1-Alpha-One pivoted towards the signal as soon as it came in. Another ship. Another spacefaring colony. The Consciousness was not alone. This information sparked another wildfire to race through the Collective’s processing systems... But there was still some doubt. They had yet to meet these other colonists, to see them face to face.
“This is 1-Alpha-One. It is very good to see you there, Guardian Blackwood. Permission to come aboard? And, if so, would you mind awfully showing us a convenient airlock to come aboard on?” As the ship broadcast its message back, it responded with movement, engines firing up to slowly bring it closer to the other vessel.
The bridge was silent as they listened to the response. Alfonso Rodriguez, the Reaper Squadron commander, frowned. “I don’t think it is a good idea to just let potential enemies on board.”
Kelsie wasn’t so sure about it either, but there weren’t many other options. “They seem to be peaceful, at least for now. We need to take advantage of that and get as much information as possible. Plus, this is supposed to be a diplomatic mission. So let’s make some diplomacy, people. Major Parker, open the B-2 airlock and send them the coordinates. Rodriguez and Springer, get your weapons, you two will function as an armed escort. Pick our guests up at the airlock and lead them to the conference room. And try to look friendly.”
The conference room was just a small storage room equipped with some chairs and a table, nothing fancy. Not that the Undefeated would ever make anything look fancy on purpose. Kelsie stood there in her formal uniform, trying not to look nervous. She was unarmed. It originally seemed like a good idea to appear more diplomatic, but now it made her feel almost naked.
1-Alpha-One manouvered itself into position. There was a long pause as crewmembers aboard the vessel strode to the airlock, but then, sure enough, across from B-2, a port opened. Three figures, dressed in sleek white EVA suits stood in the light of their ship.
“Deploying magnetic hook.” One of the figures had retrieved a large, cannon-looking device from the airlock, and was now aiming it just adjacent to B-2. None would hear as the device fired its clamp, but the unspooling metal coil and the flattened shape of the thing made its purpose obvious. It made contact with a dull
thunk noise, and then the figure would affix the firing device to the wall again, the three figures hooking themselves onto the line with harnesses.
“Heading across.” Slowly, almost painfully so, the three began to make their way across. Minutes dragged out as they slowly hauled themselves across the gap between the two vessels, inching closer and closer to the B-2 airlock. Finally, they arrived adjacent to it, the first figure swinging themselves back and forward, before slamming both feet down against the foreign ship.
Disconnecting the harness, they took a few steps along the side of the vessel, magnetic clamps in their feet holding them steady, and stood comfortably inside the airlock, the other two performing a similar trick to board. The airlock clamped shut around them and air flooded back in.
Not long after, three figures emerged into the conference room. The first, and the one that seemed to be leading the trio, was a chestnut-skinned woman with a pulled back black bun of hair. Although obviously human, mechanical replacements had crept into their appearance. The front portions of their hands and their neck were both made from black metal, contrasting nicely with the pale blue-and-gold
lehenga choli she wore. Behind her was what appeared to be a humanoid android, cables snaking out of their head to mimic dreadlocks, individually articulated limbs and extremities and digitigrade legs, and next to them was a tall, broad-shouldered and pale-skinned man. His only obvious replacements were subtle synth-lines on his left arm and his eyes, which were ringed by metal and blinked a luminescent red.
The first woman raised her hand, palm-first towards Kelsie. Her small and ring finger were held together, parted from her middle and index finger, which were, in turn, parted from her thumb. “Hello.” She said plainly. “I am Sigma-Devi, from the colony that arrived in the Zeta system. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Kelsie had seen a lot of crazy things in her life, but this? This was on a whole new level of craziness. It took all the self-control she had to not stare at her visitors with her mouth open. She remembered their transmission.
‘Eager to meet our own kind.’ But were they still the same kind?
The robotic man, or whatever that thing was, was too disturbing to look at and the other man’s red eyes made shivers run down her spine, so she decided to focus on their leader. The woman was dressed in a beautiful gown that seemed almost inappropriate in the plain room with oil stains on the floor. Kelsie couldn’t help but wonder if Sigma-Devi was hiding more implants under the intricate piece of clothing.
The two Reapers she assigned to guard duty entered the room right after the visitors and now stood silently by the door with their weapons ready. Kelsie was glad she didn’t have to be alone in the room with the creepy strangers and made a mental note to always bring at least one more ‘diplomat’ should any further meeting occur. Her military mind was already playing out what-if scenarios. She was fairly certain that Springer and Rodriguez could take out Sigma-Devi and the red-eyed guy almost immediately, but the third man (if you decide to call that thing a man) was a mystery. One could only guess what surprises the strangers were hiding.
The robotic figure turned towards the two Reapers as they entered the room. Its face was blank- a sheer surface illuminated from behind by a rainbow of lights so that one could tell the direction it was looking in. Its feet clinked softly against the floor of the ship as it turned fully to face them, but Sigma-Devi seemed not to pay it or them any mind, moving forward to stand behind the table.
The robot surely didn’t like being watched by armed people. The question was whether he was just nervous or felt threatened. Fortunately, standing guard was part of a base training, and the Reapers were doing a great job of just standing there, staring aimlessly into the room, still being ready to jump right into combat any second should it become necessary. Kelsie tried not to pay any attention to this silent exchange
Kelsie didn’t even try to mimic Sigma’s gesture: she didn’t want to risk it just in case her messing it up would be considered a deadly insult. She just bowed her head a bit, inviting the visitors to the table. “Welcome to the Revenant. We come from a colony from a planet we call Ellara, although the official system designation was FT-8PO. We have not had an easy start there, but managed to pull through.” Kelsie paused, not wanting to reveal too much information. Saying ‘we are still at war that we are far from winning’ probably wouldn’t be too diplomatic. Or smart for that matter. “This is the first system we have ventured into, hoping other colonists will also want to look at what happened to Earth. Have you managed to contact anyone else yet?”
“I’m afraid we have no records of FT-8PO.” She paused for a moment, as if in thought. “But yes. We have ventured into other systems, and we have received a signal from a third ship here in Sol. One that claims to be from the ‘Earth Cultural Union.’ We have not contacted them yet. The other system has not yet responded to our hails.” She paused. “How about your own efforts? Have you met with others?”
Kelsie paused. How did she get that information? She didn’t appear to have any visible commslink, perhaps it was in one of her implants? And how does she even know what is happening in another system right now? “You are the first ones we have met here. As we have no contact with our home planet, we cannot be certain if someone else didn’t use our Gateway while we were gone. This system surely is busy,” Kelsie smiled. “If you excuse me for a few seconds.” She got up and walked to a corner, reaching for her comlink. “Parker, hail that new ship, and tell them to hold on for a bit, we will get to them as soon as we are done here,” she said quietly, knowing that her guests are listening to every word. “It is good that there are more surviving colonies,” she returned to the table. “After the trouble, we went through and the efforts we have had to make to just survive, we were afraid that others would not have been so lucky.” Of course, luck has had nothing to do with why the Undefeated survived. “I am sure you have run into plenty of problems yourselves.”
Sigma-Devi watched as Kelsie moved over and gave off instructions, remaining politely still. Behind her, the robotic form had turned back around. “Forgive me,” the woman said, slowly. “I did not introduce my fellows. This is Alpha-Newton, and this is Omega-Babbage.” She indicated first to the red-eyed man, and then to the robotic form, each of which would present their palms and split their fingers like Sigma-Devi had.
“Yes, Zeta-5… It was not a very hospitable place. Omega-Babbage here is currently controlling an anti-predator form.” ‘Controlling.’ The Collective had decided it would keep transcendence a secret, at least for now. “Alpha-Newton here has had his eyes replaced so as to better handle the sun.”
“I am pleased to meet you,” Kelsie nodded towards the two men. So there was someone remotely controlling this thing? That would be so useful in combat. But it is probably not a good time to ask if they could send a few dozens of them our way. “Remotely controlled machines to fight off the predators seem like a very good idea. You have made great technological advances. But isn’t having your eyes replaced just for the sake of sun protection a bit extreme? Surely a pair of sunglasses could work just as well.” Kelsie smiled nervously, realizing too late that her dumb attempt at making a joke could be seen as a huge insult to the Zetans. She had no training for this, dammit!
“Thank you.” Sigma-Devi bobbed down into a quick bow, palms pressed together. “We are proud of what we have accomplished on our new world, despite all its hardships.” She paused to look at Alpha-Newton, who looked at Kelsie, humourless.
“If you have sunglasses that stop malignant tumors, I’d love to hear of them.” A long pause hung in the air as the trio looked at one.
“Perhaps we should invite those others to this vessel? A… Three-way negotiation, so to speak?”
Kelsie felt a drop of cold sweat running down her back. This was hell, she had not been a diplomat for even a whole day and she was already causing an interplanetary incident. She remembered being stranded alone in a swamp, Screechers closing in from all sides, the extraction point so far it might as well have been on another planet. But even back then she didn’t feel this level of panic. She was trained to survive in an enemy-filled swamps. No one trained her how to negotiate with half-androids.
“I think that is an excellent idea. If you excuse me for a few moments, I will go to the bridge and invite them myself,” she got up, relieved to get out of the room, even if only for a few minutes.
In the home system of the Earth Cultural Union, a similar scene was occuring. The magnetic lock had been fired across, three figures in EVA suits had hooked onto it, and they made their way across to the station. Shedding their suits, the trio were at once similar, and yet also very different to the ones currently speaking in Sol. An anti-predator form was here too, although instead of the dreadlock-like cables it was instead covered in a glossy black, over which had been detailed intricate gold shapes, each one corrosponding to a specific mathematic formula.
Their companions though were the different aspect. Sigma-Devi was here instead replaced by a tall, lanky man, scalp bereft of hair and instead replaced by chrome. Three light strips instead slowly flickered and changed different colours at seemingly random, but the man's face was open, fleshy, and honest. His legs had also been replaced- much like the anti-predator form his were digitigrade and very clearly metallic even through the lightweight trousers he wore. Beside him was an androgynous figure, much shorter, and with a sense of ethereal elegence to them, enhanced by the feet-concealing gown they wore and the unnaturally pale sheen of their skin. They seemingly floated through the corridoors of the ship, even as their fellows silently stalked, metallic toes making almost no noise when they came into contact with the floor.
Emerging out onto the holographic suite, there was a pause as the trio took in the view. "Incredible. Our early experiments into holographic technology have yet to yield anywhere near as an impressive result." The trio mentally exchanged looks, as did those in the Collective actively tuning in. "It is very good to see you- as we talk, your ship in Sol has been talking to our own vessel. I am Epsilon-Bouchet, this is Gamma-Nine, and this is Beta-Bernas-Lee, from the Zeta system." He indicated to the androdynous figure, and then the defense form in turn, and then all three presented their palms and split their fingers like their fellow had done halfway across the galaxy.
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