The sound of her steps on the metal floor echoed through the empty hallway of the Star Treader, as Doctor Githaiy made her way towards the medical bay. They were about to reach the final hyperlane of their journey, and she had hoped to get a night's worth of sleep before they arrived at their homeworld. When a call from Her Highness, Princess Silgvani had ended that hope, she at first had expected some form of a medical issue.

Of all the inhabited planets in alliance territory, Hsvegplia - homeworld of the Krsnelv - was more or less the least suitable to house Vanaery like them for an extended period. Suitable precautionary measures had of course been taken, and as guests, they had been treated appropriately while Her Highness had been busy with negotiating the new treaty. But the risks were never zero, and ailments taking a couple of days to show themselves happened. But apparently, that wasn't the case.

Her Highness hadn't specified the problem any further, only that they had a "situation", and that she should come immediately.

As she entered the medical bay, she was met by an unexpected emptiness. No one was here. Not only that, but the mobile bed was also missing. Was that the "issue"? No, that didn't make any sense. In the first place, she usually used the installed beds for treating patients on board. The mobile bed was meant for cases when an emergency case could not come to the medical bay on their own. Was there such an emergency? But why call her here then?

"Doctor", someone called out to her before she could lose herself in thoughts any further. Turning back to the door, she noticed one of the princess's attendants. "I apologize if we made you wait, but our... findings... brought some unexpected complications with them."

"Findings?"

The attendant stepped aside, clearing the path for three of the guards to push the mobile bed in. Why all three of them were pushing it together she couldn't tell nor did she really care. Her whole attention was on the fact that on the hospital bed laid... something.

Its shape loosely resembled their own race, the Vanaery, save one missing pair of arms. It was also much smaller, two-thirds of her own height at best, and its frame looked very delicate, almost frail. The surface of its body appeared to be smooth and soft, leading Githaiy to the conclusion that, unlike them, it was an endoskeletal race. It was clad in a simple, white shirt and long blue pants, an excessive amount of clothing by Vanaery standards, protective clothing, and battle armor not counting of course. Githaiy might've been her Highness's personal physician, but since she always accompanied the princess whenever she left the planet, she had also amassed extensive knowledge of xenobiology. She knew all the alien races her people had made contact with. And yet, none of them resembled this small creature even remotely. Could it be..?

"A new alien species?", she concluded with a gasp. The attendant nodded.

"Presumably, yes."

"Where did you find it?"

"We picked up a strange signal" he started explaining. "It didn't match any common code, but due to its repetitiveness, the operators concluded that it was some sort of distress call. Her Highness ordered us to investigate. We found what looked like an escape pod. The alien was the only one inside, already unconscious when we found it. We analyzed the air in the pod, and it seemed to resemble our own. Well, it is still alive, so that seems to be the case. We wanted to prepare standard first-contact protocols, but Her Highness insisted that we'd first ensure that it was alright. Which is where you come in."

The attendant and the guards headed towards the door.

"We already performed a standard sterilization. When it wakes up, check its condition and then call the bridge so the princess can meet it."

"And be careful", one of the guards grunted as they left. "That thing is heavier than it looks."

Githaiy ignored him and closed the door. She felt herself getting giddy as she was no longer able to contain her excitement. A new alien species! And she would be the first one to examine it! Not to mention that this was the first new contact in generations, even the nobles critical of the princess would throw themselves at her feet if she brought it home. Politics might've not been Githaiy's forte, but she knew how valuable it would be if they were the first to establish a good relationship with this new species.

Alright, enough. Come on Githaiy, you are a professional!

The doctor shifted her attention to the alien. Its thorax area slowly raised and sunk, likely a breathing motion. As there wasn't much else she could do before it woke up, Githaiy took out a sampling card and scraped off some cells from one of the exposed arms, careful not to accidentally injure the frail creature. The bed - which was intentionally oversized, so it could also be used by bigger races - made it look even smaller than it already was. For such a delicate life form to survive long enough to reach the space-faring age, it had to come from quite a peaceful world, devoid of most things her kind would consider a danger.

The analysis showed it to be a carbon- and water-based lifeform, so nothing out of the ordinary, except maybe the high amount of water in the cells. Maybe it was from an amphibian race?

Slowly, movement started to come into the small body and the alien opened its eyes. As it saw the doctor it startled and immediately shot up, only to apparently get dizzy and hold its head. A reaction Githaiy had more or less expected. She carefully opened her four hands, showing that they were empty and that she posed no threat. The Alien seemed to understand the gesture. It was still wary, but no longer panicking. Next, she took out a thin collar, put it on the mattress, and pointed at her own throat. The alien gave her a suspicious gaze, but after a few tiggs, put it on.

"Can you understand me?", the doctor asked. The alien nodded.

"Yes"

Its voice was incredibly soft, almost meek.

"You... you are an alien?"

Githaiy chuckled.

"Well, I guess that from your perspective, we are the aliens."

"That... that is... AWESOME!"

The Alien jumped up and crawled over the mattress, startling the doctor for a moment.

"Aliens! Real aliens! Where are the others?"

"One thing after the other", the doctor said trying to calm it down. The sudden enthusiasm had taken her by surprise. "Our race is called Vanaery. My name is Githaiy. I am a doctor, and I would like to examine you, so I can both learn more about your species and affirm that you are in good health. Then you can meet the rest."

"Oh, right. Sorry, I got a bit excited. My name is Nadine by the way. My race is called human"

The doctor nodded.

"Then, if you don't mind, please tell me more about you. What about sex?"

The pink color of the alien's face got slightly darker.

"I-I haven't yet.. how is that even... oh, wait, you mean... ahem, sorry. We are dioecious, and I'm female."

Once again, a common occurrence.

"Would you say that, in terms of appearance and ability, you are a typical specimen of your race?"

"For the females of my age at least, yeah. I train a bit to stay healthy, so in terms of ability, I'm probably slightly above average. I'm also in good health, as far as I'm aware. At least I was before Kryo."

Kryo? Well, one after the other, she could ask for that later. The doctor nodded again and took some notes.

"Then, if you would please get up, I'd like to take some measurements."

While Githaiy turned around to ready her instruments, Nadine started to speak.

"By the way, where exactly are we?"

"This is the Star Treader, the vessel of our royal embassy."

"Oh my! Sounds important!"

"It is. The Star Treader is the ship of Her Highness, Princess Silgvani. Who, speaking of it, will meet you once we are done."

Nadine's face lit up.

"Wait, you're saying that we not only found aliens, I'll also meet their princess? Wow, this day couldn't get any better!"

Githaiy chuckled again. She was glad that the alien girl was so upbeat about her situation, if not downright happy, considering the opposite would've been just as reasonable.

"Well then, you know how scales work?"

"Uh, I step on them and the screen tells you my weight?"

Githaiy nodded.

"Speaking of weight, is something wrong with your artificial gravity? I feel lighter than usual."

"Really? It feels right to me. It has the same strength as the gravity on our homeworld, which is about average compared to other known habitable planets."

"Huh," the small alien acknowledged, cocking her head. "Then I guess Earth is a good bit above average. Well, anyway, if the scales are made with your gravity in mind it should be fine."

As Nadine stepped on the plate, a loud creaking noise became audible. The confused doctor looked at the display, but that only showed an error message.

"Did that stupid thing really break?"

"I-I'm sorry."

The doctor couldn't help but laugh. Did the petit girl really think that SHE broke it?

"Don't worry, that wasn't you. That thing was made for races way bigger than you, it can measure up to 500 vays. It's probably just old, didn't you hear the sound it made? Anyway, please stand upright."

Nadine did as asked. Her head barely reached Githaiys thorax, as the doctor scanned her.

"2.82 lynes. Though that doesn't tell me much if I don't know your weight. Well, we can weigh once we're back in Calhanar."

"Erm, doc?"

Githaiy looked up.

"Yes?"

Nadine tapped her collar.

"I can understand you because of this, right? What is this?"

"It's a telepathic translator. When you speak, it scans your brain to find out what you intend to say and then transforms the sound coming from you to the language it's set on. Same the other way, if something is said in the language it is set on, it conveys the intention of the words to your brain."

"Neat!"

"Well, it has flaws, but better than nothing. Also, I'm sorry if it makes you feel uncomfortable. I know that many races consider wearing a collar as degrading."

"Hm, necessary evil, innit? Any other questions, doc?"

"Well, I would like to know how much you can remember. How did you end up out here?"

"Nothing too fancy. We found a planet that seemed hospitable, way more out there than anything we ever explored. A colony ship was sent there. Papa and I were eligible and it sounded like an awesome adventure so I insisted we'd volunteer. Then I get woken up by an alarm and get told to go in an escape pod, so I do. No idea what the problem was. That's pretty much it. Didn't the others already tell you that?"

Githaiy swallowed.

"Um... I... was not informed about any others. As far as I am aware, we found only you."

Nadine's gaze fell.

"Oh."

"T-that doesn't have to mean you are the only one left! Maybe you just got separated due to some unfortunate drifting!", Githaiy assured her without really believing it herself. "Do you... do you have any way to contact your people?"

"No. The capsule sends a signal so I get found, but the radio itself is short-range."

Both went silent, well understanding what that meant. Nadine was alone.

"Errm...do you know why you were unconscious?" the doctor asked, desperate to change the topic. "It seemed a bit too deep for a sleep."

"No, sorry."

"Do you have any indicator of how long you were out?"

"I'm not terribly thirsty, so probably under a day."

"I'm afraid that doesn't tell me much if I don't know your homeworld's rotation speed."

"Ah, right. A day is 24 hours."

"I also do not know your units."

"Makes sense. Then... um... ha."

Githaiy shook her head.

"Forget it, it was stupid of me to ask that."

"Nonono, we can do that, gimme a sec... Ah! What is the speed of light in your units?"

The Doctor didn't know what the human was trying to achieve with that knowledge, but if it distracted her, so be it.

"748,031,791 lynes per tigg" she said after looking it up.

"Okay, let's say 750. How tall was I again?"

"Err, 2.82 lynes"

"Okay, I'm around 1.65 meters, so 1 meter is around one point... seven? yeah, 1.7 lynes. Lightspeed is 300 million meters per second, so about 500 million lynes per second. Meaning 750 seconds is 500 tiggs, then one tigg is around 1.5 seconds, makes one minute 40 tiggs, one hour 2,400 tiggs, and one day... 48,000...9,600... okay, so one day for me would be something around 57,600 tiggs."

What followed were a few moments of Githaiy staring blankly into the room.

"Do you... have some sort of nano-sized calculator I'm not seeing?"

"Err, none that I'm aware of."

"Are you telling me you just calculated all of that in your head?! How much computing power does your brain have?!"

"Well, I rounded."

Not knowing what to say, the doctor took out a calculator.

"57,600 you said... so slightly shorter than our days, we have 62,000 tiggs a day. Or, to use a bigger unit, 62 invas. Oh, with that we should be also able to calculate your age. One solar cycle has 202 days"

"Oh, so factor 1.8, but around 10% longer days. I'm fifteen, so... okay, then I am around 24 cycles old."

Githaiy tried her best to surpass her awe and simply wrote down the numbers. Suddenly, a violent explosion shook the ship.

"What was that?" Nadine panicked.

"Are we under attack?" Githaiy wondered as the alarm went off. "But how? This is a secure route, and so close to the hyperlane, there must be patrols! Who could-"

No, wait. We took a detour to follow the distress signal. What if we left the secure routes? Maybe someone else has picked up the signal as well?

That was quite a pickle. The Star Treader was not built for battles, and the few guards onboard were simply an escort for the princess.

The alien girl was shivering, clearly afraid. Githaiy wasn't a fighter, but even though she had only known Nadine for an inva or so, something about this creature with her delicate frame and meek voice made her want to protect her.

"Don't worry, our guards are strong. We are safe here", she said, not sure who she was trying to convince. But while she was still saying that sentence, heavy steps became audible from the corridor.