"I'm not sure what this changes, if anything. But we're no longer wondering, perhaps... We can blame the idiots back on Earth and - try to move on, and build up here. It doesn't change that we need to be diligent and diplomatic, here."

"Huge coincidence that the FTL thing is off target... And takes us straight to aliens. Magic aliens, no less. We don't have an explanation for that part."

"Does it matter? We're here, they're here. Fuck Earth, fuck James Ryder, we're Exodus now. We can do better than that."

"...God. I need to get some sleep. To figure out what to announce, and then sleep."

If the Exodus's systems were that compromised... Who's to say that everyone in Nivis is who the crew manifest says they are? Hmm...

Funny, how she was talking about how treaties and diplomacy can achieve peace just now, and they found out that Earth had two major wars and a number of little ones off the reveal of Exodus... Well, the concepts of embassies and treaties and neutral arbiters and paths of escalation and de-escalation should still apply... Well, pray the same doesn't happen here, with first contact. At least not for a long while.

"...Let's start heading back to Nivis and try to get at least, like, four hours of sleep tonight. I think... We should still be relatively open with information, and the previous decision still makes sense. We'll want to try to recover whatever we can about this FTL device... But it can wait until tomorrow. Maybe even until next week. Let's get going."

Previously:

Halfway through the night cycle in the improvised visitors' quarters, there's a faint whirring sound in the ceiling, and then something drops a tiny mini-PDA (the size of a credit card) with a note taped to it through a narrow gap in the ventilation duct, on to the bathroom sink.

(No cameras in the bathroom! She's so clever!)

It lands with a bit of a clatter.

The note says:

To the aliens, if you can read this:

This device is designed to stealthily send and receive text messages to a group of concerned citizens of Nivis. As long as you only use it when not in view of the cameras (machine eyes) in the main conference room and hallways, and when this picture appears: [drawing of a check mark] - it should be undetectable to the Security people. You should not use this unless you need to. It is unlikely but possible that it will be traced back to us if confiscated and analyzed.

If Lucy Carver's administration is treating you well, I'm glad. However: Trust, but verify. We are working to provide options and alternatives if they are necessary for what is right. We hope that contact between Earth and whatever name you have for this planet is good for all people, for a brighter future!

-R

Earlier, when Tolesli got up to pee, he found the object, recognized the word 'aliens', and slipped it into his pocket. Now, back with the expedition, he says he wants to stretch his legs and goes jogging in a loop around Orocide, and takes another look at it. 

...Yeah no, he has no idea what it says. He did some thinking on the turbowing and that's okay. If the extra PDA is a gift for Lei, ignoring it hurts Lei. If it's something bad, ignoring it while carrying it with him hopefully hurts Lei at least a bit, even if it's not the maximally gullible thing he could do with it.

His problem now is that he has to talk to the emperor. The emperor might support the FD, but has not given any direct sign of that to Tolesli. If he reports the alien object, or even just fails to conceal that something interesting happened and thus makes the emperor suspicious, the emperor will remember the event. Tolesli doesn't how Lei emperors audit each other and what limitations there might be on the spy emperor's ability to evade detection. So, Tolesli has to act as if the emperor is genuinely Lei. 

Elves are not as perfect at reading people as they pretend to be - observe that Tolesli got hired at the imperial shrine - but they're not bad at it. Tolesli's strategy so far has been to be boring, which works fine when he is busy gardening or thinking about gardening, and rarely interacts with elves, and will not work at all now. 

He's heard that pretending distress can cover up the tells of a secret, but he'd have to lie about something distressing, and he is not smart enough to keep a complicated story straight while also mixing it up a realistic amount. He was, in fact, specifically warned against this during his single visit to FD for training.

He could leave. He could keep running, destroy the object once he's far enough away that no one will see the fire, steal some food in Kef, and go to... go to Nitalhel, not through the Argo aqueduct, but by turning felward and staying in the stormlands until he gets to the dark end of the Sota-Nitalhel border. That way, if he gets caught, it might damage relations between Lei and the Allheart Alliance.

Another option is to be too sick to talk. When he was trained in FD, a liefling gave him a way to arrange that: if he bites the tip of his tongue while clenching his butt, a nodule in his kidney will dissolve and release an infectious plant - a 'microbe' as Hestlierre was saying the aliens call them... And Tolesli is worried that the liefling was lying and actually it would kill him.

Oh, Hestlierre, there's a thought. Could he talk with Hestlierre on the grounds that he's feeling bad and is worried about an alien disease that spreads to catfolk? If the object is a gift, FD will get it, but Tolesli will definitely get executed and replaced with a loyal competent representative.

Tolesli's replacement is a problem with all his options where he doesn't stay a Lei representative.

Tolesli comes back from his run smelling of vomited alien food and complaining of joint pain.

Quarantine the whole town of Orocide. Everyone who's been near the people who visited Nivis goes in a separate quarantine house. Four separate quarantine houses, actually, depending on which person they were near.

The tengu's bodies that people in Orocide have been near are all fresh since leaving Nivis.

Sure, that lowers the risk somewhat. People who have only been near the tengu don't have to be in a special quarantine house.

The four returning people, including the tengu, need their own separate houses.

Why? Surely they can put the two catfolk together?

Absolutely not. That's backward, and even if they're both infected, more exposure might make them worse, especially at the beginning of the illness.

Remember, this is just a precaution. Orocide is still working on setting up the ice mining and is still likely to be ready to send ice on schedule.

But, just as a precaution, Kef and Archer's Tabard are under quarantine too.

As soon as this is over, the alien artifacts will be a boon to all of Ansaf, may we flourish in peace!

Some of the other catfolk mention joint pain.

And, like Tolesli, they have nothing wrong with them that a liefling can detect.

This is very convenient for Allheart, don't you think?

Allheart has our full support and thanks for their protection.

If a disease gets into a kitsune's body, teleporting carries it along.

"Hello, Nivis. Hello Nivis. I'm Hester. The runway is ready. We're sick."

No response for a bit.

Then, "Hello, Hester. Hello, Hester. This is Nivis Traffic Control. I introduce myself by role and not by name, for radio protocol. We also say 'over' when we are done speaking to reduce confusion when the sound is bad. You are sick? How many are sick? What kind of sick? Do you want a doctor to help? Over."

"Hello Nivis Traffic Control. I'm Hester. I don't know what role. Leslie is sick. I am not sick. Four catfolk also are sick. The liefling can't fix, so maybe Earth doctor can fix? Maybe Earth doctor can teach liefling? Over."

"Going by 'Hester' is fine. Or 'Ansaf expedition', or whatever role is good. Doctor Montero is willing to bring medical equipment and helpers and try to fix it, and is willing to teach. We will delay sending people to the place for talking and try to help. Does that sound good? Over."