Gamboge
“I…” Florence stopped there for a long moment, obviously struggling. Finally, and a bit reluctantly, she said “The temperature, the lack of response, the calm in what should have be a stressful situation, the childlike voice, care for biological contamination… The location of the Baccarat's company's HQ… I think they're eco-sentience…” She looked - and sounded - really disturbed. “I really, really hope that I'm wrong,” once again… “But if that's the case… This,” She pointed at the screen, “Could be so much worse than anything we've thought it might be… Humans exploiting humans? No one but us cares. Humans exploiting aliens, when some of our allies are already worried about how aggressively we seem to be expanding our sphere of influence?” She shook her head. “If they've been tricked or abused in any way, this could blow up to catastrophic proportions.”
Opening the mic, she said, “Charles, can you ask for your interlocutor's name and origin please? And… It's okay to tell him about you a bit, but try to not share too much information and whatever you do… Please don't lie anymore. Not even by misdirection, omissions or whatever.” After another brief hesitation, she seemed to take a decision as she mumbled “I need to be there.” Louder to allow her voice to be picked up by the mic, she said “I'm coming.”
Not waiting for Lilana's green light, Florence jogged to the back of the ship to quickly slip into a vacsuit and join Abe and Charles.