MSNPC Alya - Takers
Tim
((Rest Chamber, Velithari Ship Jorogumo))
Alya: We will visit the observation chamber and medical facilities. We have been given permission.
The permission had come faster than even Alya had expected. She had asked Jorogumo the moment the medic had said the word male. Her question had quickled morphed into the resin of the walls through the implant at her wirst.
Ease did not come with the permission. She still felt a faint hum at the seams of her chitin plates. But they had a path now and that was something Alya could start to work.
Ohnari: ::brightening:: That will be most appreciated. Please lead the way.
Alya: ::a small bow of the plated head:: This way. Keep close. Jorogumo will know you are with me. Do not stop where I do not stop.
She turned and let them back through the broadened compound archway and the walls were already opening their seams for them.
((Corridor, Jorogumo))
Alya kept her pace steady. The marine had tucked herself behind Alya and the medic. She was still ready. The same smell. Alya understood that. She might have done the same with Vidya.
Ohnari: What does the observation chamber observe? ::pausing, she realized that sounded wrong:: What I mean, is it connected to the medical facilities?
Torado: ::whispered to self:: Ritual mutilation, probably.
By now, Alya knew that the marine was disapproving of their culture. The translation of their words was not only an accusation. It was more a charge. She was condemning Velithari culture within the blink of an eye.
Alya: The chamber observes what is around us. The nebula. The skies. ::a small click:: We usually do not separate the outside from the inside much. The same eye learns both. The chambers are near to one another. We will pass through both.
She kept walking. The thin salt-and-oil smell that had begun to thread the rest-cells was stronger here. Not strong, just stronger. The closer the corridor curved them, the more of it the air could dispense to her noise.
Ohnari: Is our crewman currently in your medical facility?
That question had walked with them into the corridor. Alya took some time between the question and her answer choosing which truth to give.
Alya: There is an alien male in our keeping. He is not in our medical facilities. He did not require medical attention yet.
Ohnari: Surely at this point, you have determined he is not a threat...would we be permitted to retrieve him?
Torado: We’d love to get him out of your hair, and then we can get ourselves out, too. ::squint:: If you had hair. It's a saying from my home planet.
Alya: That is not in my keeping. This is Rana’s decision. I will make no promise for her. I will say that your question has been heard.
Ohnari: Response
The corridor curved again. A second archway opened ahead, smaller than the one they had left at the rest-cells. The light was differently in there. Alya felt the Jorogumo breathe with the change. She breathed with her.
Torado: So, uh, what are you the security against?
That question was not one the security lead had expected. This one she could answer cleanly.
Alya: I am responsible for keeping my people safe. Jorogumo is our mother. I am her guard.
Ohnari: Response
Torado: No, I mean, what do your people have to worry about? You seem pretty isolated. Fortified. What's your job around here?
Alya: The takers. The ones who came before the Alliance. The hungry ones who follow the paths into the gas and find us. ::a soft click:: I am the eye that does not close and the hand that does not let go if necessary. ::a pause and another click:: We determine the nature of every species we meet and determine if they are takers. As we do with you, Torado.
Torado / Ohnari: Response
Alya: We are isolated because we have learned to be. The fortifying did not come first. The takers did. We worry about the next ones. We always do. Your shuttle is not the first to land on Jorogumo. There have been others.
Talking about vulnerabilities was perhaps more honesty that Rana or Vidya would have wished her to give, but she tried to convince herself that not every alien was a taker. She needed to be on guard and still have some trust. Not only in the aliens, but also in Rana and her decisions.
The light of the observatory brightened at the end of the hallway. Its scent brightened, too. Delighted, Alya made and inviting gesture towards the chamber. She smelled that Rana had been here not long ago with her party of aliens. Still, this place was something special to show to anyone visiting Jorogumo.
Ohnari/Torado: Response
TAG/TBCFirst Officer
USS Khitomer
A239901CD3