THE FOREVER GENE (THE SCIONS OF EARTH Book 1) by Warren Dean Page B

that I can make myself available."
    "Of course, Dr Herald, and by all means extend my invitation to your wife and any of your colleagues who may wish to accompany you."
    "I will do so, thank you.  Is there someone my assistant may call to make the necessary arrangements?"
    "Yes, Translator Vi will co-ordinate the meeting and can be contacted on the 'link I am using now.  I look forward to meeting you, Dr Herald."
    The call was disconnected.
    David sat for a few minutes, wondering about the purpose of the ambassador's request. His coffee had arrived but sat untouched on the table.  He called Pris but she didn't answer, probably busy with a lecture.
    Then he called Chunky, partly to see if he wanted to come along and partly to make sure that the whole thing wasn't one of his practical jokes.  If it was, his reaction to the news was impressively genuine and, when no chuckled confession was forthcoming, David decided he had to take the incident at face value.  Always keen to embark on an adventure, Chunky readily agreed to go, but not before he had the audacity to ask whether David was having him on!  David didn't bother to dignify that with an answer.
    "Did you ask about their hard-water compound?" Chunky enthused.  "I still can't get my head around it.  How can H 2 O become a building material, simply by altering its composition?"  He had been obsessed by the concept since it had been announced.  The actual formula hadn't been made public as the Faerie Folk were anxious to prevent it from being inaccurately applied.  The last thing they wanted was poor quality structures giving the technology a bad name.  Instead, any nation which wanted it would be sent a team of analysts to instruct and supervise local contractors.  The formula would eventually become common knowledge, but by then sufficient building projects would have been completed and its integrity well-established.
    "No," said David. "I was too surprised to ask anything.  You can ask him yourself at the meeting if you want."
    David called Penelope and instructed her to clear his schedule for a few days and to make the arrangements for him to fly to Thailand with Pris and Chunky.
    Pris called as he was ordering a fresh cup of coffee.
    "Hello, I missed your call, how is your day going?"
    "Weirdly.  How would you like a trip to Thailand to meet the Faerie Folk?"
    She laughed.  "Very funny, you're getting as bad as Chunky.  You must be really bored to come up with silly stuff like that.  Anyway, I have another lecture, so I can't talk now."
    "So should I tell Penelope not to book you on the airbus?"
    "Are you being serious?  When?"
    "We leave on Friday morning.  Unfortunately your brother is coming too."
    "But we are supposed to be going to the convocation dinner at MIT on Friday night with John and Alison."
    A pregnant silence betrayed the fact that David's memory had failed him for the second time that day.
    "Don't tell me you've forgotten, I told you about it weeks ago."
    "Didn't we go to the convocation dinner last month?"
    "No, that was the faculty prize-giving.  Your memory is deteriorating very badly for someone who isn't getting any older."
    David had given up trying to keep track of the never-ending series of social engagements he attracted. John Wilson, the ambitious head of Pris' department, was particularly determined to be seen with MIT's most celebrated graduate as often as possible and insisted on inviting David and Pris to every social function on the calendar.
    "You would rather sit in a cold auditorium listening to a bunch of over-dressed academics with inflated opinions of themselves than fly to warm, sunny Thailand to meet beings from another planet?"
    "Not when you put it like that, no.  What should I tell John?"
    "Tell him you will invite Ambassador Ba to the next convocation dinner.  I'm sure that will make him very happy."
    Pris laughed again.  "You're not being very helpful, you know.  Don't worry, I'll think of