LF Friends, Will Travel

Our Clockwork Children: Chapter 8

Scellestra felt a nervous fear running through their systems as the ship landed, the worrying energy causing the nanobots that made up their systems to fluctuate and swirl more rapidly. They said it was safe, that no harm would come to them here, but visiting the home planet of a known hostile race didn't seem like a prudent decision. The Woolean AI had enjoyed their trips through the many Terran-controlled planets over the last few weeks, but now they were leaving the known safety of the chaos-loving Terrans, and exchanging it for a new unknown.

The two crazy Terrans they'd now spent so much time with had said it was all perfectly safe, that no harm would come to them. It was also their job to investigate the whole Terran Alliance, not just the Terans. Scellestra had long since come to the logical opinion that the Terrans were perhaps the only AI-accepting race that they had so far encountered, but none of that mattered if their allies were still dangerous.

"You still worried buddy?" Ivan asked, attempting to give the AI a pat on their back, the Terran's hand passing right through as he did so. "Like I said, the Hatil are great, adorable little fellas who love Terrans."

"I do agree with Ivan" ODIN added, his voice being emitted from various speakers installed in the ship. "Many AI come here for their hospitality."

So they'd said, so many times over the short day journey to get here. That still didn't change the knowledge that Scellestra had about this species. No matter how technologically inferior, or how much smaller they were than your average Terran, landing on the home planet of a known aggressive species was... an illogical idea. Sure Scellestra had read in the Terran databases that the Hatil were friendly allies... but those same databases told of a Woolean AI who was aggressive and should be avoided. Clearly, this information was less accurate than what the AI already had with them.

The door to the ship opened with a hiss, the exit leading to a standard spaceport that the trio had seen so many times before, the standard milling around of various crew and passengers, people going to and about their business.

The main difference was the occupants, who were widely the native species. While Scellestra had seen many of them walking around Terran space before, here the vast majority of the people at the station were the Hatil; 4ft tall bipedal mammals, covered head to toe in varying cream and brown colours of fur. Giant black eyes and floppy ears made for something most humans considered... adorable, often described as if a puppy and a baby seal had been smushed together into an overload of cuteness.

It was also mildly interesting to see the differences the Hatil exhibited compared with Terrans. There were still a lot of eyes in their direction as they left the ship, but compared with the ever-chaotic primates of Terra, there was a... sense of muted fear, mixed in with curiosity. A lot less willing to get close.

However, the Woolean didn't have much time to study the crowds that were keeping their distance, as an official-looking group of Hatil awaited the trio at the bottom of the ship's ramp. Three in total, two of them armed with weapons.

Scellestra's initial reaction was to flee or to hide, but as Ivan made their way towards the group with seemingly no care for any potential danger, the Woolean AI was forced to follow, instead preoccupying their own CPU processes with calculations on how to defend against a possible attack.

I could cut through the floor to allow myself and Ivan to escape in an instant. If they have an emp, positive outcomes reduce, but the technology level of the Hatil...

Such calculations would have to wait, as the two groups finally reached each other. The Woolean AI awaiting the next few nanoseconds with a hypothetical bated breath for something bad to happen. The non-action was broken by the assumed leader of the group of Hatil, who held out a small cream paw in an offer of a handshake, speaking as he did so.