"Four?" Garrett's voice carried his consternation. "I- apologize, but I was told we had but a single representative for the planet."

"No," said the machine, primly. "You were not. One senator from each sentient species, you were told. Our last survey from your region, approximately 11,000 years ago, indicated at least 6 such species on your world. At least 4 are extant. Before you are admitted entry, you must return with your counterparts."

"Then there's been a mistake," Garrett insisted. The machine said nothing, so he continued. "Humanity is the sole sentient species on Earth. We've never found evidence for any -"

"AH, there you are!" cried a booming voice. A long, low crate behind him that he'd thought was a piece of equipment suddenly faded to transparency, revealing...

"A whale?!" He couldn't hide his astonishment.

An eyeball the size of his fist rolled to stare him, distorted behind the pressure vessel but somehow managing to convey both apology and amusement. "A human?" the whale echoed, in gentle mockery. "Yes, a whale. They made contact with us first, you know. They only know about you because we told them."

Garrett couldn't seem to make his mouth work, so the whale returned his attention to the gatekeeper. "Now that we're both here..."

"I have received word," interrupted the machine in the wall, "that the third of your senators has arrived at a different entrance. Once the fourth has arrived, all will be admitted."

"The third?!" exclaimed the human, while the whale seemed to writhe in his tank. Seconds later, the massive creature's translator boomed, "fourth? What fourth? We invited the dolphins but you stated they were genetically similar enough to be fairly represented by me. What other third can there be? Fourth?"

Suddenly, the wall next to the machine became a window, and from within it, a single, black eye peered out, surrounded by tiny, jet-black feathers. "Haha, my fellow earthlings!" croaked the eye, and Garrett suddenly realized he was seeing the feed from a suit camera. He stared. The whale stared. The crow stared back at them, in apparent good humor. "What?" she drawled. "Don't tell me you're just now figuring this out?"

"You have arrived at the wrong entrance." the machine informed him. "But conditions at that gate are biocompatible, so you may proceed to entry as soon as the fourth member of your party arrives.

"Fourth?!" cawed the crow. There was a jitter in the feed as she flapped her wings in alarm. "There are but three of us! AWK!"

An hour later, they were still arguing with the machine. Garrett, and the whale, whose name, it turned out, was Thumps-the-Squid, had spent some of that time clearing up historical misunderstandings. The crow, who had a name but refused to share it, seemed personally offended at the idea that there was a fourth senator. Thumps suggested that perhaps she'd been looking forward to upstaging the two of us, and wasn't thrilled to be upstaged herself. The wall, however, steadfastly refused all requests for information and insisted that the fourth senator must be present and that it was not authorized to provide additional information,

Garrett, despite the circumstances, couldn't help feeling just a little smug. Okay, so there had been some shocks. Humanity wasn't alone on earth, and that was going to rock the planet more than the news of alien contact had, but at least the aliens made mistakes, too. An hour had passed with no sign from the mystery senator, and all three earthlings agreed that, while each was certainly a shock to the others, all had a right to be present and none could come up with a plausible fourth. "Too long!" shouted the crow stridently, "you take too long between surveys! Species die! Perhaps smart then, but stupid now!"

"Yes!" exclaimed Garrett. "Whatever other intelligence you found 11,000 years ago, clearly they're no longer with us!"

The machine answered instantly, "the remaining sentience was not found at our prior visit but revealed itself to us only recently. It was their contact that led us to initiate your admittance to the Parliament. All four senators must be present for admittance."

Crow, whale, and man all stared at each other. After a moment, Garrett tried again to explain. "We think there has been a mistake. There is no as species on earth capable of establishing interstellar contact, not on their own, and certainly not without at least us noticing. Okay, we didn't see the whale colonies, but they were hiding in purpose! The crows don't want what we want, so we were unaware of the level of..."

He trailed off. He couldn't explain the crows, either. "Nevertheless!" he rallied, "The energy requirements alone would have been a dead giveaway! You established contact with US!" Garrett pulled out his phone, unsure of whether he planned to call for backup or just look up the history of First Contact, when the machine smoothly cut in.

"The fourth member of your party has arrived. You may enter."

Three pairs of eyes, one green, one brown and cow-like, and one black and beady, watched the tiny white mice stroll through the door, looking for all the galaxy as though they owned the place.