Beyond Light

Valva Okiel Soka.

“Alright, just as if you were in a zoo, no sudden movements and make no eye contact 'less you wanna start a good quarrel,” said Heinrich Winslow.

“They are a sapient species like us,” Doctor Davis Weiber corrected him. “and like us, they know we might have certain gestures they won’t like and vice-versa. Just don’t show any obvious signs of aggressivity.”

“Yeah yeah,” sighed Heinrich. “Just don’t call their mothers names.”

“Assuming they reproduce like us and have mothers,” said Lab Assistant Nanoka. “I’m really curious right now to know more.”

“C’mon, quit the talk,” ordered John. “Polarize your visors. Don’t show your faces until they do the same. They must know what we look like already, but let’s build basic mutual respect between them and us first.”

The group of aliens kept approaching, their shapes becoming more discernible. They were biped creatures, with the hunched stance worthy of an ape —or those insectoids who boarded the Eternity of Return.

Their legs were rather short compared to their body size, making it difficult to determine their height. Their arms and shoulders were wide and bulky, giving them a gorilla complexion, although that could be due to the layered armor of glazed crimson plates they carried.

“Here they come,” said Yuri. “We should have brought gifts for them. Nothing like good ol’ Veneranskaya to make lifelong friends.”

“You don’t know their biology,” Yui complained. “Ethanol could be lethal for their bodies!”

John hushed. “They are coming.”

The group was now at only 100 meters, not stopping their walk. Their sizes became discernible, showing up that they were, in reality, large creatures, probably above the two meters of height. And they weren’t even standing upright! John and his team could not help but feel a little bit intimidated, even if they walked with calm and an apparently relaxed stance.

The aliens approached and stopped six meters before them. All of them except one wore rounded crimson armor of rounded plates, which was decorated in all of its edges by golden patterns. Their giant gauntlets revealed that they only counted with three fingers, and a much larger thumb in proportion.

Their bee-head-like helmets had two visor-like orifices, where patterns in golden shine took over for their eyes. Their skull shape was also more elongated in a diagonal, just like the ones of ancient primates. They didn’t seem to be carrying any weapons, besides dragonfly-shaped drones hovering above them, and some cylindrical tubes with green lights hanging on their waists.

The alien in the middle, however, wore a black glazed armor instead and was a little bit taller than the rest of them. He also carried a golden pole that looked like a mix between a spear and a hammer, with a single green light on its tip.

No one said a word, both teams curious yet anxious to know the alien animals in front of each other, the simian-like creatures staring vaguely with their two golden-stripped eyes at the black, orange, and blue polarized visors of the humans.

“Commander?” LIBRA spoke privately through his suit. “Shall we commence our mutual greeting?”

“They know English, right?” inquired John. “They must understand what we say. They look too advanced to not count with some translation software.”

“Dang it, and they make the bulky Derek look tiny,” mocked Doctor Winslow.

“...You guys know that I’m feeling like an ant right now?” said Yui with concern.

John took the first step ahead and stood straight at the aliens. “Hello. I am Commander John Star from the Independent Nations Space Union, one of the most important political factions humanity has. We talked with you through a com. channel less than an ho—” He halted himself, rolling his eyes at his own mistake. Human measure units meant nothing to them. “A brief period of time.”

The ape-like towering aliens looked at each other. The one with the black armor took a step ahead and spoke with a grave, masculine voice —expected from a giant creature like him.

“Commander… Star. We like that name. With our people, only those who have done the most heroic actions are given that name at the end of their birthnames. What heroic actions have you done, human?”

“Nothing,” Bella responded through the private com. channel. “Disregard his orders, commit insubordination and almost get us all killed.”

John wanted to respond back at her, but he knew their new meeting was much more important. He spoke to the alien. “...That’s about to be seen," he said more to himself than to the alien. "Star is only a name for us humans. Sorry if that is disrespectful to you. What is your name?”

“...Valva Okiel Soka, which translates to something in your language as —The One Who Stays True.”

“Interesting,” said Doctor Weiber through the private channel. “They have cultural meanings associated with personal names. Many African peoples base their names in similar fashions.”

“Nice to meet you, Valva Okiel Soka,” responded John, pronouncing the name slow and as accurate to the alien’s pronunciation as he could. Contrary to English, it sounded much more vocal, as Japanese or Spanish would sound, but there was certain nasality that gave it a tint of French. “May I ask what are your people called?”

“We call ourselves the Soku, which comes from an old word in the ancient language of our people…”

“Interesting…” whispered Doctor Weiber. “Their language has etymology based on ancient idioms, like Latin or Ancient Greek for us!”

“What does it mean?" continued the deep-voiced Valva Okiel Soka. “'The First To Be Wise', to put it in understandable words in your language.”

“It sounds… beautiful,” said John. “The… Soku. Nice to meet you. ‘We are 'humans’ as you probably know already. Your English —our language— is good. May I ask how you know it? Are you using translation software? For how long have you known about us? You must have been observing us before to know about us.”

“Spit it out, ape,” murmured Heinrich.

“We are the apes here,” Yui pompously corrected him. “And I always felt as if we always were observed by an advanced species.”

The alien took various seconds to respond. Did he understand John’s questions well? Maybe he was trading words with his fellow through their own private channel. Before he spoke, he and his companions did something John recognized as a gesture of basic trust: they all unlocked their helmets, the crimson plates retracting like flower buds. Their faces became visible.

Just like how John imagined them, they didn’t look that alien in facial appearance: their hairless faces were outlined by fur, which presumably extended through their whole bodies. They were shaped similarly to gorillas, except that their skin color was a tan one.

Their faces were hairless, composed of homologous characteristics: prominent brow ridges, lack of a proper nose with only two fine nostrils instead, small eyes —which also variated in color like in humans— and fine, long lips.

Valva Okiel Soka —their apparent leader— had a black, dreadlocked beard on his strong jaw, decorated with colorful gems.

“...I bet they must like bananas,” mocked Heinrich.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Mike joined the private com. channel from the Beyond Light, as all of them were watching. “Doctor Heinrich has set the first record of racism between alien species.”

“That would be called speciesm,” Yui corrected them with a frustrated tone. “Be quiet. Show more respect!”

“I’m with her. Thanks, Yui,” responded John. “Now, let’s do the same. Let them see our faces.”

And so, they all depolarized their visors, showing up their human, fine expressions, which were more diverse than the ones of the aliens: both genders, different skin, hair, and eye colors, as well as ages in their reduced group.

John wondered. Were all of those Soku males? Probably, assuming they had differentiated genders. Maybe they had a different s****l dimorphism compared to humans. His brown eyes looked directly into the small, hazel ones of Valva. The simian alien half-blinked them like a cat and squeezed his lips up. Was that a smile? He slowly nodded, what appeared to be a universal gesture.

“Humans. Soku,” said Valva. “We aren’t that different, despite originating at various eternities of light from each other.”

“Despite your giant size and furry bodies?” Doctor Winslow silently mocked.

“Now, I will respond to your questions, Star. Commander John Star. Yes. We have been observing you for a long time, even before you came to this system. We, the Soku, have a natural affinity with speech and words, and our vocal tracts are more advanced than yours too. We can produce much more sounds and learn languages much faster, as well as sing overally better.”

"Good news for you, Mike," Heinrich mocked. "You were the one wanting to turn this into a musical."

Mike and Yuri silently chuckled. John ignored them. “Interesting,” whispered Doctor Weiber. “Yui, take notes!”

Valva Okiel Soka continued. “But unfortunately, we are not even one fraction of the advancement and power as the one present in this system. Anuk is out there and he has done many atrocious things to our people and many other species."

He nailed the spot. "Anuk. You were escaping from it. It destroyed our Eternity of Return, and is now giving us hunt," said John. "What do you know about it? Can you help us out?"

"Yes," Valva nodded. "We are in a similar situation, but Anuk is coming now for you, humans. Let us talk somewhere more fitting. It must be your first time meeting with an aliens species. Well, in a peaceful way. Your brothers in your grand ship weren’t lucky.”

John swallowed his own saliva. At least they weren’t coming for violence and seemed to be agreeable enough to help them. Just like the scientists in a high, he felt eager to know more. Not only about Goliath —or Anuk— and what it or its plans were, but also about the Soku.

They seemed to be highly advanced. Not only technologically, but also culturally. Their first encounter with the Eternity of Return was one of the biggest mistakes, but he felt glad it didn't affect their current encounter.