Template:PostIn CatH Post 66 Clear and Kimleigh are flying Hoopa away from the islands where they were attacked in CatH Post 65 when they receive a message in English from a Kara. They go to meet him upon a large, white tower called and meet with Kara Panda, according to Clear's PIP translation. Panda uses his data-mould to translate their English into Indran and he apologises on behalf of his people for the attack. Clear notices that he seems to worship the moon as one of his gods. To help Clear tidy up he takes her and Kimleigh to a hotel via an imp taxi. When at the hotel Clear investigates the bathroom, finding that they use a sauna system instead of a shower and states that she would help with Panda's request to help him get off world despite Kimleigh warning that there are usually rules against helping pre-spaceflight civilisations advance to spaceflight status.
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Kara Panda[]
Clear: "You want to land in that city?"
Kimleigh: "Looks as good as any. You want clothes, right? I want to see the people here."
As Clear begins to turn the ship a communication scratches through the system and sounds out in the native language of the native people. However it comes up in clear English on her system, which is surprising to Clear.
Voice: "I am a Kara on this world. I would like to welcome the aliens to our planet. I am atop of the great white tower in your vicinity. I'm sending you a map through your navigation software. There should be enough room for you to land your space machine here."
There's a pause.
Kara: "I mean ship. Your space ship."
Clear: "Looks like someone out there might have a translation device after all!"
Kimleigh: "There is it, Clear. That big white tower!"
Clear: "Looks like a giant di--"
She catches herself as Kimleigh looks at her with wide, innocent eyes.
Clear: "Looks like... like the place. Let's just do a fly-by."
She steers the ship around the tower, taking a good look at it. She sees a single figure standing to one side, otherwise the tower is empty. It's roof is wooden and she worries the engines must burn it up - but the landing thrusters are very small and low power, so she guesses they should be fine. She manoeuvres the craft into position and lowers it down to the top of the tower.
She cracks the hatch and opens it. She hops out of the ship while Kimleigh, after last time, lowers the ladders to climb down.
The native they find is like the rest physically, stark white with the big bulb on his head. He also wears the same armour as the old man that kicked Clear's butt on the beach. She worries this means he's some kind of commander in the local army.
Kara Panda: "Indran--"
His voice quakes and sticks. She guesses he's nervous, though not why. Perhaps he'd heard about the events on the beach. She watches her PIP as he speaks.
Kara Panda: "This person is Kara Panda. It is happy day to witness you."
He bows her head, a very formal gesture that Clear never appreciates. She'd seen High Empire guys doing it, especially to Kimleigh. Clear rolls her eyes but the guy can't help it if that's how they wave hello at people.
Clear translates for the sake of Kimleigh;
Clear: "He says says his name is Kara Panda and he's happy to see us."
Kimleigh: "At least he's friendly. He's got a technological device like that other one so if he tries anything--"
She snaps her fingers and Clear sees the device next to his ear. Closer now she can see that is appears to hover there and is shaped like a figure-eight and glows softly.
Kara Panda: "You say you encounter peoples on Indra? Okay am I to ask of this?"
Clear is taken aback when she reads this.
Clear: "I think he can understand us."
The man taps the device on his ear.
Kara Panda: "This translates meaning of words. Pretty please you are not hurting this. Not hurting this man."
Clear: "He says don't hurt him."
Kimleigh smiles her sweet-yet-predatory smile.
Kimleigh: "I won't do anything to you if you're nice to me!"
When off of her ship Clear thinks Kimleigh is all the more obnoxiously superior to others. As if she wants those who do not know she's a princess to treat her as one, while those that do know she's a princess she wants to treat her more casually. Paradoxical pain in the backside, Clear decides.
She decides to try introducing herself to him. He seems much more friendly than the last of his kind and she doesn't fancy being struck by one of those blasts on top of this tower - to then wind up flying through the air towards a ground far, far below.
Clear: "My name's Clear. This is Kimleigh."
Kara Panda: "Kimneigh."
Clear smirks.
Clear: "Close enough."
Kimleigh: "Hey!"
Clear: "I don't suppose you know where I can get a change of clothes? I got into a fight with some punks on a beach and now I look a mess."
Panda's eyes widen with surprise and concern.
Kara Pashna: "A person attacked these!?"
Clear: "Yeah. It's okay though. You should see the other guy!"
Kara Panda: "Well. Erm. Taking these to a hotel? Nearby it be. Clean self there and this person will get clothing?"
Clear looks at her wrist device and frowns.
Clear: "He wants us to go to a hotel. Says he'll bring clothes."
Kimleigh: "Not sure it's safe to go leaving our ship behind."
Kara Panda: "Safe is the place of here! Ovai locking of the door."
Clear: "I think he says the owner of the tower will lock the door."
Kimleigh: "Okay. But if someone tries to go for a joyride in my joyride, I'll be pissed."
Clear: "You remember it's my ship, don't you?"
The kara sweeps his hand towards the door, marking the exit of the roof, and they start towards it.
Kimleigh: "Didn't you say you stole the ship from an Æon?"
Clear: "I didn't steal it! I acquired it! Consider it compensation for zapping me."
Kara Panda: "Thanking you!"
They turn to see Kara Panda looking up at the gigantic moon above them.
Clear: "Did you just thank the moon?"
He nods.
Kara Panda: "Yes. Well. I am saying the thanking you to Brethrain god. You are one to view in there."
He motions to the planet's face. Clear squints at it. The massive world has a great many storms, typical of a gas giant, but on the face looking down at the world there does appear to be storms in the vague shape of a face with two huge tornadoes making two eyes.
Clear: "Your god is the moon?"
Kara Pashna: "Yes."
Beneath the eyes there's a double-bump that looks, to Clear, to clearly be a moustache.
Clear: "He has a moustache?"
Kimleigh: "What's wrong with a god having a moustache? Leave him to his religion."
Kimleigh and Clear move on to discuss the pros and cons of gods with moustaches while Kara Panda leads the way down the tower. Clear admires the red wood and the excellent views from the balconies. The floor does, however, seem quite sticky and there's a pungent smell to the air that is fairly repellent.
When they get outside the doors close automatically behind them. She's a little surprised but just shrugs it off and follows the kara.
He takes them to a carriage which has a small humanoid creature at the front. It holds the handle with a hungry face of teeth and ugliness. To Clear it looks a lot like a hairless, red monkey.
Kara Pashna: "This is named Imp. These strong, no concerned be."
Kimleigh: "You have another species of being pulling your carts?"
She doesn't like the idea of an enslaved species of sentient beings. Having superiority doesn't automatically make it fair or just to enslave others to your will. She's reminded, loosely, of her own people's plight against the technologically superior humans. She grimaces. Fortunately Panda seems to understand the meaning behind her words and moves to reassure her.
Kara Panda: "Creature unthinking being is. No worries. This one understanding these ones appear as Indran-- maybe like yourself be! But these animals be. Clever in cart pulling skills but not in more."
Kimleigh seems to forgive quickly and she eagerly hops into the open-air carriage.
Kimleigh: "Imp-cart joyride!!"
Despite Kimleigh's enthusiasm and Panda's reassurance, Clear is perturbed. The creatures look so humanoid, their faces, their bodies. She's unnatural to see such a creature performing labour like this. But she relents. She's no biologist and can't comment beyond how it makes her feel. She climbs on sullenly and the kara gets on after her. The imp starts off without prompting.
Clear: "How does it know where to go?"
Kara Pashna: "Two stoppings. This one cannot clever be in knowledge of placements. Being pursues the trail of smells. Person being myself this one would liking of mine to walk but this one being afraid these one wanting reaching the hotel establishment..."
Clear scratches the fabric on her head. Sometimes she thinks it'd be easier to just listen to his babbling than trying to translate the confusing English on her PIP.
Kara Pashna: "This one be asking questions of the person being you?"
Clear looks dubiously at him but shrugs in acquiescence.
Kara Pashna: "Material upon your head be what?"
Clear panics, having no idea what might have stuck to her head. She pats down her hair, seeking out whatever creature must have landed there but she comes up absent. She then realises, as she pokes her hair, that he hasn't seen hair before - his being a species with jellyfish for hair.
Clear: "Hair. You mean hair. It's normal for most species, I tend to find."
Kara Panda: "Being there... lot of creatures out of galactic?"
She then realises that the people attacked her from fear and no understanding. She must have seemed like an invading alien to these people who must not have any understanding of the galaxy at large.
Clear: "Now I know why they attacked us."
Kimleigh: "Wow! A real pre-spaceflight civilisation! I've always wanted to invade one!"
Clear frowns at her. She doesn't like that sentence one bit.
Kimleigh: "I meant to say visit one..."
----
Kara Pashna leaves the room and Clear tugs off the boots. She eyes the broken heel and tosses the infernal footwear across the room with another silent avowal never to wear such ridiculous things ever again.
Their rooms occupy the entire top floor of the domicile and each bedroom has its own bathroom. Clear finds a long dress that Panda had told her was a bathrobe so she tugs off the silver dress and throws it onto the bed. The bed itself is basically a mound of pillows atop of a flat mattress laid upon the floor. There are small rugs all over the floor instead of one massive carpet. The whole room smells pleasantly spicy and when she picks up the robe she realises that the material itself is scented with the spices.
She goes into the bathroom and finds a hole in the middle of the room. That'll be what passes for a toilet. Above her she sees holes in the ceiling. At first she panics, thinking them to be holes to the upper floor, like her floor, and expects a turd to come dropping down. But she realises there's an apparatus inside. After a long while of searching she finds switches on the wall that activate the ceiling apparatus. Steam floods the room and she realises they don't have showers, they have saunas. Clear is very happy with this turn of events. She finds a long bench at the back of the room and sits there, basking in the steam for half an hour.
She turns off the sauna and pokes her hand out of the door to find the robe. She snags it but realises there's a hand holding it. She yanks it in quickly but catches sight of the blue skin.
Clear: "Kim! What're you doing in here!?"
Kimleigh: "I came to talk to you! I was bored! You take hours in there, you know that? I came in earlier and left. Came back a minute ago and you were still in there! You can't be that dirty!"
Clear slips her arms into the silk-like material of the robe and fastens it tightly about the waist. Her skin is hot and her pores wide open. She feels relieves and refreshed but heat is not a comfortable state for a salmitton for long. She steps out of the room and in instantly pleased with the coolness of the air that streams in from the open balcony. She glares at Kimleigh, who's lounging on the bed.
Kimleigh: "So! Think we should help the guy?"
Clear shrugs;
Clear: "I don't see why not."
Kara Panda had asked them to help him with his own spaceship. Apparently he'd built one. He even claims it can travel through hyperspace. But it needs a tether to do so - an anchor or a guide. If the Hoopa travels through hyperspace then his craft should be able to follow her. It all sounded very strange and she's sure there were a lot of translation errors thanks to her PIP but she sees no harm in looking at his ship and helping if she can.
Kimleigh: "You know there's usually rules about helping pre-spaceflight civilisations..."
Clear: "Well, I'm not a citizen of the High Empire. I don't have to follow those rules."
Kimleigh: "Actually we'd probably offer them a place in our empire and help them become technologically advanced!"
She smiles, not seeing the negative ramifications of the act.
Clear: "Trading their souls for your scraps?"
Kimleigh: "That not--"
Clear: "Don't worry about it. You guys do whatever you want. Nothing to do with me. This Panda guy asked for my help so I'll give it if I can. Hey, maybe they'll make me one of their gods, eh? I could be the god of space!"
Kimleigh starts to laugh at that.
Kimleigh: "The red-faced god of space with her magical white hair and space chariot!"
They get to have a good chuckle together about that one.