While they waited, Cytolene continued to offer to talk to anyone who would come in unarmed, and the men with the loudspeakers, four at the last count, kept ordering her to come out with her hands up.
Daniel was quite prepared to do that. "They'll see I'm human and let me go, right?" he asked anxiously.
Mike made a rude noise. "If you are happy to spend three days being debriefed, go ahead."
Daniel looked blank.
"That's military speak for three days of no sleep while they ask you the same questions over and over again, until you give them the answers they like, or they decide they like the answers you give them."
"But I'm human. I'm an American citizen!"
"Can you prove it without an autopsy?" Mike asked.
"Oh!" Daniel looked deflated but made no further move to leave the ship.
The crowd of military outside had got so big that Asnem was considering firing a few blasts into the air to keep them back when where was a disturbance. As a new helicopter put down right beside the ship, Ray's phone rang.
"Yes, the big space ship is us. See you in a few." He made a face as he ended the call. "God, I hate that woman."
While a small plump brown woman climbed out of the helicopter and fought to keep her hair under control, Cytolene opened the access door and let down the ramp. She and Ray went down to meet the woman gazing at the ship with her mouth open.
They watched her struggle to drag her eyes from the massive ship above her, which dwarfed the redwoods of Balboa park. "Sweet Lord above, it's massive," she muttered before Cytolene and Ray reached her and claimed her attention.
"Hello, nice to meet you again." Ray held out his hand.
The brown woman glared at him. "I wish I could say the same.
Ray kept a determined smile on his face. "Hey, everything I wrote was fair comment. You're taking it out of context, that's all."
"There's no good context for what you called me."
She looked as if she were about to get back into her helicopter, so Ray hastily apologised. "Ms Winters, I'm very sorry, and to make it up to you, I've arranged for you to be the very first person to visit an alien space ship and interview them live on television."
Professional instincts fought with her offended dignity and won. Ms Winters looked from Ray to the female beside him. She appeared to be about 20, of medium height but with a slight build. Her pale skin showed off her lavender coloured eyes and bright blue hair, which flashed with turquoise high lights. "Who is your hairdresser?" she asked. "That's an amazing colour job."
Cytolene smiled "This is my natural hair colour. Most of my family have blue hair." She watched and could see by the sudden bulging of her eyes when the human made the connection.
"You...you're an alien?" Ever the professional, she was never at a loss for words. "You're not a little green man?"
"My name is Cytolene, I'm from the planet Eris, and very few of us are green." Cytolene was encouraged by how well this human was taking the introduction. "Would you like to come on board and meet some more of us?"
The older woman's gaze turned calculating. "Alone? What about my staff? Cameras?" she gestured to where half a dozen people stood near the helicopter. Two of them were busy filming the meeting.
