He shrugs. "There's some famous hiking spots in the mountains, and the main tourists we get are people stopping on their way into the mountains. We've got some historical sites and all of our own, and this area produces a lot of some types of fruit."

The driver says: "And we're the birthplace of a folk singer who made it a bit big. Got a lot of nice songs about our valleys."

The man laughs. "I don't listen to the music channels too much, so I guess that would've escaped me."

"What sorts of things do people tend to do for work? You mentioned that people are eagerly awaiting more automation does that mean a lot of people work in manufacturing?"

"Yeah. I think manufacturing's one of the biggest industries overall - around here's there's more farmers, but we've got a factory downriver of us."

"How do things get distributed? In the Network everyone gets their basic needs taken care of and them some extra for group or personal projects and amenities. Do you do something like that?"

He shrugs. "We don't have anything like that set up yet, though a lot of people think some variant's a good idea to work towards. Not sure about all the nitty-gritty details of transport - we have a currency system, backed by the government, I earn money and use that money to buy goods other people've made, which goes to them so they can buy raw materials and food and stuff."

He pauses, glancing out the windows. "Looks like the council rep's pulling up."

"Thanks for answering so many of my questions."

He smiles. "It's no problem."

Sapphire turns towards the entrance and waits for the representative.

Who arrives shortly. She seems a bit flustered, her black hair pulled into a loose ponytail, her outfit light and flowing. She smiles when she enters the building, her aide right behind her.

"Are these the ones you typed me about?" she asks the receptionist.

He nods. "Yes ma'am. They've learned a lot of our language, too."

She smiles, thinly. "Very good." To the aliens: "May I have your names? I'm Representative Tyuln."

"I'm Envoy Sapphire. These are Charlie, Emily, Ria, Aisha, Courtney and Wilfred." She points to each of the members of her team in turn. They nod politely.

She nods. "It is my pleasure to meet you. What brings you to our town?"

"We're explorers, this town happened to be the one nearest to where we arrived on your world."

"How did you arrive here?"

"We teleported from one of our exploration hubs."

"Was your teleportation targeted at all?"

"Not exactly, the system that we use selects similar atmospheric and gravitational conditions but otherwise doesn't have much ability to target when traveling to new locations."

She pauses for a bit, then: "Have you taken precautions around spreading microorganisms?"

"We sterilized the exterior of our suits and all our gear and there are air filters that prevent microorganisms from passing either in or out of our suits."

"Good. What are your goals for this contact?"

"We hope to establish peaceful relations going forwards. Eventually an artistic or scientific exchange would also be of interest."

She nods. "Did you bring proof of your claims to be visitors from another world with you?"

"We have technology which seems not to have been invented on your world if that's acceptable proof. I also expect that there are biological differences between our peoples but it would be hard to demonstrate that without risking pathogen transmission."

"Advanced technology would suffice for me."

Sapphire gets her tablet back out and sets it to show the representative a video of one of the Network's planets from space.

"Impressive. That's - very far from anything we could manage right now, or in the near enough future it'd be reasonable for someone to have hidden while developing, I do believe."