"How'd you find out?"

The Black Sea Dreamer had a minor breakdown, leaving the ship to limp along at a very slow pace. I was on the rescue crew and talked with the crew while fixing it. River, the one who did concerts in Tapa, was on that ship too - that's where I got the photos.

"Who should I ask about samples?"

Tail-flick.

...I would have to figure that out. You will probably have to wait a few days for them. Glimmer, over there with the shiny blue scales, probably knows what the chemical in question is in enough detail to guess if it'll hurt you. Yes, I suppose he would be the one to ask.

"If I ask, does that make it likely the news will break before we publish?"

With apologies, but how am I supposed to know that? I do not.

"Thought you might have a guess. Can I get the photos sent along now, so the editors can pick some -"

She goes and retrieves a somewhat beat-up medium-high-end Amentan camera and hands it over.

He exports the photos onto his everything. "Thanks so much. Is there anything else you can tell me -"

It's got slightly lower gravity and one large moon, there's a gas giant with pretty rings in the system - one of the photos is of that - the oceans are saltier than yours are and the freshwater systems on land are laden with calcium and other things, nothing that can't be purified away they tell me. They did take on water from the planet and use it in the ship, so that seems correct. Also, there is a starship by the name of Gleaming Feather soon to be completed that is explicitly designed to allow as many Amentan shuttles using the protocol Seeker gave Tapa and Voa as possible, and haul them around to places. I believe it will be able to ferry twenty at a time and up to about thirty thousand tons.

"Wow, that's so exciting - how's the temperature?"

Hot. We don't have years of climate data but it seems to average about five to ten degrees centigrade hotter than your planet or ours at any given season and latitude.

"Is it a good candidate for geothermal power?"

I don't know. Draak are powering all our things with fusion reactors, wind turbines, or photovoltaics these days. Geothermal's very niche... It has any volcanoes?

"Great. Pictures include shots from space and the surface?"

Yes, and some aerial shots, though only a few sites on the surface. Particularly interesting landforms, mostly.

"Aerial's good too. Are the Draak calling the place anything in particular?"

She sends a complicated multicolored shape.

...That is in our writing system, it's sort of a pun. It's deliberately sloppy in a way that it says 'Boring Rock' but if you look at it upside down - it means 'Good Empty Land'. Someone who thinks they are very clever came up with that, given the two different ways our two species will see the place. I can probably write that out and take a proper picture of it if you'd like.

"I'd really appreciate that."

I'll do that when we're done talking. Getting the ink out now would be annoying.

"Any word on how it'll be allocated between countries?"

I don't think we want to be too involved in that. Pure speculation: Either we say 'figure it out yourselves', or we auction it, or it comes down to Seeker's favorite countries somehow.

"Wow, an auction would really be something."

There would be so much speculation about how many MORE planets we will find, and how soon, and how good they will be, and whether the Seeker will tell the deep secret he discovered to your kind...

"Yes - how much effort and time does this discovery represent?"