45 Contact: first run

Theo and Voli were on the Planet Vordak, enjoying the view. Their cruiser ships were half a kilometer away and most of the other crew members were back there.

Voli sighed and looked restless. "How long do we have to stay here again? This place looks more like a village than the capital."

The two were on top of a hill, looking at the city below. There was a tree in front and above them: a very, very massive tree. No matter how far they looked, they couldn't see an end to the sparkling leafy roof.

"Don't be so picky. They were generous to let us be this close." Although Theo felt gratitude, he knew something was amiss. 'Why would they accept us with such little trouble? It was almost as if they were… expecting us….'

They'd arrived just hours ago and they landed just a kilometer outside the city. Normally they'd have beamed down with the teleporters, but instead, they had to use the ships to bring back the materials they'd need.

A welcoming party had arrived at the spot and they'd taken Captain Barslain and two others to have an audience with the king. Meanwhile, Theo and the rest were free to wander outside the city.

'Maybe I should lick things?' And he would have if he wasn't with someone.

The air was rich with oxygen but it contained too little nitrogen, so they had to put on a mask while they were here; they were also using their suits. The gravity was perhaps slightly less than planet Aura's but it didn't bother any of them. Theo did feel slightly lighter and he could perhaps jump quite high now.

He was definitely going to try it out later on.

Though the sky was covered in leaves, small ships like the ones Theo had arrived at this place, were able to pass through just fine. And the same went for sunlight. This planet was in the goldilocks zone of its solar system but at the very edge. It was slightly closer to its parent star and that's why the temperature and the sunlight both were intense. Which is where the tree and its shade came into play.

It was basically afternoon, and even now there was plenty of light to go around- almost like evening. There were also glowing plants here and there, which provided more lighting.

'It's a shame they can't see the stars though.'

"Well, this place ain't that bad. They even gave me this, look?" Voli flashed her diamond necklace. It had red rubies mixed in with the pale blue diamonds: very expensive if nothing else. "And they're rich!"

It was a gift from one of the guards who'd come as the welcoming party.

"Wow, how pretty." Theo didn't understand anything about jewelry, so his voice lacked emotion.

Voli raised a brow and grimaced. "Why are you men like this."

'I could ask the same about you.' But Theo didn't.

"This is kind of a weird place though. It looks so much like the Middle Ages, and yet the technology is like ours. They have almost everything we have. So how come they haven't conquered their solar system yet?" Voli wondered aloud.

From the hill, they could see various things, buildings in the distance, people going about their day….

"I don't know. Their population and history don't really align with what we're seeing. Maybe we're missing something," Theo mumbled.

Theo knew what this place was like thirty years ago. But now- now everything felt terribly new.

Theo was expecting perhaps the advent of information technology and maybe even a bit of robotics.

Instead, he got R.I walking around, Holo screens here and there, people using hovercrafts, and all that. And primitive things were also mixed in with the bunch like steam engines and all that.

Was it really possible to advance this much in just thirty years?

And not to mention the similarity between the technology.

It certainly didn't make sense to Theo.

"Looks like you two are kicking off, rather well." A voice came from behind and above.

Voli's face went red and Theo looked a little disturbed. He wasn't expecting to his best friend up in the tree, shirtless. Not to mention with a dashing smile.

"Looks like your bad habits haven't changed." Theo rolled his eyes.

"What can you expect? It was too hot, so I took it off."

If only there was some more stimulation, like perhaps the wind blowing against John's hair, then Voli might have lost a lot of blood through her nose. She breathed heavily and barely held her ground.

Theo noticed and just exhaled. To him, this was nothing more than just drama.

"By the way, you two noticed too, right?" John said, jumping down.

"If you mean the tech, then yeah. But I don't think we should talk about it here."

"Well, you got that right. Otherwise, we'd be giving these people what they want. I'd say we have roughly twenty on our tail," Voli said.

"Close but not close enough. There are twenty-two here." John pulled out a shirt from his plasma bag and just put it on.

It almost made Voli's heart go crazy- almost.

Obviously, Theo hadn't noticed- or more like, he didn't try to actively search for people spying on them. He was too busy admiring the scenery and overthinking things.

"Maybe give them a run for their money?"

"You bet!"

Both Voli and John grinned. They were ready to go on a little marathon.

Theo on the other hand felt like the third wheel and sighed. 'Is there any point?'

They were here from another planet and of course, they'd be kept on under surveillance, that much was normal. What wasn't normal, however, was the fact that these people could potentially understand them and their technology was basically the same as humans.

'So, it wasn't just a discovery, rather they'd already made contacts with each other for a long while.' And even Theo wasn't dense enough to not understand as much.

And so, the three started running. It was more like Voli and John were jogging towards the city while Theo reluctantly trailed just behind them though.

With the lower gravity- it was fun to run. Or rather, fun to be chased.

But the question remained: fun for who?