Phil released a breath he knew he was holding as he looked upon the spaceship in all its glory up close and personal ‘Well, it did look a bit alien from a far but now, it looks like something straight out of a sci-fi show that the totally not American humans use’ Phil thought as he continued to stare at it.
He sighed as he looked at the condensation from his breath, blizzard still raging on around him as the cold winds continue to nip at his form. Having been stationed in Antarctica for months on end, he was somewhat used to it by now but still, it’s not exactly nice at all.
He looked at his companion and she seemed more than fine in the freezing storm probably from whatever weird shielding technology her people created. Phil on the other hand had to settle with human winter equipment which was inherently worse than alien technology.
Another bang and another sleuth of probably curse word as Sylvia tried to get the door opened again ‘I think this will be a running gag of some sort, seems like even with alien technology there would still be mechanical failure upon mechanical failure, it happened with the engine in orbit’ He figured.
Then came another bang followed by a quick chirp and he looked up to see that his companion has managed to jury rigged open the door to her own spaceship ‘Finally, the temperature out here is just absolutely freezing’ Phil muttered as he felt the chicken skin crept across his body.
He entered the large ship about 50 or so meter in length if his eyeballing was even close to correct into a squarish room with another set of doors inside. Sylvia pressed a few buttons and the doors to the outside laid shut but so does the one to the inside ‘An airlock, logical for a spaceship’ He thought as he saw her press a few more buttons and soon there was a hissing sound as atmosphere was changed.
It was warmer now but not as warm as he would’ve liked or prefer and then the sprinklers came on and they were doused in some sort of liquid in under a second ‘Taste like cinnamon’ He thought as some of it caught in his mouth ‘The temperature suggests a colder environment’ He realized as the door to the inside of the ship opened up into some sort of general living quarters as Sylvia entered licking her antenna clean of all the liquid from the ceiling sprinklers as Phil just shrugged at the sight.
Though it doesn’t look like it, for the average crew who would pilot the ship it should be spacious considering the average size he saw in the 3 visitors ‘It doesn’t seem like something that is luxurious but who knows, maybe they came from a poorer place and this is luxurious for them’ He acknowledged.
“Sstaaysk” Sylvia squawked pointing towards a chair of some sort as he just nodded and sat on it ‘A bit tight around the butt but not terrible’ He thought as he stared at what looked to be some sort of counter in front and a bunch of what looks like mostly empty smoothie cups with straws still attached.
He turned to his companion but she was already rounding a corner into a room as he saw her tail disappear into another room ‘Well this is just fine, apparently they have sort of smoothies as well, wonder if they would like cookies and cream or strawberry flavor’ He wondered as he waited.
After a minute, he heard something scraping and out comes Sylksskra dragging what looks to be some sort of overly complicated bit of machinery on a trolley looking thing with a wheel busted but she still dragged it along slowly even if it causes a particularly nasty scraping noise.
“Do you perhaps need my help at all?” He asked as she said nothing as she managed to pull and then push the machine into the other side of the counter from him and then pulled a chair overt o sit herself “No need, this one is good” She answered through the machine which seems voice translated.
“So, now that we’re here we can start on some particular questions and such?” Phil asked to which Sylvia nodded a “Why yes, would you like to answer how you people breathe?” The machine translated a bit more fluently than the other more mobile one as Phil just nodded along.
“We breath through our noses here in the middle of our face, we have two holes that connects to our esophagus and then to our lungs which is how we breathe or the simple version of it” He answered as he pointed towards his nose and moved all the way down to his chest as Sylvia seem keen on nodding.
She took a moment as she tapped the side of the headgear she was wearing before responding her own “Ah yes, that is a fine detail right there, this one can explain that we breath through these holes in our neck, we have 3 on either side and they connect to our main airway down to our own… what you would call lungs though we actually have 4 smaller ones” She answered pointing at the anatomical features.
Phil mouthed a yes as he bumped the air ‘Score one for speculative biology, exactly what I predicted, the airways not the 4 lungs’ He corrected as he coughed to get his voice back in check “That is fascinating, I assumed that from that you know a good bit by our anatomy yes?” He asked as she splayed her ears.
“Yes and no, we know some parts but well the Senior of our ship decided against hacking into your media but we know a good bit of words from multiple languages” She explained as he nodded “We would appreciate that, some of the things in there might… complicate things” He admitted whistling.
Sylvia looked at him funny but just splayed her ears and antenna in a shrug “Folks do what folks do best, they make pornography even if the situation’s a shithole” She replied as Phil just looked at her as he tried to just digest the entirety of what she just revealed to at that moment.
“Wait you actually get that?” He said in shock as she gave him a ‘The fuck are you talking about of course I did’ Type of face “Yes, you do have your own version of the media however crude it is and from the brief glimpses this one foresaw, it has similar content” She explained with her version of a shrug.
“Oh, that is golden, you mean the internet right? It’s such a glorious little dumpster fire” He replied with a chuckle “Hey, you can sing that again, though this one does not personally know what a ‘dumpster’ is, it seems to elude to that of a trash fire and the media is just that” She replied with trilling of her own.
Phil blinked as he followed it up “I know right? Especially since you guys came it’s been a shitshow at best” He added as the trilling continues “That is an inherent danger of first contact then, this one is quite sure that things are the same in Kassia as we speak” She agreed as they talked like old friends for a bit.
There was an odd silence that fills the room as both Phil and Sylvia realized that they had a job to do at the same exact time “Right, we should probably get back to it then” Sylvia acknowledged as Phil nodded “Let’s continue talking about biology for now, say if I send you over a complete anatomical detail of the human body will you send me one of your kind?” He proposed a trade as she arched an ear.
“That would be wonderful, this one shall do so now for one such as yourself” She agreed in the moment “Say, you guys say sing and such a lot, I thought it was just a problem with the translator but now I’m not so sure” Phil mused as Sylvia seem taken a back for a moment.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Oh, that is because you folks don’t communicate by song language, you communicate by just random combinations of sounds given meaning strung together randomly” She answered as he looked at her for a moment ‘Song language, so Ellie was right’ He thought as he narrowed his eyes.
“How is it that different from your own language?” He asked as she just shrugged by splaying her ears “At least our language has rhythm and flows together well, yours don’t and it is weird because of that, hard to say, sounds not right” She pointed out as Phil groaned ‘I hate it when someone point out something I can’t help but agree with’ He thought as he rubbed his temple “But still, what good does your singing do for you guys anyways?” He asked in return.
Sylvia shrugged in her own style as she answered “Well to be fair, not much really but it sounded much better than just randomly making sounds and it also holds significance towards the scripture of the Glow after all” She sang through the machine as he remembered when she was speaking naturally.
‘They did somewhat sound like singing but it sounds strange and missing parts to be fully natural but then again, that's probably because of the frequency barrier’ Phil shrugged as he noticed something else “What is this ‘Glow’ you speak of? Is it your religion?” He asked her as he saw her feathers brightened.
She seems happy to have been questioned that “Yes, it is one of our religions, about a bit less than half of our population across our worlds believe in it” She answered with a chirp as he digested that for a moment “Really? Is it that important for you folks?” He questioned as she nodded still unfamiliarly.
“Well yeah, don’t you people have something similar?” She asked tilting her head as Phil sighed and nod “Yeah we do, it’s Christianity and a third of us believe in it or something similar, it’s quite important to a lot of people for good reasons but there are other religions as well” He answered.
“Yeah, that is that, we have other believes as well, this one personally enlightens that we mayhaps start with biology first before we discuss culture and religion” Sylvia suggested and he couldn’t help but agree ‘Still though, I have to see what this Glow is about or the other religions since well, I did promise to convert yesterday’ He groaned as he remembered it as they start talking about biology.
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Sylksskra stared at the current snowstorm as her pack mates entered the ship through the faulty airlock door after she finally managed to open it. She looked out to see that the aliens were waving at her with their arms which seems to be a result of a lack of a tail as she waved back with her tail.
‘This one does wonder how things will go from now on’ She thought as she pressed a few buttons and the doors were closed again after a very loud grinding sound. The decontamination sprinklers sprayed them all before they were allowed access back into the voidcraft back into the living quarters.
Sylksskra cleaned her antenna as she entered into the craft proper “So, how did your games with the one called Matt go?” Fallkschrimm asked as he sat on a chair letting out a low hiss of relief as he does “Was fun, Matt is obviously really good at the game but this one managed 3 victories as a beginner thanks to overconfidence and blunders, this one should bring a game next time” She answered in song.
“Well, what about you Fallkschrimm? How did your duet go?” Sylksskra asked as he ruffled his crown feathers with a wing “This one would like to enlighten that it went fairly well, Eellisske is a good singer and enthusiastic as well, we mostly sang about differences in biology” He answered as he relaxed.
Sylksskra hummed in response as she slammed a package of baked preserved Garrosk seeds inside the cooking instruments and set the temperature for a quick baking “Well this one also managed a duet mostly about biological factors, you should do it with him, this one got lost in some of the singing but this one did manage to secure a bit of data about alien anatomy” She answered as she waited.
“That is nice, mayhaps we can enlighten each other by crossing our notes?” He sang as she saw his crown feathers brighten in the corner of her eye “This one took no notes but you can review the audio this one recorded later, leave most of the science stuff to you Archivists” Sang Sylksskra in response.
She heard a quiet but not inaudible trilling from his side as a ding and a green light confirms that the package was done baking “Yeah, that would be best, mayhaps this one should enlighten you about parts of our own biology for further reference” He suggested as she went over to see his perked ears.
“This here is a bowl of twice-baked Garrosk and this here is what’s called an ussspck, something that should contain the information required as long as we can find a way to figure how to access it all” Sylksskra sang as she dumped the entire package into a bowl Lorrisskr already brought on the counter.
“Ah, this one should be able to make some sense of that, we can plug it into a data instrument and send it up to the KCN Valitasiea for the other Archivists to review” Fallkschrimm suggested as he grabbed one of the seed and she did as well as she popped it in her mouth, the two rows of teeth working its job.
It was crunchy, has an earth like flavor with this aromatic tint to it and the extra pre-packaged saltiness just seals it though it would have been preferred if they added some cyanide chemicals into it for that sweet aftertaste ‘Eh, it let’s people choose’ She thought as she just enjoyed the flavor.
She let out a low sigh as she remembered her old homestead ‘This one wonder how the other packs are doing, the parental packs as well’ She thought as she reminisced about the old times ‘Oh how we all thought nothing about age at the time and just enjoyed life to its fullest’ She remembered.
The thought popped into her mind about the length of the journey ‘This one and her pack has been gone from home for a long while, mayhaps we should visit when we all get back’ She composed as something hit the side of her chest and she looked down to see a long tail jabbing at her.
“Ah good, we managed to wake you from your void dreaming again, that is good” Lorrisskr announced as Sylksskra just let out a low hiss “This one’s just been thinking and getting sentimental again, it’s not big thing to worry about” She sang to assure them as she held her wings in a placating manner.
Then she had a sudden thought “While we’re at it, we should contact Rasnessk to report our findings and make sure he gets it all” She remembered as she sprang to her clawed feet as the other two seem to have the sudden realization as well “Oh for the Glow! We forgot to report to Rasnessk this light breaks!” Fallkschrimm loudly chirped as Lorriskr went to quickly get the communication instrument.
‘This one cannot believe her incompetence as of now and here this one promised to not make any further mistakes’ She gritted her two rows of teeth as she composed the song in her head before Lorrisskr returned and without a note activated the device she placed in the middle of the counter.
The semi-circular instrument went to life as from the top of it glowed a red light as a helm rider appeared "Excuse me but what mayhaps this one do for one such as yourselves?” Came the response in song as Sylksskra hissed to clear her throat “Yes, this one would like to make a report for Senior Helm Rider Rasnessk right about now” She sang as the Helm rider on holo perked up and left immediately.
Seconds later, Rasnessk managed to appear on screen though he looks a bit tired and his crown feathers prominently rise ad brightened as he saw them “Thank the Glow, we thought something went wrong when we couldn’t contact you all this morning, was there a problem with the storm?” He asked quickly.
“Yes, we never heard any beeping or anything this morning so it mayhaps be the storm or we mayhaps left a bit early and in our excitement forgot about the report when light breaks” She sang the unbridled truth as she saw him blink for a few moments before palming his head with his wing.
“That is, never mind that is quite fine, it is not such a big deal but please let us know before you try making contact next time, similar to when you first landed and have to confirm that the voidcraft has successfully touched down without incident” He sang to remind them as there were a few nervous trilling about for a few seconds before it all died down.
“This one will take full responsibility in the momentary lapse of judgement” She sang as he just let out a low hiss at that “The first time is a stern warning but the second will go into a report that you failed to give out a report when doing an important mission, this is serious Sylksskra, this one cannot personally get you all out if you make a monumental mistake like well, like last time” He sang as they just listened.
“But it is wonderful news to hear you report in, we were in meeting this moment to discuss whether to send an evac team or not, what can you report as of late?” He asked as Sylksskra took a deep breathe as her antenna perked a bit readying to sing her team’s findings.
“You wouldn’t believe that the aliens well the species known as humanity, they seem to have genders roles switched in the name of the Glow” Fallkschrimm cut her off as she just looked at him for a moment before splaying her ears and antenna as she moved to the side as he took her place in the report.