A moment later the shuttle door lowered and three figures walked out. They got to the bottom of the platform and froze, just like the humans did. In the alien database that was recovered from the ship on Earth there were many records of alien races. Humans had studied them all in great detail. They learned that life in the universe varied, and was vastly different. There were cases where a few races looked similar, but even those similarities were small. There were only three races in the alien database that were bipedal. One of those was the race that operated the ship they found, their name was unpronounceable by human mouth so they just called them Jings which was the closest thing to their real name they could come up with. The Jings had two legs and four arms, triangular heads with four curving hornlike protrusions on their top and six eyes. They had no nose, but two slits, and their mouth had no lips. They were the only race that resembled humans in any way that they found in the database.
Hana looked at the Nel in disbelief. They were dressed in form fitting clothes that Hana believed to be a part of some kind of safety suit. Their skin was in various shades of gray. They had thick tails dragging behind them, about as thick as a human forearm, they varied in length, but were all approximately around a meter and a half long. Their fingers ended in short small, and deadly looking claws. The lead Nel had black claws while the rest had dark gray. They had hair on top of their heads, like humans did, but no hair on their faces. No eyebrows or eyelashes, their eyes had no pupil, but only an iris that was filled with small black dots that constantly moved. They were a bit taller than an average human, around two meters tall. And that was where the differences ended. The rest of them looked exactly like a human did, their faces, their body structure, everything. Hana could see that the leading Nel was female, it was obvious because the others didn’t have breasts. And she had longer black hair. The males had their hair cut short, just like most human men did.
After no one moved for a few more moments, Hana took a breath and stepped forward. She approached the leading Nel and spoke.
“I am in charge of this ship. My name is Kisaragi Hana, I welcome you to my ship.” Hana said. Immediately after she finished the device on her shoulder started producing the translation in Nel, with Hana’s voice. She didn’t identify herself as a Ship Master, they didn’t know how they named their commanders and didn’t want to confuse them, their translators weren’t perfect just yet. When the translation finished the lead Nel seemed to regain her composure and she took a step forward and spoke.
“Ru talla denure Oferani Esama, Ru etaro Uru lesavo.” She said, and bowed her head shallowly. Immediately after she finished the translation was produced in Hana’s implant.
“I am named Oferani Esama, I accept your welcome.” Hearing the translation Hana smiled, relaxing a bit. After that first shock of looking at an alien that looked so remarkably close to a human, she forgot that her first worry was not being able to communicate properly. Hana’s smile was returned by the leading Nel, Oferani Esama. She still didn’t know which was her first and which last name, if that was even what those words meant. They could be a title or something else entirely.
Hana then introduced the rest of her party, with the Nel then doing the same.
“I believe that it would be best if we move to a more comfortable location, we have a meeting room ready, if you would follow me?” Hana said. And after her words were translated the Nel agreed. Hana led them to room one level above the shuttle bay. A few minutes later they were all sitting around a table, the Nel had to sit on the chairs sideways as their tails interfered.
After they all settled comfortably Hana took the lead.
“I must say that we were very surprised by the resemblance between us.” Hana said.
After her words were translated the Nel looked among themselves and then responded.
“We were surprised as well.” Hana’s implant translated Oferani Esama’s words.
“Perhaps we would be able to investigate further in the future, and determine if there is any connection? We have always believed that our race evolved on our own home world.” Hana said.
“As did we.” Oferani Esama said.
Hana nodded. No matter how curious she was, they couldn’t push for too much too fast. She glanced at Chief Diplomat Park Chung-Ah, signaling that she should take the lead from now on. Hana turned to Oferani Esama. “Park Chung-Ah, is in charge of our diplomatic matters, and she will be in charge of any talks from now on.”
Nel nodded and turned to Park Chung-Ah. “We look to the future.” The translation said.
Hana then excused herself and left for the bridge, no matter how much she wanted to be there, it was not her job.
* * *
A few hours later, Hana was in her office with Diplomat Park Chung-Ah, and her Chief Medical officer Travis Hughes. The Traveler already continued towards the planet with its two escorts. The Nel diplomatic team elected to stay on board.
“What can you tell me about them?” Hana asked Travis.
“A lot, and not that much.” Travis said. Hana kept quiet knowing that Travis would continue.
“First, concerning our looking so much alike. I tried to get them to give us a blood sample, but they always steered the conversation away from the topic, and Chung-Ah didn’t want to press them. Perhaps in the future when we get to know each other better.” Travis said. Hana nodded.
“And what did you manage to learn?” Hana asked.
“Well, on the physical aspect, they express emotions with their faces just like we do. Although we can’t be sure that our expressions mean the same things as theirs. If there is any connection between us, it was a long time ago. They have evolved on another world on a different path. For example their tails. Humans have the remnants of a tail, at the end of our spines, but ours have atrophied long ago. Theirs on the other hand have not. Their nails seem to have evolved into claws. Their eyes are different from ours, from what I could observe it appears as if they have no pupil, though I believe that the black dots in their irises are in fact many smaller pupils, but I can only be sure by examining them. Their skin is lighter, which points to lack of skin pigmentation. Which tells me that they didn’t evolve on the world we are approaching.” Travis said.
“How can you be sure about that?” Hana asked. She and other people from the Fleet had already come to the same conclusion, although for different reasons.
“Well, this planet’s atmosphere resembles that of Earth, and is a bit closer to the star. That would mean that about the same amount of radiation penetrates the atmosphere. Skin pigmentation in humans is a defensive mechanism, to fight Sun’s ultraviolet radiation. Meaning, if they have none, they evolved in an environment that had very little to none of the radiation.” Travis said.
Hana nodded. “Anything else you can tell me?”
“No, perhaps the DNA tests will let us know a bit more. We won’t know for sure until we get to examine them thoroughly.”
“I don’t think that that’s going to happen any time soon.” Chung-Ah said.
“And what about your talks? What have you learned?” Hana turned to Chung-Ah.
“Not much more. We spent this first meeting getting to know each other. Introducing our races to each other. We exchanged social norms, and ways to behave towards one another, so that we don’t make any mistakes when we meet with those in charge. For example, the Nel frown upon physical contact in public, so no handshakes, they feel that touching another being is something private. They have no last names, they each have a single name, that they are given at birth. And then when they mature enough, they get a title that matches what their purpose is. The leading Nel that you meet today, was named Esama and Oferani was her title, it roughly translates to “one who meets”, it is her job to meet with strangers. Basically a diplomat.”
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