Void and Voices

Chapter 12: Antennae

The two Earthian came to Hagai's office. At first, Hagai could see both of their faces clearly through the helmet glasses. He thought the glass was so transparent and clean that their faces could be seen from the naked eye outside. But it was not glasses, it was a screen. There was a camera inside the helmet that monitored the faces, and it showed their expression live on the helmet screen. The Krosians were so impressed with the technology. It's a shame that the Earthian couldn't remove their helmet because they couldn't breathe Krosian air. They need gas that called oxygen and it was stored in their small backpack.

"Mr. Maradan, it's a pleasure meeting you." The older Earthian let out his hand to shake with Hagai. The man was probably in his late 40s. He was a bit thin, and his grey hair was also thinning. His skin was pale, but the expression on his face was so cheerful and healthy, you'll know he's the type of a guy who could make the atmosphere in a room light up. Mr Lennington was able to speak Krosian a bit, but he was still using the translator on his helmet to fully converted his language to fluent Krosian. 

"Mr. Lennington, it's a pleasure meeting you as well." Hagai grabbed Mr. Lennington's small hands and shook hands with him. The size difference of the hands were obvious, it's like Hagai's shaking Kilya's hands when she was still a baby. Hagai then continued the conversation. "Is there anything that I can help you? I already read your email and it seems that you're interested in Krosian construction?"

"Yes, yes, so you see, I've informed you before from our online mails. I'm a lecturer from New Earth which was currently on a benchmarking project with Mars." Mr. Lennington explained.

"Mars?" Hagai was confused.

"Ohh Pardon me, I mean Krosia, Mars was just something that we called as an Earthian.", an awkward reply from Mr. Lennington.

"Ahh, okay, so what is it in particular that you're looking for?" Hagai need more details for Mr. Lennington's research.

"Okay, first, let me introduce you to my bright apprentice here, James Braga. He's the one that will do the research here. Most of our projects will revolve around underground constructions. We're planning to create housings that could withstand natural disasters, especially in the unstable environments. He's been doing this research since his second year." Mr. Lennington told James to shake Hagai's hand.

"James, sir, a fourth year student under Mr. Lennington apprenticeship." James hands were slightly bigger than Mr. Lennington's, but still tiny compared to Hagai's. James was also pretty timid if compared with Mr. Lennington's cheerful atmosphere. Although on the positive side he looked calm and well-educated.

Nagal could see that Kilya's eyes were brightening, proabably because she just met a real living Earthian, a race that she heavily admired. Nagal pretended not looking at her. He was still skeptic about Earthians, especially about the real motivation they were coming here.

"We're planning to go to our accommodation first in this address, then maybe after that we could have a chat during lunch." Mr. Lennington showed Hagai where they're staying through his phone. 

"We can meet in the middle then, I'll take you Krosian specialty food, but I just wanted to make sure if you have allergy or things that Earthians couldn't eat." Hagai explained.

"I mean, for me it's okay, I've been to many places, and I'm open for any kind of exotic food.",  Mr. Lennington, still cheerful as always, but James' face was a bit concerned though. 

Hagai quickly caught this and respond, "We'll meet at this place then, 'Jalen's Bistro', it has Krosian food, but there's also other options that are more friendly for Earthians." he shared the location to Mr. Lennington. "We'll meet you there for lunch."