[i][right][sub](Collab: [@Tortoise] and [@TimeMaster])
(Starring: Kayla and the One)
[/sub][/right][/i]


The One were even happier than before. The construct was called a meeting place which could only mean one thing, there were more humans out there! 

The ship crew burst into a strange half-dance/half-work mode as everyone scrambled to positions to land the ship. This would be the first interaction of the One with potentially different species or just different humans. That would truly be something different, for the first time in three Earth centuries, a different face. 

As the ship landed, The One were ready for action. Hundreds of themselves stepped out in the landing bay of the ECU as per the instructions. Neatly and ordered with their faces covered, they stepped out to form two columns.

Only one of them, a Grant, stepped in front of the group to greet Kayla. His face uncovered, neatly shaved with a smile on his face. A bone sword attached to his belt. 

For half a moment, Kayla felt like she was facing an invading army. The ECU segment usually only housed a few dozen people, and was fairly cramped together at that. Now hundreds had marched on to their gaudy little party zone, the landing bay of which barely held them all, and one had- she could barely believe it- a [i]sword.[/i]

Fun!

Kayla smiled back at the Grant. “Welcome to the Earth Cultural Union. I’ll skip the usual spiel- I’m Kayla. You are?”

Grant bowed and kissed Kayla’s hand as one would do when meeting a lady and then said “[color=gold]We are the One. You may call us James William Grant. A pleasure to meet a fellow human. We haven’t met one in a long, long time. [/color]”

Kayla laughed loudly, partly from shock and partly from the general weirdness of this meeting. “You haven’t? Then, uh… what are all those guys behind you, with the, uh, dramatic face coverings?” She waves her hand over her own face. “Robots? Aliens? Robo-aliens?” [i]And why,[/i] she thinks but doesn’t ask, [i]are they called ‘the One,’ like there’s not literally hundreds of them right there?[/i] 

The Ones were surprised at Kayla's laughter.

"[Color=gold] We are sorry if we offended, and something funny. We assure you, we're not trying to offend. [/Color]" said the lead Grant, thinking for a moment they broke some cultural laws of sorts.

Upon hearing Kayla's questions, another Grant stepped forward while the first Grant, covered his face with an identical helmet. The second Grant took his helmet off and answered the question with a more serious look on his face. 

"[color=gold] We are the One as we've said already. The aliens we've met are dead, we are all human here but we are all, besides you, One.[/Color]".

Kayla’s eyes grew wide. Wider than a person’s eyes should normally grow, in fact, darting rapidly between the two Grants. “Twi-twins? No, no, no..." in shock, she nearly tried counting the masked men, but gave up at the enormity of it all. "Too many for twins! Too many."

[i]Deep breaths, Kayla, deep breaths.[/i] She'd been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder years ago, and it still occasionally got the better of her. Three inhales and exhales later, she spoke with a steadier voice: "...you're all the same? The same individual? That's- that's, well, I think I can safely say that nobody has ever met anything like you."

Giving Kayla a moment to process, their "secret" revealed, all of the Ones took their helmets off. All of them were watching Kayla with the exact same expression, all but the second Grant. 

"[Color=gold] Ah, we see you've figured it out. We are the One. This one is called Grant, please refer to this body like that. We're assuming it will be easier for you. [/Color]" a pause, then, a few others stepped forward. 

Each of them speaking a different word of the sentence : "[color=gold] Are we correct to assume that the Earth Cultural Union is not the only human colony that managed to survive throughout the years? We are not fully alone? [/Color]"

The Oligarch felt a small chill down her spine, the way they coordinated so well without talking to each other, like she’s heard about the Zetans doing. Except that they try to keep it secret- these guys are showing off.

“No, uh, Grant. You’re not alone. So far, we’ve encountered over a dozen other colonies. Fair warning, though: some of their Gateways have closed down after reopening. We don’t know what causes it, how to fix it, nothing.” She shrugged, hoping inside that such a causal move would calm her down as well. 

“Right now, I think there’s seven of us altogether, and I guess you make eight.” Kayla whipped the infopad out of her pocket by habit. “Yeah,” she read some text off the screen, after tapping a few buttons to pull it up, “there’s us, the Undefeated, the Xandalian, Columbian and Matuvistan republics, a company called the Lorne Admin., and last but certainly not least, a bunch of cyborgs in the Zetan system.” She counted each colony off on her fingers. “We just had a war with those, the Zetan ones, but lucky for you, you’re entering the galaxy right at peacetime. Nobody trying to kill anyone. I think.”

She cleared her throat. [i]Just don’t look into their identical, creepy eyes, Kayla,[/i] she told herself, and then did exactly that. “We- we can send you some data about the other colonies, and help you contact any of them. But… maybe we could talk somewhere more comfortable? We have a fully-stocked bar on board. Lots of stuff to drink.” And maybe, if she’s lucky, that’ll distract her from the gaze of countless mass-produced men.

You know, it probably won’t.

Fear washed through the faces of all Ones. The chance of the Gateways to close would mean that they may be left stranded, not that it would make a difference in the grand scheme of things but the Ones from back home will never know that they weren’t alone in the galaxy. 

“[color=gold] 8 nations with us. That is incredible. [/color]” the possibilities went through the One mind, at once. 7 nations would mean 7 places where natural resources can be gathered from. 7 chances to ally with one of the nations. 

“[color=gold]There was a war? Hmph. Human nature never ceases to amaze us. We’ve lost so many when Earth was abandoned and after 300 years with no contact, we still find reasons to kill each other. [/color]”

Their voice was full of hatred at the mere thought of the word “war”; the only reason they were alone was due to people fighting over resources, not understanding that by fighting each other, more was lost than gained. 

“[color=gold] That would be great, unfortunately, we don’t have whatever you’ve held in your hand. We don’t have computers back home on 00110001. The most we’ve managed to build was the spaceship we’ve arrived here with, that and another ship we’ve...potentially lost. Just you telling us this, we’ll remember. Show one of us the information and we’ll remember. [/color]” 

At the mention of a fully stocked bar, the One realized their mistake. They haven’t offered any tea or food. Suddenly, a few Williams stepped out of formation and produced, from the ship, a table and chairs, all made of bones with a nice table cloth on top. 

“[color=gold] We are truly sorry to have forgotten about this. Our excitement overtook our manners.[/color]” Without looking, Grant sat and the chair was pushed right towards where he would be.

Freshly cooked meat and Glowy-One tea was brought forward. 

“[color=gold] Please, sit. The food is on us this time, the meat is fresh and the tea is made out of a mushroom that grows on our planet. It’s not poisonous, we think. None of us died while drinking it, yet. [/color]”. 

Feeling Kayla’s unease and in hopes of keeping things civil, the Ones put their helmets back on, leaving only the main Grant with his face uncovered. 

She sat down at the table, a mix of surprised and impressed. This had been more the sort of First Contact she was hoping for: new things to try! “Well, if nobody’s died drinking it, I guess I won’t be the first.”

"[color=gold][i]Hopefully[/i][/color]" muttered the lead Grant under his breath. 

The mushroom tea tasted a bit like truffles, but earthlier, tangier, and more... well, glowy. But Kayla liked truffles, and drank down the tea eagerly. She even checked her heart beat in a mock medical examination. “Not dead yet, am I? That’s good.”

The meat, on the other hand, was a little unsatisfying. Like beef, but sweeter, too tender- she liked more texture to her food. Three bites went down without complaint. “Very good,” she fibbed.

On to something more substantial: “So, what’s your own world like?” Kayla asked. “Is there a reason you’re all so, uh, well-matching?”

Grant wanted initially to eat as they’d usually do with his hands but they reminded themselves where they were exactly. 

The forks and knives felt different in their hands than they remembered but nonetheless, they hacked at the meat as a gentleman would and drank the Glowy-One tea with great pleasure. 

“[color=gold] Just wait until tomorrow and contact us. If you die, we’d like your body. It would probably be useful at one point or the other. [/color]” half-joked Grant with a friendly smile on his face. (She laughed at this, deciding- or hoping- to take it as a joke.)

Looking closely at Kayla while she was eating them, they haven’t said anything to her. No complaints, no worries then. 

“[color=gold]Our world. Not [i]my[/i] world. Please refrain from addressing this Grant as a single person. We are One and more. [/color]'' gone was friendliness of Grant, their tone changing to be hard as steel then in a moment, their voice changed again to what was before and continued;

“[color=gold] We’re assuming our world is very different from yours. Barren, stripped of life centuries before humans ever stepped on the planet. One side burning, one side frozen. 

But that’s not what you’re asking. You want to know why we are [b]One[/b]. It’s a long story but in a few words, a man's true nature is revealed when he’s stripped of food and civilization. The colony ship had some of the best trained soldiers and brightest minds available at that time and even then, when we were starving, we turned on each other. 

Murder, theft, rape. All were as common as sand in the desert. In the end, only we remained. The last [i] One [/i]. The last survivor of colony ship B-075954 and the last survivor of humanity, or so we thought. [/color]” their tone remained cheerful up until the second part when it became full of sadness.

Or so they thought. Apparently, Kayla decides, they weren't prepared for the millions of identical men that must have been lurking around the planet somewhere.

"So, you... cloned yourself, I guess?" She thought for a second. "You know, our worlds do have some similarities. New Hollywood, my home planet, used to be called Bezia-seventy-two-B. It was all a wasteland when we got there. The old inhabitants- alien guys- killed themselves off. Nothing left. We've been terraforming it to be like Earth." Her lips twisted, and her smile was slightly bitter. "Or what we pretend Earth was like, anyway."

“[color=gold] Ourselves. We will say this one more time. You are not to refer to any of us, as one person. We are One. We are more. 

Just please do that. Alright? We truly don’t want to lose a few hundred bodies today.[/color]” . 

Kayla didn’t work with a lot of security, like the higher-up and wealthier Oligarchs. There were, however, a half-dozen security guards in the room, and they tightened their grip on metal batons that were very clearly descended from the protector’s clubs.

A few of the surrounding Ones had their hands on their swords already. Others were looking around for security, getting ready to throw their spears at the soldiers at range but then it all stopped with a strong deep laugh from the lead Grant.

“[color=gold] Phew, we haven’t had that much fun in 300 years. Anyways, back to the matters at hand. Yes, we did clone ourselves and we continue to do so. By our counts, since we’ve left home and arrived here, at least 52171 of us have been created. 

We’re sure our planets [i]might[/i] seem the same but I can assure you, they’re not. How? Very simple, your nation didn’t kill itself trying to survive which means you’ve had resources. We didn’t, our colony ship was hit by an EMP pulse as soon as it passed through the Gateway. Sheer luck and a good pilot was the only reason we survived the initial crash. No metals, no food, no plants. The Glowy-Ones were discovered 20 years after we cloned ourselves.

You mentioned aliens on your planet. Do you know if any of the ruins had symbols like these or if not, is there a way we could send some of us to check them? [/color]” Grant said while pulling the sleeve of his shirt, revealing [url=https://banner2.kisspng.com/20180403/lzq/kisspng-symbol-alien-language-extraterrestrial-life-alphab-language-5ac42670cd72f4.4182798215228043368415.jpg] small scars [/url] in the shape of symbols carved directly into the skin of the Grant. 

With a hand raised in the air, Kayla gestured to the security to stand down. Catastrophe averted.

She leaned in, staring at his scars for what would be an uncomfortably long time for anyone  but Kayla, who long ago decided social discomfort was just a part of her being.

"You know... those are really familiar. I got lost once, as a kid. In a ruin. I saw some, I don't know, carvings in the walls, they looked just like that. Or almost like that? Yeah." She nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I think that's it." A deep breath. Uncertainty getting the better of her. "You know what? Gimme one second."

Savant James Heralds did not like to be disturbed, especially by Kayla. But as an acting diplomat, she had the ability to send priority-level messages to his office in "the event of emergency," which she decided this was. [i]Hey, Heralds,[/i] she thought, [i]I've got hundreds of identical murder-y guys here who really, really wanna know if our ruins have some creepy symbols in them.[/i]

Well, her actual message was more formal, but carried the same overtones. Heralds actually replied back quickly, to his credit, and she did as well. It was a bit of back-and-forth from the other ends of a Gateway, but when it was finished, permission had been granted.

"Yeah," Kayla said, looking up from her info pad. "The Savant, our leader-" she restrained the urge to snort sarcastically- "said you can send over researchers to check out the Bezian ruins. They'll need to be under guard. But... they can come." Do fear and excitement always go hand-and-hand? Seems like it.

Excitement and relief. The only two things that the Ones felt upon hearing Kayla’s words. She knows them! SHE KNOWS THEM! The aliens that built the One city might’ve been part of a huge galactic empire as the One presumed long ago.

“[color=gold] We are very pleased to hear that. We shall leave a few of us here then to be escorted to the ruins but if something happens to them, we will know, just in case someone gets ideas.

In exchange, we’ve got to offer your nation something. A fair trade and all that. You may come with us back to our planet if you wish or we could offer something else. [/color]” a snap of Grant’s fingers and [url=https://i.pinimg.com/736x/93/72/c4/9372c4e032a84fcee01c3fd461ffb10b--fantasy-sword-fantasy-weapons.jpg]sword[/url] was brought over, made of bone with symbols written on it and the blade made fully of metal taken from the ruins. 

“[color=gold] It’s meant to represent status for those that wield it and it can cut through meat and bone alike quite easily. [/color]” 

Kayla ran her fingers along the sword, plainly curious. Even at 28 years old, she held onto her childhood sense of fun with both hands. And that sense said, quite loudly, that swords are cool.

“Swords are cool,” she said.

But then she looked more closely at it, and something in it’s unnatural sheen caught her eye. She laughed again. “I’m sorry, but this is a weird day. I’m pretty sure I recognize what this sword is made of, too. We have a group called ‘protectors’ on New Hollywood. They use metal clubs to, uh…” [i]to beat civilians[/i], “to fight. Guess what they’re made of?” She tapped on the sword, and even the ringing sound it made gave her goosebumps. “Bezian alloy. From alien ruins. That where you got this?”

The lead Grant laughed and with a childish voice repeated what Kayla said. 

“[color=gold] Swords are [b] very [/b] cool [/color]” not meant as mockery but just a fact, an awesome one.

“[color=gold] Bezian? Is that what you call your aliens? Are you sure it’s the sa…[/color]” mid-sentence Grant stopped and started laughing, “[color=gold] Wait, New Hollywood? Is Angelina Jolie still acting or Tom Hanks? [/color]” joked the One, not trying to incur anger but just for the simple fact that New Hollywood reminded them of Earth. 

“Oh, both are acting,” answered Kayla, “and every other actor who ever lived. Singers, too. Your people will see that when they come over. Fame is a kind of immortality. Or so Savants say. Ever wanted your name in lights?” She stroked her chin. “Anyway, yeah, I’m not sure if they’re the same. Maybe, right? Worth investigating.”

“[color=gold]If they are the same metal then the Immortalis Unum theory does work out. The metal comes from our home planet, parts of a long lost civilisation we’ve discovered. 

We’ve long theorized that the Immortalis have been a very advanced civilization capable of FTL travel or something similar that spanned across the galaxy.

We’re even more interested in your knowledge now than before, do you wish to come back with us? See our planet with your own eyes?[/color]”

Kayla hesitated, weighing the fear of these strange men against that joy of exploration that she’s always had. It’s a risk- she might call one of them by a singular term and get shanked. But then, she’s dreamed of seeing new things her whole life. Even as a child; it’s what got her lost in those ruins to begin with.

She took a breath, and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll come. One one condition: I get to keep the sword.”

Laughing at Kayla’s last words, the Grant nodded.

“[color=gold] Agreed, swords are awesome and it would be a shame not to give it to you. Let it be the first gift our nations make to each other. A sign of goodwill and trust. If your leader is alright with it, we’d like to go now. 

We’ve been gone from our planet for too long already and wish to be back with our brethren. [/color]”.

They stood up from the table and extended their hand towards Kayla to shake, which she took, while the other Ones in formation went towards the ship.