"When you say curing sicknesses, do you mean human, Earth diseases? Earth sicknesses? Or alien ones that you have brought with you?" Torrance was quick with the followup question.

"All of those." On seeing the reactions of the audience, Sana added, "I cannot guarantee that I can fix every single problem of human health. I will need to look at each case. But, it is likely that I can restore full health in a couple of days. Things like printing new limbs will take a little longer. I will be focusing on making sure that none of our biological particles cause sicknesses for you."

"By 'biological particles', you mean what?"

"'Biological particles' is the generic term in Galactic for what you call...bacteria, viruses, fungi, prions, and other organic matter than can self-replicate in a living host. Essentially, anything that could make a communicable disease."

"Thank you."

"Miss Hall."

"Wanda Hall, Reuters. What can you tell us about the government and politics in the galaxy at large? Is Earth automatically a part of some organization? Do we have rights as citizens of the galaxy?"

The others looked to Doctor Vickall. "That is a very big question with a very long answer, and we will be releasing books describing much of it in the near future, if Nick has no objections."

Nick shrugged. "That's fine by me."

"Then I will transmit the books to your major libraries later today. The shortest version is, no, you do not have automatic membership or citizenship or rights. You will have to negotiate with other starfaring races once you have starships of your own."

"Mr. McDermott."

"Kyle McDermott, Associated Press. Mr. Tomsun, how does it feel to be home, and to be at the center of such...astronomically important events?"

Nick seemed to freeze for a moment, then took a deep breath. "Overwhelming. For a long time, I didn't think I would ever make it home, especially once I learned that the Ooafans had technology around our early twentieth century level. Now that I'm almost home, it's...amazing. We have a beautiful planet, and I never knew to treasure a million little things about Earth until I was taken away from them."

"'Almost home'?"

Nick blinked. "Well, yeah, I'm still in orbit. I want to walk on grass again, and feel a breeze, and look at the ocean. Smell flowers, eat ice cream...hug another human being. I'm not home yet. I'll believe it when my feet land on solid earth. I'm desperately looking forward to it, but I gotta be careful."

"Everyone appreciates that, Mr. Tomsun."

"As for the other part..." Nick paused, and blew air out his cheeks. "It is a huge responsibility, and I am very tempted to hand it off to someone else, but...it's my responsibility. If I pass the torch and the person I pick does horrible things, I'd have to live with that. So, for now, I'm going to keep muddling through as best I can. I'm just grateful that I can ask all the smart people of Earth for advice now. I've been winging it, all alone, doing the best I can for Earth, and I think I've been doing okay so far, but it's a huge relief not to have to do everything myself any more.

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"Thank God we uploaded an English dictionary. You have no idea how hard it was dealing with language barriers. Now, I can at least have regular conversations with all my friends up here."

"Thank you."

"Ms. Sanwen."

"Sanwen Liu, New York Times. Mr. Tomsun, do you intend to favor the United States over other countries when it comes to sharing out the knowledge you have brought?"

Nick frowned. "Well, a little bit anyways, because I am an American. But for almost all of the stuff I have to share, there's no point in trying to keep it to one country. There's too much of it. And a lot of it would require the whole world cooperating to use—like the ansible."

"Ansible?"

"Ah, a lot of the galaxy has instantaneous communication devices called ansibles, but the installation required is absolutely massive and it'll be a long while before we can build one even if everybody cooperates. Let's see...technology things we gotta take it slow, but I don't see any reason we can't just start downloading all the cultural stuff. Learning about Ooafan poets shouldn't hurt anything. Languages, art, all that."

"What do you envision keeping for America only?" the reporter pressed.

Nick shook his head, seeming to be at a loss. "I honestly don't know yet. All I know is, I gotta think hard, and get lots of advice from experts, and take it slow." Nick looked upwards for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. "This is the most important thing I'll ever do in my life, so I want to try really, really hard to get it right."

"DuChamp."

"Pierre M. DuChamp, Le Monde. Captain Geh!aoa, how soon will you be taking visitors, and how many, and how will they be chosen?"

The Captain smiled as the reporter managed to say her name correctly on the first try. "We can land as soon as we get permission from the American President. Doctor, how many people do you need?"

"Ten or twelve would be good. Make sure there is a mix of sexes and genetic variation."

DuChamp replied, "Doctor, that sounds almost like a breeding program."

Doctor Vickall laughed. "Oh! No, just for sicknesses and comparisons. I would not breed any humans or hybrids without permission."

"Sana!" Nick hissed urgently.

"Hybrids?" DuChamp asked in a quiet voice.

"Oh, yes. Goldaskian and human DNA is extremely close; it's fascinating. I can't want to examine a human female for comparison."

"Do you mean that humans and Goldaskians could...interbreed?"

"Almost. Some tinkering would be required for the offspring to be fertile."

"How on Earth—?" The reporter shook his head at his mistake. "I mean, how is that possible? Why are we so close?"

The doctor smiled, baring her fangs. "I'm looking forward to figuring that out."

"Uh...and how will the volunteers be chosen?"

"Nick?" the Captain prodded.

"Uh...let's have the President decide, I guess? So long as it doesn't take all year to set up. You guys have to head back to Ooafa in a month or so. Oh, wait! There really should be at least a couple of actual astronauts. Those guys have dedicated their lives to doing this and have to wait years to get a shot. It's only fair."

Nick abruptly stared off into space for a moment. "Oh, uh, I just got a message, and I actually need to go do some stuff now, to get some of the information ready to send down to Earth. I know you guys have like a million more questions, but...it's been a hell of a day already, and I could use a breather."

"Of course. Thank you, Mr. Tomsun," the Press Secretary said.

"For Nick, I ask that we all stop now," the Captain said. "We will speak again soon. Thank you all very much."

The transmission from the alien ship ended.

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