As a diplomat, I speak in the name of the Human Senate, the highest authority on Earth.

Funny thing is that, technically, Human Senate doesn't control me, because all the diplomatic corps is responsibility of the Extra-Human Committee, an organization born when human race met the Rafkins the first time and just panicked, trying to find a solution to what wasn't a problem at all.

The Extra-Human committee is under the authority of the senate, but it still has an emergency statute that gives it nearly unlimited power and no possibility to be controlled. The men of the committee don't need an election to keep their chair and can operate as long as they're alive. Sometimes, this literally happen. I can remember a man from the board very old, affected by dementia, but still in charge and with a valid vote that he used many times, probably under the control of his family.

There are many stories about the committee, one of the dirtiest is the one about its role in the death of Loranna Artell. It's just a story, I can't believe it and it's still very dangerous the ask about it, so, for now, it's just a story, a story without a real end. One day i'll be old enough to write it, I hope.

Yarn Maltukoff was my direct superior at the time of the Heereen crisis. I called him as soon as possibile. The corvette with Jeremhia on board was still away, trying to recover the wreckage of the mysterious ship.

"My first concern is that you're there alone"

Yarn was older than me, something more than 50 years, most of them spent on Earth or in the solar system. He was a politician, he did a good career in the senate but one day decided to work in a less exposed position. He went up on the ladder of the hierarchy of the committee very fast, in a very brilliant way. 

Many spoke about him as a genius and a real clever man, for me he was just a fat, bald bureaucrat that weep like a little child when he's too far away from Earth.

"I'm not alone deputy chief" deputy chief wass his rank "I have a Rafkin colony ship here"

"You are alone as human"

"Yes, you can put it that way, but I work very well with people like Jeremhia and I think that we have the same target"

"For now, diplomat, for now"

The Extra Human Committee favorite sport is backstabbing and they think all the universe play it all the time. "For now we can hardly know what happened" I tried to say.

"That's a good reason to regroup on an Human settlement and organize a mission from scratch to investigate"

"I strongly advise NOT to do something like that"

"You should realize your hands are tied on that ship"

"What you should realize is that there's a lot information here and that if I go away now all this information will disappear and I'll have to beg the Rafkins for it. They're my friends but they're still aliens, if they will find something of suspicious or dangerous they could think about hiding it from us. Do you want the responsibility for a risk like this?"

Yarn started sweating. I didn't know the season and climate on Earth in that moment. When you spend most of your life traveling in space you forget there're planets where weather can be erratic or unpredictable.

For sure, Yarn's place was hot. "If I leave you there, someone will come accusing me to take the situation too lightly"

I already did my homeworks. "The Queen Charlotte is a patrol ship, 14 crew members. It's quite near to this ship. Give me that as support, it will be useful if I will have to go somewhere and the Rafkins won't have any problem letting it docking here"

Yarn thought about it for near a minute. If he really was a clever man, he could understand that it was a good idea faster. After all that lucubration he nodded with the arrogance of a lay bishop. "It could be possible"

"Good. And while waiting for them, i'll go on with the investigation of the mysterious ship"

"Yes, yes, go on, diplomat Callus, a lot of people here need answers"

"I hope I'll have some in the next hours"

Yarn Maltufoff said goodbye and ended the communication. When the link went out I took a long sigh of relief. I was free from the committee's paranoia, for the moment.