Dark Places

The assistant translates for you. The alien seems to become less alarmed. She gestures obliquely at the ship. Her gibberish flows forth as she points at the various parts, then throws her hands in a wide circle.

Adiutor then says, "She does not recognize the ship, but it is one of theirs. Not theirs, instead it was built from this facility which they subsequently purchased from the Grantovius Corporation, human spacers. This was approximately seventy Earth years ago. They will repair the ship on two conditions. The first, a full story of what happened to their people. The second, is an explanation of the numenera portal that is welded to the back of the ship."

The pause in dialogue is incentive enough for Lyle to keep talking. "Well- all of this started in our home, a place called Cooperstown. We have a mine- well the town does that is... and there were some disturbances there we had to look into- our goal was purely investigative in nature." Lyle purposely omits details about the explosion and telepathic signal from beyond the gate. "We found one of these doorways or portals in the mine and it led us to another location, out here in the dark ether. As soon as we got there we saw your slain kinsmen being defiled by the Quintpods- what Audiutor called parasites. Once they saw us they attacked on site and we had no choice but to defend ourselves. When it was all over we searched for signs of life on your kin but they were already gone. That is when I took this weapon- hoping to better defend myself...." Realizing he was doing a lot of the talking (perhaps too much) Lyle pauses, hoping one of his companions would jump in.

"...would any of you like to?" Lyle looks at his comrades stone faced and silent- then clears his throat. "Upon further exploring the area, we met with a large metal man- ancient and sentient. He spoke our tongue and told us that his name was Cooper and he was injured- he claimed by the same Quintpods that were invading his lair and who killed your people. He asked us if we could help him close the portal and stop the quintpods from entering and attacking him. Attempting to do that we walked through the door to this portal, which we found welded to the back of the ship- on which Adiutor (who is translating for us now) is the automated navigation system. It's a but confusing and a lot of information- I'm unaccustomed to this place and not used to the names you may have for things..." Lyle lapses into silence, waiting for Adiutor to translate and trying to guage the responce of the strange humanoids.

Turana decides to add to the report We wanted to make sure that those creatures that killed members your people wouldnt come into our world or yours, so we decided to take the risk , put the pieces of this ship together and get the portal away from that infested rock floating around

The translator relays all of that. Another alien comes out and bids you sit on the hangar floor. Its rubbery limbs fold easily under it.

In a halting voce, but speaking your language, it says, "Apologizing. Not speaking long. Your ship is decaying, rusting, no, apart falling. Unsafe to letting you going."

Jaz nods to the slug translator. "Thank you. At least we got it away from those quintapods so they can't threaten either of our species again. Would you allow us some time to decide what we want to do?"

"And allow us to tour your wonderful facility?" Y'breq adds.

Turana smiles at the Aliens since it seems they care about their well-being... Then she starts getting in a alert position, her thought "What if this is an attempt to get us trapped here? would the aduitor confirm what they say? Well , the ship looks like in bad shape" so lets see what they respond to Ybreg and Jaz

The alien stands and gives you space to talk. He meets with a couple others and they seem to be deciding whether your craft can be repaired, and at what cost.

Adiutor agrees with the translating. It adds in, "They are trying to decide if they can convince you to perform a task for them. In exchange, they'll return the craft to full function. They haven't said what the task is. I will continue to monitor."

Your other option is to simply flee through the portal on the ship. Of course, there appears to be little to stop them from following.

Jaz pauses, looks over his shoulder for a moment at the slug-people, moves his head back-and-forth lime he is weighing options and says quietly, "It orobably makes the mist sense to befriend the people who can fix the ship. And avoid any possible enemies."

Emmett scowled momentarily before trying to resume a neutral expression, concerned with how the creatures might react to his expression. "It's always somethin', isn't it? Though, I guess I can't expect 'em to fix you up for nothin'. What are we supposed to call 'em, anyway? Weirdos or beasties or somethin' seems rude, considering they're pointin' death at us." He glances up at the auto-turrets.

He also looks to Turana. "I'm not sure I trust 'em either, but it's not like we're goin' anywhere with our ship lookin like a kid's treefort, full of holes and all."

"Bartering services is as old as time itself… I can wrap my head around us getting something in exchange for a service. Them doing it out of the goodness of their heart- if they have hearts- is more suspicious to me. Let’s wait and hear them out, maybe we stand to gain from easy work." Lyle says quietly to his friends. "Adiutor, what do you know of these people? Their customs, what drives them? Are they to be trusted?"

The Adiutor replies to Emmett, "Their name for themselves is the Craadians."

To Lyle, he says, "They were once human, but have been altered by the passage of time in order to live in space more comfortably. Like any people, trust cannot be given automatically. However, their home in the vacuum of space is dangerous, and so they rely upon each other to a greater extent than people from your own culture. This gives them a more trusting nature."

The spokesperson for the Craadians returns to you. "I am sorry for delaying. Accepting? Bargaining is this. We fix ship. There is an outpost at other asteroid. Deliver crate and return with other crate. No danger, only time. If you do not deliver, no more friends of Craadians. Deliver good, long time friends. Bargaining good?"

"Yes- of course we will help you" Lyle says hesitantly. "If in return you’ll repair our vessel." Lyle tried his hardest to think
Of a way to solidify an alliance between these people and the citizens of Cooperstown. "In return- I propose s contract of peace between you folk and those left below.."

"You speaking for people left below?" The creature shakes its head. "We are not interesting in formal contact with old Earth. We left prison of deep gravity and the dangers left behind by the ancients."

"I think I understand- but what you left behind was many days past…" Lyle adopts what he hopes is a convincing pose. "You must be interested in trade- surely there is something we could offer that would benefit you?"

"Though, no. We are not speaking for all of those still on Earth. Only those present. "

"We are interested in tradings, yes? This is tradings station. Repairings and parts bartering. What have you to offerings?"