Within minutes we were facing a perfect hologram of what appeared to be a man crossed with an octopus. His face was light purple in color, elongated, and fleshy—or maybe spongy would be the better word. It was laid out in the same basic pattern as a human face, but with a smaller nose that only sported a single opening, eyes positioned farther apart, not the absolute forward-facing eyes of all Earthly predators, and a mouth that contained a smooth, uninterrupted wall of purple teeth, not separated into individual units like ours.
The being’s torso and legs were covered in loose, comfortable fabric of some kind, a neon blend of bright colors, with the only appendages exposed being two arms, placed where human arms would be placed, and looking like they had evolved from an alien version of the octopus. While the tentacle-shaped arms themselves only had vestigial evidence of suction cups, the six smaller tentacles at the ends of both main trunks, the equivalent of hands, retained tiny suction cups at their tips.
The colonel had pulled out the chair beside him to enhance the illusion, and Nari’s holographic image appeared to be seated in perfect 3D glory next to him around the table.
“I can’t tell you how much I’ve been looking forward to meeting you both,” said Nari enthusiastically after the colonel had completed introductions. The voice simulation program spoke in perfect, unaccented English.
“Thanks,” I said, beaming, wanting to pinch myself. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you too. For my entire life. You’re the first non-human I’ve ever met.”
“So I’ve gathered,” said the tentacled alien, his silky baritone synthetic voice conveying just a hint of amusement.
I was determined not to get sidetracked by technical discussions, but I couldn’t help myself. “Your translator device is impressive,” I said. “How is it able to modulate its tone to convey human emotions?”
“The AI running it has absorbed the contents of your entire internet,” replied the alien. “Along with all books that have ever been published electronically, in every language. It has also absorbed many millions of hours of videos that feature members of your species. So it’s able to translate between our two languages instantly. And it knows from the word choices and body language of both of our species when humor is intended, or sorrow, and so on, and can inject this into its tone of voice.
“It also modulates our respective body languages. My holographic image there with you, and yours here with me, are tied into the AI. When I flutter the tips of my tentacles here, the equivalent of a human nod, it will move my holographic head up and down there—which you’ll correctly read as a nod.”
The colonel had just taken another swig of water and lowered the bottle onto a coaster in front of him. “The AI also translates idioms back and forth,” he added. “So it always gets the meaning right. It knows when to provide a literal translation, and when not to. So speak as you normally would. If you say that you’re ‘under the weather,’ the AI knows to translate this as ‘not feeling well.’”
“Very nice,” I said happily, finding myself in a nearly perpetual state of fascination. I stared at our alien guest. “Meeting you is the greatest single event that Tessa and I have ever experienced. First contact. Proof that humanity isn’t alone.”
My eyes narrowed in thought. “But you’ve met countless other species,” I continued. “Including humans. So why were you so keen on meeting us. Relatively speaking, we’re nobodies. Or were you just being polite?”
“Not at all,” replied Nari. “And I don’t consider you nobodies. In fact, as Brad has told you, you’re extremely important.”
I groaned. “Yeah, he did at that. I don’t suppose anyone would like to tell us why?”
“Not just yet,” said Nari in amusement, his holographic features actually smiling, a somewhat grotesque approximation of the real human expression. “But I can tell you that I’m quite impressed with your imagination, Jason. Your speculative fiction is fun to read, even though you get most of it wrong.”
I coughed in disbelief. “You’ve read my books?”
“Several, yes. The AI has translated all of them into Rho, in fact. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Are you kidding?” I said. “That’s awesome.”
In fact, it may have been the coolest thing that had ever happened to me. And in this case, I didn’t mind the piracy. It’s not the kind of foreign-language deal I could ask my agent to negotiate anyway. What would I tell him? “I’m okay granting literary rights to the Rho in the Milky Way Galaxy—but be sure to retain rights in Andromeda.”
Just the thought of it brought a smile to my face.
“I’m so glad you don’t mind,” said Nari. “And I promise to tell you why you’re important soon. But first, I’d like to tell you what we’re doing here. Why we’ve forged a relationship with Brad and his team. And why the human race is so vitally important to the future of the Galactic Federation.”
Tessa and I glanced at each other and nodded. “By all means,” I replied. “Please go ahead.”
“You and Brad discussed two categories of galactic civilizations,” the alien began, waving his tentacled arms as he spoke. “Humanity is in the first bin, along with an overwhelming majority of all others. These civilizations are fireworks. They blaze fast and bright but die out quickly. They’re what you and Brad have called wolf species. A few others—we think—managed to rein in their violent tendencies long enough to tame the stars. These quickly went on to achieve transcendence.”
The alien paused. “The twenty-two members of the Galactic Federation, on the other hand, are an entirely different animal. Not self-destructive, but stagnant. Not driven enough to reach the next level, as the super-species may have done. And not expansionary. No unquenchable desire to explore and expand the frontier like you would have.”