There was much to explain. Some things they had suspected, like the complex alien society. James listened, but much of what she heard didn't sink in. The vital information, to her, had already been delivered. She wouldn't be out in the world learning an alien language. She wouldn't get to accomplish her whole reason for living—the whole reason she'd given the last twenty years of her life to study and practice. She would be nothing more than a glorified grade school teacher.