"Ktheg!lik."

She grunted, trying to wake up. It felt as if she had just gone to sleep. Lifting one ear, she squinted at the nearest display. She had just gone to sleep. "What is it, Petra?"

"You have a call."

"Eh?"

"You have a call."

She blinked a few times. I have a call? Not a message? What does that mean? Her eyes flew open. Nik!eh is calling!

Ktheg!lik had been worried about the hoonan. He had refused all calls for two dozen days now, though Petra had continued helping them the whole time. Despite how nice he had been, even in the face of the assassination attempt, she still worried about Nik!eh getting angry with them—with her. And if it was sadness causing him to refuse contact, that would be even more concerning.

She struggled to sit up, flailing about in her nest, glad that no one was there to see her fumbling. The radio had been moved out of her quarters—Nik!eh's quarters, if he ever came back—and she needed to get dressed. "Tell Nik!eh I'll be right there."

"Nik!eh is not receiving messages or calls."

"What?" That was the same response Petra had given for weeks, which made no sense now, given that he was calling.

"Nik!eh is not receiving messages or calls."

Petra's not saying something important, again. It's too early to fight with golem logic, she grumbled.

Ktheg!lik finished throwing on enough clothes to be presentable, and headed for the workroom, where the radio was set up. The engineer was in the middle of a science lesson with Petra, it sounded like. "Odaual, I need the radio!" she shouted a warning. "Nik!eh is calling!"

By the time she entered the workroom, Odaual had vacated the seat in front of the radio camera. "Petra, answer the call from Nik!eh," she instructed, nodding to the other fuak!a in thanks as she took his place.

"Nik!eh is not receiving messages or calls."

Ktheg!lik squeezed her eyes shut and resisted the urge to tug on her ears. "Petra, accept the call." When she opened her eyes again, she had to blink repeatedly, trying to understand what she was seeing.

A large face, bright red, with black stripes on the rest of the head. A nose, sticking out like Nik!eh's. Two large teeth stuck down out of the mouth. Something like a pair of antlers stuck out of the forehead, shiny black, with a single point each.

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The camera showed most of the top half of the creature, which was wearing some kind of uniform. Behind them was nothing but blurry grayness, as if they were the only thing that existed on the other end of the call. The creature was speaking a sort of growling language, harsh and low, and growing louder as it spoke.

Another alien. Not a hoonan, not even close. Does Nik!eh know this being? Where are they calling from? How did they get to Ooafa?

Ktheg!lik turned to Odaual. "Get Geh!kin, Geh!aoa, and Fana!o. Now," she ordered urgently. As she did so, the red alien started yelling louder. Odaual nodded and ran, and Ktheg!lik faced the camera again, examining the stranger. Is it mad that I was ignoring it for a moment?

"Hello," she began, then paused. "Hello," she repeated. The alien turned and barked something that sounded like an order at someone else off screen.

A moment later, she started hearing three voices, taking turns. The first was the alien on screen, saying something loudly in its language, with pauses. In the pauses, another, similar voice was enunciating something that sounded like Galactic. They're translating from their own language for us. The third voice was Petra, giving a partial translation from Galactic to Kthufu.

"I am Genneck Dua Foh, captain of the Kalash-Quovo..."

"You are (something) your base and (something something) immediately..."

"...or you will (something)."

* *

Kazz! Kazz kazz kazz! Now what do I do? Stalling for time, she kept her face as neutral as possible and repeated, "Hello?" in Kthufu.

Captain Foh's voice got quieter and even more menacing. It sounded as if he were giving an order, and Ktheg!lik was pretty sure she wasn't going to like the result. She changed tactics in a hurry. Switching languages, she haltingly said, "Hello? You...speak...Galactic?"

There was rapid conversation among the red aliens, though she couldn't see any of them besides the Captain. "Yes, we speak Galactic," the second voice confirmed. "Do you understand me?"

"I...understand...small...words...with...Galactic," Ktheg!lik responded, deliberately being slower than she needed to."Please...say...two...time. Please...say...slow. Please...say...small...words."

There was a brief exchange in the red alien language. Then the second voice said, "You...will...(something)...to...us...now."

"What...is...(something)?" Ktheg!lik asked. Grabbing a tablet, she rapidly typed

< Petra. Respond by text here. What is (something), the word it said? >

< Concede all. > The golem replied. Ktheg!lik realized that Petra had learned "concede" from people talking about games.

< "Surrender" is the word in Kthufu. >

< Understood. >

At that point, Geh!kin entered the workshop at a brisk walk. He had a tablet in one hand, and was making it scroll with the other. Reading the transcript so far, I hope.

The presumably red alien translator declared, "Surrender is, we say, you do. We say, you always do."

"What...do...you...want?" she tried in response. The translator relayed that to the Captain, who responded.

"We...want...you...surrender."

"What...do...you...want?" she repeated, desperately trying to find some wiggle room.

The Captain gave an order.

A moment later, the lights flickered, and the mountain shook.

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