The humans were billions. Tens of billions. A number that was so staggeringly high, Nyarn'Enth-Hep could not imagine those to live on ten planets - no - a hundred planets. How could a sapient species become so numerous? Did they reproduce so quickly? Was this a species of fast breeders that had become intelligent by some fluke? Because those were not supposed to be smart, never mind capable of space travel.

This was not how this meeting was supposed to go. Nyars body had tensed up since that reveal. These humans could be massively dangerous with their immense numbers alone and they decidedly had a technological edge as well. Now she was glad she had so far been unable to disclose much information about her species, what she had shared so far was enough of a risk.

There was nothing left to do but break this meeting off and share what she had learnt to warn everyone. She had always thought that being afraid of the fast breeders was reserved to her non-sapient ancestors, but here she was, scared by numbers.

"I hereby stop this meeting, because I desire to depart immediately. Please leave my ship and return to your own in short order as I must remove the room you currently occupy."

Unsurprisingly she felt great confusion from the human when they had fully heard her words from their interpreter machine and made the attempt to find out more about her reasoning.

---

"Please tell me why", Neil desperately pleaded again at the unmoving, now mute alien being. What had she done wrong? It was clearly a reaction to the information on the population count of humans. But why would that cause this sudden change in behaviour? I was just going well, she had gotten to see the amazing building abilities of the alien. After that demonstration she was convinced that it would be able to build whatever it wanted using only its hands.

The translator re-stated its last message: "Please. Leave."

She walked right up to the transparent barrier to be as close to the sapient alien creature as possible, looking right into two of its black eyes. After breathing deep, she said: "Okay, I will leave. But first I want to tell you this; I came here with the promise of peace. And I don't know why our population count has turned you away. You must understand, we may be many, but right here and right now, we act as one. Far and wide we have been looking for intelligent life and other sapient species. And there is nothing else we desire from whomever we may stumble upon, but friendship. If you have found yourself to trust me the slightest bit, I ask of you to extend this trust to all humans and accept that our sincerest wish is for harmony between our species."

Neil gave it a minute of unbroken eye contact, before she conceded. There would be more chances to establish contact with them and she did not want to cause a diplomatic incident by overstaying her welcome, so she turned around to set down the translator and pick up the mechanical clock that was still resting on the chair. Without looking back she began walking through the hallway towards her ship. Her eyes easily followed the rounded walls and soft curves, running unbroken right up to the point where the human-made docking tunnel connected. It was quite the contrast in materials, but the metallic ring joined seamlessly with the matte organic-looking surface. There was not the slightest gap visible between them and they formed an air-tight seal without the usual locking mechanisms.

She was about to step over that connection when she heard the child-like voice of the translator speak out to her: "Stop."

Apparently there was a volume level minimum for the interpreter, because it did not do its thing and remained silent. Ambassador Neil turned and walked back into the meeting chamber.

"I am apologetic. The past. Made me fear." This time she was close enough and got to hear: "I am sorry for the rash reaction, as this is a development I had not anticipated. I thought the humans to be a localized hive species with a shared intellect and a therefor limited population count. Now I know that none of my assumptions are true. It is heavily ingrained in my biology to be exceptionally apprehensive towards small creatures in great numbers as they had been the predators that preyed on the ancestors of my species. It is difficult to suppress the instinct to avoid becoming overwhelmed at all costs and I seemingly was unprepared to handle an incident such as this. I know that my reaction was extreme and with little comprehensible reason, but I ask for reprieve nonetheless."

The creature, six times larger than a human, somehow looked small at that moment. Or was that merely a fluke of imagination? Neil did not know what to think about the explanation. How would she have reacted if she had met a sapient species that was wolf-like or looked like xenomorphs? Would she have stood above her instinctual monkey brain?

Though for her it was clear that this incident was merely a blunder on the way to a better understanding and without having to think about it, she replied: "I am glad you have thought it over and am thankful for your explanation. I now understand why you reacted the way you did and I see no reason not to forgive you and move on."

Neil had underscored her words by nodding. And to her utter surprise, the broad and flat head of the alien nodded in return. Before she could express her astonishment, the translator chirped: "All humans? On one planet?"

"I wish to leave this lamentable event in the past as well and am grateful for your understanding and forgiveness. If I am not overstepping bounds, I would like to know how you have made a home for this great number of humans on your planet Earth? And how are you providing so many with biological resources, would that not exhaust your ecosystem? Or are you using spaceborne habitats to expand the former and your machines to help with the latter?"

---

Nyar had not been able to relax yet and hearing the staggering population numbers the human was talking about absolutely did not help. For a start, apparently their home planet Earth could sustain the near-incredible number of fourteen billion humans - supported by technology and machines. Spaceships and habitats on otherwise lifeless planets and moons in their system gave home to nearly a billion more. And then came the next surprise - they had colonized twenty-five planets with a habitable biosphere outside their home system where all the rest lived. She had assumed the meaning of colonizing to include creating a ecological environment that would naturally support humans. But would that not utterly destroy those worlds if they already had an ecosphere? Maybe she had misunderstood?

Her curiosity keeping her short, she put together and sent the question: "The twenty-five planets outside your home system, how did you choose them for colonization? And how many more have you found that would align with your criteria?"

And the human explained how their main focus lay on finding planets with advanced plant life. They also did not mind finding fauna, since any animal they have discovered so far was immeasurably stupid. Then they added that had found around one-hundred-fifty more candidates for colonization.

Now Nyars instincts went right back to telling her that the humans were a threat. They were actively searching out alive planets to then bring thousands upon thousands of humans there to tear down that life and then replace it with whatever would benefit them. She knew that planets the humans were looking for were numerous, but that would surely not protect them from being depleted at some point. And maybe these were then even the same planets Nyars species would seek out for their offspring that had reached independence.

"I would like to know how the colonization and selection process works and where the candidate planets are that you have found."

They began explaining about scout ships they would send to scope out star systems, going out from their own home system in the center of the search radius. But the process of establishing a settlement sounded like nothing Nyar would have assumed. Apparently they would first create a small foothold and carefully research each world before fully committing. There was some more information after that, but it was words about technology she did not understand. The important part was, it did not sound like they would conquer and subjugate those live planets like she had assumed.

Carefully, she worded her next question - she did want to remain diplomatic.

"So you do not destroy the ecosystems you convert?"

Confusion, but then quickly followed by shame? They stated to do their best to highly limit the changes to worlds they would choose to colonize, since they had nearly caused an ecological collapse of their own world when they had still been a single-planet species. They called this stance the maxim of exoplanet conservation and said it would be held dearly by all humans.

She was astonished from what the human had told her. Their own world had been damaged by them so much in the past, that they now made an effort not to harm any other? Though it was not hard to picture how a species that could grow so numerous would become a threat to the planet it developed on. She briefly imagined a swarm of millions of humans trampling through rich vegetation, devouring everything, and leaving barren land behind. It was a disturbing picture and she was glad it did not line up with the truth. Also, they seemed contend in remaining in the sector where they had their home system.

---

"So, how many planets do you live on then?", slid Neil the question about population carefully back.

"One-thousand. Seven-hundred. And forty-two."

If she hadn't been this shocked, she would have maybe made noises of surprise. How could this alien be afraid of the humans? How many were there, living on that many planets? Neil waited for context, but the interpreter was silent, the number was all it had said.

"You have colonized more than seventeen-hundred planets?"

"Planets are. Not colonized", came from the translator. And a second later the synthetic voice spoke from her earpiece: "My species does not colonize planets as there is no need for it. There is solely one independent juvenile of my species living on every other planet besides the origin world."

That did clear up nothing and just threw up more questions that burned on her tongue. There were children that had to live off-world? All alone on a whole planet? Neil had begun fidgeting again, the clock in her hands was at least a very good distraction as she continuously flipped it and drummed on its glass.

She turned up her diplomacy and asked: "I might be understanding this wrong without context or by drawing parallels to my own society, but could you please elaborate on your statement that there are some children housed in planetary isolation?"

The translator spoke through so much noise, she barely understood the two words: "All children."

Instantly her hand went to the earpiece, pressing it into her head while tonelessly forming the words: "You better interpret the shit ouf of that."

The seconds went by and only prolonged the silence. After half a minute that had felt like an hour, she could not stand to wait longer.

"Could you please simplify your answer?"

"Children need space. To learn." The interpreter followed with: "My species offspring are given the space of a planet to learn and grow, it is essential for mental and biological development."

"I need more context to understand", Neil said while straining to disguise her bewilderment, "Because human offspring are continuously supported by their parents and society while being nursed to full maturity."

The alien did another one of its change-of-eyes by turning its head. Neil presumed this to be a sign of criticism, at least it very much felt that way.

"Maybe we should just start from the bottom, and you tell me how you conceive your offspring and how long that takes", she threw out, before quickly adding, "And please keep in mind the limits of my interpreter."

"I make. My children", was intelligible but accompanied by a decent amount of distorted babble.

A few seconds later she got to hear the elaborated version: "When I am biologically ready, I may freely initiate the involuntary movement of embryonic organ seeds that will gather in a foetal pouch that is located on my back. Over an average of three-thousand and seven-hundred days the organ seeds will mature and a full nervous system will develop. Then I will begin the teaching while the dependent offspring encapsulates itself into a body and is sustained by my nutrient circulation system. After four-thousand to four-thousand and three-hundred more days the offspring will be able to support itself autonomously, whereupon I will release it into a world where it will grow to full bodily and mental maturity. I have seen my six offspring successfully reach this stage and create means to leave their cradle world. The duration of that process is determined by the planetary environment and the juvenile, and may last from eighteen-thousand to twenty-four-thousand days. Creating offspring is highly demanding in energy and mental capacity and is limited by my capabilities and the duration of the re-growth of the embryonic organ seeds, which will take twenty-thousand and two-hundred days."

The clock slipped from her fingers and quietly hit the floor. Neil was only able to do a rough calculation in her head, but the timespan the alien had mentioned for the birth cycle was something like 80 years from start to finish. And this being had claimed to have done this six times. The latter had actually shocked her more than the former.

"How old are you actually?"

Ambassador Neil sat leaning back on the swivel chair in a state of hazy stillness. She had already transferred the recordings and gave all the instructions she could think of about analysing them to her point of contact. Now she was only waiting for the verification. On a side-screen was pulled up the transcript of the dialogue before the break and a compendium of information on the alien translator, but she did not have the mental capacity to read and understand either at the moment. Those last couple hours had felt like they've dragged on for at least a week, possibly because they had been filled with enough novelty for a lifetime.

The voice from the console pulled her from her thoughts: "I have successfully received the recordings. Do you have any other instructions?"

"Not right now."

"I will disconnect then."

"Yeah, sure."

"See you on the next scheduled check-in."

"M-hm", she replied in a vaguely agreeing noise.

A few minutes passed before she got up to find the ships automatic cooking station. Right now she needed a nicely cold water, a hot protein-rich meal, and a sugar-laden fatty desert - in that order.

While her cup was filled by the water dispenser, she contemplated the last piece of information she had learned - after which the alien had requested a long break to rest, as if Neil had been able to intake much more anyway. She had slowly gotten to see it as an equal, despite the differences. But how could they be, when that being was nearly as old as the renaissance?

Nine-hundred and ninety-eight years, to be exact.