World reaction to Jamila’s interview of llhaesa was resoundingly positive.

No longer an abstract apparition that was malleable in the imaginations of a world unsure of what to make of the prospect of off world visitors, llhaesa won many over by way of the natural predisposition of her personality and outlook.

The interview, aired in prime time, drew huge ratings, the third best ever in television history. Jamila was ecstatic with the results, quite aside from the business success the ratings represented.

Such high numbers – consistent through each half hour segment of market measure – suggested people tuned in, watched, and listened, interested and intrigued by the enthralling llhaesa.

A United States poll conducted three days after the interview gave llhaesa a favourable rating from 88% of the 5,002 polled for their opinion – and 6% were undecided.

Though she received such a high favourable rating, there was less of a consensus on how the government should handle the matter. A similar majority – 87% – thought government should treat llhaesa as a foreign diplomat or as a guest legally allowed to live here. Twenty percent felt she should provide information to the government if it would help improve lives and our national defence, but only ten percent felt she should provide such information for American business advantage.

On the question of trustworthiness, llhaesa received her third highest score, at 92%, with 2% undecided, an indication some who wavered on the question of favourability nonetheless found her trustworthy.

The poll also asked respondents whether they thought her intelligent (95%) and if they thought she was a talented musician, for which she received her highest score, 97%.

Pollsters asked respondents for a reason from those who answered negatively to the question on favourability, and the predominant answer was that llhaesa’s presence was ‘a threat to our way of life.’

Pollsters asked if people wished to see llhaesa perform or hear more of her music; 92% answered yes, while a similar number, 92%, found her political views interesting.

These were stunning numbers, with news across television, printed media, and the internet talking on the results.

Interestingly, talk radio seemed to be the home of the dissenting view of llhaesa, and one prominent talkmaster suggested we had no business letting an alien roam our country freely as citizens do, at least not without offering something of value in return.

Llhaesa asked for and received a landline telephone in her quarters at Langley, and having heard of the broadcast, called in. The phone rang, and a live, male voice answered. “Don Lorring Show, can you please hold?” Click went the line, even as llhaesa sheepishly answered “yes.”

After three minutes passed, the male voice returned. “Don Lorring Show. What is your reason for calling?”

“I wish to discuss the alien issue.”

“And your point of view is?”

“I am llhaesa t’yaeli, calling from Langley.”

The male voice laughed, and then replied, “Sure you are. Undoubtedly you can read my mind, and have antennae sticking out the back of your head, right?”

“Actually, no, but if you hang up, and then call the Langley switchboard in three minutes, I will leave word for the call to come through. Is that fair enough?”

“OK, llhaesa. I’ll play your game, why not!” Male voice replied, and then hung up, figuring a wasted call out on a prank call was no big deal, but if this person was in fact t’yaeli, his boss would have his hide for not vetting the call.

Three minutes later, llhaesa’s phone rang, and she answered to hear male voice say, “Bill Bartholomew here. I just spoke with you when you called the Don Lorring Show?”

“Yes. Hello, Mr Bartholomew, thank you for calling back. I called in to discuss, well, me, and my presence here in your country and on your world. I trust you might wish to take my call on air?”

“You are on next, Ms T’yaeli.” Click.

Llhaesa had the sound turned off in her room as instructed, so she could not hear the programme. Five minutes passed, and then the line came to life. “Ladies and gentlemen, calling in to chat with us is llhaesa t’yaeli. We have confirmed her identity behind the scenes here, and she is live on the air with us now. Hello and welcome to the Don Lorring Show, Ms T’yaeli!”

“Hello Don and hello to all of your listeners.”

“Ms T’yaeli, what would you say to those who think you are a danger to our society?”

“You mean like you, Mr. Lorring? By the way, I prefer llhaesa to ‘Ms T’yaeli, so please… call me llhaesa.”

“Very well, llhaesa, and please call me Don. Yes, yes I am one who thinks you are a danger to our society.”

“Why is that, Don? What is it you feel I threaten?

“You already have indicated that we do not deserve access to advanced technology because we believe in nationalism and defending our interests…”

“That is an interesting response. In summation, you feel my call for peace and end to divisiveness is a threat to your way of life? Yes, I guess if that is the way of life you embrace, Don… I see your point. I hope to be a threat to that way of life. You can count on it.”

“Please do not put words in my mouth, llhaesa. I did not say I was a warmonger, only that we have to protect our interests.”

“What are those interests? Let me guess. Wealth, mineral and water rights, including oil, land, and markets. Occasionally, as the mood suits, freedom – when it gains access to what you perceive as vital resources, and no matter if the people there desire your ‘assistance.’

“You are putting words in my mouth again, llhaesa.”

“Very well, suppose you share what these interests are.”

“Um, well, um… I would suggest protecting our borders, protecting our right to commerce, protecting our way of life, our laws, our traditions, achieving a stable world, world trade.

Sometimes we have to fight for what we believe in.”

“I would suggest it a different way,” llhaesa rebutted. “Sometimes we have to stand up for what we believe in. If we look a little closer though, drawing upon your prior advocacy, you denounce women who work for gender equality. You denounce gay folk who work for gay rights. You denounce immigrants because they try to build a better life by coming to this nation, and they come here because of the disparity between our nation and theirs, made so by centuries of exploitation. You denounce minimum wage protections for workers, and environmental protections for our health, and I have heard you oppose covering every person for health care, because it should be an individual responsibility.

Yet you do not believe in individual responsibility when it comes to choice or when it comes to marriage.

Given these things, exactly what way of life are you defending and protecting?”

“We built this nation, llhaesa. We made it a good place to live, better than where they come from. If they wish to live as we do, then they can build as we did.

You try to paint me as a bigot on gay rights, and you try to show that I am opposed to equality for women. I am neither. Why should we allow women to murder their young on a whim, or simply because they are irresponsible in having sex?

Why should we destroy the institution of marriage, one that has a tradition across thousands of years as between a man and a woman, simply because gay people want to rewrite societal laws?

America is a land of individuals who work for what they have. That is why I oppose minimum wage laws – let people earn their keep. And it is why I oppose environmental law; we should be able to do what we wish with what we buy.”

Llhaesa was fully enjoying this debate, and jumped in with her next opinion. “I believe in working hard, Don. You will see over time that I put all of me into my work and my efforts. You will also see me work on behalf of those who have no voice, who do not immediately get on the air when they call your programme, and who do not get 15 minutes to make their point.

How exactly was this nation built? Was it all sweetness and light? There were injustices committed; starting with genocide against Native Peoples, and slavery was legal in part of the country until 145 years ago. There are wonderful people in this nation, but there are wonderful people in Mexico and Canada and the United Kingdom and in China. There are wonderful people everywhere.

What you fail to take into account is this: you think your achievements wonderful, what the west has built, but you fail to see it pales in comparison to what this world could build if you collectively tossed aside the fighting, the hate, and the misjudgements.

On marriage, I am a gay woman, and I am married. Our world recognises gay couples as it does heterosexual couples, and there is no harm to society. The harm comes in the judging, in the defining one group as less.

On choice, every time a woman decides whether to carry and keep, carry and place for adoption, or abort, she takes individual responsibility.

I find it interesting you oppose sex education in schools, you oppose universal health care, and you oppose widely available and cheap contraception, yet you call out women who believe in choice as ‘irresponsible.’ Irresponsible is failing to educate our young, failing to provide them with everything we know so that they can make informed decisions.

Finally, on buying land and doing as you wish with it, what of destroyed land that erodes the pristine property of a neighbour, or the person who diverts the water of a stream? If you live on the mouth of a river, is it your tough luck that every property owner upstream has polluted its waters?”

“You have your opinion, llhaesa, and I have mine.

Folks, I can see we must be vigilant, for it is obvious liberals exist in space, and they aim to take our world for their purposes. This is a very disturbing proposition!

Llhaesa, I only have but a moment, you talk altruistically, yet you withhold valuable information. Admit it, you wish to keep these secrets for when you can profit from them!”

“Hardly. I am a musician, and what I earn will come from my music. If I release scientific information, it will be in such a way that no one will profit except those who benefit from the product end uses.”

“So they all say – and then you seen how they live. Thank you for calling in, llhaesa, but I stand by my view that you are a threat to this nation and to this world.”

The line went blank, and llhaesa replaced the corded phone’s receiver on the hook. She just endured what was likely the worst of the opinion against her, and she hoped the effort proved worthwhile.

Her drive to change this world – though she remained in custody – had begun.