Chapter 17: A goodly amount of exchange
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“What on the fucking Earth were you thinking?” Phil recoiled from the voice that rang through the phone as he picked it up “What do you mean?” He asked back as he heard a very loud sigh coming from the other side of the line from his secret government agent woman.

All 3 of them had one on their disposal and all seem to take their job very seriously “Mister Evergreen, may I remind you that you are in no way allowed to confide with others about your findings and situation at hand” Spoke the agent as he scratched at his temple.

“Did you? All I heard was that I am not allowed to share photo, audio or video evidence about the aliens and their spacecraft” He fired back as he heard a thump from the other side “Well yes, but naturally that also involves telling people that you are in contact with the aliens in the first place!” Came the hot reply.

He sighed as he averted his ears from the torrent of curses before it died down “Look, it’s not my fault to leave a loophole in the system, I’m just the one to exploit it and besides, I could always made it worse but I didn’t, just a harmless little informational bit” He responded as he sipped his hot chocolate.

“Fine, you win this round if only you are our only current alien ambassador, if the blizzard wasn’t so large than you would be out immediately but for now, you are our best hope so please don’t further jeopardize the situation” The agent pleaded him as he just shrugged “Sure” He calmly replied.

He waited for a moment before the agent returned with something “So tell me, what have you inquired from the aliens as a whole? I know you are an avid biologist” The agent questioned him as he leaned into the phone “Now why would you want to know that?” He asked in return.

“There still might be a threat that could occur from them so do tell about any and all weaknesses they possess and in the meantime, there is a large fascination with their potential biology and culture and you are one of the few people on Earth to get a close glimpse of them in person” The agent explained.

Phil accepted it as he turned back to the phone “Alright, I’ll start with something that you might actually care about, they have a form of energy shielding” He announced and waited for a few seconds for the shock to wear off “What kind? How does it work? Is there any weaknesses at all and tell me everything you know about it with detail” The agent replied asking for more details.

Phil snorted out a laugh as he answered “Well, what I do know for sure is that it can block any and all microorganisms from getting near them since they seem to be utterly unworried about the prospect of contamination so they must’ve cleaned themselves thoroughly or it also blocks them from infecting us in a way, also I saw them walk in the blizzard without difficulty so the shields do that too” He started.

He could hear the typing on the other side as he took a breather “Also, one of them gave us this flashlight thing that when shined reveals the shield as a bluish sort of electrical coloration, not sure if it’s just that piece of equipment or any bright light though” He added as he heard faster typing.

‘A thorough much a assume, want to write down what I said word for word then’ He thought as he realized a devious plot “Is there anything else you can gleam from this piece of technology?” Came another question as he responded with a “Nothing whatsoever” and a shrug from his side.

“Alright, what other piece of equipment do they possess?” The agent asked him “Well, there were 3 of them all of which are dressed differently, they have purpose built headphones with a radio and maybe a microphone type of equipment tied to their head but one looks like a scientists of some kind, the other looks to be a leader and maybe a pilot or something and the last was a soldier” He answered with truth.

“Now, I know you want to get to the soldier first but the other two are dressed so… well they have clothing but it looks deceptively similar to something that humans can actually make, it looks to be ripped out of a sci-fi show actually” He added musing as he went along “The soldier please”

He sighed as he shook his head “Alright, the soldier type seems armored, helmeted but also have some sort of body armor all dyed white, grey with bits of blue and black and it looks like a sort of plate carrier with a tactical rig on but alieney and sci-fiey” He responded “Also it appears to wield some sort of firearm but I’m not sure if it shoots bullets or lasers or plasma or whatnot” He also added quickly.

“Thank you, this information will do wonderfully, say what do the aliens look like?” Asked the agent as he smirked “What do you think they look like, take a wild fucking guess” He blurted as silence flowed from the other side before a response could be made and then heard.

“From your description and what we gathered, the aliens appeared to be somewhat humanoid in nature so I would’ve guessed that they are in the same vein as an average human but with minor changes here and there like head ridges or sharp ears like in the movies and such” The agent gave her response.

He just shook his head and cluck his tongue “You didn’t read the things I’ve sent to my friends, have you?” He asked to which he got a firm “No” as a response “They’re cute fluffy space raptors, well they’re not exactly but that’s what they remind me off anyways” He answered as he awaited a reply.

The voice that came seem in utter shock “Really? That’s what the aliens generally look like?” The agent asked in disbelief “It’s the truth, I can send you some photos and video evidences and such, they’re called the Ferrenti by the way” He added as he could hear a sigh from the other side.

“Their uncanny resemblance to other alien species in popular media and fiction is very noticeable if I do say so myself” The agent pointed it out “Yeah, it’s like we’re in some sort of amateur novel being written by someone who utterly lacks any sort of imagination at all” He chuckled as he replied.

“Well whatever, do tell about their overall shape and body structure, I need to write this all down” The agent groaned through the line “Well, take a look at some furry art I guess, they do bear a striking resemblance to the anthro pieces or something, they’re covered in feathers mostly white to blueish, two legs both digitigrade, arms with wings or wings with arms on, large somewhat bat like ears, a cuteish snout that is strikingly like a mix of mammalian and reptilian features with bug like antennas”

He heard further tapping from the other side as he leaned in “They seem to have gender of male, female or whatnot with one of which being about 5 or so feet and the other 4 feet on average if what I’m seeing is true but I honestly have no idea since 3 individuals is still too few to make assumptions” He continues.

“But god does their biology make me want to learn more, they lack any visible nostrils whatsoever but I’m beginning to expect that those little maroon dots on their necks are hiding something, maybe a gill like structure or something similar” Phil went to musing as he heard some tapping from the other side.

And then a cough “Mister Phillis Evergreen, that is all I need, is there anything else you forgot to mention?” He paused to think before realizing something “THE TAIL! God I nearly forgot about the tail, it looks prehensile and it’s whip like, also their speech is definitely different from ours, making oral communication difficult since they seem to speak in a higher frequency than we can hear" He explained.

There was further typing “Very well, I believe that is all for now, continue your diplomatic and cultural meeting with the aliens… the Ferrenti and make sure you do not anger them into nuking us from orbit, no one and I mean no one wants this to turn sour with us being the aggressors” She ordered with a terseness “Yeah, yeah, I’ll try not to stick a dick into them or anything” He shrugged as he sipped.

“I will take your word for it and another thing, please reduce the amounts of profanities in your regular speech mister Evergreen” And with that the call ended as he stretched his arms a bit with a yawn before putting it down on his desk ‘Alright, don’t piss off the government any further, damn weather making this all more difficult’ He thought as he opened his blinds to see the blizzard still raging on outside.

‘I wonder how the others are doing outside, there wasn’t any screaming, chirping, squawking, yelling or anything resembling gunshots and laser fire so I’m pretty sure they’re being quiet and polite and all’ He thought as he opened the door to his room to find an empty kitchen are which was good as he exited it.

Then he passed into the living room and paused not because of an influx of noise or activity but eerie silence “So, what on Earth is going on here?” He asked as his entrance seem to disrupt the calmness of the room “Matt challenged one of the aliens into a chess game and is now salty that he lost so it’s best of 11 now” Ellie answered after regaining herself as Phil looked at them all.

“Ah it is good that one such as yourself is ready Phrillisk” He turned a bit and saw the lead alien Sylvia from before patting him on the head ‘Okay yep, we definitely made them think that we greet each other by patting the other’s head’ He thought as he patted her in return because it seemed right.

“Hello to you too Sylvia, so glad you could join us for this grand morning, have the others been causing much trouble?” He greeted her as well as she tilted and splayed her ears and antenna out, their form of the shrug “None so far, it is nice that the one over there invited for a game” Came the reply from the machine as he let out a short laughter.

He looked at Matt again who seem to have a sort of fire in his eyes as he turned to Ellie who was giving him the thumbs up “Yeah, chess is a pretty old game really so do you want to come and have a meeting again?” He asked as he pointed to the door behind him with his thumb.

She seems to think for a moment “That is nice but, mayhaps a switching of personnel would be best, Falle-…-Sch-r…-imm over there would mayhaps want sing as well” She replied pointing to the smallest one of the Ferrenti “Oh so how about I let Ellie over there speak with him then?” Phil suggested.

He paused as he realized the words he just uttered from his mouth and silently cursed himself as he saw Ellie beamed from the other side of the room “Ah that would be nice, we have 2 instruments now but one still… is not nice, would you like cum to craft?” She asked as silence fill the room again.

Phil thought about for a moment as he digested it all “Wait, you want me to come to your spaceship with you?” He asked as he got a nod that is still a bit hesitant and strange “Yiissk” The alien spoke herself “The instrument was not mobile now, we give instrument to brother over there and he can have duet with your friend and we have duet on craft, is more efficient” Sylvia explained in detail.

“That would actually be pretty nice, yeah let’s do it” Phil agreed on the spot as he watched her expression changed a bit and the feathers on her head shift, straightened and seem to brighten in color ‘I definitely need to ask more question about their biology’ He thought as he happily laughed as she trilled in return.

 


 

It was now or never as Fallkschrimm sat down on the chair, his tail finding the hole in the center and slid through easily enough as he looked at the member of humanity in front of him. She was female with long flowing red crest feathers and her eyes seem blue as she sat still a head taller than he was.

“Hello, this one is very happy to be having this duet with you right about now” He sang as the machine ran and translated it back “Ah, excited too, this is a big moment!” She seemed as excited as he was to begin the duet and that is good, very good in fact as he tapped his clawed digit on the table in question.

“Before we began, this one would like to inquire about your name please” He asked as the alien perked up “It’s Ellie” she seems to joyfully sing as he tilted his head “Eellisske?” He repeated in his own tongue as she just moved her shoulder, a shrug from what Sylksskra told him “Close enough, already heard you name so… call you Fawkes then” Eellisske sang as Fallkschrimm digest that for a bit.

“Ah, that’s fair than” He sang as he splayed his ears and antenna ‘There’s so much to ask, which should this one inquire about first’ He composed as he thought for a moment “How does your kind breath? It seems weird to ask but this is just to confirm a hypothesis of this one” He started with that.

She seems to blink for a moment as she searched for a response “We breathed here, the nos” Came the response as he wrote it down on his holo pad, she seems to be pointing towards a small bulge on her face where it looks to separate into 2 separate small holes ‘Interesting’ He mentally chirped.

She then looked at him closely as he instinctually leaned back a bit “What about you?” She asked as he relaxed a bit and pointed to his neck “We have breathing holes on our either side of our neck, there are 6 of them in total, 3 on each side” He answered through the instrument as he explained it all.

She seemed to look at for a bit before rearing back and suddenly chirped an excited “YES!” Out loud which caused him to jump back a bit “Oh sorry about that, just got excited there that theory was correct” She assured him as he let out a low hiss, ears drooping in relief.

“That would be bad, would you mayhaps want to continue on then? We can talk about our physiology more and the differences between genders” He suggested as Eellisske perked up at this “Thought you never ask, let’s do it” she excitedly agreed as she nodded her head very quickly.

“Well, this one shall let you ask first, what would you mayhaps want to be enlightened by?” He asked as she looked at him deeply “Actually, your speech is a bit weird, is the machine faulty or some?” She asked him as he tilted his head in response “This one does not understand your singing?” He admitted in song as his instrument managed to translate it into humanity speak.;

She let out a weird noise like that of a low hiss as she shook her head strangely “No, why do you say words like this one instead of…?” He tilted his head even further as he looked at her in confusion “Instead of what? You just cut off your sentence right there” He pointed out.

She looked at him and thankfully the look of confusion seems to be somewhat common between both species “I” She answered as he realized “Oh, that sound is a note? This one and the others just thought it was just a weird noise to start or connect sentences” He admitted as he ruffled his crown feathers.

His tail and antenna lowered in embarrassment as she just made a weird trilling like noise from her side “Do you guys know what ‘I’ means?” She asked as he thought about it for a moment “Ah yes, it is a note in the alphabet of your language forms” He answered as his crown feathers brightened.

“Well yes but ‘I’ also means me” She explained as she pointed towards herself “This one does not understand, neither of those sounds are understood by this one” He admitted, letting out a low sigh “Well how do you announce yourself?” She asked as he typed in the notes into the instruments.

“This one” It rang out as she looked at him funny “Nothing else?” She asked as he gave her a chirp of “Nott” In her own language “Are you… even an individual in your nation or species? Do you even have indiciduality?” She asked him as she got closer, too close as he froze for a bit causing her to ease off.

“Sorry about that, ‘I’ just was too… hasty there” She seemed to apologize as he took in a large breath “It is fine, but yes we do have those words but they are a bit wrong per say, we all have our well rights and we are all equal in pack and in kind” He explained a bit as he relaxed again.

“’I’ uh… do you mayhaps have a word for ‘communism’?” She asked as he tilted his head “Can’t say this one ever has” He answered as he dropped his antenna and tail “Huh, that is weird, the way you sing is weird” She replied as he just played his ears and antenna aside for a bit “This one views you the same as well, to us you people are weird and to you we are weird, it just comes with being the first to make contact and such though this feels a lot less like what this one envisioned” He had to admit.

He heard a weird warbling sound as he saw her stifle something from her maw “’I’ suppose so, honest here we’re probably not the best for this kind of thing and you seem to be so too” She pointed out as he was inclined to agree with that ‘Mayhaps so, the Glow does work in mysterious ways to bring folks together and this one wonders what plans it has for all of us’ Fallkschrimm composed as he gave an affirming chirp which took a bit of explaining but after that they kept on exchanging words.

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