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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/DisapointedVoid on 2024-07-26 23:31:12+00:00.

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Rosalind thought back on the last few days - it was hard to reconcile the conflicting emotions roiling in not just her heart, but in all her crew. The joy and wonder at contacting real, tangible alien life; the sorrow and anger at the loss of life and in several cases lifelong injuries to mind and body that had resulted from it; and the growing shock and incredulity as more and more information started to be parsed via the translation matrix - both from the alien systems and conversations with the aliens themselves.

She already knew that biologists would be climbing over each other to examine the aliens unique, at least compared to any known organisms, biology. And they would probably be fighting off droves of physicists, chemists and engineers hot on their heels. Let alone all the other branches of science, history, or any other academic field - hell, there wouldn’t be a university that wasn’t tapping into their alumni network to finance expeditions or companies that would risk it all to be the first to bring some new alien gismo to the human market.

Her eyes focused as she turned her attention to the approaching shuttle carrying the alien shipmaster and “lead warrior”. The bodies of her crew had been flown over earlier to prepare for the ceremony… She glanced over at James “Lights and gravity?”

James nodded and tapped out a sequence of commands on his data pad which illuminated the UV lights they had installed in the hanger bay to allow their alien guests to see in their full, if strangely split, visible spectrum. Thankfully the aliens could get away with some low intensity UVA otherwise she would have had to start issuing sunglasses and sunscreen to the crew. A series of alarms rang out before the gravity slowly decreased to just over half the normal ship gravity. Rosalind tried not to fidget in the lower gravity even as she activated the electromagnetic soles of her ship boots - it wouldn’t do to have the aliens board only to find her bouncing off the ceiling.

She turned to the rest of her senior officers and pointed to the air filtration mask that she was wearing “Masks?”

After some fumbling a series of affirmative noises came back to her. Thankfully the medical team were fairly confident that there wasn’t anything that was communicable between humans and the aliens but advice was to at least minimise the chance of cross contamination using air filtration, even though it didn’t seem that full environmental separation would be required.

There were a series of dull clunks from the airlock as the shuttle docked and matched pressure to the Patient Anvil. Finally the indicator lights changed from a red cross to a blue circle and the airlock opened. A rapid pattering of footsteps grew louder and echoed into the embarkation lounge as the two aliens swarmed - and that was the word that immediately leapt to mind - out of the shuttle.

The smaller alien, the ship master, stopped at the hazard line which officially marked the start of the Patient Anvil, while his companion stood beside and slightly behind him. Rosalind was glad the colours apparently stood out enough for the aliens as she didn’t relish the thought of how much effort it would take to rekey all of the established signage that had been painstakingly argued over by the Human Space Administration over the last few centuries in light of a new species potentially starting to appear on human ships and installations.

The alien clacked at her before his translator chirruped to life “I am Acting Ship Master of the Far Flung Seed, and this is Acting Lead Warrior of the Far Flung Seed. We request permission to come aboard to mark the death rites of your people.”

Rosalind stared up into the multifaceted eyes of the ship master before smiling “Permission granted. Welcome aboard the Patient Anvil, I am Captain Rosalind Xao and these are my senior officers.”

She introduced each of them in turn before continuing. “We thank you for joining us in honouring our dead. If you would follow me we will join the rest of the crew?”

The aliens bobbed their heads, with what was an oddly similar gesture to that used by humans before the translator picked up their words “Of course Captain, we have studied the documentation you have provided on your rites but please do let us know if we act incorrectly - understand that this would not be intentional. Please lead on.”

“Of course” Rosalind replied and gestured to the waiting elevator. “This way please.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Y’Lek and K’Rim could feel the slight vibration as the elevator moved. Even with their larger size there was plenty of room for them both and the delegation of aliens. Not that Y’Lek was entirely surprised; given the size of the alien ship there must have been lots of room for an extensive transport system. Occasionally the alien captain would explain a particular feature that was visible through the transparent sections embedded within the walls.

Apparently much of the ship was currently empty space, awaiting the completion of further mining in order to fill the cargo space with processed materials and in some cases fabricated components. They were also travelling away from the main occupied portion of the ship to a nearby cargo space which was large enough to hold the majority of the off-duty and non-essential crew for this occasion.

After several more minutes of travel Y’Lek realised that the definition of “nearby” clearly needed refinement - while it was hard to estimate distance they must have moved at least two kilometres from the docking port before the elevator slid to a stop and the doors silently opened.

Y’Lek stepped out into a vast space, easily as big as the entire Far Flung Seed end to end and almost as tall and deep as his ship was in diameter. Rows and rows of humans in various patterns and colours of clothing, skin and biological matter covering the tops of the head and occasionally portions of the face stood to what he had been told was a position of attention.

He was careful to follow the captain and keep clear of the warning pattern markers on the floor - according to the discussions prior to their visit the humans were emitting some kind of energy field to separate the main body of the crew from them so that only the humans in the greeting delegation had to wear masks and walk in what they considered “low gravity”. He’d been assured that the fields were not dangerous but he didn’t particularly want to test this out or mark himself as foolish for careening into one of the fields.

Even so he was keenly aware of thousands of pairs of eyes watching him - an odd sensation he had not expected, especially given the almost total visual coverage his species enjoyed. As he moved with the group the aliens’ heads actually turned as one to follow him.

The captain gestured to two benches that had been prepared for him and K’Rim before she turned and ascended a small podium facing back towards the assembled humans. Beside the podium lay the polished boxes within which the alien dead rested in. He had been somewhat alarmed when he had been told that several of the deceased were destined to be set free into space, eventually to fall into the local star but he had come to terms with the strange nature of the aliens after much discussion with them over the course of several days.

At some signal that he must have missed the humans all sat as one - after a second of delay he and K’Rim rested down on the benches.

The captain looked out at her crew for a few moment before her amplified voice was carried out over the crowd.

“There have been many pivotal moments in human history. Times where our course as a species has been altered. No such moment leaves us untouched and the incredible discovery that we are not alone in the universe is no different; we have found ourselves unwittingly flying into momentous times and I know that the history books will forever link those we honour here today with the answer to the question we have asked ever since we first looked up at the skies and felt the deep need for companionship, kinship, and the burning desire to know we were not the only ones.”

She paused to look out at the crowd, and turned gesturing to the boxes beside her “However, we know these men and women as friends, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, mothers and fathers. We know them as people and it is that connection we are here to acknowledge and celebrate today. To remember them, not as accessories to history, but as those who stepped bravely into the unknown and gave their lives to aid those in need, as those who lived up to the very best within all of us, and for whom we were all made better for knowing.”

An image resolved itself in the air above the first box. Y’Lek still wasn’t an expert on differentiating the aliens other than with extremely obvious differences but he didn’t need to as the captain continued.

“Dr {Takao Jin}, ship’s surgeon. Died following injuries sustained while attempting to provide treatment during initial contact…”

Y’Lek let the procedures wash over him as the captain introduced each of the aliens, listed their accomplishments, gave some personal anecdotes relating to thei…

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