“The president wanted to make the call herself, but as a committee we felt this was risky. She saw her place in history, the first human to make direct contact with an alien civilisation; we saw a diplomatic catastrophe. Even if she managed the conversation …”

“Is this their final offer? Was that the best you could get? You’ve had it all thoroughly looked over as I asked? There’s not going to be another round of discussions? Isn’t there some factor that we haven’t yet considered? Could we maybe have …”