The trip to my little ship on the landing pad at the sky port was not a long one but Gal'rug kept asking me to tell him more about monster trucks and the 'machine wars' and I made a mental note to write down that the grog would adore monster truck rallies and every other thing I could think of that they would like. Full contact sports seemed like a good addition to that list and I wondered if they would lose their minds over WWE. I wasn't sure because it was more acting than actual fighting but one could never actually tell unless it was introduced. That wasn't to even mention demolition derbies. If they liked monster trucks I could only imagine how much fun the grog would have with demolition derbies where you did your best to destroy other cars with other people driving them.
My ship loomed over me and I reached up to the security port. I pressed my hand against it and there was a moment before the ship's door clicked and then whooshed open. "Biometric scanner?" At the question from Loril-ee I nodded.
"Scans my hand print. If I had the isolated environment going then I would need to wear my suit to even get close." I stepped into the ship and headed for my main seat. I spotted my phone and grabbed it. I wanted to take so many photos. I came back and all seven were looking at my ship.
"What are these isolated systems?" Loril-ee looked up at me and I shrugged.
"The scientists who tweaked mine say they are a force field but it's using magnetic polarity to work, I'm not sure. But you can't get close to my ship when I have it turned on. My suit has the same isolated environment built into it, meaning I can get close because the barrier accepts the barrier my suit has." That was the layman's terms for it or what I had gathered from the technical babble that they had tossed at me when they worked on it.
"Like bubbles. A single bubble can accept a smaller bubble but these bubbles don't pop when you poke them, they won't yield. They might move a bit for sound waves but nothing else." I shrugged again and opened up my phone. The screen was dark and I quickly adjusted the settings to brighten it. I always kept it low because space could be dark and the last thing I liked doing was being blinded by the brightness of my screen when I turned it on and the auto adjust never lowered it enough.
I brought up my camera and smiled at everyone. "Want a picture?" I felt super excited, I would be taking the first ever photograph of alien life. Gal-rug nodded quickly as did Dunnerton.
"What a strange little contraption." Hint said it as he pointed to my phone and I shrugged.
"Mini computer." That was the best word I could use to describe it.
"That is not like any computer I have ever seen before." Loril-ee stared at it and I shrugged again.
"You can poke at it after as long as you don't erase any of my data." I gave her a small smile before I looked around at them all. "So, picture?" I lifted the phone and they all agreed and I headed towards the closest guard. "Do you mind taking the picture?" I lifted my phone for him and he stared at me with wide eyes as he looked between me at the phone.
"I cannot even begin to know how to use that." He pointed at it and I smiled.
"Here. I can show you." I came closer and gestured for him to bend down. "Okay, I'll take a selfie to show you." I flipped the camera and lifted it, making sure both he and I were in the shot. "You just press this circle here and it takes it." I smiled and pressed it. The phone made the camera shutter noise and the guard startled slightly but smiled as I brought up the photo. "See? Easy!" I showed it to him and I was rather impressed at how decent the photo looked. "Now just keep us on the screen and press the circle when I say." I took the phone back to the camera and flipped it to the back. "The camera is here so don't put your finger over it." I showed him the back camera and he nodded and took the smart phone from me. It look positively tiny in his hands and I quickly headed back to the Ambassadors.
"Huddle up! Time for our picture!" Gal'rug said it and I stood in front of them with Loril-ee beside me. We all huddled together and I grinned.
"Take it!" I grinned and could hear the picture being taken and I hurried back over to the guard.
"I hope I did it right." He handed it to me and I brought up the photos and despite the picture being a tad tilted, the picture turned out.
"This is great! Thanks!" I grinned up at him and he nodded. I turned back to the group, "So how do we get to the crystal garden from here?"
I moved back over and Dunnerton shifted on his feet as he gave me a small smile. "We will take transit. It will arrive in a few minutes."
At the words I nodded happily. "Perfect! That gives me time to get selfies with everyone."
"What is this selfie?" At'kat'vo asked it with a clack of his mandibles and I smiled at him.
"Oh, it's slang for a picture of myself with or without others." I looked down at Loril-ee and she was staring at my phone with undisguised curiosity, like she wanted to snag It from me and play with it. "You first?" She gave a small nod and I paused. "Is it considered rude for me to kneel down beside you?"
She shook her head, "No. It would be rude if you picked me up as if you picked a child." I had to agree there as I got down on my knees and swapped the camera to the front facing one and gestured her closer. She hastily moved to my side and I lifted the camera, getting us both in frame.
"Smile!" I grinned and the moment she did I took the picture.
"Such a fascinating thing! I wonder what base technology it has." She tilted her head as she looked at my phone and I glanced at her.
"How do you guys take pictures?" It would be interesting to see what type of technology they had.
"Like this." She pulled out the circular device and tapped on it and shortly after it floated above her hand and moved away from us slightly. "Smile!" I grinned while looking at it and there was a green flash and then the circle came back to her. She tapped on it again and a near perfect, in colour hologram of us came up from it. "It works through scanning technology. How does your work?" She looked hopeful and I shrugged my shoulders.
"I couldn't tell you." I brought up our selfie and showed her. "Here! It's a pretty good one."
"Oh that is terrible! My wings are blurry! They do not know when to sit still!" She looked a little crestfallen and I smiled.
"Want to take another one?" She nodded and we huddled close and I took another one. I showed it to her and when she gave her approval I stood up and gestured to Mare-aidee. "You're next." She quickly came over and I took the picture and showed it to her. She looked a lot brighter in the photo and she gasped.
"My eyes glow?" She asked it as she reached out and hovered her finger over the screen.
"Yah. Have you never seen that before?" I looked between the picture and her and she shook her head.
"Our camera technology is based on the entire colour spectrum and shows us as we are to ourselves." She said it almost softly as she looked at our picture. "I have never seen myself like this before."
"You glow with our cameras." At'kat'vo said it with a click of his mandibles.
"Yes but I have never seen it where my eyes glow by themselves. I look enchanting!" She said it with a smile as she straightened.
"You do!" I smiled up at her before gesturing for someone else. Liress came over with Hint and I steeled myself because my instinct was to bolt because my brain kept telling me they were predators and to run. But I stood my ground and they stepped up beside me, one on each side. I went back to the camera and stretched out my arm. "Smile!" I took the picture and pulled my phone back bringing up the picture. "Does this look good?" I glanced at the two aliens and they nodded.
"It is a good picture. You never take such good holos, Hint." Liress said it almost teasingly as the two moved away slightly.
Dunnerton came over and smiled at me. "I guess it is my turn now." His voice was like gravel and I nodded. I leaned towards him as I switched back to the camera before extending my arm. "Smile." Dunnerton said it and I smiled and took the picture. I flipped back to the gallery and looked at the picture. "That is a good one of me." He patted my back with another smile and I returned it before Gal'rug was there.
He scooped me up and I let out a small screech, grabbing his large arms as he turned around. "Take one of these selfies with the ship in the background!" He gave a laugh and despite the small scare I flipped back to the camera and adjusted it so Gal'rug was in the frame with me as well as the ship. I snapped it, unable to stop smiling as he laughed again. Damn the grog were a rather happy and boisterous people. I showed the picture to Gal'rug and he gave another laugh. "I like that one!" He set me down and I grinned at him as a ship hovered towards us. It was slow moving but seemed very stable and calm. My own ship had two modes, stop and fuck you speeds. It was interesting to see something that seemed to meander.
"The transit is here. I guess that means no picture of me." At'kat'vo said it and I shook my head.
"Nope. We are getting one." I moved over to him and went back to the camera. He tilted his head, his faceted eyes glinting. "Smile!"
He tilted his head again. "I do not have the physical capabilities to smile." He said it slowly and I burst into laughter.
"Sorry. Force of habit." I turned back to the camera and lifted it, getting a picture of us both. "Do you like it?" I showed him the picture and he gave a slight bow of his head.
"It is adequate." He clicked his mandibles and waved his spider leg fingers and I nodded right as the hovering ship set down. I looked over at everyone and Mare-aidee gestured me over. I and At'kat'vo moved over to the group and she smiled at me.
"You will be sat between Gal'rug and Dunnerton. For your safety. We will take four guards with us, just to keep the crowds away. We will arrive at the crystal garden in about four minutes." She said it quickly and I nodded before Gal'rug grabbed me around the waist and practically heaved me onto the hover ship.
I yelped slightly and scowled at him. "Hey, easy on the manhandling." He just guffawed at me as he let me go and Dunnerton gestured for me. The interior of the ship kind of looked like a military plane, a big empty area with seats along the edges.
"Come sit. Ignore him, he likes to irritate others by seeing what he can get away with." At his words I nodded as I moved to settle into the seat beside him. He showed me how to put on the harness and while it was a little big on me, there was a way to tighten it and I smiled as Dunnerton showed me how to tighten it properly.
"Gal'rug!" At Mare-aidee's sharp shout I looked over and could see her getting heaved onto the ship. Gal'rug clearly having picked her up as well. "Do not be so pushy!" I could hear the grog laughing loudly outside.
"If you pick me up I will bite you!" Liress's voice was a snap followed by a growl and I could hear Gal'rug laughing again. Hint climbed on to the ship holding out his hand, Liress took it and he helped her up into the ship.
"That is how you help someone, Gal'rug." Mare-aidee said it as she sat herself across from me, near the door.
"There you are." Gal'rug said it as he held Loril-ee's hand, lifting it to help give her height as her wings fluttered hard to get her airborne to make the large step onto the hover ship.
"I do not require assistance but thank you anyway, Gal'rug." At'kat'vo said it as he climbed into the ship. Gal'rug came in behind him and I watched as all of them got settled into their seats s the four guards climbed onto the ship as well.
Gal'rug grinned at me as he sat beside me. "This will be fun!" The door to the ship slide closed and then I could feel the ship rising. It felt a lot different than my own ship, like I was on a roller coaster. "You will like this." He gestured to the floor of the ship. I looked at him with a bit of confusion and within a second the floor rippled and disappeared. I yelped and lifted my feet as my heart jumped into my throat. Gal'rug grabbed my shoulder and laughed as I grabbed my harness.
"Do not scare her!" Loril-ee said it with an edge. "It is a viewing screen, the floor is still there." She said it, holding out her hands as if trying to calm me down.
I looked down a bit warily. "The floor is still there?"
"Yes." Dunnerton said it rather calmly and I slowly set my feet back down and despite the floor showing me a bird's eye view of the sky port, it was firm below them. "If you look over there. You can see the Mah'gee's Point. Biggest building of the city." He pointed out a golden looking tower and I raised my eyebrows and looked it over.
"What does it hold?" I looked around before shifting in my seat, trying to see a better view of it. It was like a spiralling tower.
"That is an art museum and a concert hall. The pride of Bat'lar." Gal'rug said it with a heavy amount of pride and I nodded.
"We can go there when we get a chance." Mare-aidee said it with a smile and I smiled back. That would be awesome. I kinda wanted to see what their art was like, I wanted to see if it was similar to our own.
"There is the arena!" Gal'rug nudged me and pointed out a circular building that really did bring to mind the colosseum, or what it would have looked like back when it was built.
"Definitely gladiators." I chuckled slightly as I relaxed a bit more, looking out over the pale grey and almost white buildings as we flew over them. The city was definitely different than our own on earth. There was no wide highways and there was a lot of green, clearly with space flight and hover vehicles, they let the cities evolve for more a people orientated ground level that probably had a lot of nature.
"I will take you to see a battle with a winged horror!" He thumped my shoulder and I made a slight face at him but nodded. I swore I was going to get a bruise if he kept thumping my shoulder like that. "It is a heart thumping good time!" He nodded with a large amount of excitement and I had to chuckle. He looked so excited about it and all I could think about as a kid on Christmas.
"If you look down you can see the Royal House Gardens that was gifted to Bat'lar by the Royal House of the Black." Mare-aidee said it as she pointed to the rather large swath of green and vibrant red and yellow that rested nearly right below us. The garden honestly looked amazing and I made a mental note to ask to go see it at some point.
The ship started to descend and the floor rippled back to being a regular floor. I relaxed a bit, not realizing just how much that view had made me tense. Then again the floor looked like it had disappeared entirely and without warning. There was little to relax about with that happening. "We will arrive at the crystal garden in a few moments." Dunnerton said it and I nodded slowly. I looked around and no one else seemed particularly bothered by the strangeness of the ship or its viewing screen or just how utilitarian everything looked.
It was strange and I wondered if the ship was a public transport. Everything in the city looked so sleek and and modern, so the ship being like it was, was a little confusing. "You look bothered." At'kat'vo said it evenly and I nodded a bit.
"Is this a public transport ship?" If it was I was curious to know why they made everything else look so elegant and their ships looked almost military.
"No, this shuttle is for the guards. We decided to use it because it is larger and much safer to transport you around in." At'kat'vo said it with a wave of his fingers and I gave a small ah as the ship landed fully and the door opened. The guards were the first out and I looked at Dunnerton. He gave me a small smile as he showed me how to unlatch my harness. I was soon on my feet and being practically herded to the exit.
Hint held out his clawed hand as I came to the entrance and I repressed the urge to recoil and took it, letting him help me out. Gal'rug jumped out right behind me and grabbed my shoulders, turning me. "Welcome to the crystal garden!" He boomed it out, letting my shoulders go and my mouth dropped open as I took everything in. The space glinted and shined with crystals and I blinked rapidly as I took it in. Some were giant and stuck out of the ground in giant spikes that were wider than I was and then others were almost delicate looking, making geometric shapes that rose out of the earth in spiralling designs.
"Wow." I breathed the word out, filled with awe at just how amazing everything looked. Some almost seemed to be deliberately grown in such a way that it made images and the colours of them were amazing. Some were crystal clear and others were aqua and some pink and others were a smoky grey and every colour in between.
"We cultivate these sculptures on my home world. Some of these sculptures have taken centuries to grow." Dunnerton explained it as he moved to stand beside me.
"This is..." I looked around, my heart thumping hard in my chest at the utter awe I felt. "I have never seen anything so beautiful." I hadn't. There was a mastery going on here that I could barely comprehend. Nothing was carved, I could tell that they had grown like this and I wondered if this practice was similar to bonsai trees. Sometimes it took decades to get a bonsai tree to look how they did. But the thought of someone meticulously creating the conditions required to form the crystals and then guiding them to grow in a particular way and then passing it down to another so they could do it, and then passing it down to another for literally hundreds of years until all that was left was a wondrous sculpture that had outlived numerous artists that helped make it, was awe inspiring.
"We jyngt are renowned for our crystal gardens." Dunnerton said it evenly and I nodded.
"I can see why. I have never seen something this amazing before." I looked around, trying to take it all in but knowing I wouldn't have time to study every bit of the sculptures that rested in it. "How much does the garden have?" I could see this was just the entrance and the garden went further inwards.
"It is mixed in with flowers from my home world, most crystal gardens are. It also contains trees brought from the k'gtar home world." Loril-ee said it as her wings fluttered as she moved towards the entrance into the main garden.
"Also carvings from our home world as well." Liress said it as she followed the antwyn.
"The gardens are a celebration of our unity as a Galactic Union. We pride ourselves on having one in each city on every planet." Mare-aidee said it with a smile, her skin glowing in the sunlight. I stared at her, actually glowing. She was literally glowing. I shook my head to push the thought away. That was old news, it was well established she glowed.
"Is it alright if I take pictures?" I looked at Dunnerton and he nodded, his craggy looking face moving into a smile.
"It would bring us all great pride to have it captured on your little device to show your people." He slowly gestured with his hand, bowing his head and I smiled. I pulled out my phone and brought up the camera and started taking pictures.
Everyone was going to flip when they saw these. I was getting a bit excited seeing everything and I knew this was a geologists wet dream. Honestly I believed the jygnt were a geologist's wet dream. I glanced at the rock skinned man and looked away quickly. There was no way I was going to tell Dunnerton that though.
"So what makes your skin like that? Minerals?" I walked beside him as we entered the garden and he nodded his head slightly.
"Metals mostly but there are some minerals." He held out his arm towards me. "Go ahead. I know you would like to." He gave me a small smile and I quickly reached out and touched his arm. It felt like stone but when I pushed on it there was some give as well as some warmth that radiated out of it. Not a lot on the surface of the rocky like plates but in the seams of them where they met at his joints radiated heat. It was so interesting to see and touch.
"Can you feel my touch at all?" I looked up at him and he shook his head.
"I do not have tactile sensation on the plates, I can feel your body heat if you rest you hands on the plates but I have more sensation in the gaps and my inner skin." He turned his arm over, showing the slightly smoother inner arm. I touched it and it felt a bit like alligator skin but smoother. "It is not a sharp sensation, much like the others would feel aside from At'kat'vo, but it is there." He nodded at me again and I smiled with a nod as well.
"What can you feel with your hands? Is it similar?" I looked his hand over and he flexed it out and then wiggled his four fingers.
"Similar to my inner skin. I would not receive much tactile sensation but I would perceive heat." At the words I nodded and let his arm go. "Look at this." He gestured to one of the large spiked creations. It was green in colour and almost seemed to glow. "This is Betrayer's Horror. It is said that it sprung from the blood of a horrendous betrayal that was attempted to be hidden. It glows to forever show the shame of such an action."
I nodded as I looked at it. "Can I touch it?" I glanced up at him and Dunnerton nodded. I quickly reached out and touched the closest spear of green crystal. It was almost warm to the touch and was nearly smooth. I grinned as I smoothed my hand over it. It was rather interesting because while it appeared smooth, I could feel little bumps on the surface. "This is so cool." I stepped away from it before bringing up my phone and taking a picture of it. "What else can you show me?" I looked around and Dunnerton gestured to a large flower behind a delicate golden cage. It looked like a giant lily of the valley, the flowers so big they were bigger than my head.
"Wow!" I looked at it and moved closer before Dunnerton grabbed my shoulder.
"Do not get close." I looked up at him in confusion before the flowers made a tinkling sound, lifted its heads and then lunged at me, thumping off the bars. I yelped and nearly climbed the jygnt to escape. He made a grinding sound as he took several steps away from the caged flower and then carefully pulled me off his person.
My heart was beating frantically. "The flower tried to bite me!" My voice pitched upwards slightly and Dunnerton set me down as I stared warily at the flower. "What the actual fuck?" I looked up at him with horror and he looked down at me slowly.
"Lev'twi is a level one planet. Most of the flowers are carnivorous." He said it slowly and I shied away from the flower a bit more as it made that tinkling sound again. "Us jygnt do not have to worry about them." He moved towards the cage and held out his arm. A flower lunged out and I could see needle like teeth go to bite down but his rocky plating was in the way and there was a rather sharp sound like nails on a chalkboard as those teeth scrapped against his plates before the flower cringed back and seemed to hunker further down.
"Dunnerton, do not tease the Carnage Flower." Loril-ee practically scolded him as she fluttered closer.
"They tried to bite me." I looked down at her and she looked up at me in confusion.
"Well yes. They are flowers." She said it slowly as if trying to reinforce a point that made no sense and I blinked at her rapidly.
"Flowers don't try to eat people." At most some plants tried to eat insects but not people. That was horrifying.
"Yes they do." She stared at me as if I were confusing her and I shook my head.
"Well on earth they don't."
"Oh... how strange. What type of predators does your planet have then?" She tilted her head as she looked at me.
"Like big cats, bears, some reptiles, that sort of thing." I gestured with my hand and she stared up at me.
"I do not know what those are." She said it almost primly before turning to look at Dunnerton. "Are you done teasing them?" He nodded as he moved away from the flowers who were shying away from him like I had them. "Okay, so stay away from the flowers, look from a safe distance but do not get close." She gave the warning to me before shaking her head. "A species that does not have predatory plants. How odd." She fluttered away and I watched her before shrugging and pulling out my phone. I took a picture of the flowers feeling a bit dumbfounded.
"Is that normal?" I looked up at Dunnerton and he gestured for me to continue to walk and I did so.
"For Lev'twi, yes. Most of the animals and plants are carnivorous." He said it evenly and I stopped, staring at him.
"Even the antwyn?" Pixies that came from a planet that had carnivorous flowers and they ate meat?
"Aside from the greg-ator, the Antwyn are the top predator of their planet. So yes. They still eat some plants but they are mostly carnivorous." He gestured for me to continue following before he stopped in front of a purple crystal sculpture that looked like a tree with wings. "This is called The Great Roots of the Mountain." I nodded but honestly I was completely blown away by the fact that the pixies were a top predator on their planet.
Well that was something to make sure was well known back on Earth.
Don't fuck with the pixies.