Meet and greet

 

Getting there

 Even at 15+G, it still takes 6 weeks to get to the Cloud, and then we make the final burn in, so there was time. Angelique and I “practiced our form” for much of the journey, but I noticed she was very erratic and willful, so I kept the relationship at a distance, I did have an operation to conduct after all. Elon’s systems performed flawlessly, and we were a day out when I got a call from Sensors.

  “Cat, we are picking up a small constellation of something, we aren’t sure what they are yet, but they are circling Titania” Oh Shit. Seamus was on it by the time I contacted him, so we decelerated to a “safe” distance to observe and listen. I asked him to join me for dinner once we settled, he was amenable.

 

 Dinner and a plan

  Angelique joined me, dressed in a Blue Velvet gown that matched her eyes, and we greeted Seamus and his gal Rose in my Stateroom, not much, but very comfortable, and settled in with drinks before dinner. I was surprised to see Rose and asked what the hell? “I wanted another adventure, my staff is strong back at the Cantina, why not go play with Seamus?” and she was Moria’s cook, I’m jealous.(as I’m swatted aside my head by my chef Killick)

 “Cat there are 1024 of them, in a perfect spherical orbit and they chatter, oh my, we are running AI to make sense of it all, but there’s a large amount of back EMI, that’s kinda cloggin’ the pipes you might say” 

 So we aren’t getting to the rock, let alone retrieving it without dealing with that? As I pointed out the glass to what looked like a miniature Dyson sphere, Fine Seamus, you are to set up your Rails for action. I’m moving forward at 06:00 tomorrow to make contact, we didn’t come here for nothing.

 

Hello, why are you here?

 That was the first thing we heard from them, at 7:12 TBP, that transmission alone opened up an entire set of questions? We are from the Sol system, yonder star over there, as I thumbed over my shoulder. We know where you are from, we have been watching you for 1000 years, we are the Tuyani, Nice to finally meet you Human, may I call you Cat? I was getting nervous and pissed, who were they? 1k years? I told Seamus to be ready, he laughed…

 So, OK Tuyani, or whoever you are, is this your homeworld? Do you have a claim? We came a long way for this rock and really want to bring it home. The short answer is no and No. We found the Anomalies, then found You, and as a curious species, we followed you, tracked you, even mated with enough of you, that you have transcended Humanity, without even knowing it yet.

 

Brain clouds and money

 Anomalies? There are more than one titania object out there? And who’s stopping us from claiming the rock, so I asked for a meeting. Certainly, approach with whatever vessel you choose, and hold at 10k above the surface, we await you, and  keep gravity assist on, you will need it. And there it was,  a chance to meet Aliens, and another potential loss, we could handle the money, but the Boys want Riches and glory, not just a paycheck, that’s why we are here, let’s see how this plays out,

to be continued,