"Okay, humans. Type 2 standard tool users, bilateral symmetry, very good. Terrestrial, very good - no tanks for you guys. And let's see..."
Tentacles tapped at the side of the monitor as more tentacles manipulated the entry orbs. Gina had seen this in action many times but still hadn't puzzled out precisely how inputs were made into the computers. It appeared to be combinations of motions, rather than distinct positions or individual motions. Worse, every input required simultaneous motions on at least four different orbs, so watching the Llobban "typing" could be compared to observing a complex belly dance performed by a basket of snakes.
"It doesn't say here who your sponsoring species are?"
"Sponsoring species?"
"You know, the first contact species that helped guide your species' ascent to sentience?"
"Uh...we never had one?"
The Llobban turned white. Literally white, like a stick of chalk. Gina had seen that before; among these jovian secondaries turning white was a universal expression of shock. "None?"
"No. Certainly none that I've ever heard of."
The Llobban stirred the inputs rapidly, all four of its major eyes scanning the screens. "That's not..." It kept scanning until finally it released the inputs. "Oh!"
"What's wrong?"
"It says here that your world was deemed dangerous and marked off for sequestration."
"Really? Who decides that?"
The Llobban waved tentacles - all of them, a Medusa-like cluster of at least fifty - at the ceiling. "Upstairs. They don't tell us why, just what and when. Your world has been visited and remotely evaluated a few times and the last time was during a war..." it squinted at the screens, "...between yourselves? Really? With nukes?!" If anything, the poor creature turned a little whiter yet.
"Oh, yeah. That."
"Yes, that!"
"Yeah, we got over that. Mostly."
"How the hell did you get here?"
"Oh, well. You know. Lunar base, Mars base, Jovian moon and then some of you guys came wandering by and I hopped a ride." Gina shrugged expansively. "Here I am."
Abruptly the Llobban changed back to almost its normal coloration. "That does sound like a familiar story." It shrugged too, a sinuous serpentine wave. "But you are the very first, the very first of your kind I have encountered. We've heard of you of course, and the stories of your prize fights are...they can't be real, can they?"
"They're real."
"A rigid beat a Blob? That doesn't happen."
"Record time, too, they tell me."
"Anyway. We knew you were out there but I never thought I'd have you in front of my desk."
"Yeah. Listen, though, I just wanted to look into securing official statuses for my planet and species. Can I do that or not?"
"Um, well. Yes. You'd have to sign on for a contract as the representative for your species for a period of not less than..." it squinted at the screen again. "...hmm, since you're brand new and no sponsoring species, really? I don't think we've ever had a representative apply for recognition on their own merits before. You're supposed to have someone speak on your behalf..."
"We speak on our behalfs. Behalves? Whatever. We stand on our own feet."
"Right, that's what's weird..." Gina's translator was having no difficulty whatsoever with this creature; its command of human-analogous idioms was comfortably familiar. He was easier to talk to than Booj and his booming formal phrasing. "Usually the ascension process takes a couple of centuries, which is enough for us to get to know about you a bit better."
"Well, we've been evolving into sentience for about the last half-million years or so. And we've been developing modern cultures for, I dunno, I guess about twenty thousand years? We've only been as technologically advanced as we are for maybe the last fifty, though."
"You mean...you evolved into sentience?"
"Yeah? So?"
"That doesn't happen!"
Gina raised her hands in a plain here I am anyway gesture. "It had to happen to somebody besides us."
"No!"
"Come on. Who lifted up you guys?"
"We were sponsored by the Arannda."
"And who sponsored them?"
"They were raised up about fifteen thousand years ago by the undecipherable," the translator punted the last word.
"And who sponsored those guys?"
"Umm...I don't know."
"And before them?"
"Okay, maybe I get your point."
"We evolved, buddy. It's one thing to be raised up and that's great, but we humans, if we didn't have anybody to raise us then we just did it ourselves."
The Llobban was looking at its screen. "It says here you have driven yourselves to the brink of extinction multiple times."
"Yup. Guilty as charged. But we figure out what we're doing wrong, sort it out, and keep going."
"If you want to be your species' representative, you will have to commit to a period on the panel of not less than five of your years."
Gina thought about it. "I've got other things I want to do. And I might not be the best choice for a representative anyway. I'm not that kind of person."
"What will you do, then? There are enormous advantages to be had with formal representation among the species."
"Sort it out and keep going, I guess."
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