First Contact

Nakteti had developed a love for the Terran night sky. The bright stars in the sky, the tiny flashes of satellites whipping through orbit, the deep colors, but most of all, she loved the hustle and bustle of the human cities. The long lines of color on the major traffic arteries, the lights of the buildings and on the street, the great holographic advertisements, the movement of aircars.

It just seemed so... busy.

San Angelos weather was fairly benign, so she had gotten in the habit of turning down the protective screens on the balcony. Tonight there was a fairly damp breeze coming in off of the Pacific Ocean, where furry playful creatures called otters lived and played, and the night was warm.

She was sipping a fruity cocktail that had a scoop of ice cream in it. A Treana'ad Mating Dance, the drink was called. She had to admit she liked the taste of it, and the fact it came with two little 'gummi' mantises to chew on was just the best part. She was relaxing in a sheer dress that felt almost wicked, but she'd learned quickly that she needed to dress either in her Captain's uniform or something stylish. The dress had been made by a fashion designer for her. Her mother hadn't really approved of the slits in it or the gaps bridged by silvery shimmering cords, she had claimed it had shown too much fur and was almost scandalous to wear in front of important people.

She had worn it anyway, since she had been asked to a party where she was to meet important people. The director she had hired was introducing her to the people who would make the movie happen. The owner of the virtual effects company, the music and sound company, so many different companies it made her head spin.

There had been so many humans, all dressed so differently, with so many different color hair, skin, eyes. Some had been modified, more than a few looked like anthropomorphic animals, a few digital sentiences, a couple of cyborgs. She'd met all kinds of people and talked to them about the movie and about her people.

Which is why she was sitting on the balcony relaxing. Humans lived in a whirling existence full of activity and talking and interaction that came close to overloading her senses. The balcony was nice, it was safe, and except for Major Carnight sitting across the table from her, it was more or less solitary.

The door slid open and Nakteti's implant pinged her that her mother was walking out onto the balcony. She only half paid attention to the fact her mother came out, ordered up a fruity elaborate drink, and sat down on the chair before reclining it back and sipping at her drink. Her mother's escort, a Captain Manners, or was it Captain Politeness?, sat down nearby, looking just as ease as Major Carnight did near Nakteti.

"I much prefer the rain," her mother said.

"It doesn't rain out here very much, mother," Nakteti said. "This apparently was a desert that they terraformed back before they even mastered the combustion engine."

Sangbre sighed, shifting slightly in the chair, sipping at her drink. "Humans are indeed industrious."

Nakteti looked over at her mother and spit her drink out in shock.

"Mother!" she protested, coughing.

"What?" Sangbre asked, looking down her nose cooly at Nakteti. "What ails you, my child?"

She waved at her mother. "You're... you're... naked!" she said. Her mother wasn't even wearing modesty clothing, just sitting out on the chair, on the balcony, in her bare fur.

"Pfft, as if it matters. We are a thousand feet up in the air. On a balcony. At night," she scoffed. "Even if someone could see us, what does it matter? We are the only two Tnvaru on the planet. I sincerely doubt that anyone will be consumed with lust at the sight of my unclad fur."

Nakteti couldn't help herself, she laughed.

"What is so funny, child of my heart?" Sangbre asked. She had enjoyed a few drinks.

"Tell me you didn't go out like that?" Nakteti asked, getting a new drink to replace her old one.

"Of course not. One does not parade around their nakedness in public. This is private," Sangbre said.

"Where did you go?" Nakteti asked, trying to change the subject from her mother's almost aggressive nudity.

"I went to see these movies. They were nice enough to clear the entire theater for me and allow me to select the movies I wished to see. I told them I wished to see epics," Sangbre said. "I watched an amazing set of stories called There and Back Again and the sequel Lord of the Rings, as well as a marvelous movie called Across the Sea of Glass to Botswana, which was a fascinating look at the brown people of the Continent of Darkness adapting to the plasma glass sea around one of their ancient cities. Did you know they kept the glass? They call it the SkySea. They sail blade-ships on the surface."

Sangbre shook her head. "Amazing, fantastic creatures, bravery, horrible exciting violence, and true historical endurance. It was not only enticing and exciting, it was inspiring."

"And that led you to being naked out here? Mother, you should at least put on some modesty clothing," Nakteti said.

"I do not want to. Did you know that the humans who lived in the location known as the Katanda during the Extinction Era..." Sangbre said.

"Mother, you really should put on modesty clothing. What if someone was to take video or images of you splayed out in that chair?" Nakteti cut her mother off.

"Bah. I am a Tnvaru, what would humans care if they see me naked?" Sangbre said. "Gather your bravery about you daughter and let a Tnvaru matron relax as she wishes."

"Um, mother, have you ever heard of something called Rule 34?" Nakteti asked.

Sangbre frowned as she took a long drink off of her beverage. "No. What is it?"

Nakteti giggled. She accessed her implant, wrapped up several keywords, and tossed them to her mother. "Run a StellarNet search for those terms, mother."

Nakteti used her implant to direct the search results from her mother's implant to the holotable slightly in front and between them.

Sangbre frowned. She did not see the connection between the terms. "Rule-34" and "Tnvaru" and "Sangbre" and "Drawn" all seemed only connected by herself. She sighed theatrically and queried her implant.

Nakteti expected her mother to shriek out loud or at least express horror and disgust.

Instead the matron leaned forward, examining the image.

"That's not exactly how our anatomy works," she mused.

"Mother!"

She waved her hand, flipping the next set of images. "Hmph, even in my youth when flush with milk my breasts were not so prominent. I must let this artist know that I appreciate them granting me such obvious virility."

Nakteti stared as her mother flicked to the next image.

"Hmph, well, I do not know if the anatomy is comparable or would look like that, but the artist ensured that I appear to be enjoying myself," Sangbre mused.

Captain Manners could see that the older matron Tnvaru was outwardly being nonchalant about the drawn pornography of her, but he could see her anxiety and mood levels spike at each image.

Sangbre drained her drink, dialed up another one, and leaned back, flicking rapidly through several images.

"Well, the attentiveness to the details is flattering. These all took talent, dedication, and an investment of time. I believe I will contact some of these artists and notify them of my appreciation of their efforts," Sangbre said, sipping at her new drink.

Nakteti just stared at her mother, unable to believe what the matron was saying.

"Close your mouth, dear," Sangbre said. "To quote a human saying: you'll attract flies."

Nakteti gurgled in shock as she snapped her mouth shut and leaned back, staring at her mother with wide eyes.

"Oh, do not be so prudish, child," Sangbre said, shaking her head. "They are a young people. They were still hunter gathers when our people had all the comforts of advanced science. Young people are often curious, energetic, and, well, inappropriate."

Sangbre turned to Captain Manners and twitched her ears in amusement.

"Tell me, Captain Politeness, do Terran famous people have such artwork made of them by admirers?" Sangbre asked.

"Yes, ma'am," he said.

"Well, we have been together for the last three days. Let us add your name to the image search," Sangbre laughed. She tossed it onto the table. "Oh, my, they certainly have a definite opinion on you, Captain Politeness."

The Terran's face was bright red and Major Carnight gave snorting laughter.

"Let us see what happens if we run your name and that of the Major, my dear daughter," Sangbre said. She changed the search parameters.

"Why, my dear, it appears the two of you are as popular together and Captain Politeness and myself," Sangbre took a long drink and leaned over slightly to give her daughter an arch look. "Well, my daughter, what say you now?"

Nakteti was trying not to choke on her own spit at the graphically drawn lewd pornographic images of her featuring both her and Major Carnight.

"And I'm not even sure our anatomy could interact in such way," Sangbre mused. She waved her hand, bringing up a new image, and looked at her daughter again. "My word, Nakteti, what things you and the Terran major have gotten up to!"

Nakteti started coughing, trying to speak. Every time she almost had her breath, almost had her reactions under control, her mother would bring up a new image and ask her or Major Carnight if they had actually tried that or if it was imagination.

Finally, unable to take the teasing anymore and feeling like she was going to faint from embarrassment, Nakteti fled to her own room.

Sangbre watched her daughter flee, sipping at her drink. She looked at Major Carnight.

"My daughter is easily flustered, is she not?" Sangbre asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Major Carnight said carefully.

"It is good that I am here, Major," Sangbre said. "My daughter is reaching for the stars, completely unaware that sometimes they are in the gutter for ease of reach. Tarnished, a little dirty, perhaps, but a star all the same."

She waved her hand at the holotable, dismissing the images.

"The location tags on some of those images were hundreds of light years away. She neglected to see that. Every one of them was hand drawn based on the public relations pictures and videos of her, as well as the stuffies. People drew them, imagined them and created them," Sangbre shook her head, looking out at the lights of the city. "What was it you told me about humans when we watched that love story, when I asked why a human would fall in love with another species?"

"We are often lonely and pack bond with anything," Captain Manners said.

"Did you know I looked it up online? There was a much better saying," Sangbre said, sipping at her drink and watching the fireflies of small vehicles move around.

"What saying was that, ma'am?" Major Carnight asked.

"When encountering something new humans ask themselves only a few questions, these questions will decide that objects fate," Sangbre said. "Can I eat it, use it to improve my life, packbond with it, or engage in sexual intercourse with it? If all of it is no, can I break or kill it?"

Sangbre shook her head. "A simple philosophy. Eat, bond, breed, create, destroy, kill. Simple and effective enough that your people have come so far that I find myself in awe of you," she said. She lifted out a piece of fruit and nibbled on it for a moment.

"Was I shocked at those images? At first. For a few seconds," Sangbre said. She looked at Major Carnight. "But I was not offended."

She hummed to herself, stirring her drink.

"I tested my daughter. She, like many of our people, like most Tnvaru, did not do well when confronted by something shocking," she mused. She looked at the two escorts. "I am not denigrating my daughter. She is a fine captain and she chose her crew wisely. I doubt any other crew, any other captain, of all the Tnvaru, would have survived that first ambush."

She looked back at the skyline.

"I am here now. I will guide her, instruct her, on how to keep others from seeing her distress," Sangbre nodded. "I will teach her to wear the crown she is busy crafting, unaware that it is her brow it will rest upon."

She stirred her drink again.

"She cannot afford innocence and niavety, not now," she said softly. "Not when the Confederacy is about to go to war."

"Ma'am?" Major Carnight said.

"It's just the inebriated ramblings of an old woman," Sangbre stirred her drink. "The Lanaktallan will never allow you to continue without their oversight, without their Council making all the decisions for your people," she spit off the railing in disgust, watching the saliva crackle away on the shielding. "They will destroy you before they allow you or your allies to retain your freedom."

She sipped her drink.

"You can bet your gripping hands on that."

Beyond her the lights of the city kept moving.

"Neither of you is safe while the other exists," she said softly.