ZV-1 and I hovered there and waited while the escaping panel continued to coat the area with paint particles. What was revealed was truly something different. There were webs or rather possibly roots connecting to each of the 5 rocks. The creature or whatever it was that lay spread out in the center was like nothing I had ever seen before. I had to mix creatures and animals together to be able to describe in my mind what I was seeing. It was like an upside-down jellyfish was suspended or being held in place in the middle of the rocks.

The jellyfish had pulled its crab-like claws back inside pouches all along its circular outer edge. This made the claws look like parts of the pod just floating in space at various points where the paint yet hadn’t coated. It was hard to tell but I guessed that it was the thing that was somehow holding the rocks in place in space. I told ZV-1 my thoughts as well and that I suspected that it might even be a creature from the other side of the transdimensional barrier. By this point, ZV-1 had stopped saying that my ideas were improbable and instead seemed to just be listening.

“Can you use the paint and draw up a scan of this thing for me to look over?” I asked.

“Yes, Guest Kevin,” ZV-1 replied as a 3D smaller recreation appeared in the air in front of me. “Hmm… that is odd,” I said as I floated closer to the huge painted creature. There were gaps where the paint had not touched anything around the edges of the creature… yet the paint had hit something on the other side. “I believe that this thing has two faces, one that points towards the sun and the other to point outwards towards deeper space. That way both sides are covered and it can catch things from both sides.” I said as I looked closer and found that the paint had indeed splashed on the backside of a reverse hood pointing the other way. We couldn’t see the other side because no paint was able to spray from that direction.

“What is going on here?” I said as I noticed that there were disk-shaped spots that seemed to repel paint around the outer edge of the “jellyfish” like hood. “Surly paint has hit these points?” I asked as I moved to hover a little distance away from two of them.

“ZV-1 can you replay the paint splatter action from the beginning please?” I asked as I watched the empty circle spots in front of me as to what happened to the paint.

“Repeating full paint spray,” ZV-1 said as we both tracked and watched the paint as it slowly spread and covered the huge monster. All except for these points. “They appear to be vibrating at an incredible rate,” ZV-1 said. “I am just able to detect the paint being redirected in other directions when they reach the surface of these points. Yes, I see it now, the paint is splattered in other directions all around this point instead of sticking to whatever these circles are.” ZV-1 said as we both studied and looked at the lines it traced away from the invisible “pads”.

“I think…. I think this is how it detects or sees cr propulsion. If you want to verify this you can have one of the panels that are attached to the crab daggers try to move with your cr spacial propulsion.” I said as I moved away from the creature. Just being too near it was giving me the creeps. It was too alien and way too deadly for my comfort. I knew I was safe, just like I knew I was safe when watching a horror movie. That didn’t stop you from having nightmares or looking under your bed with a flashlight before heading to bed.

“Understo…”

“Wait stop! Don’t do that! Cancel that suggestion!” I said quickly as I realized something.

ZV-1’s cube froze in place for a moment before I heard it ask me “What is your reasoning for canceling this scientific test Guest Kevin? Many scientists are currently observing us and wish to know what the results of your action would create. They all are requesting a reason as to why the action was canceled.”

“We don’t know anything about this creature or being. We couldn’t even see it until we coated it with paint. What I am not wanting to do is to give it something to learn from. What if it isn’t just capable of eating something but also to take it apart and learn from it? You would be feeding it your spacial propulsion technology.” I replied as the area all of a sudden turned red around us and four disks appeared in the area. I was beginning to learn that red was a sign of danger or interruption from normal processes.

Little sparks appeared above two of the disks. One spark was golden colored and the other was a deep purple. Lights and colors flared around each of them the moment they appeared. On the other two platforms, a naked man appeared and something that looked like an octopus and a squirrel had a baby. It was standing on two back legs and had…. Lots of tentacles. “At least you three could make Guest Kevin at ease and make your avatar look like his species." The naked man said as he looked at the other three beings.

“Oh, and no he isn’t slow or blind, he just can’t understand digital speech yet.” He said to the two that were still flaring lights and colors all over the place. In the next moment, I had three more naked guys standing around in the dead of space with me. “Oh yes, his species decorates their body with things and material. I had forgotten.” The first guy said as a sock appeared on one of his feet. “There, that should do the trick.” He said with a smile as he floated closer with his hand stretched out at me.

“Hello, Guest Kevin. My name is Meh the 20th and I am one of the lead scientists concerning extraordinary alien species and creatures. My colleges and I noticed your surveying job and decided that we needed to step in. We all agree that caution is acceptable at this point until we understand what manner of creature this is.” He said as he bumped his hand against mine like he didn’t know what a handshake was. That action seemed to please him and he turned and began studying the creature before us.

The other scientists were slightly different in their greeting. One of them all of a sudden was clothed in furs up to his ears and he too came over to greet me. “I haven’t studied your species or cultures so I hope my choice of tribal decorations doesn’t offend you.” He said as he floated down next to me and ZV-1. “That was some marvelous deductions and reasoning you displayed, in addition to an amazing display of caution young Guest Kevin. Me and J J the 300th are most pleased that you managed to save the pod from destruction as well. That would have cost so much time to get a new one out to this remote and distant location to continue to study this creature. We are most pleased.” He said with an ever bobbing head covered in furs.

“Hi, I am sorry I didn’t catch your name sir,” I said with a smile as I tried not to laugh at the image in front of me. None of this matched or made much sense so it was taking so much of my energy not to bust out laughing. “Sir? No no no, I am very much a female, and quite an attractive one too, if I say so myself.” The person dressed like an Eskimo said. “Oh, and my name is Awawan the 21st. It is a pleasure to meet you. Unless I am mistaken you are the new person who used a table to cut themselves in half on their first day? That was crazy, I must say!” Awawan said with a laugh before leaving to float near the invisible circles and start to open dozens of panels in the air in front of her. J J wasn’t one for many words it seemed as he or she followed Awawan and started to work on other things as well. That left the last being, the little octo-rodent.

Instead of moving it just stood there extending its tentacles for a few moments. I hovered closer, expecting it to change or speak or do something strange just like the other scientists. This being however seemed to have only partly arrived, as if it had sent ahead its avatar.

Just as I was about to turn away the air shimmered around it and the small being animated and quickly morphed into a young clothed girl. She was around 5 feet tall and was dressed in jeans covered by a long sleeve tunic top. She had long brown hair with streaks of white and blond intermixed at random intervals down its length. I estimated her to be around 16 years old, it was hard to tell when you knew it was an avatar created by an alien. An alien that I had yet to learn what their natural form looked like.

She stood there and seemed to take control of everything. A sparkling array of colors appeared behind her and rushed out to fill the space around us as if someone had just turned on a bright light. The other scientist's movements slowed down and their avatars started to flicker.

I heard a collective gasp as they each turned to face me, clothes quickly forming across their bodies and even hair appearing on their heads. Awawan's Eskimo fur outfit changed and became a white lab coat as did each of the other two scientists.

Awawan’s avatar became a somewhat older woman with silver hair. I agreed with her that she did look pretty, if not for the look of awkward embarrassment on her and the other two scientists' faces.

The young girl inhaled and let out a long and drawn-out sigh. “I am lead scientist Elaya. I am cutting the connection between this pod and the Core network until I settle this misunderstanding. Guest…. I mean, Kevin, each of these scientists here will be crediting you each 500 cr to counterbalance the lack of professionalism they displayed upon arriving.” She said in a tone that I had only rarely heard a girl her age use. It usually came from principles or someone very confident in their craft. It was just so odd to hear coming from such a youthful appearing person.

“In addition, they just were briefed on Earth culture customs and how not wearing clothes or assuming the gender of another sex to be taboo. They should have at least spent a little bit of time and done their own research… but such is life.” Elaya said as her gaze swept over the other scientists and finally landed on me.

Have you ever been to the zoo and gone up to the lion's pen area and had the alpha male lion look at you? That was how her gaze felt when it rested on me like she was looking at something to devour.

I swallowed and blinked, turning away from her gaze as I noticed the other three scientists had drawn closer. Meh was the first to speak and he seemed to stutter a little bit over his words as he explained that he hadn’t understood clearly my cultural norms “Kevin, we are sorry about how we acted and how our avatars were configured. We hope you will let us delete this incident and to not allow it to spread to the Core network.” He said, noticing the look of surprise on my face. “Oh, Elaya always locks down the feedback to the Core when we arrive on site. She managed to seal it off before any of our other colleagues saw what cultural snafus we had blundered into. To imagine, exposing my reproductive organs to another male.” He said with wide eyes as he glanced at the other two scientists in horror.

“I did so as well.” I heard J J say as Awawan chimed in with “And I misappropriated the wrong sex and wore the cultural clothing of an Alaskan ice tribe people.” she said in a shocked tone.

I almost laughed aloud with how comical it all was. They clearly were getting all worked up over nothing. I wasn’t even offended that they hadn’t worn clothes or that they had gotten their sex wrong. It was all rather funny to me. I didn’t laugh, however, hard as it was because I still could feel the gaze of the little girl predator on me.

“Don’t worry guys… and gals, it is fine. I think I get it. You would rather not be embarrassed for a cultural misunderstanding. If you would like, you all could just go back to your circles and start over again like this all never happened.” I said with a slight chuckle. There was just too much stress in the air to not let out a little laugh.

This response seemed to release the pressure that was in the air and I almost heard the two guy scientists let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks Kevin,” Meh said as he and the other scientists disappeared and reappeared back on their arrival disks. The next moment they all replayed exactly what happened before, just clothed and in what appeared to be hypertime. I bit my tongue before I could say “What the heck is going on?” And let slip that they were doing something odd. It was only when Elaya came floating down to me and introduced herself in normal speed and speech that I understood what just happened. She had begun the recording again, only this time with everyone acting professional and dressed like they knew what they were doing.

The odd thing was that this time her eyes weren’t creepy and hungry-looking, she actually looked quite normal at me and even smiled a little bit.

“Thank you for your work in discovering what was holding these rocks in place, Kevin. As lead scientist for my family's research department, I am thankful to you for your insights in discovering this creature and your attempt and ability to keep the pod recording. Don’t worry, our conversation is private so you can speak your mind right now.” She said as she held up her hand. It was glowing a soft yellow light which probably meant that she had us in a privacy mode or something. Honestly, I had no idea so I asked. “Does that yellow color mean that you are blocking what we say from being recorded?”

“Yellow?” She asked as she looked at her hand. As I watched her face, her eyes changed before my eyes, seemingly cycling between different types of eyes, slits, and shapes. “Ah, I see it now. Yes, yellow.” She said as she looked back at me and answered my question. “And yes, this yellow glow means that I am holding the space around us from being recorded. Only my team is being recorded and their actions are being released to the Core.”

She looked at me and then tilted her head to the side as if waiting for me to hurry up with my questions.

“Are you…. Existing in an even faster time than I am?” I asked the only question that I could think of to ask this strange girl. I felt completely out of my league here and as if I was missing important information that I should know. It was beginning to feel like I was just in everyone’s way by how the other three scientists had begun to move around at incredible speeds, scanning things with screens open and lights and colors flashing all over the place like they were talking to each other.

“Yes… it is what I do. It gives me time. Only a few of us have this access to the Core to exist at the speed that I choose to. My father gifted it to me.” She said with her head still tilted to the side.

A few moments passed and I was still drawing a blank about anything that I should ask her. I just wanted to go off and think about everything on my own and I guessed it was time for me to return to my virtual space already and to get out of everyone’s hair here. I was just about to say that and to bow out when she spoke again.

“Fine. My father agrees and if it is the only way for you to release your recording of this travesty to me then I will gift you the same ability key as well.” She said as a bunch of text started to scroll off to the side of my vision.

I felt a little lightheaded for a moment before everything stabilized. She tapped her foot in impatience and reached out her hand to me like she was waiting for me to give her something.

“Look Elaya… I honestly have no idea what you are wanting or talking about. Can you walk me through what you need, please? I only just arrived and became a guest of the Core a short while ago.” I said apologetically.

“What???” She said with wide eyes. Eyes that just stared at me for a couple of seconds before she seemed to come back to herself. All of a sudden she seemed to lose whatever sharpness and commanding presence she had been holding the entire time. Her hand changed color to a deep purple and I noticed each of the other scientists glance over their shoulders when it changed. Probably wondering what was going on.

“So you are a youngling too? You don’t understand log rights or deeper interface permissions? And I just gifted you Prime Speed Control. If my dad ever found out he would take mine away. We thought you were just playing hard to get.” She said as she seemed to get a little bit of spunk back in her appearance after a few seconds. She didn’t seem like she was zoning in and out of quick time right now, she seemed to be talking just to me and in the present moment. “Well… for one, each person holds the power over their logs and recordings. My team automatically gives me power over theirs while we are working since I am the head and the responsibility and professionalism falls on me. I am a first after all.” She mumbled the last part with a look of sadness briefly passing over her eyes. “In order to release yours to me, I need you to just will them to me or say I give you the rights to claim or edit them.”

I shrugged and tried the first option, willing her control so she could delete what she needed.

Her eyes shot wide open as she searched my face for recognition of what I just did. Was she blushing?

“You granted me FULL rights. No one has ever done that for me. No one ever ever does that.” She said.

“Oops.”