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like to just pretend that it did and move on. Maybe it’ll sink in later.”
    The Envoy changed color, rapidly alternating between shades of purple. This meant that it felt impatient—not with Gabe but with itself. “Let me show you the basement. I can explain this better if first I show you the basement.”
    â€œWhy?” Gabe asked. “What’s in the basement?”
    â€œI spent hours down there waiting for the chanceto talk to you,” the Envoy said. “While I waited, I dismantled and repurposed much of the machinery I found.”
    â€œYou did what  ?”
    â€œCome see.” The Envoy oozed out of the room.
    Gabe warily followed it down to the basement, where he stood and gaped at the state of things.
    The Envoy had taken apart the dryer and washing machine, rebuilt both at opposite ends of the room, and combined them with parts from a broken television. None of these things actually belonged to Gabe’s family. The landlord would be annoyed.
    â€œI’ve built a device of entanglement for you!” the Envoy announced in a triumphant way. “I’ve done this many times before for every ambassador, improvising with different materials each time. Usually it takes longer than just a few hours to build—especially underwater—but I’ve become very good at it.”
    Gabe took a step toward the mess of spinning and humming machinery. “You’ve had to build these underwater?”
    â€œOh yes,” the Envoy said. “I selected many aquatic ambassadors before your species emerged and learned how to talk to each other. And the best physicists on this world are often squid. You notice things about light underwater that take longer to notice otherwise. Haveyou ever read squid poetry? It doesn’t last long. The ink quickly disperses into the surrounding water. But it’s beautiful poetry once you learn how to read it.”
    â€œWhat’s that glow?” Gabe asked, pointing. A speck of gold light flickered inside the washer. An identical speck flickered in the dryer several feet away.
    â€œThat light is the same in these two separate places,” the Envoy told him, excited and proud. “They are entangled across the distance of your basement. What happens to one will also happen to the other at the very same moment with no lag of travel between them.”
    â€œSo I can use it to send instant messages,” Gabe said. He sounded disappointed. “Ambassadors don’t ever meet in person? Visit each other’s planets, that sort of thing?”
    â€œNot so often,” the Envoy admitted. “Travel is much more difficult than communication. But you should know that there are strange ships in this solar system already.”
    â€œWhat?” Gabe asked, unsure if he’d heard that right. “Really? Who are they?”
    â€œI don’t know,” said the Envoy. “I wish I did. I spotted them from the moon, using abandoned equipment I’d been tinkering with there. The ships are hiding in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. It worried me. I found it inauspicious, inopportune, and distressing to see vehicles from elsewhere when we have no ambassador totalk to them. So I came looking for one and found you. This means that you’re likely to engage in some unusual, in-person diplomacy. I hope it goes well.”
    That sounded ominous. Gabe glanced at the Envoy, who quickly raised both its voice and its neck. “Besides all that, entanglement will allow you to send more than just messages! You can send yourself, which is almost like meeting in person. You can entangle your perceptions. In this way you will dream yourself into the Embassy where all other ambassadors gather.”
    â€œI’ll be able to dream about meeting aliens?” Gabe asked, skeptical.
    â€œYou won’t just dream about meeting aliens,” the Envoy clarified. “You will experience the actual facts