Pomp and circumstances

Not for the first time that week, Dustin fought the urge to yawn. The crew had finished their work around the twin colonies quickly, and their first few jumps after that had lead to uninhabited systems that while strikingly pretty (he’d taken a bunch of pictures and was debating trying to learn watercolour painting) were otherwise quite uneventful. But then they had arrived at the first system Meli had identified as having mission potential. The inhabitants of this particular system - aquatic life that had developed the tech to pick up and communicate with the galactic internet before meeting other species in their official first contact despite having never even reached the orbit of their home planet - had seemed nice enough at first.

Their request of him as ambassador too had seemed simple enough - a meeting between him and their leaders to allow their people to see that said leaders were doing well at networking with civilizations around the galaxy. It’d all seemed so easy - head down to one of the few landmasses on their world, then take a dive in a suitable suit down to their capital, meet and greet and get back on the way again with some more positive reputation for humanity. What it had turned into was the most mind-numbing three days of Dustin’s life to date.

It wasn’t that the jellyfish-like aliens were themselves dull to look at - they, along with their entire city glowed effervescently with a myriad of changing colours almost all the time. Nor were they ungracious hosts, having custom built quarters with an oxygen supply and suitable foodstuffs for non-aquatic life in a large, almost palatial complex. They’d even included drying showers for furred visitors, which Emely (who had accompanied him to the surface) had sat under with relish for far longer than was needed to dry even the thick fur of her tails.

No, the issue was not one of hospitality. It was one of how much pomp the strange multi-limbed aliens seemed to think was needed. Every single event - even those starting immediately after a previous one, in the same room and with the same people in attendance - was preceded by long introductions of all participants. Just the initial greetings of the leaders had taken up the better part of the first day on the planet, and three days later they had only just about finished an explanation of the reasons for the underwater civilization’s fascination with outsiders. All Dustin could do was smile and nod politely as yet another event started, and once again he was introduced to the same half-dozen leaders and handful of notable dignitaries before this event’s speaker introduced Dustin and Emely to the attendees and then started a long droning lecture - this time on their use of aquaculture for food production, which at least was moderately interesting for the first hour or so. By the fourth hour, Dustin was ready to forgo eating fish ever again if the jellyfish would just shut up.

Retiring to the guest suite sometime later and struggling out of his underwater gear, Dustin grimaced at Emely. “How much more of this is there? I want to keep moving, and I’m not sure I can stand many more days that are half introductions to the same people and half lectures that extend beyond my ability to focus.” The Feliax woman idly brushed her tails in the heat of the dryer and shrugged. “Meli indicated we’d be here for four days, this is the third day. Tomorrow we should have a formal dinner in the guest hall - that was the building with the half-atmo-half-water in we saw on the first day if you recall?”

Dustin nodded, sighing. “I worry I won’t be able to eat anything, that lecture today nearly put me off fish for life.” Emely gave one of her bubbly laughs - it was infectious, causing Dustin to smile despite how dull the days had been, and then she waved idly upwards. “How do you think the others are getting on?” Dustin shrugged in reply. “Alright, I’d think - they’d have contacted us if there was anything major, Meli had a bunch of fine tuning to do on the plans for our next few stops I think. And Rye was working on some project of hers to do with holo recording. Not sure if I shouldn’t have paid closer attention to that one to be honest.”

At the mention of holo recordings, the fox girl’s face had flushed - clearly she too remembered the recording session the four of them had undertaken their first time together. Shaking her head to clear the flush, Emely managed to return to a smile. “Well, while I seem much more able to handle the meetings we’ve been attending than you captain - I saw that yawn you stifled earlier - I am just as eager to get back to the ship. I miss the others.” Then, seeing his mortified face she added hastily “don’t worry - I only spotted it because I’ve been watching you very closely.” Dustin raised an eyebrow and Emely’s face flushed again. “Umm. I mean…” she began, before he stepped closer and hugged her. “I like you like this kitten, but we do need to keep up appearances around the aquatic folk okay? You said they might be monitoring these rooms.” He murmured into her ear, causing a little squeak from his lover before she broke the hug and stepped back, doing her best to reign in her embarrassed look.

With that, the pair moved to carry on the same way they had the past few days - a shared meal in the common room followed by an early night in separate beds. While Dustin was sure Emely would have liked him to take advantage of the fact it was just the two of them on the planet for some one to one alone time, the possibility they were being monitored or worse recorded by the jellyfish people had convinced him on day one that they would be abstinent until they returned to the Solar Ascent. Emely had for her part just accepted his decision with a demure smile - he was pretty sure she was enjoying not needing to take control of whether or not they did anything.

The following morning was more of the same - pompous meetings discussing mundane topics - until early evening rolled around and the pair were escorted as far as the airlock leading into their half of the split council hall. Stepping inside, Dustin found that the room was a microcosm of the entrance to the guest quarters - with a smaller fur drier and racks for their underwater gear. Beyond that and through a wide door, the main chamber contained one half of a dining table that passed through a transparent wall revealing some twenty jellyfish already “seated” (if hovering vaguely in front of the table could be considered seating) and awaiting their guests of honour.

Dustin made a show of pulling out a chair for Emely; she’d suggested he follow Earth protocol where it made sense, and this gesture felt right. The Feliax woman smiled up at him as she adjusted her tails and glanced down at the small domes in the middle of the table. As Dustin sat, the domes retracted - the water inside flowing down into hidden pipes to reveal their meal. Carefully lifting his plate and setting it down in front of him, Dustin resisted the urge to groan. Of course. Fish.

Actually, as meals went it wasn’t half bad. The fish had a natural saltiness to it that put Dustin in mind of a fish and chip shop that had forgotten the vinegar, and it was paired with a form of kelp the locals had insisted was a delicacy but to his mind was basically parsnip-flavoured lettuce. Either way, he ate calmly and savoured the food; the conversation on the other side of the glass along with his and Emely’s responses were all light compared to the pressure of the previous few days, and he found himself actually enjoying the company of the jellyfish folk. When they weren’t being pompous and overbearing with ceremony, they were actually quick-witted and quite capable of telling jokes, even if the jokes didn’t translate amazingly well.

When he remarked on this to the closet alien, the figure on the other side of the wall waved a tentacle idly in the water. “It is a matter of place, Dry-friend Dustin. In this, we are sharing food, and it is a time for frivolity. Earlier was a time for sharing who we are with you, and it was a time for posterity. What if your kind turn out to be saviours of the galaxy? How would my descendants view me if they knew I made a joke about kelp during our solemn first meeting? We always try to make our actions appropriate to the communication needed.”

Dustin pondered that, then nodded. “When your archivist-school-leader explained your history, they told me about the time of talking with light. I assume that appropriate communication springs from there?” From the far side of the table, an elderly tentacle was raised in agreement. “Indeed. When we were young and hid from much of the waters, we talked with light. Showing too much would cause the beasts of the deep to hunt, but showing too little and you would not find a partner. So we learned early in our history to choose our speech with care.”