Chương 62: 040 – A Symbolic Gesture

Vacuum suits were always uncomfortable before the fluid polymer between the artificial shell segments have had time to become warm. Still, Tiikasia had no difficulty maneuvering across the Dhekhajhyde's hull, the claws on his feet easily activating and deactivating the contact electromagnets on his limbs to give him leverage as he held a piece of polymer board and a wax stylus that Rirris had volunteered from her collection of analog writing implements.

He and the pack of warriors with him—which included three of the Dhekhajhyde's Symbols—made no effort to hide as they approached the alien, who Nakka Ylewes reported was still standing in front of one of the topside hull camera and brandishing their board. The alien had apparently moved on to right-angle triangle equations. The alien stood out against the dark metal of the ship, parts of their suit shining like a bright tower in what light was coming from Ricurap as Tiikasia and the pack caught sight of them.

Although he supposed the aliens would have a proper name for their own star that hadn't come from a random syllable generator. At this distance, the alien looked so human Tiikasia had a strong urge to look for cover and order everyone to fall back to defensible positions. He reminded himself it was only the proportions of the alien's suit, and that they weren't even carrying any weapons. The part of him that had been defending against humans for so long pointed out that they weren't carrying any obvious weapons.

There had been far too many encounters with those who'd hidden a weapon by using that adhesive tape they were all fond of carrying and attaching an explosive or small arm to the back of their helmet. He felt his shell try to shed at the memory. Some of those explosives had been armed, and the humans who'd stuck them to their own heads had been stalling for time!" Ihyzen, Ghyetz, go the long way around and get behind the target," Ahgido ordered."

Stay out of sight and make sure they don't have an explosive on their back waiting to go off." The two warriors clicked their claws in acknowledgement—even if the gesture had no sound in the vacuum—and broke off, crouching down low against the hull to stay out of sight. Tiikasia briefly considered calling them back, because the alien probably wouldn't appreciate having anyone hidden at their back, but… well, they still weren't absolutely certain this wasn't a human!"

Ohmadia, I feel it is my responsibility to remind you that reckless and needlessly dangerous actions—"" Noted, Ahgido."" So you'll take Yhingga with you so he can shield you in case this one starts shooting?"

"This isn't a human, Ahgido," Tiikasia said patiently." Ohmadia, just because it's not human doesn't mean its species isn't prone to violent overreaction. You've met primurfoh." His antennae leaned back in disapproval, although the gesture lacked something since they were both wearing helmets.

"Ahgido, the primurfoh race are an ancient, intelligent people who have many brilliant surgeons and scientists—"" They're borderline obligate predators who know what everyone's insides look like because they make a habit of gutting strangers and raise their corpses to be anything from weapons to furniture."

"—who immediately attacked the tsokeri as soon as they met the demons."" I didn't say they were all bad. Just that they were a bit murderous at first meetings. For all we know, these aliens might be the same." Movement from the alien, who was turning the golden shell on the front of its helmet to face them. Tiikasia wondered if it was due to sensors on the suit or some kind of magical sensory perception. Or both. Both were always an option.

The alien raised one of its arms in greeting, fingers spread, and all he saw was a human. Too-human arm still raised, the alien raised the other arm holding the board and slowly turned in place, and it took Tiikasia a moment to realize what was so strange about the movement. They were standing far too securely on the hull, yet were raising their feet and setting them down to step far too easily.

His eyes tracked their feet, and it was stepping lightly with a rolling gait where the back of the foot came down first, the rest of the foot coming down later only for the back to rise while the front-most was still in contact with the shell of the hull. Either they had a much more elegant method of magnetically attaching to the hull, or they had some sort of artificial gravity field. That… didn't necessarily rule out humans.

Their alliance with the Changers and pajhadin meant they had two possible ways of binding gravity with Void dust into a device or tool beyond simply using Despair. And this alien didn't seem to be bowed by the weight of Despair. Despite all that, the alien seemed friendly… and yet he couldn't calm himself, because those gestures strongly resembled human physical expressions of friendliness, and his instincts were claws grinding on the inside of his shell in warning.

Still, he remained calm, even as the alien bent down to pick up some kind of container adhered to the hull next to them and began walking towards them. Ihyzen and Ghyetz were still out of sight, though they had reported they were behind the alien now, who seemed to remain unaware of them. Tiikasia stepped forward to meet them, aware that Yhingga was trailing at his back, the Symbol of Honor probably ready to throw his body in front of any sudden attacks.

That didn't seem to intimidate the alien, or at least it didn't make them slow their pace. Now that the alien was moving, he found himself less convinced that they were human. They were smaller than he was, barely coming up to the bottom of his thorax, like a softshell fresh from their first molt.

And if this was a human, it wasn't moving in their war stance: its back wasn't hunched over, its legs were straight instead of perpetually bent, and its forearms weren't tucked close to its thorax, although that last might just be because it wasn't holding a weapon. Instead, their arms were moving in swinging arcs. He wondered if it was some kind of dominance display, or just displacement behavior…

The alien suddenly stopped, and Tiikasia instinctively did the same, only then realizing he needed to tilt his head forward at a rather steep angle to keep them in his sight. They stood about 15 tsiaku apart, which to Tiikasia was almost a bit too close, but given the alien's height it might have been what it considered a safe distance. Ima was silent in his ear, which meant they still haven't gotten any sort of response on any of the frequencies they were intermittently transmitting over.

He watched as the alien reached towards the writing board they had attached to their back, and fixed his grip on the polymer board, reaching for the wax stylus in his suit's external pocket, hoping his artistic skills were up to this. The alien held up their writing board— Tiikasia stopped and stared. Instead of simple representations of numbers and visual representations of equations, he found himself looking at the sharp lines and intersections of freescript.

The markings were small and condensed but still legible. Greetings, Protectors of the Free Ones, it read. We are not here to free you from the demons that hold you on loathsome binding, for you are already released. You have no need of anyone to help you rise. Allow us to offer you our hands regardless, so we may hold each other as friends and let not the— Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

He paused, leaning forward a little as a strange arrangement of words ended the sentence. Were they attempting to literally translate a concept and this was the best they could do? —hate demon disease-smaller demon machine demon slave demon evil demon dust demon machine demon take us in the night. Take us to your Ohmadia, please. We come bearing sweet sustenance hats. Tiikasia assumed that last word was supposed to be 'gifts', since that one was so easy to misspell into 'hats'. As to the rest….

He recognized the wording. Was the alien trying to evoke the passage in Seeking To The Stars …? With dreamlike clarity over amused bemusement, he raised his left forearm and very gently tapped the last word with a finger. The alien lowered the writing board and looked at it themselves… before hastily repeatedly tapping the board with their own finger a little bit later, they held up the board towards him again. The last word had been changed, and now properly read as 'gifts'.

Taking out his own polymer board, he carefully gripped the wax stylus—one of Rirris' souvenirs from a visit to a rakido world—and began writing, the wax smearing colorfully on the pale green polymer. With the spelling mistake, he kept his words and sentence structure simple, and did his best to keep his touch light to keep from breaking the wax. We welcome you to our home. Will you follow us to where we can talk? He held out his board. If this alien could write in freescript, then surely they can—? Yes.

We give you thanks. He relaxed muscles he hadn't realized he'd tensed, covering his teeth once more and feeling very glad that his vacuum suit's helmet covered his face. Having the alien think he was making a threat display would be unfortunate. Tiikasia gestured to indicate that the alien should follow him out of habit, then realized that the alien might not understand what he meant when he pointed with his forearm…

and his muscles tensed as the alien nodded like a human, and began walking in the indicated direction. Tiikasia found he was patting his side for a weapon and forced himself to stop.

"…Ohmadia, I feel it is my responsibility to remind you that reckless and needlessly dangerous actions on your part need to be avoided due to your responsibility to the ship," Ahgido said. He'd recognized the gesture too.

"… noted, Ahgido." He reminded himself that their vacuum suits could protect him from human weapons, and this one didn't seem to be carrying any of their explosives or lasers. And it could just be a coincidence. After all, this species seemed have a similar physiological arrangement to humans.

That meant there were only a limited number of simple physical movements their body could utilize that could become common gestures, so it was no surprise that was a gesture that meant something in their culture, which need not be humans.

"Follow them, but we will not be the first ones to attack."" We never are, Ohmadia." … And on the current not-improbable chance this was a human… well, they were already on their guard. However, this one at least didn't seem to be aggressive or violent. Perhaps they were a faction completely unrelated to the war? This part of space was certainly far enough for them to have been isolated from events. The external airlock hatch sealed behind them, the ship's air finally filling the airlock's confines.

Tikkasia couldn't find it in himself to relax, and he doubted any of the other warriors with them did either. He could recall many times when the ship's warriors had needed to defend the reinforced, armored airlocks against humans trying to board, before they'd started using penetrating explosives to blow holes on the hull to make their own entrances.

Even now, the airlocks retained the defensive modifications: gun turrets, armored lights, armor plates that could be swung out for cover and closed remotely to deny them to the enemy, and overcharged gravity plates that would pull down boarders with weight and despair. Inside the Dhekhajhyde, the alien looked even smaller that they had on the hull as they looked around in apparent curiosity, the ceiling of the chamber far above them.

They stood patiently as Tiikasia turned to face them, standing at more than twice the alien's height as the armored airlock's atmosphere finally became dense enough for them to speak through. He took off his vacuum suit's helmet, taking a deep breath before stepping forward, only to pause as Ahgido handed him a utility tool. It was already recording both sound and visual, the omnidirectional lens ensuring its orientation wouldn't matter.

For all the cynicism that the war had carved onto the other shinkamrai's shell, the warrior had still joined to be an explorer. Accepting the device, Tiikasia approached the alien, stopping at the same distance as before.

"Welcome aboard the Dhekhajhyde, a ship of the Free Peoples Hegemony," Tiikasia greeted, partially to be polite and partially in the hope that it would actually work. The alien had written in freescript, after all.

"I am Tiikasia Jhon-Ghoyar, the Ohmadia of this ship. We are peaceful explorers, on a journey of learning and discovery." The alien stared at him for a moment, and Tiikasia wondered if he'd need to use more of Rirris' wax stylus. Then they raised the hand that wasn't carrying their container, fingers spread wide and palm facing towards them." Bawipu guranah weepuh ninibong!

"the alien said, their voice emerging from hidden speakers on the outside of their suit helmet. Tiikasia found himself wondering what they normally used their vacuum suits for, to have that capability. And then they continued speaking, and he straightened as words in freevoice followed, the sounds slightly strange coming from… whatever part of their anatomy it was the aliens used to make sounds."

We are Star Warrior Stronghold Warrior Water From The Sky and Star Warrior Stronghold Warrior First To Command, of the Kaedekin vacuum officials. We come with no war for Kaedekin, and intend for you greedy and long living. Let weight added many times according to fast to you be." It was probably not a good time to point out how they were mispronouncing or misusing words, but even with the strange phrasing and what seemed like literal translations, their message seemed to be mostly positive.

Those seemed to be very safe colors…" Because of victory, we have been chosen to greet the Free Peoples in first speaking. We are the Kaedekin, and we welcome the Dhekhajhyde to the Star of the Dancer. As the chosen one, I give the Dhekhajhyde right to stop in the circling vacuum path of Terrible Sleeping Visions as a movement of welcome and good wishes. Allow this arau to remember be as start of tall being friends." Tiikasia found a part of him relaxing as the words 'welcome' was repeated.

'Friend' had been there as well, he had recognized it. Between the strange accent, the mispronunciations, and the occasionally odd sentence structure— Oh! Now he realized why they spoke so strangely. It wasn't because they were misusing words, it was because they were using archaic phrasing! He briefly considered that, then chose to experiment.

"We accept most gladly your welcome and wishes, chosen one of the… Kaydekeen," he said, forcefully stepping on any embarrassment and hoping he'd said that right, even as he spoke like an old man. This was for the sake for trying to communicate. Also, two names. A symbiotic pair of species? Was he speaking to two aliens rather than one?

"What title of honor should you be spoken by, so that we may show respect most proper and our highest of regards?"" You need not honor so highly this one," the alien said, and sure enough it actually sounded more comfortable." The title of Stronghold Warrior, paladin in our speech, is equal only to Nakki or Nakkizu. For proper regard, I make be spoken to as Stronghold Warrior or Paladin Water From The Sky. In speech, Stronghold Warrior or Paladin is honor enough.

Equal is the regard to be shown to Paladin First To Command."

"This is understood and held to my hearts," Tiikasia said, trying not to feel like he was mocking the generations who had come before him." Then all is well,"Nakki—no, Nakkizu, just to be safe— Nakkizu Water From The Sky said. They hesitated, then stepped forward holding out one forearm, palm down and fingers curled downward, loose and limp." Would you desire to form a bond of friendship?" He stopped, starring at the soft-shelled gesture.

Then he bent his knees, leaning forward as best as he could as he raised his own forearm in the same gesture, gently raising it up under the alien's own until their fingers touched the back of his and their palm was pressed against his vacuum suit.

"Let us mingle our blood in the field, and stand against the demons together." It was probably a symbolic gesture. Just… an affirmation of peaceful intent and cooperation. Still, the softshell inside him who'd stared up at the stars couldn't help but wiggle happily at becoming friends with a previously unknown species of alien.