All That Glitters Ch. 61

Tempa took another sip of her tea. "How long does the effect last?" she enquired.

"Several hours, but we limit your people to one cup a day," Hanalei answered. Tempa nodded. This was one effective cup of tea!

Tempa listened with half an ear as the children began to piece together the music she had provided. They began to move from playing pieces of it to fitting it all together and actually playing the piece as a whole. It had taken them less than fifteen mur for the brood to interpret a somewhat difficult Pod-Drran musical piece and start to play it! Tempa turned to look at the brood with utter astonishment showing on her face.

"Something you gave them?" Mind asked, getting a nod back from Tempa. Mind laughed openly at Tempa's expression. "Other than the Kumar-Pair's own, you will neve meet a more exceptional brood."

Tempa turned her face back to Mind and gave her a slow nod. "I believe you," she admitted. "I did not want to but have come to realise this on my own since having been 'rescued' by Ikekiya."

That got a bark of a laugh from Mind who raised her cup in salute to Tempa. "I was once in the same place as you. Both broods are remarkable."

"Momma, music wrong," Zarreniya broke into their thoughts.

"How is it wrong, Zarry?" Junelliya asked, already knowing the answer.

"Tempo wrong," Zarreniya replied.

"Mmmmm. Mind once told me that the new Pod-Drran instruments and music notation do not suit the old songs. Maybe this was an old song that has been modernized," Junelliya postulated.

"We fix," Ikekiya told her and the pair then rendered the song into an older version by changing the tempo and translating the song from modern Pod-Drran into ancient. As soon as they did, the song changed dramatically, sounding much better to the ears of those listening.

Tempa's jaw dropped open again and Junelliya reached in and closed it for her. "You'll catch flies," she quipped.

"Are flies edible?" Mind asked teasingly. On hearing this question, Juneya shook her little head and her entire body bristled. She made a bleating sound that expressed her opinion on the taste of flies.

"There is your answer," Junelliya laughed.

"All right girls, it's time for daycare," Hanalei told the children.

"Not called daycare, mommy. Now say 'Wee One's Playhouse and School'," Zarreniya informed her.

"Really!? They have adopted a name?" Hanalei asked getting nods from the children.

"We make suggestion. It translate all language," Zarreniya replied.

"Oh, yes of course," Junelliya agreed. "That makes good sense."

"Ready to go?" she asked her children, preparing herself for the walk.

"No, momma. We go with Tempa-Harn. She need see Playhouse," Ikekiya told her.

"Can you say why, Ikekiya?" Hanalei asked.

"Not know why, mommy. I know she need see."

Hanalei gave a nod to Ikekiya about that. "Tempa, the children find you helpful. They want you to take them to the daycare. Could you do that for us?" Junelliya asked.

Tempa looked over to Mind, who gave her a Pod-Drran circular nod of the head telling Tempa it was alright to do this.

"Very well, Atohan. I would be delighted to escort them to this daycare," Tempa agreed.

They left the apartment and moved back toward the inner core. Tempa thought they might be heading to the elevators but they passed a ladder (steep steps) and used it to go down two levels to the Construction Bay Deck, Tempa gingerly moving down the steps with the children carefully guiding her as looking down the steep steps disoriented her. She hoped she recovered from the effects of the concussion quickly.

They were now on a ring that ran around the inside of the construction bays. They moved down a little until they came to an odd, brightly coloured door that had large script in Standard above it and smaller script in all of the languages of the Greater Community on either side. Tempa saw the Pod-Drran script which said *Chohda Mranta - Kisoranta* (Little One's Play Structure - Formal School).

Ikekiya pressed her comp to the door panel and it opened to admit her, her sister, and Tempa-Harn.

"Who have we here?" Tempa noted a small human female with the same kind of hair that the Piscium family's guardian had.

"Miss Aylliya, this be Tempa-Harn Kai-Rai," Ikekiya introduced them.

"She bring us today. She need see daycare," Ikekiya told Aylliya and gave her a look that explained that she could not talk about why this was so. Aylliya gave a nod of her head.

"Would you like to take her around and show her the facility then?" she asked the pair, who smiled at her.

They moved over to unlock their personal lockers using their comps. They pulled out deck shoes that looked like sneakers and put their Damate and backpacks into it to seal them up. They took Tempa's hands and guided her around the Playhouse and school, showing everything to the curious adult.

"I am impressed with this facility," Tempa told Aylliya later when she came back to the door. "We have nothing like it on Pod-Saar nor, I suspect, on Maha-Oran either. This facility would be of interest to the Kumar-Pair."

"It is, though they have only seen it once, before it went into use," Aylliya explained. "We still need to speak to them about bringing Pod-Drran and Maha-Rrin here to train as Crèche Mothers."

"Ah, perhaps I could be of service there," Tempa offered. "I know some of those who have become Crèche Mothers back on Pod-Saar. With the Kumar-Pair heavily involved in affairs of state, it does not surprise me that they have missed this. If I can take your contact information, I shall send that to those Crèche Mothers I know so they can contact you directly. That might get things moving again.

"I will also remind our ambassadors here on the station of this issue," Tempa finished.

"That would be very useful," another smallish human female came forward. "Hello, I am Takabayashi Urano, owner and coordinator of this establishment. We do remember the visit by the Kumar-Pair but it is time they came back for another visit."

At that moment, Tempa began to flag as the effects of the stim tea began to wear off. Zarreniya came forward and quickly examined her.

"Miss Urano, Tempa need to lie down for a bit. Can we have a walker go with her to her apartment?" Zarreniya asked.

"Walker?" Tempa asked.

"I'll explain later," Urano replied with a smile.

The walker turned out to be a young adult Byandi female that barely came up to Tempa's lower breasts. She was, however, very strong and helped a flagging Tempa get to her appointed apartment.

Chamber of Commerce Liramor City, Liramor Prime, The Liramor System, Thirty Light Years from Terra

Renaud Marini, the Mayor of Liramor City, was in a bit of a bind. It was the Christmas season on Liramor Prime, however, current stats showed that things were very slow this year.

He looked to his friend and head of the Chamber of Commerce, Phillipe Casterne.

"We need to do something, Phillipe or we will have a bad year," Renaud complained to his friend.

"It is already too late to do something, Renaud. You would have to pull a miracle out of your hat to help us this year," he replied to his friend.

"What about sending an invitation to the members of the Interspecies Embassy on Liramor-23?" one of the council members asked.

"What would that do?" asked another.

"It might not help us immediately, however, if we make an open invitation to the Embassy, that might encourage them to inform their brethren. We could get an influx of new visitors over time. Why should Terra be the only planet that has the Interspecies community on it? Besides, we already have many members of the Community here working on the new space stations, though they do not frequent the stores as often as we like," the original speaker replied.

"That is actually an interesting idea," Phillipe mused. "We could invite the members to participate in our Christmas Season with its decorations, lights, and festivities. That could lead up New Years as well."

A plan was quickly formulated and sent to Liramor-23.

Main Conference Room, Interspecies Embassy, Liramor-23, The Piscium System

Mylat Alafka, her entourage, Martte Garnal Mutt Herrtt and her entourage, the Interspecies Ambassadors and their aides, Palda Junelliya, Gurn Piscium, Fayd Piscium, Director of Liramor-23, Juliana Santos, Assistant Director of Liramor-23, and Fleet Admiral (FAdm.) Fiona Marsh and her entourage, were all in the conference room for the Bi-weekly Embassy Meeting.

"Good day to all," Fayad began. "We have a message from the Chamber of Commerce of La ville de Liramor, on Liramor Prime. They are inviting the Ambassadors and their staff to visit Ville de Liramor during the Christmas season to take in the decorations, lights, and the Christmas and New Year festivities."

"Why would the Chamber of Commerce ask this of us, Fayad?" Ambassador Mayute of the Toolend, acting in his capacity as the senior diplomate at the Embassage, asked.

"I suspect that it is a result of finding Poda-La's Resestess, but that is speculation on my part. However, the publicity surrounding the finding and capture of the Resestess would have reminded the Chamber of our presence here. It would not be a stretch to them to put forth the invitation, probably with the hope that others would follow from your home worlds either this year or in follow-on years. They are probably hoping it will give them a boost for the season.

"You can ask some of your people who are working at Pallanders on Liramor Prime, whether this is something that you would like to see and do," Fayad suggested, getting various kinds of nods from around the table.

Fayad went on to complete the brief and ask for items from the Ambassadors. There were a few enquiries, especially from the Byandi who wanted to know when they could anticipate seeing the building of the promised deep pool.

"That will not occur until Liramor-31 comes into the system and our ore ovens are given over to the new platform. We will then have the space necessary for the deep pool to be constructed," Fayad explained.

The Wanderer, In Orbit of Liramor-23, The Piscium System

The Kumar-Pair and their brood were back on The Wanderer. Prakeshya was to be part of a direct session with Poda-La to help Junelliya tweak the now mostly completed language matrix. As with any time that they spoke with Poda-La, they had brought the Pemipinae with them. She was now going through physiotherapy to learn to use her new legs and left arm, though she was still mostly relegated to her float chair. She was very pleased that she could outpace anyone while in the chair...

They also had the two High Priestesses of the sister races with them.

Fiona and her aides were there as was the Atohan and her brood.

*Ship AI, I am Ikekiya Se-Lam Poda-Rai Dosri Soona Patak. Please connect,* Ikekiya said and the image of Poda-La appeared.

"Good day Poda-La," the Kumaraie spoke. "Before you is the one called Hillary Litton. She is a language specialist who helped to create the Interspecies Language Matrix that allows for instant translation of the languages of the Greater Community. She is helping to create the Ruhm-Oran language matrix so that our people and the Maha-Rrin can speak to you directly."

*Welcome, Hillary Litton. Your contribution is greatly appreciated,* the AI looked back at Hillary after the translation.

"I had help, Poda-La," Hillary answered. "Prakeshya, her brothers, the Atohan, and the Atohan's brood, all helped with the translation. Between them, it made the formulation of the translation much easier."

"What I would like to do is connect you to the computer that holds the language matrix. The computer will work with you directly to complete the matrix. This could take a little time dependant on how complex the computer on your ship is." Hillary finished.

*This computer is quite complex; however, I do not know how complex your own computer is nor how compatible the two systems will be. I believe that the tech that installed the emitter can help us with that,* the AI explained, referring to Sherm-Atem of the Maha-Rrin.

Sherm already had the cabling prepared and swiftly connected the new computer with the emitter and its connection to the ship. Within moments, the AI jumped as the computers began talking to each other.

"This is quite the sophisticated computer! And so small," the AI stated as it looked down at the block that was now beside the emitter. "Our computer is housed within my ship, within the entire ship."

"This computer is functioning solely as a language translator, Poda-La," Hillary explained. "It has to have some capabilities in order to translate properly but those capabilities are limited. We have other computers that are much more sophisticated and complex."

"So noted. OH! I understood you as you spoke! I no longer need Prakeshya to translate for me," the AI informed them to smiles all around.

"That will mean that we can now connect you directly to the ICS system for direct contact with the people," the Kumaroe stated.

"It also means that we do not need to come directly here to speak with you but can contact you by comp through the ICS," the Kumaraie spoke.

"Yes, I understand that, however, there will be times when I must speak to all of you at once. Can that be arranged if you are not in my presence?" the AI demanded.

"Yes, that can be arranged," Junelliya answered for all. "The only issue will be the location that one or more of those who you need to speak to may be in if privacy is required. We do have a privacy mode on our wrist comps but it is not the ideal solution as it can be intercepted.

"But this also means that you can now see and be more of a part of the lives of the people," Junelliya finished.

"I look forward to that, Atohan. I would see how the families live today," the smiling avatar apprised them. "Especially your family, Atohan."

Main Conference Room, Interspecies Embassy, Lima Deck, Liramor-23, The Piscium System

Ambassador Kome-Nar Sai-Ro had requested the presence of those who had originally spoken to the AI at the embassy. They were now all in the main embassy conference room on Lima Deck.

The senior members of the other races were present as well, including the Mylat Alafka of the Byandi, and Martte Garnal of the Asocans. Surprisingly, the House of Ur was there as well.

"I would like to inform the Greater Community of the fact that the translation matrix of the old language is now completed," Kome-Nar Sai-Ro stated formally. "With this, our community can now call on the AI of Poda-La and ask questions of it. Please note, while the AI is very sophisticated, it does have its limits, please keep this in mind when you speak with it."

That news was greeted in a celebratory manner by the ambassadors.

Lent-Ur requested permission of the Speaker to speak. The Speaker stamped his rod of Office and nodded to Lent who turned and knelt before Shoma-Tern. As soon as he went down on one knee Ikekiya and Zarreniya squealed in delight, surprising the non-humans who did not understand the significance of Lent-Ur's move.

"Since we are in Union space, I will do this as the humans do," he said, pulling out a small box from his pocket.

"Shoma-Tern, we have become more than friends over the time that you have been at this embassy. We have worked frequently together and I find that when I first see you each day, my heart races, yet when we part at the end of the day, I am the lesser that you are not with me. I would lessen this pain and increase the pleasure by keeping you more in my presence on a daily basis.

"Shoma-Tern, would you consider me for your mate?" he asked opening the box to show a ring with a large red stone cut in the Pod-Drran fashion.

Shoma-term looked around at all those present, their faces masks of surprise and, in some cases (mostly humans), sheer delight. She thought briefly on Lent-Ur's words and found that they reflected her own feelings on greeting him in the morning and saying goodbye later in the day.

"Yes, Lent-Ur. I will take you as my mate," she replied. "However, while we are in human space, I am the Ambassador for the Maha-Rrin and you are of the House of Ur, a member of the Union and a former member of the Pod-Drran. There are protocols that must be adhered to..."

Mind-Ur stepped forward. "I am Mind-Ur, Phrat Mahi of the House of Ur. Who petitions my House for one of my own as mate? By what right do you deem yourself worthy of petitioning this House?"

"I am Shoma-Tern, Ambassador of the Maha-Rrin to the Greater Community by the hand of the Pemipinae Melda-Hetta, the leader of the Maha-Rrin. I am the equivalent of a Sin-Tae, one who speaks directly to the Pemipinae. I have achieved these things through my own efforts and by my own merits," Shoma-Tern answered.

"As the Ambassador of the Maha-Rrin, you need the permission of the Pemipinae to do this thing," Mind-Ur replied. She turned and bowed low the Pemipinae. All eyes turned to Melda-Hetta, who pressed a button on her float chair that raised her into a standing position.

"By what right do you, Lent-Ur, deem yourself worthy of Shoma-Term? The Pemipinae asked.

"I too am a Ton. Though I have not achieved the position of Sin-Ton, I have achieved my Doctorate in Engineering Degree from the human education system. I have achieved distinction of my own and have the right to stand in the Great Hall of the Palace of Pod-Saar under my own merit as a Ton," Lent-Ur replied.

"If the two of you are determined to do this, I have no objection to your mating," the Pemipinae replied. "What say you Kumaraie Ne-Maj Se-Lam Pod-Raie, Kumaroe Jarl-Se-Lam Pod-Sai-Roe?"

The Kumar-Pair conferred briefly before replying. "We have no objection to this mating, however, as I have noted before, the House of Ur is no longer part of the Pod-Drran sphere. As you are asking to mate one who is the Ambassador of the Maha-Rrin, you will need the permission of the Union President to do this."

Fiona was already ahead of the curve. She had the President on her comp.

"Fiona, I am pressed for time at the moment. Is this something of importance?" the President asked.

"Mr. President, I must ask that you don the robes and crown of the Holy Couple as one of your own has asked the Ambassador of the Maha-Rrin to take him as her mate," Fiona answered, her words geared to bringing quick understanding of the situation to the President.

"Put me on the monitor, Fleet Admiral," the President Ordered.

The people at Liramor-23 noted that the President was in a banquet hall with several tables set up for a special function.

The President in turn noted that the others were in the main conference room of the Interspecies Embassy. He also noted the presence of his daughter. He pulled his wife and First Lady into his arm.

"Grace. It is good to see you, my dear," he said with a smile.

"Father, we once again are in the middle of history being made," Grace returned with a smile of her own.

"Lent-Ur, are you certain you want to do this thing?" the President asked. "by becoming part of Shoma-Term's household, you could loose your citizenship in the Union."

"I am aware of this, Mr. President, however, in this instance, I must follow my heart," Lent explained.

The President and his First Lady smiled at the comment. "Very well then, Lent-Ur."

The President turned and pulled a white table cloth from one of those who was setting up tables and threw it around himself and his wife. "Does the Phrat-Mahi of the House of Ur agree to this mating?"

"The House of Ur agrees, Holy Couple," Mind-Ur replied, catching on to the significance of the formality even though this formality was Asocan.

"Who speaks for the House of Tern?" the First Lady asked.