Aleph felt a twinges of nervousness. After her, Omega and Quarti had gotten cleaned up and were given a clean bill of health by whatever that weird medical machine with the proddy snakes for arms Pylo had seemed very concerned.

More so then she had ever seen the trader before.

Then she had heard about the “trial of voyeurs” which with liberal interpretation and discussion among her, Quarti and Omega they were pretty sure was some kind of legal repercussion of their little pharmaceutical/culinary fueled joyride.

And then on top of it Tunie was apparently extremely busy ‘discussing’ or ‘course comparing’ (the distinction between these two ideas was fuzzy at best for Ships like Tunie) with a great many other ships because of the trial. So much so that the vessel actually said she could not ‘talk’ right now.

For several shifts now actually.

Pylo was also apparently dealing with some matters with the government of Redweed, or maybe it was Petalweft salts? Honestly she was not sure what the distinction was there but she suspected it was probably Redweed because that one was ‘bigger’ or closer to the port or something.

All of it meant that Aleph’s nerves were ramped up a lot tighter than she liked.

And then without warning they all got a ping in the translation box that Sixdottir had given them that they were to be presented at the trial. So they had traveled together in Pylo’s bubble, which thankfully seemed to be self cleaning of all the filth and awful from their little adventure (Aleph had to take several showers before she felt clean again).

As the entered the space Aleph could only wonder how deeply they were in trouble.

She remembered vaguely doing several things that had to have been illegal.

The space was huge!

Apparently alien council chambers were vast and horrifyingly imposing things.

The spherical guide leading them continued to prompt and nudge their walker along. Only slipping away once they were directly in the center of the vast cylindrical space.

Aleph could not see the ceiling it was so far above them.

And they were thoroughly surrounded.

Although out of all of the things present Aleph was pretty sure just two of them in particular could make her feel surrounded.

The most obvious was massive in a way that made Aleph feel queasy.

It was smaller then Tunie, but that somehow made the vast bulk of the thing all the more disturbing. Tunie was so big that she sort of just became landscape.

Made it easy to forget that she was a living thing the size of a mountain.

But this was very clearly an animal. But one so vast and alive and looking at her and snapping its massive beak that it made her spine and skin tremble.

The fact that the translation box gave it a feminine and very inattentive timbre that somehow seemed delighted but half distracted did not help.

“Tra-la-fa-la-do? These are the little ones who performed such havoc and ruin upon the community of Petalweft salts? Are they ill?! No? Oh my they are most horrific to behold! Look at the fluff! And these skeletons?! Really?! They are? Are you certain this is the lineage of them?! Please keep them away! Do you have an innoculations available? How virulent are they?!”

Aleph was a bit befuddled by how the thing had recoiled away from peering intently at them and was... curling all of its limbs close to itself and convulsing a little with its beak snapping rapidly together.

And the tone that was coming over the translator?

Another voice with a soft timbre and just every hint of calm oozed free.

“They are thinking persons like any other and I promise that they could not even survive anywhere within your tissues, let alone actually proliferate”

The audible direction of the voice had Aleph turning to a pile of boxes with a screen that seemed vaguely familiar.

Where had she seen that before?

However Omega was talking now.

“Excuse me! What was all that about? Your talking about us like we’re some kind of... I don’t even know, Vermin?”

The giant beaked behemoth shivered and then seemed to with great effort will itself to approach.

“Oh-la-ta I apologize, but this Ohma does not often partake in discourse with infectious diseases! You must excuse my tribbling! It was not meant to offend thinking minds so! But so distressful! I comprehend the ports panic now I do! But we were here to evaluate the cargo and perform survey on the state of its health and tumult yes? Expound to us the health and sufferance of these infections!”

Another voice spoke up in response, with harmonies, like a chorus of beautiful tones and yet one.

“Yes, please expand for us El’Siee. What injurious malpractice is the port guilty of in their handling of the degenerate parasites? We are all deeply concerned that proper compensation is dispensed before we return to the business of making sure we can save thousands of thousands of lives”

The direction of the voice drew the trio to gaze at what at a distance could almost be mistaken for a terran.

If you discounted that it had six arms, seven legs and was twice as tall as the tallest person Aleph had ever seen.

Also their skin shined like red pearls.

Really they were hardly anything like any human at all. But when compared to the strangeness of the inhabitants that they had met so far since leaving Terra this and Pylo were the most human organisms Aleph had seen.

Wait what was that about saving thousands and thousands of lives? What was going on?

The warm timbres of before form the pile of boxes returned, and part of it even turned its screen towards Aleph as she was drawn to look at the direction of the voice.

The boxes shifted and gilded around, some pulled close, and then scaley smooth tubes extending from!

Ah!

It was the weird medical device that had been prodding her when she woke up!

Aleph boggled a moment.

That was a person?! It looked like an old outdated crystal lattice interface from before she was born!

“Initial observations of the state of the terran passengers was that their cognition was temporarily but highly impaired after undergoing a sensoria mediated gastronomic treatment.”

Omega spoke up at that.

“We were going to get something to eat, our guide sixdottir bailed on us right after we met up with that gastronomist fellow. Then he directed us to the uh, sensory-artist one? And we were a little worried about things but Aleph tried some and nothing seemed like it was wrong with her. Then it all goes a bit loopy, I was not expecting we were going to get poisoned!”

There was a lot of shifting amongst the ‘people’ circling their bubble and the floating pile of cubes.

“All nutrition requirements and toxicity levels were adhered to well within safety margins presented by all available studies and data available. Also judging by my later examination and cross referencing of you your bodies are all in significantly better health then when the gastronomist of Petalweft salts examined you”

Quarti chirped up happy as can be.

“He speaks it like it is so I be certainly! When after we finished the sweet jellies was like a fresh winds in the lungs and spritzing fire in our brains all fiddly woop!”

Aleph looked over at pylo, who seemed a bit down? It was hard to say and honestly if she had not been learning to read the creature’s mannerisms for almost a full year she probably would have missed it.

But there were bits of their courier that were fidgeting and she kept curling parts of herself in tight little whorls. Not enough that it really affected the general impression of the posture. But it seemed like she was getting stressed.

The red pearl skinned something-or-other spoke up with that outright beautiful chorus.

“So Redweed’s Ministry guide did provide all services rendered within expected safeties and to the requests of passengers and then they went on a rampage after getting exactly what they wanted? I don’t see any basis for compensation to the crew of the Tunie over this, it hardly seems notable as a failure to uphold contract nor a basis for liability”

A soft spoken and to aleph’s ear shy and out of her depth kind of voice gently murmured from across the space (or by some magic maths of the translator box it directed her attention to it, who knew if the room was vacuum or just clear air).

“Yes, the guide representative sent by the ministry reported that they discharge their duty within the best possible conditions, then by mutual agreement of all parties requested a replacement. The events of petalweft salts transpired before said replacement could arrive.”

The behemoth of monstrous size with a vaguely ditzy voice whooped and flailed.

“Tro-lo-do-di! So it is that there was nothing but the proper execution, hardly a failure of the ministry of redweed to enact. If the charges of Pylo Courtesan were to be so thoroughly administered that was needed to be specified that it was a minder and keeper that was to be hired not a guide and translator!”

Aleph was absolutely certain that Pylo was internally imploding. There was a clenching kind of thing in the tail bits that was grinding them together in a way that made it resemble some kind of rope made of spines or knuckle braid.

She gave Quarti and Omega a meaningful brow raise. She might not know what was going on precisely with this court case but there was something wrong about how the other aliens present were steam rolling this while Pylo was just sitting there quietly.

They needed to do something!

“And we certainly cannot be expected that a Siren of a Lady Courtesan’s calibre could have mis-spoke. So it is to be said that this was the intent of the transaction with Redweed! As such with the passengers requesting the removal of their guide is not on the fault of-”

“Wotzae?! Hold some ztuffers and garblies wee bigunga! Who said that such was dispelling the guide woz our ideas sense wise like? That sixdottir was a prime sneaky filchah, on multiples addressed us wise to try and get our colony effort and local flesh riding three tah sell-ovah ta redweed as slaves!”

That made every single entity present (and even some of the machinery/decorations to one side) lock in place and stare at them.

Finally after so long staying silent Pylo’s creepy crawly teasing voice that sent trembles up and down her symbiotes lecherously broke over them all.

“Would that the lovely sense strokes and seed eaters weft and twist these supple figures to cordial union and bountiful fruits of true borne life? Grow fat with children of thought and word sluts devour to fullness till their sheaths burst open and strip bare all falsehoods this port of beautiful whores and mothers hot and reeking truth?”

Everything circling them murmured agreement noises and the blocks that Aleph had first taken as medical equipment rose and rearranged with its screen facing them. One of its slender snake like appendages coming to rest upon the translator box.

Omega braced herself against the control cushioning of the walker’s harness and glared out at all those present.

"Y-yea! Sixdottir was realy mean to us! And we said we wanted simple FOOD, not medicine or drugs or whatever was in that stuff! If we're healthier that's just evidence the instructions weren't followed!"

The box that was embedded in the side of the bubble opened up a panel on the outside and the snake like arm folded open to reveal what looked suspicious like a nest of coppery hairs. Which twined and twisted before being inserted into it.

“As investigator associate brought on to identify and discern the truth of this situation I find it disturbing that there should be a discrepancy in accounts here. As per my duty I will be reviewing the records of this informational node. I request the Tribunal take a recess until I can collate my findings”

There was a vague kind of muttering agreement rising up from around them, which was cut to silence when the snake limbed thing plucked the block of the translator out of the side of the walker’s bubble.

Leaving the terrans suddenly cut off and in silence.

Aleph found herself grinning a little bit.

“Huh. So maybe we aren't in trouble after all?”