Landing
The ship rests in a concealed valley. Major Gowan Wallace, ground leader of the expedition, is directing the crew in some sort of construction effort.
Then the surprise comes. Over the hill to the north appear what looks to anyone like a storybook princess walking her dog.
The crew stops and stares. Gowan calls for the diplomacy team over his handheld radio. Sacha, Daniel and Josh obediently assemble to greet the creatures.
As the two aliens approach the three humans, it becomes clear that the ownership is the reverse of what it appeared: the "dog", a quadrupedal creature with two-toed feet and a froglike head, appears to be gripping a chain by three appendages on the end of its tail. The "princess", which appears to be a closely related species - like humans to apes - has the other end of the chain loosely wrapped around its wrists. And bizarrely, it certainly does seem to be wearing a classic fairy-tale style dress.
The first to approach is Josh. The young doctor is overwhelmed at the sight. “Oh my god. Real aliens! And wearing clothes! I never would’ve…” He is unable to speak, but continues mutely approaching the creatures.
As he nears, the quadruped bends its front legs and emits a garble of long, low sounds. The on-screen translator is unable to provide any meaning, of course, but the backup transcriber manages a series of Latin characters.
Sacha then approaches and begins communication. Her first phrase is something unintelligible – the annotator helpfully points out it is the same phrase the alien led with. When the creature does not respond, she continues by placing her hand on her chest and introducing herself. "Zajha," the creature attempts.
It gives her no time to respond, instead issuing another long stream of sounds and forcing the chain into her hands. When she takes it, the creature takes a couple steps backward before resting its tail on the biped and pronouncing, "Goa." It then quickly leaves, though after a few seconds it stops and turns its head back. Josh sees this and begins to follow it, but it resumes its retreat, leaving him behind.
-Recording of a live broadcast from Channel 6 News Corp.
Then the surprise comes. Over the hill to the north appear what looks to anyone like a storybook princess walking her dog.
The crew stops and stares. Gowan calls for the diplomacy team over his handheld radio. Sacha, Daniel and Josh obediently assemble to greet the creatures.
As the two aliens approach the three humans, it becomes clear that the ownership is the reverse of what it appeared: the "dog", a quadrupedal creature with two-toed feet and a froglike head, appears to be gripping a chain by three appendages on the end of its tail. The "princess", which appears to be a closely related species - like humans to apes - has the other end of the chain loosely wrapped around its wrists. And bizarrely, it certainly does seem to be wearing a classic fairy-tale style dress.
The first to approach is Josh. The young doctor is overwhelmed at the sight. “Oh my god. Real aliens! And wearing clothes! I never would’ve…” He is unable to speak, but continues mutely approaching the creatures.
As he nears, the quadruped bends its front legs and emits a garble of long, low sounds. The on-screen translator is unable to provide any meaning, of course, but the backup transcriber manages a series of Latin characters.
Sacha then approaches and begins communication. Her first phrase is something unintelligible – the annotator helpfully points out it is the same phrase the alien led with. When the creature does not respond, she continues by placing her hand on her chest and introducing herself. "Zajha," the creature attempts.
It gives her no time to respond, instead issuing another long stream of sounds and forcing the chain into her hands. When she takes it, the creature takes a couple steps backward before resting its tail on the biped and pronouncing, "Goa." It then quickly leaves, though after a few seconds it stops and turns its head back. Josh sees this and begins to follow it, but it resumes its retreat, leaving him behind.
-Recording of a live broadcast from Channel 6 News Corp.
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