Nodding throughout Marlo's explanation, Abe offered up his own parallels, "I was once a member of a smaller community that held to similar beliefs -" and he glanced aside at Viper and Jackson in explanation "- the Colonial Marines -" before he returned his full attention to the Crosser "- so I feel your words, my friend. Reputation, honour, these are more valuable than commodities, for me and those who served under me"

He shrugged, smiled a little sadly as he recalled his time and why he had left, "But we change, and it is a community I am no longer part of, instead a 'veteran' which carries a weight of its own"

With an effort he brightened, "I would like to see the Home Ship, though it may be that one of us remains aboard to keep the Nellie Bly trim and ready to respond"

Charles eyes their boss who in essence was determining the pace but the tour of the home ship did sound interesting. Marlo was a font of information and when he said he had a home here that sounded like a great opportunity.

"If you would not mind i would love to see your home. Take a little footage there so we can edit you telling us crosser stuff into your own home. Makes the footage much more authentic and i am really curious not only about the homeship but also how a typical crosser home might look."

Depending on what Illana wants meeting the one that invited them over first or exploring first he was ready to go.

Gravity is expensive, even for Crossers.  The bulk of the Home Ship fakes it with rotation.  The docking ring has an inner ring that rotates with the station, and an outer ring that does not, allowing ships to dock.  The docks do not have gravity, but this does not bother Crossers.  For all that the look a little ponderous and clunky in Earth normal gravity, in zero gravity they are unexpectedly agile.  The tail, which ordinarily looks somewhat useless when a Crosser is walking around, regains its ancient purpose without gravity.  Using it as a counterweight, Crossers are able to control their movements more easily that Humans can.  They all manuever around with skill only seen in Humans born and raised in space.

Of course that may be partially due to Crossers being born and raised in space.

Once in the inner ring area, gravity is back, at least, the centripetal force imitation of it.

On Human stations, this area is typically occupied with administrative and commercial functions, aimed at the people coming and going from the ships.  Here, there are some, but the Crossers have realized that they cannot make things permanent on a station that spends its time traveling between civilizations.  Even now, they are working on adapting the area to a more "Human friendly" style, complete with shops, or places they plan to put shops, based on what they remember from previous visits, and early reports from returning Explorers.

The air here is as Marlo warned:  hot and humid, but also carrying more oxygen than Earth atmosphere.

Marlo repeats the advice from earlier:  do not breath quickly or deeply.  In the Inner Ring area, they see quite a few humans who look flushed, even queasy, from the alien environment.

(In a way, Humans benefit from a bit of evolutionary luck here.  They do not pant, like many mammals do.  They sweat.  That's good.  Panting could lead to medical issues.)

There is even a Human food outlet already here, thanks to the arrival of the agricultural ship.  The menu is limited.  Mostly, fruit and fruit based beverages.  Smoothies.

There is also something Marlo failed to mention.  Perhaps the Crosser didn't feel it was important.  There are members of two other alien species here.  That's a rare event.  Aliens tend to be so culturally and biologically different that sharing societies has proved impossible, and even long term visits are uncomfortable.  But the Droyne and Lipaps must have been here a while, there was no sign of their ships.

Marlo says they are curious, and are examining the Humans.

One area of technology in which Crossers and Humans seem similar: billboards.  Large display screens are advertising a variety of Crosser products and services, proudly discussing the advantages, giving the contact information for Humans who want to inquire further.

Making sure the drones take the scene in Charles considers closing his void suits face mask but for now decides against it as it might not be as socially acceptable with the work they plan to do. He is as curious about the two other aliens as they are about humans and takes a moment to seize them up and will exchange a friendly nod of greeting if eyes would connect. As he gravitates towards the drinks stand he turns to Ilana.

"So what first boss? Find the contact or spend a day getting to know the place?"

The more the Nellie Bly approached the Home Ship, the more Florence was excited to be able to finally get inside an alien ship. Oh, she had seen a lot of vids about them, from pretty much every ship humans knew about, but there was no comparison to actually be the one inside.

On the topic of Crossers trade, she had quite a bit to say, which she did in great details, maybe because it allowed her to think about something else... And make herself seem useful. “I've done some research about Crossers trade when coming here became a possibility. Note of course that it's in general and Marlo's home ship probably has some fields where they're more proficient than others. Anyway, basically...”



About to get in the ship, Florence breathed deeply in order to calm herself a bit: she wasn't overly worried about her ability to overcome the heat or the higher oxygen content of the air, but she certainly didn't want to pass out because she had been hyperventilating.

Inside, she looked around curiously, at pretty everything going on around her, but it seemed pretty obvious that she was mostly interested in the people themselves, particularly the other aliens, curious to know what they were doing here, especially without a ship of their own. But maybe the Crossers were in fact building them one?

In fact, she approached a Droyne, and greeted it, in its language... Or as close as a human could produce anyway, hoping that ot wouldn't mind talking to her.

"It might be best if we split up," Lilana says.  "Too big a group and we'd look like tourists."

"You all look like tourists," Marlo says. "But Florence looks like she is now interested in Droyne.  I believed she would wish to accompany me here, at least for a while.  It appears my belief was in error.  I should have reminded myself of the habits of Humans of her age.  Priorities can change with great speed."

"For us, to find your contact Andy, we must go a little further.  The communications access here will not let you in to the private communication network of the inhabitants of the Home Ship, only the channels for commerce and similar functions.  It is for our security, so that we do not recieve volleys of communications from curious Humans when they dock.  The protocols between species regarding when to initiate communications and when not to are still weak, and your species is known to violate its own customs regarding this often."

"Then we have to go into the Home Ship?"  Lilana asks.

"Yes.  It would be easier if I take you.  You will encounter fewer difficulties and there is less of a chance of a cultural error."

"Well then, it will be Marlo, myself, Charles... does anyone else want to come with us deeper in?  Elsewise, you can explore this area.  We can do that anyway when I get back, I hope."

************************************

Florence, meanwhile, had found a Droyne.  She tries a greeting in their buzzing, squeaking language.  Unlike Crosser, most of the sounds could actually be imitated by Humans.**  Most Humans do not do this, and employ artificial translation when they communicate.  But it certainly gains their attention!  Florence had learned, growing up, that it was poor way to communicate unless one was truly expert, but a great way to socialize.

The Droyne certainly wouldn't mind talking to a young Human who had actually taken the time to learn to speak their language. They are immediately curious about her- Florence seems unusual for a Human not only for this, but for being young, and yet here on a Crosser Docking Ring.



**One of the "strange powers" observed in Humans, according to the Oumo scientists, was the broad range of vocal sounds a Human could make.  So diverse that a Human baby spent part of its developmental time learning what sounds not to make.  This seemed a peculiar waste of ability, but it did mean that with the right training, Humans could not only manage to imitate Droynes well enough to communicate, but also Lipaps (if they got the tongue-clapping right), Velorans, and Chukats.  Crossers, only marginally.

"Okay Boss I hang around here and see I can find anything interesting" Jackson said to Lilana

As Charles leaves with Lilana and Marlo he will say "I will follow up on the information you and Florence got and see if I get us a good deal. While I am at it I will see if I can also scourge some useful information." Jackson was about to thank Florence for her information help when he realized she wasn't there. "I hope she is okay, wherever she is" he mumbled to himself"

He then set about to find economic opportunities for himself and the others as well as keep an ear and eye out for any useful information. Along with dealing directly with the merchants he would make full use of the communication network. He will also use his knowledge of computers to help find things that his broker skills alone may not find. He will avoid breaking into the private system. He never liked it when merchants tried to hack into the starport computer system when he was in security. He also didn't want to cause Mario any grief from his actions.

If he can figure out the Crossers' effort to make the commercial section more human(and others) friendly he would be willing to share his knowledge from almost 16 years working in the security,technical and commerce side of the port authority. If they are interested in the advice he would be willing to share with fellow professionals and gaining more contacts is never a bad thing.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:23, Thu 13 Aug 2020.

Crosser society is built around the Home Ship.  Like a nationality or a tribe, everyone here belongs to it, on a level deeper than mere employment.  Like a Human corporation, though, Crossers can freely switch ships- at least, when two Home Ships are near, which happens every few years.  This makes the ship a social element with no true counterpart among Humans.  Crosser psychology allows them to quickly break and reform deep bonds.  For them, it's a normal part of life.

Within the ship, there are groupings that are something like guilds- groups of Crossers that perform a similar task for the ship as a whole.  Marlo's group includes the Explorers that travel through Human space and report back, as well as Crossers with administrative and supporting functions to help achieve this.  Andy's group includes Explorers that patrol the space in vast bubble around the Home Ship, and report on astronomical phenomena, along with threats and opportunities.

It does not take Marlo long to track Andy down and set up a meeting.

"Itikar Ring," Marlo says to the Humans around.  "Itikar.. a leader, a historic figure, the area named in Itikar's honor.  Itikar is as close as we will get in Human speech, it will have to do.  Generally Humans do not travel there, you will be unusual, but with me there should be no problems."

"I should tell you something," Marlo continues.  "Andy felt that this discovery was not of Andy's own group's interest.  It was not information that Navigation would act upon, it was neither threat nor opportunity nor of scientific interest.  But it is apparently a very strange quirk of Human culture, and therefore it is within my area of interest.  A very strange quirk.  Listen, my friends, I said I would help you find Andy and I have done so.  Now, I must make a new deal.  I will help even after that, as best as I can, because this is a very, very strange thing and should be investigated.  I understand that you wish to market this information to Humans.  But leave Crosser interests to me.  Crosser must be the judge of what is important to Crossers, and though this seems to be a Human thing, what shakes Humans can make the whole galaxy tremble, as the Oumo say."


******************* ************** *************

Back at the docking ring...


Jackson begins searching, and finds that there are buyers for the Human entertainment cards. Multiple buyers.

One is a Human trader who will take them off your hands.

Two are Crosser groups.  One is looking for curiosities that can be resold at a later date, far away, to other civilizations.   The other will present them locally for Crosser amusement and general interest.

Jackson has made a fine Broker skill... but... the best offer is from the Crosser "local entertainment" group, and the Crossers lack Human cash.  That's what they are here for, to sell things to raise money.  They can offer in trade something called "Kygep" which seems to be the nearest thing the Crossers have to chocolate.

And as they already known, Crossers and Humans can digest the same things.  Jackson does some quick research- yes, Kygep has been sold in Human space from time to time.  Humans and Crossers have similar biochemistry, and both have an instinctive taste for "high energy" molecules- fats and sugars.  Just as Crossers enjoy a good cheeseburger, it seems that Humans do like many Crosser foods, and Kygep, on the rare occasions when it has been available, sells well.

Jackson can't "cash out" at this point, but from his quick research it looks like he can triple the value of the cargo, or maybe more, trading the entertainment cards for packages of this Crosser  dessert.

He is given a small stick of it as a sample.  It has a sweet, tangy, fruity, nutty, and fatty feel to it.  Like mango peanut butter with a definite alien flavor.

Noticing Marlo and Liliana leaving, Florence hesitated for a second. She really wanted to follow, but she figured she'd have time for that at some point. Plus, right now, they would be dealing with Andy's reasons for being here, so it wasn't like she'd really get what she wanted. So instead, she focused on the Droyne in front of her. “Oh I'm, uh, training, with a crew here.” She looked at the hatch through which Liliana and Marlo have gone through then shook her head.

“Are you here to trade yourself?” She cocked her head to the side, considering, “I haven't seen your...” She frowned, whispered "ship" in her own language to get it translated by her communicator, having obviously forgotten how to say that word in Droyne. “Your ship here. Are you buying an habitat maybe?”
This message was last edited by the player at 20:32, Wed 19 Aug 2020.

Crossing the outer ring with an expected gracefulness, Abe trailed the other members of the crew and their passage-guests to where the foetid humidity mixed with the smells wafting from the food outlets and the neon-glow of the billbooards swam in the heat haze. He said little, a slight frown marring his forehead as one of the passengers wandered off though he was intrigued by the trade information Florence had shared beforehand. His eyes followed here for a few moments, before returning to the captain and the crossed they called Marko.

When the reached the threshold to meet Andy, he was clearly torn regards who needed protection, eventually following Lilana deeper into the bowels of the Home Ship and Itikar Ring: there was much to learn of these Crosser's ways

The Droyne speak with Florence.  As is normal for Droyne, they are a part of a social bond that includes at least one member of each of their castes- with only part of the group here, they feel they are "missing something", and for any serious discussion, they would want to regroup.  But this is fine for a simple social meeting.  (For the Droyne, Caste is more than just an arbitrary assignment, there are biological and psychological differences, and a partial group is not "psychologically whole").

They are traders, and explorers, but for the moment, they have no ship.  They were dropped off and expect to be picked up again.  They come from Terpsichore, so they have considerable experience with Humans- the Droyne have a settlement on this Human occupied planet.

They were also here to ask questions of the Crossers, they say.  There have been rumors of trade with the Ecosentience.  This baffles them, it has baffled everyone.  How does anyone conduct business with a life form a thousand kilometers across?  The Droyne leaders on Terpsichore sent them to ask of the Crossers, figuring that as experienced and far ranging traders, the Crossers might know.

********************************

Abe, Lilana, and Charles are the only Humans in Itikar Ring.  They attract a lot of curiosity.  It is very clear that the presence of Marlo makes everything better.  "They are with me." answers a lot of questions.

Marlo even encounters a few familiar Crossers.  They all seem to accept Marlo's simple assurances easily.  Perhaps they understand that an Explorer whose business it is to investigate Human culture and opportunities might have reason to bring a few Humans back.  There's hostility between the species, fortunately.  Despite looking savage, the Crossers actually seem to like Humans, and enjoy the fact that biologically and psychologically, the two species are closer than most other alien civilizations.

Eventually the meet up with Andy, and they begin talking about information, and Lilana brings out the pictures of abandoned hibernation pods.

Andy nods.  "Yes, those are my pictures.  You want to know where I found them."

"Yes, we do," Lilana says.

"You are investigator?"

Another thing they have learned about Crossers... Crosser society does not make the civilian/authority distinction that Human civilization does.  It makes sense, they are all ship crew in a way, every cook and poet among them.  So Lilana simply agrees, yes, she is an investigator.

"On your frontier.  A system of no habitation.  I can give you much further information.  But we must settle on price."

Charles was in awe of the whole thing. He had walked wordlessly after the others taking it all in and focussing on his drones to make as much footage as possible in the hope to get a mini docu up about visiting the heart of a home ship. How successful he was going to be? That was another question as he had been gawking like a tourist. He manages to get himself together on time they reach Andy and he manages to at least look professional again. Though maybe a little hot and flustered but thats to be expected with the enviornment right and has nothing to do with the fact he is aware he is acting like a bloody tourist.

As the meeting with Andy starts he greets the man politely and leaves the negociations to Lillana while he watches over the talk and keeps an eye on the drones he has left outside to keep the talk private. As private as they where with his smart glasses recording everything.

Florence was disappointed that the Droyne weren't there to buy an habitat from the Crosser: she had already imagined getting to visit an asteroid being worked on by Crosser workers to make it viable to Droyne, and maybe offering that opportunity to Lilana too: surely that would be a nice footage to have.

Her disappointment lasted for all of two seconds though, as the news about the Ecosentience did more than draw her attention. Oh, she was perfectly aware that she had other things to do, inquiries of her own to make, but she figured she could do those at a later time. Or maybe she could use one to do the other.

So Florence asked questions about the Ecosentience and who was rumored to trade with the Ecosentience, as well as about their own experience as traders and explorers, the places they've gone to, the stuff they've seen etc.

At some point, she mentioned, “I came here with a Crosser. Maybe I can see if he would be willing to help with your request? I...don't think he'd be the one with the answers you're looking for, but it'd probably be much easier for him to know who has them.” While Marlo was an Explorer, he was focused on Humans, so... Tilting her head to the side, she asked, “Why don't you leave me a way to contact you and maybe some information about what you're looking for and I'll see what I can do?”

Florence's education on the "Ecosentience" goes a little further than most people, but the life form is a puzzle.  It is an intelligent ecosystem- a being that can span a continent.  Some speculate that its homeworld is covered in one giant interconnected living organism.  Several "daughters" have been established by the homeworld, and one, occupying a continent on the planet Kayon, is in Human space.  The Ecosentience is able to create independent entities, apparently it can tailor their forms and characteristics.  The people of Kayon have encountered these in increasing numbers, and the Ecosentience seems to be beginning to copy Earth "designs" in its creatures.

Communication is slow and awkward- the thing does not even have a language, because it has never had anything to talk to.  How do you talk to a creature thousands of kilometers across that exists as a network linking all the life around you?  Scientists have been using very large "picture boards" but progress is slow.  They add a few words or concepts to the vocabulary every year.

And how do you trade?  What would an entire ecosystem want?  How do you even ask?  How do you negotiate?  What would it give in return?  The civilizations that engage in regular commerce, like Humans, Droyne, and Crossers, have been trying to figure this one out for years.

The Droyne give contact information to Florence, and are a little surprised to hear she is here "with" a Crosser.  They hadn't known Crossers to bring back Humans.

Humans have weird old stories about being taken away by aliens, and no one wants to upset the Humans too much.


********************************

Realizing that this thing is getting steadily deeper, Lilana takes a moment to confer with her staff.

"The bigger an event this is, the more it would be the Right Thing to bring it all to the attention of the Commonwealth Navy.  The problem with that is that everything we've put into it so far is wasted, instead of a hot story that networks are bidding for, we get a Thank You Citizen from the Navy, which is worth exactly zero when it comes to refueling the Nellie Bly.  Meeting Andy's price is an investment on my part, making the run out to see those pods is an investment in time on all of our parts.  And we have to hurry, every hour there's a chance that someone else stumbles across this and word gets out before we get there.  Right now, there might be some questionable ethics in not telling the authorities.  Does anyone have an issue with that?  Once we get our story, we can clear our consciences and do the right thing."

Charles looks at the boos as she consults them and replies dryly.

"Boss i am quite sure we first have to make sure we have all the proof we need  to be certain its what we think it is so when we interview the Navy about why they are not doing something about this bad thing we unearthed dont we? And we got to make sure we interview some of em about the topic on the night of the release."

Florence pondered the question about the Ecosentience - and more precisely its desire for trade - for a few seconds, tapping her lips with her fingers. “Maybe the ecosentience is curious, and decided to use trade to learn about things that are out of its reach?” The girl tilted her head to the side, “That'd be fascinating.” While trade wasn't exactly the apex of a civilization it definitely wasn't nothing, quite the contrary. To say nothing of what it'd meant of the Ecosentience's ability to reason: for it to realize how it could benefit from trade... She was really curious to see how the Ecosentience would evolve.

After a minute, she frowned “And a bit worrisome: if the Ecosentience learns things out of order...” War, hate, evil... Greed... At the moment, none of those things were known to the Ecosentience: like nature itself, it existed above all of those considerations. But if it learned about them in the wrong circumstances... Maybe she should see about warning a few people about that in case it wasn't already known...

At the Droyne's surprise that she was with a Crosser, and the old stories, Florence chuckled, “You're probably right, but he hasn't taken me away, I asked to accompany him, which is totally different. A lot of humans are scared by what they don't know - it's an evolutionary trait for a reason - but some of us love discovering and experiencing new things.” She smiled happily. “Anyway, I'll talk to Marlo - my Crosser friend - and I'll let you know.”

Florence waved with a smile, then looked around for a second. Lilana and Marlo were still further in the ship, and she supposed it'd be troublesome to join them at that point. So instead after a brief hesitation, she went to greet the nearest Lipaps, once again in their own language though a bit slower this time as she paid particular attention to get the tongue-clappings right.

"You know my history, enough of it leastwise. You know I served, then sought the black on my own terms", offered Abe. His features were stern, though his eyes held a history of sorrow. He exhaled slowly, considering the strangeness of the Crosser HomeShip. Runnels of sweat ran down his face in its humid atmosphere, though they troubled him not, "Pay the price, unravel this mystery. We might tread a cautious line between citizenship and ensuring our bills are paid"

"It is good to be scared by what you do not know,"  one of the Droyne says.

"For then you know you must be able to defeat it, and the path to victory is knowledge," says another.

The third adds, "but on the other hand, an excess of curiosity is blamed for the small predator's death.  So balance all things.  I too have wondered about what the Ecosentience might think.  Or want.  How can we know?  We, too, have experts who study this.  Other species claim to be smarter than we, regarding these things.  But they have not given us good information."


Florence heads over to the Lipaps, who, she learns, are "mercenary technicians", of a sort.  The Crossers took them on because they had their own personnel shortage, caused by demographic shifts over the years.  The Lipaps get along fine in the Crosser standard environmental conditions.  They've been doing this for a while, now, and they are growing bored.  Perhaps in Human space they will find something new.

******************

Lilana makes her deal.

"If this doesn't pan out now, I can't keep the ship going.  Although... if we just stayed here a while we could... no.  From here on in every hour we waste is time in which this Pod Stash could just vanish.  Marlo, I know you probably want to reconnect with home, you've been away for so long..."

"I need a few hours," the Crosser says.

"We need to refuel anyway.  And fill the ship with supplies.  There's an AG ship docked, let's hit it up for fresh food while we can.  Three hours okay, Marlo?  Then we have to go."

Florence listened fascinated to the Droynes' parting words, pondering about the difference in view points they exhibited which she suspected stemmed from that caste system of theirs.

The girl spent a bit of time to talk with the Lipaps, asking questions about the kind of works they've done for the Crossers and what they were looking for in the future. As she did, she couldn't help but wonder about the kind of changes the Crosser homeship had gone through. Was it something their leadership had pushed for, the consequence of something they acquired, or simply some random effect that would likely correct itself at some point? She'd have to ask Marlo...

Before she left the Lipaps, Florence exchanged contact information, adding that she might have an idea about a job opportunity but that it would likely take some time. Then, she sent messages. The first one to Marlo:

Hey Marlo,
Sorry I didn't follow, I was curious to talk with some of the other visitors, and I have a question: do you know who on your homeship would be interested in the Ecosentience, particularly, as weird as it sounds, in regards to trade?
Oh and what are the places you'd suggest I visit while I'm here?
Florence

The second one she sent to Lilana:
Lilana,
I'm not sure that's a subject interesting enough for you, but there is a group of Lipaps who spent some time working as engineers for the Crossers on the ship. It could be a good way to make a piece on the two at once, no?
Other than that, I've heard some news about the Ecosentience if that's something you're interested in?
Florence

With Lilana having made the deal and a time for departure set Charles contacts Jackson to see how he is doing on the sales and if he needs any assistance now there is a hard departure time line and if he needs help he will move over and if not he will try to get some more footage op points of interest that will work for a small mini docu about their visit here.

In reply to The Boss (msg # 32):



Jackson will ask for a couple samples to share with his crew members. He also ask about storage requirements to make sure they could successfully transport their potential cargo.  When he meet the others returning from their meet he will them about the offers he received.

"The Kygep seem to promise the best return for our investment. If anyone has any spare credits we could ask if they want sell additional kygep to us."

He will ask Lilana "Do you happen to have any of your old documentaries that you could spare to invest in the cargo to supplement your budget?"

Speaking to entire group he will ask "How soon we can get a return to that investment depends on where we going."

Impressed at the swiftness with which Lilana closes her deal, Abe returns in her wake to rejoin the rest of the crew overseeing the refuelling and restocking if necessary, together with ensuring their courses are plotted and the other minutiae of undocking. Since most of it is routine, he ensures the rest of the crew know he is available to assist

Charles shrugs and points at the newest drones.

"Broke here. But Marlo said the discs might net us some nice profit here so if we can sell those we can buy more? So lets see how many we can sell. We got em for 30 a piece so 35+ should make the swap interesting unless the food has an expiry date."

Jackson has tons of "Kygep" being moved into the holds of the Nellie Bly- the rather limited holds, as the ship is not a cargo ship, and manages to obtain two sample boxes.

The idea of "modular" rules in space shipping, and not only Humans but most aliens use it as well.  It simply makes too much sense.  Packages of a product are grouped in pallets, and pallets loaded onto containers, because that's the easiest way to ship.  But on the Nellie Bly, there is no longer any room for whole containers.  Two much "stuff" has accumulated.

Jackson has the Crosser service robots stack pallets in the hold.  Each pallet has boxes, each box has bars of "Kygep" in vacuum sealed foil pouches.  They will keep for a long time, as long as the hold stays within norms of temperature for Crosser food preservation, which is unsurprisingly similar to the norms for preservation of Human food.

Of course it's not all pure Kygep.  The Crossers point out to him:  "The gray pouches have Kygep.  The yellow pouches have Kygep with Theeara Root.  The green pouches have Kygep with Yalm.  The red pouches have Kygep with mint."

They seem unaware that mint originated as an Earth plant!

Jackson now has a cargo of space candy to manage.

When he asks Lilana about adding in any media programs she has on hand, she smiles.

"That's what Minka does.  When we arrive in a port.. .or this place... she contacts the local media brokers and sees what they might want to buy.  Maybe she's had some success.  It's been a short stay here, but time is critical now.  I'd rather get a quick start out than spend a day or two negotiating with buyers."

*******************************

Florence gets a message back from Marlo.  "Things have advanced at great speed, and there is no time for visiting.  That is unfortunate.  I must make some arrangements privately, and then Lilana insists that we all depart.  I know why she considers this to be very important, and I agree.  Please obtain all things that you would need for a long and fast voyage, and meet back at the ship as soon as possible. Lilana has put us on a tight schedule."

And she gets a message from Lilana, who seems to be very busy at the moment:

"With the information I have, we're heading to the region of space near Kayon.  We're not going that far out, but it's in the direction, and Kayon is where the Ecosentience Colony is.  So we can review it on the way."

When she rejoined everyone, Florence looked a bit dejected: she had hoped to spend quite a bit of time on the Home Ship, a few days at least, but instead they'd barely spend a couple of hours there which she felt was really a waste. Worse, she had to admit that she didn't really understand what the hurry was. Which didn't mean she didn't find it interesting: mysteries always were and she was curious to understand what was going on with a few ideas of her own to explain everything ranging from simple fraud to alien abductions. No, what she didn't understand was why Lilana felt the need to go now. Still... There wasn't anything she could do about it, except hope they'd come back, for Marlo if nothing else.

Yeah, it's really unfortunate indeed...
I don't really need anything more to travel, so I guess I'm ready, I'll just look at the shops for a bit.
If you are able to get it and it's not too much of a problem considering what you already have to do, could you give me the contact information of an Explorer was assigned to, or who recently dealt with, the Ecosentience?

Back at the ship, Florence asked the guys, “Does one of you know a bit about electronics? I'm looking for... well, a kind of microphone and speaker, covering a wide range of frequencies both in and out though it doesn't need to be particularly sensitive. It should be able to receive and send signals on a wide range of radio frequencies at least initially, and ideally something I could wear as a necklace or better yet a brooch?” She paused, pensive, “Though I guess we can start with a prototype before trying to go for a finished product.” It would at the very least help her find out which control frequency worked best. “Anyway, you think you could make something like that?”