text: [Themes: Science Fiction, research, moral choice, clothing, genetics]
  
  > Look around
  With all the machinery in here, the space remaining for you is little larger than a closet, except that the room extends upward a good fifteen or so feet, widening at the top into a bell of tinted glass.
  
  The comm terminal itself could be an invention out of Jules Verne. The keypad is arranged in the standard way, except that all the keys are slightly too small for the fingers of a normal human, and the pad itself stands up from the floor on a metal stalk.
  
  The comm screen, meanwhile, is round and surrounded by a copper ring, porthole-like. The whole arrangement is aesthetically pleasing and completely inconvenient.
  
  > put the packing material in the gift box
  The quantity of packing material will not fit in the gift box.
  
  The chronometer chirps, indicating that you have a new message waiting to be read.
  
  > read the mail
  (first heading for the communications room)
  
  With all the machinery in here, the space remaining for you is little larger than a closet, except that the room extends upward a good fifteen or so feet, widening at the top into a bell of tinted glass.
  
  The comm terminal itself could be an invention out of Jules Verne. The keypad is arranged in the standard way, except that all the keys are slightly too small for the fingers of a normal human, and the pad itself stands up from the floor on a metal stalk.
  
  The comm screen, meanwhile, is round and surrounded by a copper ring, porthole-like. The whole arrangement is aesthetically pleasing and completely inconvenient.
  
  The following messages are available for you to read or reply to:
  
  12:37 pm: Apology
  12:19 pm: RE Hello
  11:21 am: Instructions
  10:02 am: Hello From Ivory Coast (R)
  9:34 am: Shuttle Departure Plans
  
  > read the apology
  You select the message and read:
  
  My dear unfortunate successor:
  
  Possibly Kruger didn't tell you the importance of Gift Day. What you offer shows our intentions towards the colony. To date, Earth has made inappropriate or deceptive gestures thirteen times. They do employment here by running vote, and Ambassador Aylene is about to be removed because she hasn't gotten a good result out of us. You guess whose fault that is.
  
  Fate of negotiations is now in your hands. Ultimate responsibility: yours. Kruger can't control what you do from Earth.
  
  He's probably told you to wear red. This is a mistake: it would allow the colonists to come to Earth as our adoptees and put us in a position of power over them. This is neither morally nor pragmatically defensible.
  
  Recommend that you wear white -- it is a color associated with equality. I have a white jacket; it's possible Liam has taken it away, in which case you should get it back from him. I threw out the receipt, but it may still be in the recycling chute, if that helps communicate your needs.
  
  Do not know what Kruger will have told you to give in the gift box, but if you haven't already done so, recommend you look up "gifts" in the computer. It has an etiquette guide. This should give some idea what he's getting you into.
  
  When you are ready to present your gift, summon Liam and show him the gift box. He will arrange the meeting for you.
  
  Yours in haste, Valenti
  
  Mentally you check off "check your messages again" on your list of remaining tasks. You run over the things various people have decided you ought to do:
  find jacket receipt in the recycling chute (Valenti's suggestion) acquire vaccine from the Museum (HC's orders)
  wear white jacket (Valenti's idea)
  look up gifts in the computer (Valenti's suggestion)
  find a working float unit
  summon Liam and show him the gift box
  meet with Ambassador Aylene to present your gift
  
  > reply to apology
  Dear Honored Former Ambassador Valenti,
  
  Thank you very much for your valuable advice. It is, of course, somewhat unlikely that I will disobey orders merely on the basis of your uncertain instructions. If you had tried more persuasion and less condescension, I might be more inclined to listen.
  Yours, etc...
  
  > Yes
  Send message? Y/N>
  You press the send button sharply.
  
  > Search chute
  The chute descends into darkness.
  
  > look at the books
  An illustrated cookbook, useless here except as an object of fantasy. A few volumes in Japanese: you can't read them, but at least they're a familiar kind of foreign. A custom-printed poetry anthology.
  
  > examine the poetry
  You expect possibly a collection of lyrics from popular hits, but the names come up Donne, Hopkins, Christopher Smart. It is all religious, imagery of divinity and the soul's subordination, and very alien. The plague years brought in plenty of reactionary movements, plenty of scourging and prayer, but they didn't look like this.
  
  > consult computer about the gifts
  You turn on the computer. It starts up a screen inviting you to look up some search term of your choosing.
  
  You key in your request and wait hopefully...
  
  Your search turns up the following articles:
  
  Gift day: Three times per local year you are expected to exchange gifts with a representative of the Aleheart government. These days are keyed to the anniversary of first Earth contact and are not celebrated by the rest of the population in general.
  
  gift symbolism: draft proposal: According to the etiquette files, those proposing marriage or cooperative scientific ventures may do so by creating a sample of the kind of project they hope to undertake. In the case of marriage, these are usually representations of the offspring that might be engineered from the two parents; for purely business relationships, other kinds of model, sample, or technical proposal are appropriate. A superior looking to employ or adopt an inferior may give a sample of the kind of work the inferior will be expected to produce as a condition of the employment.
  
  gift symbolism: personal token: Etiquette files reveal that an object personally significant to the giver is an appropriate gift when establishing a relationship of friendship in which no joint work or project is intended. Also sometimes used for marriages not intended to produce offspring.
  
  gift symbolism: knife: Apparently, according to the etiquette files, any edged instrument is a symbol of restrictions, living under strict controls imposed by someone else, and dating back to clinical trials in which new genetic lines deemed to be failing their intended purpose were slaughtered with a knife. This practice is now called flushing and does not require a blade, but the associations remain.
  
  There isn't any personal data available from logs or annotations.
  
  Mentally you check off "look up gifts in the computer (Valenti's suggestion)" on your list of remaining tasks. You run over the things various people have decided you ought to do:
  find jacket receipt in the recycling chute (Valenti's suggestion) acquire vaccine from the Museum (HC's orders)
  wear white jacket (Valenti's idea)
  find a working float unit
  summon Liam and show him the gift box
  meet with Ambassador Aylene to present your gift
  
  > take the cup
  Taken.
  
  > consult the computer about the float
  The computer beeps irritably: NO RESULTS FOUND. PLEASE REPHRASE AND TRY AGAIN.
  
  > consult the computer about the floatpoint
  Your search turns up the following articles:
  
  Float technology: After extended scrutiny, you decide the complicated jargon means Earth scientists don't understand floatpoints at all. There is some handwaving about a force that weakly attracts things at a distance and strongly repels those close up.
  
  There isn't any personal data available from logs or annotations.
  
  > consult computer about the food
  Your search turns up the following articles:
  
  Aleheart eating habits: Little or no information is available about Aleheart eating habits, since this eating apparently takes place entirely in private.
  
  There isn't any personal data available from logs or annotations.
  
  The chronometer chirps, indicating that you have a new message waiting to be read.
  
  > examine computer
  The computer is portable, and is able to scan and interpret the meaning of the colonists' symbolic writing. It has also been programmed to respond to search terms, to sift through data files and the personal logs of the ambassadors before you, assuming all the relevant disks are loaded. At the moment the slot for adding an extra data disk is empty, which looks ominous.
  
  > read the mail
  (first heading for the communications room)
  You hurry toward the office, and then the communications room.
  
  With all the machinery in here, the space remaining for you is little larger than a closet, except that the room extends upward a good fifteen or so feet, widening at the top into a bell of tinted glass.
  
  The comm terminal itself could be an invention out of Jules Verne. The keypad is arranged in the standard way, except that all the keys are slightly too small for the fingers of a normal human, and the pad itself stands up from the floor on a metal stalk.
  
  The comm screen, meanwhile, is round and surrounded by a copper ring, porthole-like. The whole arrangement is aesthetically pleasing and completely inconvenient.
  
  The following messages are available for you to read or reply to:
  
  12:50 pm: Undeliverable Mail
  12:37 pm: Apology (R)
  12:19 pm: RE Hello
  11:21 am: Instructions
  10:02 am: Hello From Ivory Coast (R)
  9:34 am: Shuttle Departure Plans
  
  > read undeliverable
  You select the message and read:
  
  The message you sent to EARTH AMBASSADOR L VALENTI is currently undeliverable because service does not reach ships in transit. Your message will be held and delivered when HE arrives at HIS destination EARTH in approximately TWENTY-SIX days.
  
  This is an automated response program. Do not reply.
  
  > Time
  It is 12:54 pm -- here, anyhow.