Astrid always seemed- well, not paranoid, but constantly bucking for a fight. She's wearing borderline armor. She's criticizing the locals before she's met them. And Nick had noticed the irritated glances when he let the crew pick their own assignments. It was all a bit aggravating. "Lieutenant Faust," he says slowly, "we do not need to assume the worst about these... people. I don't see anything to 'stand our ground' about, honestly." He shook his head. "So far, they only want to speak to us. When they challenge us to a duel to the death, I'll let you know."
Before Astrid responds, Nick craned his neck to check out the window. "I think I'm spotting some buildings," he said. "You guys would never guess it- they aren't rectangular!"
About a half-dozen, closely huddled buildings sat in a fenced-off clearing. Again, they were bigger than what humans would typically build, but Nick was beginning to suspect that this race was just large by nature. What was more intriguing was the design. They were outdated, like the ships, but in a completely different way.
The foundations were heavy stone bricks, and the walls were wood (or something like it) that matched the coloration of nearby roots and trees. The sloping, wide rooftops reminded Nick of Japanese architecture, and steps led up to the doors. Sloping rooftops and elevated entrances suggested lots of rain and flooding, respectively. Each of the 6 or 7 structures were huddled around a large pit filled with ash and something burnt- a fire pit?
Nick had to push away a sudden mental image of being burned alive by religious extremists. They probably just like campfires, right? Yeah. The delegation will just have to offer them Earth's finest smores recipes.
A few moments later, the shuttle has landed right outside the fence, which looks a lot more modern than the buildings. It's metal all the way around, with a gate that opens as automatically as the shuttle does.
"They opened the gates for us, crew," Nick commands, "let's head in."
-----
The inside of the compound (village? campsite?) could have passed for abandoned. Nick didn't see anyone standing by the gates, or anyone outside the buildings, or anyone to greet them. All doors were closed. The gate shut itself behind them. He began to wonder if maybe Astrid was right to be worried. It was all beginning to feel like the start of a horror story.
In fact, the Captain had to stop himself from jumping when the doors to the largest structure swung open. "Come in," an unreadable voice called from inside.
The furnishings within the structure were very sparse, almost non-existent. There was only a large wooden rectangle rising up from the floor, which must serve as a table, judging from the very human-style chairs in front of it. The walls were all wood and the floor was all stone. Very simple, except as with the shuttle, everything had those symbols carved into it.
Of course, that was what the delegates would expect by now. So the real shock would be the alien sitting on the opposite end of the table. She (Nick was pretty sure that was the correct pronoun) was as tall as they had guessed, at least 2 meters and a quarter. Humanoid, on the whole. She had 4 arms that Nick could see over the table, all resting calmly in front of her. Her rough-looking skin was an array of blue, green and brown, splattered in spots. She had no hair. Her eyes were totally black, like the robes that were draped over her torso.
"I am Holy Vei," she said slowly. Something was off about the way she was speaking, but Nick couldn't quite place it. "I have a question for all of you," she continued. He did not expect what she said next:
"Why are you here?"
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