[snip]

Cross was quick to find her place between the Captain and Cmdr though she stayed a few paces back, hoping no one would notice her. The doctor had her hands behind her back concealing the bag Hunter gave her.....not that it mattered much of what was inside. She did her best to hear and listen to what was being said but found she could not fully concentrate

Joe paid close attention to the proceeds wanting to take in every word and nuance of what was going on. It wasn’t every day you got to be at a first contact. He was really hoping for the best on all fronts but what he got only left him wanting to ask Cross if she were carrying antacids. The first thing these people did was to air their dirty laundry by talking about possible election results and no more than a breath later they were giving Glen some chips that by the way all you need do is to plug them into anything. Of course, no one was forthcoming with what sort of programming might already be on them. He took a long silent deep breath to calm himself and then did a slow inspection of where their personnel were. Only then did he go back to paying attention.

Glen, Joe and the others could also consider that perhaps in this society they were far more open and trusting, perhaps to a fault about their internal going ons, perhaps this is why it was so casually mentioned about the elections. In this case it was not perhaps so much a ‘dirty’ thing but accepted. Conversely they could also consider that perhaps in this culture being more exact on the latest news or details was also important to them. Given how isolated their society was and the ability to share news to outsiders seemed quite rare this was further driven home, as it was likely any news that happened on the habitat likely as on Starships traveled all over before anyone could consider how fast.

Cross wondered what was with the silver attire, maybe it was something that high ranking persons wore to be distinguished from the commoners? and the word ‘elections’ made her wonder what they might have possible got themselves i

Down the further end of the hall, Cross could actually see the exit point to the connecting corridor they were docked in, she could see some others young, old, and even a child or two pass by curiously peeking down the open door but then going on about their way, everyone seemed to wear the same mix of silver toned pants/shirts/t-shirts etc so it did not seem to be a mark of authority but just commonly accepted garb by all, again driving home the earlier report by the NEs in the conference room about how it seems Dol’s people were quite an open ended society and peaceful etc

Then again the female doctor’s mind went back to what the Captain had said before boarding the shuttle .....’‘He would look into what doctor Hunter did’‘. At this point she missed the old Cross for by now she would have already left the team to look around and regretted the loss of the diminished stimulation.

The doctor saw them and wondered if she could just slip away,after all they were just down the hall. The temptation was too much for Cross her curiosity got the best of her and she was ready to move away but..............

Captain Glen turned to see where Miriam had got to, and he spotted her looking nonchalant, a couple of paces back, probably hoping that no one would notice her. He looked at her steely-eyed, as if to say ‘don’t you run off somewhere to snoop and poke around, like the old Cross would have done’!

She caught the sternly stare the Captain gave her and having known Glen for years Cross knew only to well what that meant and so stayed firmly rooted on the spot.

Once the exchange of the offered chips was taken, Dol smiled again, “..Well then Captain Glen, as I mentioned I and my advisors have prepared one of our meeting halls for a small dinner in your honor and arrival. While you do not need to feel the need to eat anything offered in case it could be not to your liking or palate we would like the opportunity to sit down with you all and discuss things in more detail. In particular my Habitat Civilian Advisor in charge of our Seed Pod program wished to speak to you on any identifying markings of the pod you found so we can ID who it was. Though given we only have recently sent out in the past 20 local year’s a single pod returning it on a primitive sublight sleeper ship from an all female race some light years nearby we figure this was the one based on what you said. Though confirming or denying this is always welcome for us. If you would then come this way?” he asked with a gesture of his hand.

“My medical team would be happy to speak with your Habitat Civilian Advisor about the Seed Pod, but yes, I believe that would be the Pod that we found.”

Heading back down the corridor the docking hatch closed behind them. They were soon in a T junction corridor section. Down the left there was a long straight curved corridor which followed the line of the habitat for this deck. Distantly about 90 yards or so off they could just make out the curved arch entryway to some kind of plant based room or rooms. To their right curving also along the habitat on this deck a bit shorter ways off about 50 yards ended with several curious looking inhabitants stopping to view the new comers to their habitat. Three middle aged women, three men, and four children of age 6-11ish or so were mingling and gossiping to themselves. Going off their looks of facial tones and such each pair of men/women and the four children they likely were each related indicating three family units. No doubt word of their arrival and looks would spread among the habitat like wild fire if it hadn’t already. The corridor behind these three family units continued curving until its end point was out of sight. Straight ahead Dol and his two advisors lead them to a small spherical like tram car. Unlike the more common turbolift it seems on this habitat magnetic propelled tram cars got people from one deck or junction point to another. The car would be able to hold them all, and they could either sit or stand if they wished. The whole setup might remind some of the old Earth subway cars in the 19th-21st century.

Once everyone was aboard Dol pressed a small switch and spoke into a microphone. “..Meeting hall 3 on deck 9..” he said.

A return chime and beep confirmed his request, followed by another person’s voice speaking “..Confirmed Habitat Master Dol, this tram is now departing Docking Port 19 at Station 39A to destination Meeting Hall 3, Deck 9 Station 4J please stand by. For our new guests please keep all hands, arms, legs, and other appendages within the car at all time, thank you..” the male intoned voice said. Then with another crackle and beep the car began to move. Soon picking up a moderate speed of probably around 30-40mph. The tram would move past several other ‘hub’ stations no doubt and would slow and pause on their trip to get routed to other magnetic track lines or get raised (and probably elsewhere lowered) by small car lifts to other decks. But after about 5 minutes of travel the car again slowed to a stop with another crackle and beep from the overhead speakers by the same male voice “..Now arriving at Station 4J, Deck 9, 2 sections from Meeting Hall 3. Have a nice day!” The man said before a crackle and beep heralded his end of communication.

As the doors opened again with a hiss, Dol lead the party off the car and down another corridor to the another T junction. There they were met by another 3 of Dol’s people. Two were men and another a woman. All three wore silver toned pants with silver sneakers and simple silver t-shirts as well as the typical pointed aluminum foil like hat. “..Ah good I see we will be graced by Media representatives from the Habitat News Network, the Habitat Information Association, and the Habitat Guild Society, I assume this means the media cameras are set up inside as well as the rest of the advisors?” he asked one of the men.

”..Indeed Habitat Master Dol. Your advisors are in the meeting hall and our crews have already setup recording and microphones for your meeting with our guests. Will their be opportunity for us in the Media outlets to query them?” he asked.

Dol smiled politely turning to Glen, “..That would be up to Captain Glen and his staff to answer, forgive my lack of introductions Captain Glen. May I present three of our habitats leading Media representatives, normally they handle the daily running of affairs for their news outlets but on occasions like this they take a more personal hand in interviews..” he said gesturing first to the woman. “..This is Habitat News Network’s Lead Speaker Vos..” he said.

”..It is an exciting day to meet you all! I do hope you will let HNN be your lead choice of interview!” she said brightly.

Next gesturing to the first man, and the one who spoke earlier to Dol, “..This is Habitat Information Association Lead Speaker Zell..” he said.

”..Charmed, Captain Glen was it? As I am sure our esteemed Habitat Master Dol has said outsiders to our corner of space are quite rare, you will surely be front page news for many weeks to come or more I am sure! Especially with HIA being allowed first shot at an interview..” he said

Lastly Dol indicated the second man, “..And lastly we have Habitat Guild Society Lead Speak Lakk..” he said.

”..Well I must say Captain Glen, I happened to be the first of my other two collogues to be lucky enough to have seen your masterful ship’s arrival to our system! Such a beauty your ship is, no doubt masterfully constructed and a pride of your own space fleet! Unlike my previous two colleagues however, while I would love the chance for you to pick HGS to perform your first interview I wish to not pressure you into it either. We at HGS pride ourselves on a relaxed interviewing process, and whether we our your first choice of third I promise to you we will only give the people of our fine habitat the best quality news we can provide!..” he said beaming.

Just left of Glen and next to Joe, Dol’s wife Sala spoke quietly, “..Do not mind any of the Lead Speakers, they are always like this with breaking exciting news on the habitat especially given the rarity of outsiders to interview, normally they are stuck with far more boring reports of day to day life. So the chance to interview any of you will be a boon for their respective outlets. But if none of you wish to interview just politely decline you will not hurt anyone’s feelings..” she whispered to both.

“we won’t be taking part in any interviews at the moment,” Glen replied, “Certainly not until after the meeting has concluded.”

After any exchanges, Dol nodded and lead them into a nearby arched doorway which slid open at his touch. Inside the room was a C shaped finely engraved metal table. On it sat various simple white plates, eating utensils a little different then a normal fork spoon or knife, but the shapes and intentions while different were also the same. Drinking cups were there too, as were pitchers of water with ice cubes. Off to their left was another straight shaped metal table which was it seems home to a buffet style serving line. Three more of Dol’s people two women aged probably in their early-mid 20s in long sleeve shirts and pants with sneakers, as well as a silver-white apron, and one a man of similar dress with another apron stood behind ready to serve any food from their covered dish platters. A smaller table down from this one held more colorful drinks likely of juice or some such, a slightly younger male in the same garb stood behind it, he was probably in his late teens-early 20s if they had to guess.

Off to their right surprisingly well put together on such short notice were three pairs (6 in total) of tripod mounted cameras on wheels complete with wireless microphone attachments. Each pair had the local symbols of dialect for HNN, HIA, and HGS on their sides an six male operators for each camera are also present, all males in their mid-30s.

”..Please come in Captain Glen, and feel free to sit where you wish, we do not exactly have a formal ceremony for function when these sort of meetings happen. We prefer they be based on a pleasant exchange of inquiry and information and pacing. If you wish feel free to sample any of the food or drinks provided. Once everyone is seated and provided you do not mind Captain Glen, I would like to have this meeting recorded and broadcast later on our local news outlets, and if you wish you can also choose to have you or your staff interviewed by any or all of the Media outlets during or after our exchange..” Dol said.

“I’d rather we talked without being broadcast to begin with,” Glen answered. “Later, we can discuss interviews and broadcasts.”

-Glen, CO

”..Of course, as you wish Captain Glen..” Dol said nodding, turning to the media crews. “..For now no recordings or interviews have been requested by our guests. You may all pack up and retire back to your normal routines, sorry for disrupting your day on such short notice!” he said politely.

A few of the major media members were obviously disappointed but seemed to understand, and all three teams began to pack up the cameras and such.

Cross heard Dol’s wife telling the Captain how the media was excited about recording them since it was a ‘rarity of outsiders to interview,’ for the doctor the word ‘Rarity’ meant that they did meet or made contact with other species,so who were they? Cross hoped Glen had caught the phrase even it was just a brief declaration on the wife’s side.

Cross CMO.

The list was growing long for Joe. He was unsettled to say the least. Antique projectile weapons, people wearing tin foil, Cross acting strange, and now a buffet which smelled too good and would at the very least only poison him a little bit. Joe recognized then the true cause of his grumpiness. He hadn’t eaten yet today and as if to punctuate the fact his stomach growled. He moved over toward Cross and said to her,”Is there way to know if this food will poison us if we don’t have scanners?”

Lt.Cmdr. Joe Milligan XO

‘’There is a way actually .eat the food and if nothing happens I would know that it wasn’t poisoned , and if it is they sure would find out about our emergency transporter ‘’ she giggled ‘’Anyway I’m sticking to just a glass of water while keeping my fingers crossed ‘’.

Cross pulled him closer ‘’Joe,em I mean Cmdr maybe they are being so nice that we are finding it hard to trust them,also I’m wondering why they keep living here instead on their planet,seeing it from the shuttle it appear to be very much like Earth’‘. The doctor poured herself a glass of water ‘’Well here goes ‘’ .

Cross Dr.

Cross drank the water and.............nothing happened? It tasted like more or less normal water, just like she would have on the Merrimack. It was cool to the palette indicating refrigeration obviously. There was a slight tang to it, probably due to more primitive methods of water processing and filtering methods used on the Merrimack. But all in all it was safe to drink. Of course it would also occur to Cross she could have gotten the same answers and probably far more safely simply by using her medical tricorder. Again while this culture was more primitive then the Merrimack and Federation, they obviously we’re no strangers to space based visitations.

As Cross pulled him close Joe was confused and happy at the same time then maybe mor confused. “If you eat it and you quit breathing that’s a good sign you shouldn’t eat it. Got you. Sound scientific thought there.” Joe said with a goofy grin. “But Miri you have to wonder. They’re living on a station. Where you think they’re getting the water?”

Lt. Cmdr. Joe Milligan XO

Again Cross could answer this for the XO, they aliens here probably just had setup their station long ago with the original water supplies on their ships, then used reprocessing tech to keep cycling it over and over for use. No different then how the Merrimack would recycle and reuse waste and liquids on the Merrimack. So just as on the Merrimack they were basically drinking recycled water that had been drunk and processed for hundreds of years in this case. Also given they had seen various gardens and such, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that they used simple common sense methods to created moisture in hot houses which also then got filtered into their habitat system. In turn they probably also collected stellar ice that would pass by and filter that too. Again all things the Merrimack crew could do and did do, just with more advanced methods compared to what probably was done on this habitat.

GM CockRoach