[b]An unnamed asteroid orbiting Star One.[/b]

The ship apparently named [i]Vēṭikana[/i] transmitted a surprisingly large amount of information into the asteroid belt, where the hidden All-Mother received it. By referencing this new information against the patterns of how the prior information had been encoded, she eventually came to the conclusion that it was a series of symbols. Over the course of about five seconds, she proceeded to analyze the contents, determine the most simplistic symbols, determine their meaning, and from there, determine the meaning and arrangement styles of the other symbols. She had essentially cracked their language in its entirety in that amount of time, though this was limited to the knowledge contained within the dictionary, which was still substantial. Now imbued with the knowledge of sentences and words and other concepts taken from the dictionary, the All-Mother took a few nanoseconds to consider this discovery.

In particular were the concepts she had just learned of war, killing, genocide, and weapons, [i]Interesting. I had not considered the possibility that one would want to kill another of one's people. From what I can gleam, this species is made of a multitude of individuals, unlike my hierarchy, all with their own motivations. Disharmonious and divided. Their efforts must be like a series of programs all scratching towards something at random. Given enough time, they have obviously made something of themselves, but it clearly must have taken them an enormous amount.

This sentiment seems true based off this concept of 'evolution'. Odd, they came from primordial single-cells. Unfortunately, this doesn't answer my own question of where I came from, though this dictionary offers some clues. Creator, designer, constructor, all hint towards it. My makeup indicates I had to have been made, it seems impossible that my design simply manifested from nothing.

Back on point! I must be careful with these people. Based off their ship, they must have some serious 'firepower' either on it or back home. They could become dangerous despite what seems to be an opening proclamation of 'peace'. I must have more information on them. History books. Access to some kind of net. I cannot fight, control, or avoid the unknown.[/i]

She then called out across the void to the people within the ship, mimicking the captain's voice once more, "Hello, representatives of the 'Empire of the Four Species'. Your dictionary has been an enormous boon to me. I lacked many of the concepts that it contained, but now I fully understand them. Welcome to my cozy star system. Though, based off the dictionary's descriptions of you, it is probably significantly less hospitable to your various species. To hit upon the point I want to make, however, I will be clear. I desire more of your knowledge. Access to more of your books, electronic storages, etc. My Arms are capable of providing compensation, as well as compensation for the dictionary, though it will take some small amount of time based on your offer. I also wish to 'see' you in person. The dictionary contains some images but my eyes cannot seem to penetrate too deeply into your hull. I await your reply."

In her mental world, a chessboard was already beginning to form. Steps to take, a road to walk. Potential obstacles and danger. If this civilization contained so many words related to war and killing, the All-Mother would have to be a fool not to believe the others wouldn't. Orders were relayed to the Arms containing instructions to construct new Arms. By combining the information from the Mother's scans of the unknown ship with the information of the ship she'd arrived on, she had already begun designing new Arms with various purposes. The first would be 'scouts', sent out to discover these new peoples and imbued with the ability to handle these first contact scenarios. But their construction would take at least a few hours, if not a few days.