Free Wine of the Gods 26: Embassy by Pam Uphoff Page B

retired. I'm too damned old for this! Stupid warmongers, still wishing they'd been able to kill hundreds of millions of people. No. Natives. Not people. They still refuse to see anyone else as real people, somehow.
    He tapped at his comp, to catch their attention with a pause, not because he needed to refer to his notes. "I approve of your choice of Mr. Montgomery for our ambassador. And we have bids lined up for the construction . . . and then the first foray through this 'permanent gate' is set for next week." He glowered around the chamber again. "There will be no military. Mr. Montgomery will lead a small delegation through for preliminary talks. Then we will have the official, public crossing. I will have a small security detachment. And, like it or not, news media. Yes. It's going to be a circus."
    A low clamor as the councilmen all conferred with each other. I wonder how many of them will decide to get in on this historic occasion? I'll give my major speech on this side, with full media coverage. Then on the other side, a briefer speech aimed at the Empire of the One, welcoming the start of diplomacy. If only I can figure out how to keep this lot quiet, perhaps we can actually accomplish something.

Chapter Thirteen
Fall Equinox 1398 px
21 September 3515 ce
1 Hija 1400 yp
Embassy World
     
     
    Xen's awareness prowled through the inbetween, catching glimpses of worlds, none of them the right one. But there was a bright line, a rope snapping out between two worlds . . . a second rope curled out and touched a third world.
    :: Those are the powered gates. Easy to spot when you're close enough. :: Q dived toward the world both ropes touched.
    :: See this crowd of worlds? They're spraying out after this event back there, you can sort of see the trails. ::
    Xen sighed. :: No, you can see the trails. ::
    :: Humph. Don't see why everyone can't see the structure. Anyway, that's where—I think—a meteor hit Moscow in 1964 and started a nuclear war. ::
    :: And the One World is just one slight variation of how that played out. :: Xen eyed the collection of worlds . . . someday I'll explore them all, see what happened when a bunch of genetically engineered magicians didn't get marooned there.
    He turned his attention back to the World that had pulled back one rope and was throwing it again. Easy to track them back home . . . :: Right, so their gate complex is right there in North America. ::
    :: I went there while you were playing with horses. This is Gate City, and that's their . . . I think they call it the Secured Gate Area. ::
    :: Urfa said beyond the warehouses . . . over there, do you think? ::
    :: Yes. Nice and far from their powered gates. I'm a bit worried that the powered gates will disrupt our gates. They certainly blow all the local inbetween clear of tops. ::
    :: Even the bubble cloud is pretty thin. :: Xen eyed the world, a distorted vision, as if looking through running water. :: Let's put it there, just off that ring road. Easy access for them. ::
    Q drew back . . . returned with a top, slowing the spin, forcing it into the right place . . . it leapt out of her grasp and grabbed the world.
    Xen pulled back . . . and back . . . finally spotted a top, a very tough spinning cone shaped interdimensional . . . thing. He started bumping it with bubbles, to get it to slow down and move where he wanted it.
    The tails of the two tops twisted together and the flat side of the second jumped to adhere to his world.
    Xen pulled out of his meditation and opened his eyes. He was an arm's reach from a spinning white vortex.
    Behind him, Garit cleared his throat.
    "You might want to get up. Their emergency equipment is arriving and it includes a lot of large weapons pointing this direction."
    Xen raised a shield . . . "Can they shoot through a gate? No reason why not, I suppose."
    Q stood up as well. "We need to check the positioning of the gate on the far side, as well." She stepped through.
    Xen choked and jumped after her.
    " .