cause.
Request permission to approach , the Gang sent. Simple and straightforward: just facts and data, thank you, with as little room as possible for ambiguity and misunderstanding. Fancy sentiments like we come in peace could wait. A handshake was not the time for cultural exchange.
You should stay away. Seriously. This place is dangerous.
That got some attention. Bates and Szpindel hesitated momentarily in their own headspaces and glanced into James'.
Request information on danger , the gang sent back. Still keeping it concrete.
Too close and dangerous to you. low orbit complications.
Request information on low orbit complications.
Lethal environment. Rocks and rads. You're welcome. I can take it but we're like that.
We are aware of the rocks in low orbit. We are equipped to deal with radiation. Request information on other hazards.
I dug under the transcript to the channel it fed from. Theseus had turned part of the incoming beam into a sound wave, according to the color code. Vocal communication, then. They spoke . Waiting behind that icon were the raw sounds of an alien language.
Of course I couldn't resist.
"Anytime between friends, right? Are you here for the celebration?"
English. The voice was human, male. Old .
"We are here to explore," replied the Gang, although their voice was pure Theseus . "Request dialog with agents who sent objects into near-solar space."
"First contact. Sounds like something to celebrate."
I double-checked the source. No, this wasn't a translation; this was the actual unprocessed signal coming from— Rorschach , it had called itself. Part of the signal, anyway; there were other elements, nonacoustic ones, encoded in the beam.
I browsed them while James said, "Request information about your celebration": standard ship-to-ship handshaking protocols.
"You're interested." The voice was stronger now, younger.
"Yes."
"You are?"
"Yes," the Gang repeated patiently.
"You are?"
The slightest hesitation. "This is Theseus ."
"I know that, baseline." In Mandarin, now. "Who are you ?"
No obvious change in the harmonics. Somehow, though, the voice seemed to have acquired an edge.
"This is Susan James. I am a—"
"You wouldn't be happy here, Susan. Fetishistic religious beliefs involved. There are dangerous observances."
James chewed her lip.
"Request clarification. Are we in danger from these observances?"
"You certainly could be."
"Request clarification. Is it the observances that are dangerous, or the low-orbit environment?"
"The environment of the disturbances. You should pay attention, Susan. Inattention connotes indifference," Rorschach said.
"Or disrespect," it added after a moment.
*
We had four hours before Ben got in the way. Four hours of uninterrupted nonstop communication made vastly easier than anyone had expected. It spoke our language, after all. Repeatedly it expressed polite concern for our welfare. And yet, for all its facility with Human speech it told us very little. For four hours it managed to avoid giving a straight answer on any subject beyond the extreme inadvisability of closer contact, and by the time it fell into eclipse we still didn't know why.
Sarasti dropped onto the deck halfway through the exchange, his feet never touching the stairs. He reached out and grabbed a railing to steady himself on landing, and staggered only briefly. If I'd tried that I'd have ended up bouncing along the deck like a pebble in a cement mixer.
He stood still as stone for the rest of the session, face motionless, eyes hidden behind his onyx visor. When Rorschach 's signal faded in midsentence he assembled us around the Commons table with a gesture.
"It talks," he said.
James nodded. "It doesn't say much, except for asking us to keep our distance. So far the voice has manifested as adult male, although the apparent age changed a few times."
He'd heard all that. "Structure?"
"The ship-to-ship protocols are perfect. Its
Request permission to approach , the Gang sent. Simple and straightforward: just facts and data, thank you, with as little room as possible for ambiguity and misunderstanding. Fancy sentiments like we come in peace could wait. A handshake was not the time for cultural exchange.
You should stay away. Seriously. This place is dangerous.
That got some attention. Bates and Szpindel hesitated momentarily in their own headspaces and glanced into James'.
Request information on danger , the gang sent back. Still keeping it concrete.
Too close and dangerous to you. low orbit complications.
Request information on low orbit complications.
Lethal environment. Rocks and rads. You're welcome. I can take it but we're like that.
We are aware of the rocks in low orbit. We are equipped to deal with radiation. Request information on other hazards.
I dug under the transcript to the channel it fed from. Theseus had turned part of the incoming beam into a sound wave, according to the color code. Vocal communication, then. They spoke . Waiting behind that icon were the raw sounds of an alien language.
Of course I couldn't resist.
"Anytime between friends, right? Are you here for the celebration?"
English. The voice was human, male. Old .
"We are here to explore," replied the Gang, although their voice was pure Theseus . "Request dialog with agents who sent objects into near-solar space."
"First contact. Sounds like something to celebrate."
I double-checked the source. No, this wasn't a translation; this was the actual unprocessed signal coming from— Rorschach , it had called itself. Part of the signal, anyway; there were other elements, nonacoustic ones, encoded in the beam.
I browsed them while James said, "Request information about your celebration": standard ship-to-ship handshaking protocols.
"You're interested." The voice was stronger now, younger.
"Yes."
"You are?"
"Yes," the Gang repeated patiently.
"You are?"
The slightest hesitation. "This is Theseus ."
"I know that, baseline." In Mandarin, now. "Who are you ?"
No obvious change in the harmonics. Somehow, though, the voice seemed to have acquired an edge.
"This is Susan James. I am a—"
"You wouldn't be happy here, Susan. Fetishistic religious beliefs involved. There are dangerous observances."
James chewed her lip.
"Request clarification. Are we in danger from these observances?"
"You certainly could be."
"Request clarification. Is it the observances that are dangerous, or the low-orbit environment?"
"The environment of the disturbances. You should pay attention, Susan. Inattention connotes indifference," Rorschach said.
"Or disrespect," it added after a moment.
*
We had four hours before Ben got in the way. Four hours of uninterrupted nonstop communication made vastly easier than anyone had expected. It spoke our language, after all. Repeatedly it expressed polite concern for our welfare. And yet, for all its facility with Human speech it told us very little. For four hours it managed to avoid giving a straight answer on any subject beyond the extreme inadvisability of closer contact, and by the time it fell into eclipse we still didn't know why.
Sarasti dropped onto the deck halfway through the exchange, his feet never touching the stairs. He reached out and grabbed a railing to steady himself on landing, and staggered only briefly. If I'd tried that I'd have ended up bouncing along the deck like a pebble in a cement mixer.
He stood still as stone for the rest of the session, face motionless, eyes hidden behind his onyx visor. When Rorschach 's signal faded in midsentence he assembled us around the Commons table with a gesture.
"It talks," he said.
James nodded. "It doesn't say much, except for asking us to keep our distance. So far the voice has manifested as adult male, although the apparent age changed a few times."
He'd heard all that. "Structure?"
"The ship-to-ship protocols are perfect. Its
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