Andrea paused for a moment in shock, taking pains to keep her expression from revealing her surprise, even as her thoughts raced. Lin, who had been closely observing, pinged a message to Andrea. “The translation and language analysis systems are near certain that Orna means aperture as we understand it, and not the literal translation of ‘door through the world’.” Andrea noted her friend's message, and her own translation agreed with the automated system. Better to give an impression of straightforward honesty, than to attempt denials that seemed unlikely to hold up, considering Orna’s attitude and their expedition’s obvious destination. “It seems that you will come out ahead in your wager, I did indeed arrive near here through an aperture, though I must confess I am surprised you’re aware of it.”

Orna smiled with satisfaction and clapped their hands briskly together “Excellent! It’s always gratifying to be proven right, even more so when it wins you a bet. This is fascinating, you’re a genuinely alien being. It’s a pleasure to meet you, though I must say you look far more familiar than any of us ever thought an alien would appear.” Andrea returned Orna’s smile “The pleasure is mutual. I also share your consternation at how similar we appear, at least on the outside. At some point we must compare medical information to see where our species differ.” Andrea was thrilled at the attitude that Orna was displaying, while she was cognizant that it could be an elaborate deception, she didn’t really think that was the case. Even more than Unla-Ela, Orna gave Andrea the impression of someone much like herself, someone who liked to push themselves in body and mind by pushing at the edges of their known world, both physically and intellectually. Orna furthered this impression as they began to speak again. “I’m sure the biologists and the medical doctor we have with us will be thrilled at the opportunity. As for knowing about the aperture, that’s due to some of my colleagues that have been attempting to study apertures. They are still theoretical, technically, though it seems as if you may be able to help us gather more evidence about them. In any event, as part of the research process we wound up with several sets of testing apparatuses in different universities around the Protectorate that, as it turns out, respond to the presence of an aperture even at extreme range, or that’s the theory. They certainly responded to something over in those mountains, we were able to triangulate the location with decent accuracy, though it's taken over five years to actually put together the expedition and get here. If you truly came here through an aperture as you say, then that is definitely exciting news, both for the opportunity of meeting you and because it proves apertures really exist and, better yet, can be transited.” Orna paused then, after a moment's consideration, shrugged. “While my own expertise is in the field of applied transference, several of my theoretical colleagues are in our group. I expect they may wish to pester you with questions once they learn about how you came to be here. I’ll admit to sharing that urge, but I have the misfortune to be better with people than most of my colleagues.” Andrea cocked her head in puzzlement “Why misfortune?”she asked. Orna laughed ruefully “I keep getting pulled away from my real work, and pushed into managing my fellows. Speaking of… would you mind if I invited over the three people who accompanied me up the hill? I know they’d be thrilled to meet you.” As they asked, Orna gestured back towards the small knot of people who were keeping themselves at a generous distance.

Andrea pinged Lin to ask her opinion. “I say allow it. Three more of them aren’t a significant increase in risk, and so far they appear to be far less hostile than we were led to suspect.” Lin’s words meshed with Andrea’s own impression of the situation, so she nodded. “Yes I think that’s acceptable, I’m excited to meet them as well.” At Andrea’s words Orna stood up and waved their companions over, before returning to their seat and speaking once more. “I must say, you speak the Coeman trade language very well, does this mean you’ve already met others out here, or have you traveled farther afield and merely returned here? I know Malepre is fairly near here, in fact I think they’ll officially claim ownership of this region within the decade.” Orna’s last sentence was accompanied by an eye roll. “All the nonsense about sovereignty disputes has been a huge pain, what do we care about who owns the land in the end. We had to leave without the Protectorate’s approval, since we knew they’d tell us not to go. Better to ask forgiveness than permission, and there’s no way any of us were going to give up even the possibility of getting to study an actual aperture in person.” Lin and Andrea both noted this revelation with interest, while it could of course be a deception, both of them were gradually growing more and more convinced that the Protectorate expedition was a genuine research mission, with no secondary political goals. There was the lack of heavy military equipment. Many of the expedition members exhibited civilian patterns of behavior when conducting tasks such as making camp and keeping watch. Now with the addition of Orna’s words, the evidence all seemed to be painting a far more benign picture than they had feared.

The last thing Andrea and Lin expected when they started their morning was a jovial chat with a person who would easily be right at home among the members of the Surveyor Corps. It wasn’t long before Orna’s companions reached them and, to the obvious amusement of Orna, contented themselves with sitting on the ground, forming a small circle out of the five of them. Orna quickly made the introductions. “Andrea, in no particular order my companions here are Lori, Poel, and Poel. The bigger Poel usually goes by their nickname Podel, fortunately.” Orna’s fast paced introductions were accompanied by their quickly shifting hands indicating each person in turn. Lori was the tallest and thinnest of the group and nodded to Andrea with a composed expression when they were introduced. Poel, the smaller one, was not actually all that small, rather they seemed to fit the definition of average at least based on the running average height Lin was calculating as they encountered new people. They gave a grin that matched Orna’s for wattage and looked as if they were about to speak, but managed to restrain themselves from interrupting the rest of Orna’s introduction. The bigger Poel, or Podel, was perhaps the largest person that Andrea and Lin had encountered on this world so far, nearly three meters tall and still appearing stocky due to the proportions of their body, meant that Podel was a huge presence physically, a presence they seemed to match with a large personality, as Orna had no sooner finished their round of introductions than Podel spoke up. “Well if it isn’t a genuine alien, pleasure to meet you Andrea, I hope Orna hasn’t been too off putting. I know they come across as a tad glib even in situations where they really shouldn’t, but I’ve never known anyone to be their match at getting along with everyone they meet. Speaking of meeting people, this is certainly not a spot I would have guessed we’d run into someone. What brings you to these remote hills? Are you from around here or have you traveled a great distance like we have?” Podel's verbal torrent was delivered with hardly a pause for breath, their excitement seemingly pulling away any brakes on their words.Their large figure looming larger and larger as they unconsciously raised themselves higher and higher from their seated position on the ground as they spoke. Orna gently broke in, interrupting Podel. “Hold on Podel, I’m pretty sure Andrea can only respond to one question at a time, besides we must let them get their own questions answered, anything else would be rude.” With a slightly sheepish look Podel settled back. “My apologies, it seems I am the one who has managed to verge into off-putting, please forgive my poor manners.” Andrea had plenty of friends and colleagues who let their enthusiasm overcome their personal skills at times, so she found Podel’s overenthusiasm more endearing than obnoxious. She smiled gently at Podel. “You have nothing to worry about, I understand getting carried away with excitement, and I’m pleased to meet someone so enthusiastic to learn.” At Andrea’s mild response, Orna, who was standing to the side, subtly breathed a sigh of relief. A sign that Andrea would have missed if she didn’t have her enhanced hearing and what was effectively a three hundred and sixty degree range of vision. It seemed that Orna wasn’t quite as nonchalant about their meeting as he was trying to project. Andrea actually found this a relieving sign. It meant that Orna was actually taking her, and their meeting seriously. It also allowed Andrea to empathize with them a bit more. She wasn’t the only one feeling the tension from meeting an intelligent alien being about whom little was known. Orna quickly stepped in to the lull in the conversation after Podel sat back. “Well Podel, I can start by telling all of you that you each owe me a round, I wound up winning our group’s little wager in the end.” This was met with a chorus of excited cries. Poel, the smaller one, exclaimed. “Really! That’s fantastic! I didn’t think we’d be so lucky. You’ve truly been through a stable aperture? What was it like? Did you experience any physical strain during the passage? Is it a natural phenomenon or are your people able to make apertures artificially? Are… Ah whoops, now I’m doing it. Sorry, I’ve been studying apertures as a theory for so long, it’s almost overwhelming to hear I might be able to answer a number of questions that have plagued me for years.” Once again Andrea was thrilled with the excitement she was witnessing, it struck her as authentic and certainly indicated that these people were just like her and Lin, in their desire to push the boundaries of knowledge. Indeed, it suddenly struck her how starkly it contrasted with the relatively tepid response of Unla-Ela, though Andrea was well aware that not everyone wore their enthusiasm on their sleeves so blatantly.

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Lin messaged Andrea that she was going to divert more of her attention back to her ongoing projects at the base camp since the meeting seemed to be going well. Andrea messaged a thumbs up to Lin, while making a proposal to Poel in particular, though she made sure to indicate that her words applied to them all. “I’m pleased to meet people who are as eager to discover new things as I am, it makes you far less alien to me, as I share your eagerness to learn. For example I’m familiar with several methods one might use to propel a vehicle like the one you arrived in, but I can’t figure out which you might be using, or if your people have some novel method. I’d be happy to exchange information on many subjects with all of you. How about you tell me more about your current theories on the nature of apertures, and I’ll describe the appearance of the one I passed through to arrive here as well as the sensation of the passage.” Poel jumped on the offer, before anyone else could speak up, positively wiggling with excitement they glanced around, before clearing an area of dirt in the middle of the circle, and beginning their lecture while drawing visual aids on the ground with their finger.