modes both going out and coming in, to send the right signal to the right people in the Community. She was ready long before the venue was prepared.

A guard was placed on the venue overnight and all the equipment was covered from the humidity of the night air, while the remainder of the people headed into the parties at the resort. There was an extra sense of exuberance tonight, a sense of a mission accomplished and new connections made.

They would be ready to start the real party tomorrow...

Gold Conference Room, Denders Resort, Terra, The Sol System

Good morning all, I am glad that you all could make it here after the late party last night," Fiona said with a smile.

There were a lot more people in the room than normal, but that was understandable as all of the handlers of the various entertainers had wanted a place at the table.

"I would like to introduce Martin Fith, the producer of today's big event, who is coordinating all of your activities today. Mr. Fith."

"Good day all, it is going to be a long and tedious day for most of us, though it will get very exciting for you when you time arrives," he began.

Fith slipped the schedule to the big monitor and asked all of the entertainers to take copies for themselves. The schedule also include timings for sound checks in the morning starting at 08:00 hrs.

People started showing up early at Denders Resort in anticipation of the big concert. Several kiosks had been set up at the shuttle port to sell day passes to Denders to all those arriving. Included in the setup were scanners looking for contraband and weapons. People who had purchased their day passes were required to move through scanners to get through and into the resort area and the concert venue. The scanners found numerous items of contraband and weapons on various people who were promptly taken in by local authorities, their Denders Day Passes not being reimbursed.

By mid-morning, when the sound checks began, there were already 14,000 extra guests at Denders, taking advantage of the amusement park and the ocean, talking with the members of the Interspecies Community, and preparing to have a good time during the afternoon.

At noon, Denders time, the feed went live, sending the images of the venue to all of the Union and to the Interspecies Community. In return, ten of the home planets of the Interspecies Community showed images of stages set up on their own planets, the images cycling through the eleven planets each three minutes, the names of the cities and species identifying the various venues, including the Pod-Drran.

Fiona had ordered one of her ships with ICS to Pod-Saar so that they could see and participate in the live feed from the concert.

Like the Denders venue, the grounds before the stages on the home planets of the Community were filled with revellers, who suddenly cheered at seeing themselves on this Interspecies event.

Throughout the Union, viewing stages had been set up where people could congregate to watch and participate in the party, all of the planets of the Union now having been connected to the ICS net. Those images, too, were included in the preshow.

At precisely 13:00 hrs, the President of the Union and his daughter, Grace, came onto the stage and greeted the people of the Union and the Interspecies Community, welcoming them all to this live event. The President made a short speech about the historical significance of the previous week and then...

"Thank-you all for being here or for tuning in to this special live event, wherever you might be. With no further adieu, I turn this event over to...my daughter, Grace Elizabeth Holloway!"

The people at Denders cheered extra hard as Grace lifted her hands up to greet them. She stepped forward and spoke in a lively voice.

"Members of the Interspecies Community, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. This week I witnessed and had the opportunity to take part in an historical occasion, one that will likely never again be repeated. We may add more members to the Interspecies Community in future but we will likely never again see such a large number of member species come together at one time for such an event.

"For those of you watching live, our lives will forever more be changed, we now have absolute proof that humans are not alone in the universe and that we, the humans of the Union, can stand as equals within the Greater Community.

"Our connection with the community has already brought us significant changes to how we do things, improving our lives, allowing us to do more, better, and faster. That alone should be reason to embrace our connections within the community as we move into the future.

"But that is not why we are here today. Today, WE ARE HERE TO PARTY!!"

The crowd roared their approval at that, as images from all over Union space flicked on the screen.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our first singer and the host of today's event...CIARA!"

To the roar of the crowd, Ciara came out on the stage, breaking into song as soon as she claimed her spot there. Her song selections were lively and got the crowd up and moving as she sang through her allotted time.

At the end, the crowed told her how much they had enjoyed her performance with a throaty howl of approval.

"Concert goers, I now call upon the Asocan Ambassador, Dragon Alvoie to come forward to show those of us here the music of his people!" Ciara called out.

Dragon Alvoie came onto the stage, snapping his jaw multiple times in explosive sounds, a sign of humour among the Asocan.

"While I might be able to sing when I have a few drinks in my belly, I am not the person who should sing at this Interspecies venue. Instead, I will call upon Ulag<, our premier entertainer!" Alvoie turned to the screen behind him just as it changed to the Asocan home world showing a solitary Asocan standing on a stage.

The female performer began a slow rumble in her throat that quickly turned into a howl that caused the Asocan in the audience howl with her. She cut off the cry and swiftly changed into a strong, steady beat that she sang to. It was a popular song of hers that many of the Asocan's knew and sang along with.

The words were automatically being translated at the top of the screen into Union Standard, along with a phonetic reference for those who wanted to attempt to sing with the Asocans. Many did try, some more successfully than others. All had fun.

At the end of her set, Ulag< bowed to the crowd and to Ciara, who graciously thanked her for taking her time to participate in the event.

Ciara called up the next entertainer from Denders, one of the hottest male singers at the time to the excitement of the crowd before her. He sang through his set and Ciara called on the Byandi Ambassador to come on stage.

The Chargé d'affaires, Ambassador Mottu had been selected to come up on the stage. He began to make a grand speech about the weeks event, when suddenly his image was seen being electronically pushed aside, a small Byandi female working hard to 'move' him off the screen.

The female called out "Bbbbrrrrreeeeeettttttaaaaagggggaaaa!" and the more than four hundred strong Byandi delegation screamed out the name of their favourite singer...

"Seeeekaa!"

Seeka's set was lively and fun, the sound of the music being similar to Calypso music that was used extensively by Denders Resort, thus giving a reason whey the resort's music was so popular with the Byandi guests.

For all that, the music was different, skipping beats in places that were unexpected by human sensibility. The Byandi did a dance that made use of this style of music, hopping on the skipped beats, the gregarious Byandi had fun trying to teach the humans and other species around them how, to do their dance. Everyone had fun.

At the end of the set, Ciara bowed to acknowledge another skilled performer and blew her a kiss.

"The next performer has suffered an accident and is unable to participate, so we have a brief block of no music, what would you like to do?" Ciara asked of the crowd.

"The Denders Wiggle Waggle!" Mottu, still on stage, called out, getting approval from the audience. Music was piped in and Mottu himself, in order to atone for his gaff at the beginning of Seeka's set, explained and showed the crowd how to do the Wiggle Waggle, to much laughter. In minutes, everyone was doing the Wiggle Waggle, and an image from the Byandi home world showed on the screen with the people there doing their best to keep up with the novel dance. Even Seeka was trying her hand at it.

Ambassador Kilta of the Paacon, and his mate, came up on stage and demanded, loudly, that they be able to show the Canard Dance, getting another roar from the crowd.

With Ciara and Mottu between them, they began to go through the elaborate process of the dance, getting a surprise when the lost Drone, Rikki, came up on stage and did the moves with them.

Once more images from the Paacon home world came up, showing the people there attempting to follow the dance, some more successfully than others.

They were delighted in the dance when they discovered that Canard roughly translated as 'The Duck Dance' a duck being a kind of avian. Everyone had fun and thoroughly enjoyed the two new dance steps (new to the Interspecies Community at least).

The day continued in much the same way, with versions of the Wiggle Waggle and the Canard dance being piped in as people waited between sets. People on the beach occasionally went into the ocean, along with the Byandi. A large mud puddle was formed in the middle of the venue, in which the Asocan gleefully wallowed, as did many of the human guests.

The Denders guests went back and forth to the venue all day, not missing much as there were monitors all over the resort, even the day dare had a large monitor for the children to watch.

Finally, Ciara came out on stage one last time, with the President and his daughter, and all of the ambassadors who had presented their credentials, in tow. She thanked all the performers at the venue and from the Interspecies Community, and then she asked all to count down from ten.

At the end of the countdown, from two barges a little ways offshore, the fireworks began. The Interspecies community had never seen fireworks before and they were fascinated by the colourful, and loud, display. Images from drones, of happy people slowly leaving the event, were transmitted to the Greater Community as the fireworks continued, the colourful display raging in the dark night's sky.

The transmission slowly faded to black and ended. The first ever Interspecies concert event coming to a successful close...

End of chapter thirty-seven.

Sorry that this was such a long chapter, however, I had already broken the original chapter down once, and did not want to do so again, especially as all the events took place more or less at Denders.

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Cheers! See you all on Liramor-23!

Be well, Be kind to one another, Be safe.

bigtddybr