EliteCommander

The Cradle

Vreta was interested to know if most scientific expeditions received this same level of treatment from the Human military, as it would be indicative of how seriously they were taking both this expedition, and the threat in general. Though, if this was Freyr’s first outing, she would not be the one to know. In any case, he took a moment to tear off a piece of his steak before replying.

“The highest. The Rothian people have an…especially large economy, particularly compared to the size of our population. Automation has streamlined many aspects of our society, so we do not suffer for a lack of resources. We can afford to put our best foot forward for nearly any effort we wish to make. For this project, you can expect to have the highest quality assistance we can give you. ” Vreta answered. “I know my people have a certain…reputation for having high standards, but I think you will enjoy what we can offer, both when working and in your free time. You will receive all of the same quality of accommodations as any Rothian would. You should also be able to make special requests, if there is something you want that a Rothian might not normally think of, or if there is something you think you might not need. I suppose I am not completely sure if a Human would have any use for a basking room, for instance.”

The Cradle

There had not been much for Vreta to say as of yet. Even if there had been, he could read the room enough to realize that it was not the best time to put the scientists through a cultural crash course. That could wait until their journey had commenced. Until then, he supposed there was no harm in winding down for the day, and he did agree with Freyr that some dinner was long overdue. If nothing else, Vreta wanted to try and relax to put the mental images of those Cradle creatures out of his mind. He was going to have nightmares about getting dragged into the ground by those thorny vines.

“I haven’t seen my quarters yet, though I do have a map to their location. But yes, I would certainly like something to eat. I skipped lunch, after that whole event in the Cradle.” Vreta answered.

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Despite the size of the ship, its transit system did make traversing the vessel as quick and efficient as possible. Though, in any case, the civilian modules, like the lab, their quarters, and dining area, had all been placed in proximity to one another for convenience. That, and separating out the military and civilian components of the crew did tend to be better for both parties, or at least that was Vreta’s perspective. Among Rothians, there could be quite a disconnect between the lives of civilians and those in military service.

In any case, as the dining area was intended for the civilian personnel, it was not quite so utilitarian as Vreta would expect from Human militaries. Again, the air was a bit cool for his tastes, but that would be true across the majority of the ship. He was pleased to see plenty of seating that looked like it could be comfortable, even for him, as well as a varied menu when he went to choose his dinner from the dispensary. Granted, a carnivore’s idea of variety was in the number of different meats available, and Vreta ended up with steak, chicken wings, and a salmon fillet on his plate, along with a glass of red wine.

“Your military seems to be treating you and your fellow researchers well on this voyage. Is that a common treatment for you, or is this a special case?” Vreta asked.

The Cradle

The Humans did seem to be making impressive progress on assembling their lab. Although it would not help them arrive on Rothia any sooner, it did seem that the scientists did not want to waste any of the time they had. That was something Vreta could appreciate, though he supposed it should not have been surprising. The Humans obviously did not want to let on to the full severity of the situation, but this deal they had made spoke to the desperate situation they were in. He doubted they had many more leads than to follow the threat of what that creature had lead them to. And if this was a desperate bid to save their planet, Vreta supposed he should be sure to approach the situation with the appropriate gravity.

Vreta had not had much time to prepare to speak, but he could adapt. With a glance and a nod down towards Freyr, Vreta quickly addressed the scientists. “I know that…many of you did not necessarily want to send yourselves to a world alien to you in a time like this. Outremer is the home you are trying to protect, and I do respect that. I will do what I can to make this transition painless. Rothia is a very different place from your home, I will say that, but as the heart of my people’s civilization, it is also a safe place. We will provide all of the experts and resources we can to help solve this problem your world is facing. With our combined efforts, I am confident we will be able to return your world to a state of peace and stability. I will be distributing informative guides on the primary differences you should expect from Rothia, but if you have any questions for me, any of you may feel free to ask.”

The Cradle

Vreta appeared more and more focused the more Freyr described the object. He could understand the reasons why the Humans had yet been unable to discover the mysteries contained within the object’s shell, especially considering how important its continued functioning was to them. They could not risk damaging it, though ideas were coming to mind about how they could learn more even with all of those restrictions.

“Let’s see…weightless it might be, but that would not remove the object’s mass. An analysis of the local variances in gravitational forces, compared to the natural gravitational field produced by the planet around it, could allow us to calculate the average mass of the object as a whole. The gravitational field would be affected if it is being suspended in place by artificial gravitational fields, but we my people can easily detect artificial gravitational fields, and we should still be able to work backwards to find the object’s average mass. A material analysis of the outer shell could at least reveal the alloy’s density. With that, and the average mass of the total object, it would be a simple matter to calculate the upper and lower bounds of the shell’s thickness. And if we were to take very granular observations of gravitational fields at different distances from the shell, maybe…”

Vreta’s train of thought was interrupted when Freyr addressed him directly. He had his neural implant keep a note of his ideas so far, then nodded to Freyr. “Oh, yes. As the leader of your team, it would probably be best for you to introduce me.”

The Cradle

It was easy to see that Vreta showed a great deal of interest in the object that Freyr projected above her desk. He initially leaned in to get a closer look, though disappointingly, there was little to learn from the model other than the fact that the object was a sphere. Certainly, there were no obvious notable features, and based on what Freyr was saying, they did not know much more about its interior. “Now this…is something we did not know. What is the scale of this thing?” He asked, though it was more of a rhetorical question as he checked and converted the units listed in the projection a moment later.

“Our scans did not detect anything nearly like this on our planet, though you did say it disrupts scanners…in what way exactly? Or do you have any way of knowing? And how certain are you of the presence of organic material within? If the exterior is indestructible to you, then I can assume you have not sampled it, so that idea must have come from scans. Can you be confident that it is truly there, or could those results be the product of the interference? I know you have not broken through it, but have you performed any material analyses of the exterior alloy?” Eventually, Vreta forced himself to stop. He had asked her plenty of questions, with plenty of enthusiasm, but he did realize that it would be prudent to allow her to actually answer them.

The Cradle

Vreta gave a grin and leisurely took another drink. The taste was growing on him, though it still took him a moment to recover and reply. “One thing I do admire about your people is your confidence. You are experts on the Cradle, and don’t let anyone try to tell you otherwise. If any of the Rothian members of the team try to be dismissive of your contributions, then be adamant about proving your capabilities. Some of them may enter with the notion that you are too far behind to be helpful, but if you prove otherwise, they will come around. They won’t deny the reality in front of them.”

“That said…” Vreta continued, interrupting himself by taking another, small sip. “I wouldn’t be doing my job if I did not prepare you for what my people will be bringing to the table. I would highly caution against downplaying what they can do. The Rahn’Saki themselves have decided to devote considerable resources to this endeavor, and they may commit even more once I inform them of the dangers your people may be in if this problem is not solved. Once we have the coordinates from your people, we will have our best scanning equipment to investigate the area. From there, the resources we have will largely depend on what we find, but if it is underground, which we suspect it must be to have not been detected, then my people will provide excavation equipment to uncover it. Our research team is being led by one of our most senior AI researchers, a woman named Marae’Ano. And I do mean senior. She invented the first true AI. Many Rothians, myself included, move between careers throughout their lives, but she seems content to simply move between fields of study. In any case, I would recommend forwarding all of the relevant information you intend to share about the Cradle to them as soon as we arrive at Rothia, so that they can get a head start on familiarizing themselves with it while we are still searching the planet. In fact…perhaps you can start teaching me about it? It has been a whle, but there was a time when I was involved in the research of cutting-edge technology, AI included. That is one of the main reasons I was hired by the Zuraxi’Synkuur corporation; I do have experience. If I can learn more about the Cradle myself, I might be able to better prepare our researchers.”

The Cradle

Vreta did not respond immediately, instead taking a drink from the glass he was given as he collected his thoughts. Even for a larger being like himself, who was accustomed to somewhat stronger spirits, he still showed a strong reaction to the scotch. Still, he did not remain distracted for long. “If I am being honest, there will be some hurdles to overcome if we are to make this a truly cooperative venture. And many of those will come from my people. As I mentioned, the Rothians have centuries of scientific advancement ahead of Humanity. There is a perception among my people that Humanity, and indeed many other species we have met in this galaxy, are a ‘young’ species.”

There was another pause for another drink from Vreta. He knew he was approaching a delicate subject, and so he needed to be careful in how he approached it. He expected that Rothian scientists would be doing the heavy lifting in terms of their research, but he certainly wanted to avoid any more tension than necessary, and if the Human teams could legitimately help, that would be all the better. “I would say to try to imagine what it would be like to work with a scientist from hundreds of years ago in your own past. Say, a scientist from before your species left your home solar system. If your people are anything like mine, you have probably improved your understanding of science considerably in that time, and that scientist would be operating on theories and assumptions you know to be incorrect. I expect that some Rothian scientists may feel frustrated about this, and they may feel that they are going to have to spend much of their time just ‘catching you up’. I hope to prevent that issue. I know that your people are capable, and I think that your years of experience with the Cradle will be valuable. Going back to that analogy of working with a scientist from your past, how do you think you would go about working with them?”

The Cradle

Vreta took the bottle in hand and gave it a quick sniff. The strong scent of alcohol was familiar. Even being alien to him as it was, ethanol was a fairly common compound on worlds with life, and it affected many living creatures in the same ways. Regardless, he cautiously took a drink, if only because he was not sure about the taste, but he was not disappointed.

“I shall be honest with you, many of the scientists I spoke to on Rothia are not confident that we will find anything at all.” Vreta said, placing down the bottle on the desk in the middle of the three of them. “Since we learned about this, we have scanned our whole planet a few times over and found nothing unusual. Though, it is our understanding that you have specific coordinates for us to search. Once we have those, hopefully we will be able to find something.”

Vreta took a moment to think on the situation Freyr had described in the Cradle. The Rothians had strongly suspected that the situation was not under control, but now he was getting confirmation of it, with concrete numbers. And certainly, this news was not encouraging. “The gravity of your situation may be lost on some of the other Rothian members of the team, but I know how connected Outremer has become to the Cradle. I know that your planet cannot just…stop using it, as some might suggest. It’s a problem we have to solve, not one we can just give up on if things do not go our way.I do hope we can find that solution, if not on Rothia, then with the combined efforts of our scientists when we come to Outremer. Our technology is similarly advanced to that of the Cradle, so, and I mean no offense with this statement, our scientists may be better able to understand its intricacies. I am not disparaging your species, I mean only that our scientists will have hundreds more years of technological and scientific advancement to draw upon.”

The Cradle

Fortunately for Vreta, the bridge was not terribly far from the labs, so he did not have to wait too long for Freyr to arrive from her short meeting with the captain. He did have at least some interest in watching the Humans at work, if only to better familiarize himself with their methods, as well as the capabilities of their machines. He was, after all, going to be working to facilitate cooperation between them and his own people. In his honest opinion, it could be difficult to reconcile the differences in their methods, but he could at least try to set the proper expectations for both sides.

“Of course, it is good to see you both again.” Vreta replied with a friendly smile before readily following Freyr towards the office. It was a fairly small room, and like much of the rest of the ship, the air was just a bit cooler than he would prefer. Being that he was the only Rothian on board, though, he did not expect anything but his own room to accommodate his preferences. At least, he expected that his room would match the preferences of Rothians. He had not actually been to it yet.

In any case, Vreta began right away as soon as they were in the room. “Here’s hoping our conversation is not interrupted by mortal peril this time. How have you been, since we last spoke? Before today, I mean. I myself have been…somewhat relaxed back on Rothia. I decided it was time for me to retire from my corporate life. I considered retiring entirely for a century or two, but then the Rothian government came to me, specifically, with an offer for this position. I guess my experience made me a perfect fit, and as much as I have come to despise the Cradle, I suppose I can admit some curiosity towards understanding it.”

The Cradle

Vreta agreed to Freyr’s suggestion. The labs were, naturally, one of the spaces he was permitted to visit as a guest of the ship, and there was no reason for him to wait around in the halls. The lab was deep within the ship, and certainly well-protected as a result. When he arrived, he found that the labs were not quite in a completed state. Many of the rooms inside the ship were modular in how they could be arranged and rearranged, so the Barbarossa could be equipped for its specific mission. For such a new, advanced, and expensive ship, it was a sensible design philosophy over something more specialized.

As he was awaiting Freyr, Vreta simply stood back and observed the scientists and workers preparing their labs. He did not do or say anything to any of the Humans in the area, though he was obviously a person who stood out, so his very presence could attract attention.