บท 50: Negotiation I
Verlin stayed on top of the mothership and spent his time going through the map that showed hundreds of thousands of star system. His attention was most focused on the ones that held intelligent life on them.
The Coratians had conquered thousands of civilization. In fact the only reason they had yet to conquer earth was because of the God that humans worshipped. They had mistaken that one of the gods they encountered in the past was on the planet.
But Apart from the map , Verlin took note of different technologies that the Coratians themselves had discovered and those they stole from other species. And amongst them were technology the Coratians were currently working on.
As Verlin delved deeper into the Coratian records, he searched for information about the fleet commander, whose body he hadn't found during his initial sweep of the mothership. To his dismay, he discovered that the commander had managed to escape shortly before Verlin's attack, likely fleeing in one of the smaller ships. He must have been immediately notified about the destruction of the other motherships for him to have escaped that quickly.
Verlin thought of going for a quick scan of the solar system, but far too much time had passed since then. But given how badly they had been defeated, Verlin doubts they would be coming back ever.
Pushing this news to the back of his mind for the moment, Verlin continued sifting through the databanks until he ran into a planet with a species he recognized. The species in the smaller ships that had accompanied the Coratian mothership to invade Earth. They were known as Xylorings.
The Xylorings hailed from a planet called Xylora, a planet orbiting a Red giant star. They were an advanced species with technology more advanced than what humans had achieved by themselves. With their unique biology that allowed them to communicate through radio waves, they could control their technology directly through their thoughts and communicate with each other from extremely long distances at the speed of light.
As Verlin dug deeper, he uncovered the history of the Xylorings. Their downfall had been swift and brutal. Despite their advanced technology, the Xylorings had been unprepared for the sheer ruthlessness of the Coratians. The Coratians, dominant and ever-cautious, monitored any planet with significant radio wave activity, associating such signals with advanced civilizations.
Individually, the Xylorings emitted minimal radio wave activity when they communicated. However, collectively, their advanced communication systems generated significant cosmic radio wave traffic. This collective activity had not gone unnoticed by the Coratians, who saw it as a marker of a highly advanced and potentially vulnerable society. This made the Xylorings prime targets for the Coratians' relentless expansion.
When the Coratians invaded, Xylora were caught completely off guard, and as a species mainly focused on scientific discovery rather than military might. They quickly fell under the Coratian empire.
Reading through their history, Verlin quickly realized that the case of the Xylorings was not unique compared to the other civilizations the Coratians had conquered. What truly captured his interest was their ability to communicate through radio waves. Verlin could perceive radio waves himself, but he couldn't understand them. Although he and Desna had managed to reverse engineer some Coratian technology, enabling them to communicate even when he was in space, this was primarily due to vibrations from his suit transmitting information.
Verlin decided to take a break from sifting through the archives and visit their guests. Glancing up from the projected screen, he noticed that the sun had already set, and night had taken its place.
He descended from the mothership's top, making his way to the holding area where the Xylorings were being kept. On his way there he ran into a Verlin-bot, " Desna, did you get the info needed to keep the Xylorings alive?"
"I have gathered all the necessary data on their biological needs and environmental requirements. I have kept them in a specially prepared chamber that mimics their home world's atmosphere and gravity," Desna's voice responded through the Verlin-bot.
Verlin nodded, pleased with Desna's efficiency. "Excellent work. Have you noticed any unusual behavior or communication attempts from them?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary," Desna replied. "They seem to be in a state of cautious observation. However, I've detected faint radio wave emissions coming from their chamber, likely their natural form of communication."
"Do we have a way to communicate with them?" Verlin asked.
"We do. The Coratians had a way to give orders to them. We could use that technology to communicate with them," Desna explained. " I already set up a translator just outside the chamber. You could use that to conversate with them."
Verlin nodded thoughtfully. "Alright then, Thanks. "
As Verlin approached the holding area, he contemplated how to best approach the Xylorings. He should probably appear as least threatening as possible.
Verlin stopped in front of the transparent barrier separating him from the Xylorings' chamber. Through the clear material, he could see the alien beings moving about in their enclosure.
A few of them were huddled up communicating with each other. Verlin could see the antennas on their heads twitch slightly and releasing radiowaves to their surroundings.
Verlin kept watching until one of them noticed him. The Xyloring that noticed Verlin seemed to alert the others, and soon all the Xylorings were facing his direction, their compact eyes staring intently at him.
Using the communicator, Verlin decided to address the Xylorings directly. He activated the device and spoke, "Greetings, Xylorings. My name is Verlin. I am a partial inhabitant of the world you had tried to invade, Earth. Although your invasion attempt had failed, I assure you I will bring you no further harm."
The translator converted Verlin's words into radio waves, and he watched as the Xylorings' antennas twitched, receiving the message. They all remained silent for a moment before they started communicating amongst each other once again.
After a brief period of intense communication among themselves, one of the Xylorings stepped forward. Its antenna pulsed gently as it responded. Verlin turned the device back on and the translator converted the radio waves into speech for Verlin. " Greetings, Verlin of Earth. I am Zyl'thar of the Coration Empire, spokesperson for our group. If I may ask, Are we the only survivors of our fleet?"
Verlin was slighlty confused as how it introduced itself as a part of the Coratian empire, but he replied , " Unfortunately, you are the only survivors from the fleet that attacked Earth. The rest of your comrades perished in the battle."
Zyl'thar's antennae twitched, absorbing the information. "We understand. But pardon my rudeness, I would like to know why you spared our lives. If it's information you seek, Im afraid we will be of no value. As we are merely Class 5 citizens of the Coratian empire."
"It is not information that I seek, and it was not I who spared you, but a friend of mine. She places great value on life." Verlin responded.
Zyl'thar seemed to process this information, the antennas twitching in a pattern Verlin was beginning to recognize as deep thought. "Your friend must be a being of great mercy," Zyl'thar said after a moment. "We are grateful."
Verlin nodded, acknowledging Zyl'thar's gratitude. "I'll be sure to let her know. Now, I have a question for you, Zyl'thar. You introduced yourself as part of the Coratian Empire. I'm curious about your relationship with them, given what I've learned about your species' history."
Zyl'thar's yellow fur shook slightly, "It is... complicated," Zyl'thar began. "When the Coratians conquered our world, they gave us a choice: serve or perish. Many of us chose to serve, hoping to preserve our species and our knowledge."
Verlin listened intently as Zyl'thar continued, "Over time, generations of Xylorings were born into servitude. The Coratians... they're clever. They use our natural abilities to their advantage, integrating us into their fleet operations. We became a part of their empire, not by choice, but by necessity. And for this invasion specifically we were told if we successfully capture targets that had a distict energy pattern, not only us but our families would also be upgraded to Class 4 citizens."
Verlin nodded, realizing the targets were likely the enhanced humans - the "god seeds" as the Coratians called them. "I see. Given that I can't keep you here indefinitely, would you like to return to Xylora?"
Zyl'thar's antennae twitched in alarm. "We appreciate the offer, but returning there would be disastrous. We'd be executed as deserters, and our families would suffer and likely have their citizenship degraded. Even though there is no formal class lower than Class 5, I fear the Coratians would create one in a fit of anger."
Verlin contemplated for a moment. He was planning on leaving Earth soon anyway so its a good start as any. Finally voicing out his thoughts, "What if I get rid of the Coratians that are stationed on your planet?"
Zyl'thar's antennae twitched rapidly, a clear sign of surprise and agitation. The other Xylorings behind him started emitting low-frequency waves, likely discussing among themselves.
After a moment, Zyl'thar responded, "Your offer is... unexpected. While the idea of resistance is enticing, we must consider the consequences. The Coratian Empire is vast and powerful. Even if you were to remove their presence from Xylora, they would surely retaliate. Our world could face even worse devastation."
" I'll make sure, they won't come back to Xylora. And I'll do my best to ensure any other Xyloring will return to Xylora" Verlin stated.
Zyl'thar was silent for a second, before a buzz of radiowave activity came from the xylorings discussing. Zyl'thar returned his attention back to him and asked, "Why?"
Verlin raised an eyebrow and returned with a question, " What do you mean why?"
"Why would you do all that for us? There must be something you want in return." Zyl'thar answered.
"While this might seem altruistic to you, but as I mentioned before, I'm only a partial inhabitant of this planet. I wasn't born here and plan to leave soon, though I currently have no destination in mind. Xylora seems like a good place to start. Besides, I don't have a favourable impression on the Coratians."
Zyl'thar's antennae twitched in contemplation. Once again the other Xylorings buzzed with radio wave activity, clearly engaged in a heated discussion.
Verlin continued watching in silence, noting that the Xylorings' discussion seemed to be dragging on. Out of boredom, he turned his attention to the buzzing sound he was hearing. Focusing intently, he quickly identified the source of the noise as the Xylorings' antennas. The sounds corresponded with the radio wave frequencies he was observing. It suddenly dawned on him: he could hear the radio waves they produced.
He knew he could see along the electromagnetic spectrum, but hearing radiowaves was something he was unaware of. In hindsight, he could hear sounds of different frequencies and even produce them if he wanted to, he just didnt know it extended to radiowave frequency. Although it does take a higher level of concentration to capture the lower level frequency.
Finally, Zyl'thar spoke again. "We are grateful for your offer, Verlin. It is unheard of that we encounter such generosity, especially from someone who has just repelled an invasion we were a part of. We will gladly accept your assistance. But it doesn't sit right with us that you would do so much for us in exchange for nothing. We may not be able to offer much, but please allow us to give something in return."
Verlin pondered for a second before answering, "If you really want to do something in return for me, you could teach me how to communicate through radiowaves."
"We don't mind, but that would be impossible unless you were able to percieve radiowaves like we do." Zyl'thar responded.
"Actually, I can perceive radio waves. I can see them and if I listen closely i can hear them. So learning your form of communication shouldn't be an issue." Verlin corrected.
Zyl'thar's antennae twitched in a mixture of surprise and curiosity. "Remarkable," he said after a moment. " It's rare to find other species that can communicate the same way we can. If you can perceive radio waves, then we would do our best to teach you our form of communication."
"That would be appreciated. If its alright with you, it would be great if we could start right away."
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