Urle's HUD informed him that the heat was well past the danger point for a human body. Nevertheless, he did not feel hot.

He'd had to trade out a lot of parts to come down here; things that could last for months with little to no maintenance, an outer casing that restored his human appearance. Everything had to be able to tolerate the heat.

Normally that would be some issue for his equipment; he loved to overclock, and it made him run hot. But building for maximum cooling had been interesting, and he may have even overdone it, as he was running quite cold, even in 65-degree weather.

"The Hessa are aware of our presence," his system told him.

"We've been seen," he told his assistant. The man, named Hakim, was a junior diplomat. He lacked the field experience to lead the team, but his diplomatic expertise would fill in gaps in Urle's own skill set.

"Let's slow down," he continued. "Don't want to give them the wrong idea."

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"Do you think they might view us as attackers?" Hakim asked.

"It's possible," Urle said. "No species has anything but indirect evidence from prehistory, but our own suggests that there may have been regular conflicts even in this stage."

"I would like to hope one day we'll meet more species who have not yet had to develop war," Hakim said. "Like the Corals or Star Angels."

Urle did not reply, just thinking that natural selection and the competition for resources frequently made conflict inevitable in any species - sapient or not.

The village was a series of small, round mud huts with thatch roofs. From a distance, they looked like they could have been a reconstruction from humanity's early days.

He knew that these locals called themselves the Hessa, but the name of the settlement itself was not known yet. They had decided to codename it Jericho.

A cluster of !Xomyi were gathering at the edge, watching their approach.

Urle knew that he and Hakim's height was twice theirs, and so they might seem very frightening figures. He slowed to a very easy walk.

Two of the locals came towards them. One was taller, his body heavily muscled by !Xomyi standards. The other was short, hunched with age.

"We give you greetings, Giants from Far Away," the old one said. He had a walking stick, leaning on it.

Urle stopped. "I give you greetings in return, honored elder. My name is Zach, and this is my friend Hakim. We come in peace and friendship. I offer you gifts to prove my good intentions."

Urle took his bag, opening it and offering over a package.

The two Hessa paused, then the bigger one came forward to take it.

"It is flour meat," he said to the elder.

It was a local food they had observed; meat dried and ground, added to a ground grain and then baked like bread. It was dense, heavy with nutrients - and easy for them to create on the Craton.

The Elder seemed very interested, and took a piece, tasting it.

"You do us a great honor," he said. "Come and enter our village."