Contest: Genesis Gauntlet
Submission page: Genesis Gauntlet Submissions
Player: [Veltzeh]

And yeah, the pronouns:
ey = he/she
eir = her/his
em = her/him

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Character Name: Aalahaiooalava (Aala)

Age: 42 Earth years.

Gender: None.

Height: 148 cm.

Build: Aala is humanoid-shaped, obviously muscular and fairly lean, but seems to move rather slowly and cumbersomely nevertheless.

General Appearance: Aala is a velaaho, an extra-terrestrial from a planet unknown to most. Eir head is slightly larger than a human head. The eyes are small, beady and fixed in their sockets, so ey needs to turn eir head to see around. The ears and nose are large, and the nose is rather beak-like and doesn't seem to be very mobile. The mouth and the rest of eir facial features seem also fixed, and the movements of eir face are very simple. Aala's arms and hands look mostly similar to those of humans, but ey has six fingers on each hand and eir upper arms and forearms are slightly shorter than a human's would be. Eir hips and legs seem proportionally large. The legs are digitigrade (they resemble the hind legs of a cat for example). Eir skin is tenacious, dark red and about as rough as generic woven fabric, and eir hair is shoulder-length and purple. Ey wears a face/breathing mask (that covers eir eyes, nose, mouth and ears) that is connected to a small rectangular device strapped to eir chest. For clothes, ey seems to be wearing a durable and practical dark blue suit with some pockets and decorative patterns – it mostly resembles a worker's uniform. Ey also has shoes and gloves.

Personality: Aala is rather curious and usually straightforward. Ey doesn't have a problem talking about emself and things that are mundane to em and eir species, though ey usually doesn't like to go into details because ey's used to making the detailed questions emself. Ey isn't the most considerate talker (at least among eir people), but acts rather carefully in new situations. Ey has some trouble focusing on a single thing for long periods of time, which is mostly the reason for eir job.

History: Aala grew up on eir homeplanet, cared for by eir birthing parent and several siblings. Ey studied to be a generic natural science and technology researcher but because ey didn't have much of a leading ability, ey settled for assisting other researchers and writing non-specialised science articles.
       Eir chance to do something radical came when ey was asked to go study a new strange planet called Earth. Aala took the job, as did many of the other people who had been asked to come along. Together, the group would find out everything they needed to about this new world. Other aliens gave them some information about Earth.
       They arrived to Earth's orbit in their small spaceship. They heard from other aliens that Earth wasn't hostile by default and that the best place would be Krung Thep. The velaaho researchers decided not to land together; it was more sensible to send just one first. Even though Aala wasn't exactly the best kind of person to make first contact, ey went to Earth first because eir job was likely the easiest and least notable one. Ey was to study Earth's general technology and see if ey could find anything useful.
       Aala took eir A-18 flyer and left the velaahos' spaceship. Ey first travelled to the ship of another species who had better atmospheric shuttles, and got a ride down to the planet with them. The aliens left em at Krung Thep.
       Looking at the city from outside and its surroundings, Aala didn't really know what to expect. To em, the place didn't seem like cutting edge technology, but looks could be deceiving. Ey had enough of the local currency and had decided to live in a hotel unless another opportunity presented itself. Ey could even get a job if it looked like a good thing to do.

Other: Aala's A-18 flyer is a vehicle barely larger than a bicycle. It uses mostly pneumatics to move and has an artificial gravity generator to stay aloft and an emergency motor powered by nuclear energy if more speed is required. The vehicle is vacuum-protected and capable of entering and leaving the atmosphere, but only at very slow speeds. It can also move in space, but only short distances. It's designed to be durable, but it cannot withstand a strong directed explosion or bullets from the most effective weapons.
       Other than the flyer, Aala has a large assortment of scanners, some computers, other equipment and personal items with em. These items are in a container that the flyer hauls. The container is slightly larger than a cubic metre and has slightly weaker pneumatics and gravity generators than the A-18 flyer.
       One of Aala's most used devices is a small computer strapped to eir chest along with the breathing apparatus. It projects an image in a lens over eir right eye and produces sound in an earpiece in eir right ear. Among other things, it provides em with a constant stream of information. It for example converts numbers from a 10-base system to a 12-base one and provides information about the surroundings based on some sensors on the computer and on Aala's body and clothes.
       Velaahos are a rather suspicious and paranoid species and don't let non-velaahos near their homeplanet, Velaal.

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Laura Wayne, short, blonde, plain and dumpy, stood in the corridor, clipboard in hand, slightly nervous. She'd been an immigration officer for many years now, but the sight of an unfamiliar name – something she wasn't sure how to pronounce – and the prospect of getting it wrong still made her cringe a little. She peered at the clipboard and mouthed the name once more to herself, as discreetly as possible, then looked up at all the prospective candidates in the waiting room, and called (with another quick glance down at her clipboard) "Aa- Aala-hai-oo-alava?"

It took Aala a couple of seconds to recognise the way eir name was pronounced, but it was close enough that ey did, especially since eir data analyser was telling em that this should be eir name within human sound variances. Ey turned eir head at the speaking human, got up from eir seat and walked to her. Ey looked at Laura, but said nothing for now.

Laura could only assume she'd pronounced the name at least close to correctly – usually informing her of the correct pronunciation was the first thing someone did if she had got it totally wrong. She smiled at Aala, not put out by eir silence – she was used to some of the off-world candidates doing far weirder things than being quiet. "This way, please." she said, indicating with a sweeping hand-gesture the first open door along the corridor.

Aala looked rather wide-eyedly at Laura's expression, as humans' faces were quite malleable and weird even if the basic facial elements were the same as eirs. Ey entered through the door she indicated and turned eir head around quickly to examine the new space.

Laura followed Aala into the room, shutting the door behind her, "have a seat" she said, indicating a chair in front of a desk, as she herself took the chair behind the desk. "Okay," she said, shuffling through some of the papers on her desk – more to give her hands something to do than through any real necessity – "The first thing we need to establish, is whether you can speak, understand, write and read English?" she gave a pre-emptive apologetic smile on the off-chance that the question was condescending.

Aala moved to an available chair and seemed relieved and relaxed to be able to sit down again. Eir answer to Laura's question was simple. "Yes." Eir voice came through a microphone in eir face mask and sounded strange; the vowels were very exact and the s rather nondescript.

Such a short answer made Laura a little suspicious as to her applicants real ability to speak English; she knew it was more likely to be nerves or unfamiliarity than anything else, but still, she had to check. "Presumably more than one word of it?" she asked, raising a quizzical eyebrow, the hints of a bemused smile playing at the corners of her mouth. She fished a pen out of her breast pocket, uncapped it, and held it poised over the top sheet of paper, ready to mark Aala's answer. 

"Yes," replied Aala immediately, not really understanding the procedure. After Laura had taken out the pen and prepared to write, Aala started looking at her curiously. "Is that how you record information of entities passing through? Do you mark it with variable handwriting on ...paper?" The whole idea seemed incredulous.

"Yes." Replied Laura. "If we deny the application, it goes no further than the paper copy, which is destroyed, if we accept the application, it gets entered into a central computer on a temporary database until a few necessary checks can be made, before finally being added to the main database." Thinking she had detected a tone of curiosity in Aala's voice, she continued, "You'll find many things here done electronically, but many things still done on paper too."

"I see. Does this imply that those who are rejected can try again whenever? Isn't handwriting an unreliable method of transferring information since different persons write in different manners?" came Aala's follow-up questions, as well as the inevitable one. "Does this take long?"

Laura laughed, "It might do if you're asking as many questions as I am!" she replied. "Sure people's handwriting varies, but we're still all using the same alphabet. It's rarely a problem. And of course, people can try again as many times as they like – assuming they can afford the application fee. We don't decline people on personal preference, so unless something in their situation changes, there's not much point in them spending the money to try again: they'll just get the same answer." She paused, a bemused smile still lighting her face, to mark a few things on the sheet in front of her. "Now," she continued, looking back up at Aala, "Since your English comprehension skills are clearly fine, we can move on. Are you seeking temporary, or permanent residency?"

Aala looked at Laura with what seemed like a mildly angry expression, though it just marked eir suspicion. "What stops them from lying on some points in order to get in?" ey asked. Ey also looked at the paper the woman was writing on to read what it said, even if it was upside-down for em. Ey didn't think doing so could be considered impolite. "I have no plans on staying here permanently, but I also don't plan to leave after just a few days or weeks."

"How would they know what to lie about?" Laura returned, with a shrug. Aala's expression confused her, but she didn't have the inclination to make much of it. They weren't here to make friends, after all, so she just carried on with her job. "Do you have a particular purpose in coming to Krung Thep?"

"Others could tell them, or they could just test it if they have the money." Aala looked up for a second and, like Laura, didn't cling to the topic. "I've come to this planet to learn more about it, your people and your technology. Others recommended this city to me. I'm not very impressed this far. Do you have some finer technologies than what I've been able to see in this building?" ey asked curiously.

An answer to Aala's first statement danced on the tip of Laura's tongue but she held it back. They were going to get to the point where she couldn't continue that topic any more soon anyway; better to just let it drop naturally. And eir next question quickly distracted her anyway. She laughed and launched into a reply "Krung Thep is a cultural, technological, political, intellectual melting pot. You'll find the most advanced technology on earth here. You'll also find people who ignore or reject that technology and live as "close to the earth" as possible. The Admissions Department sits somewhere in between. Our budget isn't big enough to install all the latest tech. If you head to places like the Institute of Engineering you'll see some much more impressive stuff, if that's what you're after." she finished with a shrug.

"Interesting. Where is this Institute of Engineering?" asked Aala. Now ey was starting to get vaguely impatient, since ey wanted to get on with eir actual tasks instead of being stuck at customs, so to speak. "Do you have more questions for me to reply?"

"Unfortunately I do." she said as she opened a drawer in her desk, withdrew a map and, circling a building, handed it to Aala. Then, after a pause, she added, "There are more technologically advanced maps available inside the city, of course." She glanced down at the sheet in front of her to see what they still needed to cover, then proceeded: "You are in good health? If you're using life-sustaining equipment, will it need to be refuelled, recharged or otherwise maintained?"

"Ah. Can I keep this?" ey said while looking at the map. Ey thought it was crude but served its purpose well enough. "My health is excellent. I don't necessarily need any life-sustaining equipment, but it is very convenient. Whatever equipment I have, I can maintain and recharge myself with my tools. I plan to find out if I can use your technology to interface with mine and recharge my vehicle for example."

"Sure." said Laura in response to Aala's question, nodding at the same time whilst making a few more marks on the sheet in front of her. "Again, the IoE might be the best place to go if you need help with that – they have a whole department dedicated to interfacing with alien tech." She paused for a moment, "The next few questions are of a slightly less... objective nature. And a bit... human." she said apologetically. "Do you consider yourself easily annoyed?"

The limit of Aala's range of expressions actually made em look like ey was annoyed when Laura asked the question. "I do not think so. I will argue with others when there is reason to. I can't say anything for sure since I haven't dealt with humans or many other aliens before, but what I studied of your culture and our interaction this far indicates that there won't be big problems."

"And what constitutes a reason to argue?" Then, after thinking about the second half of Aala's response, Laura continued, curiosity piqued, "Do you not argue amongst your own people?"

"Usually a disargeement or misunderstanding," said Aala casually – the whole issue seemed rather small to em. Ey started thinking that maybe there was some unknown reason for Laura's bringing up of the issue, but ey had no idea what it could be. "Of course we argue. I do not think I could bring up or answer a question on the subject of arguing if I didn't have a some kind of equivalent concept. Is the concept of arguing more important to you than it is to us? Or... how important is it to you?"

Laura gave a bemused smile. She'd interviewed off-worlders before, but the odd questions they still surprised her occasionally, and reminded her how some of her own questions must seem to them. "It's not so much the concept of arguing as the character of the people who do so." she explained.

Aala continued to give out eir mild expression of annoyance. "Is it? Does that have a significant effect on arguing on your planet?" ey asked curiously. "...Or, if that is not very important, we could continue."

"Yes." responded Laura, with a mixture of mild amusement and bafflement. "People who have a rude, angry, or aggressive character are more argumentative. People who have a calm character are less argumentative. This is basic human psychology. And it's kind of very important for interaction. Maybe you should... do some research on that... Krung Thep isn't a particularly violent place, but everything you do will be a lot easier if you have some idea of the psychology of the people you're dealing with."

Aala stared at the translations that popped up in eir eye-lens, but of course a simple translation couldn't explain the finer points and other cultural connections of words. "I do not understand, but I will study this more when I can." Then Aala noticed something else and continued the topic. "Are you using 'argumentative' as an inherently negative word, something that is always unwanted? Is there another word for neutral or positive arguing?"

"Yee-eees" replied Laura, after a pause for thought. "It's pretty much always a negative term. 'Debate' and 'Discussion' are terms for more positive... exchanges of differing ideas. 'Arguing' implies it's all going to get out of hand and you'll just end up insulting each other."

"I see," said Aala and looked oddly intense for a moment before pulling a small keyboard out of the computer on eir chest. Ey wrote something on it using just one hand and then put it back. Eir expression went back to neutral. "Are we done yet, or are there more questions?"

Laura gave her apologetic smile, "Just a few more. I need to know how much you already know about Krung Thep?" It wasn't really a question, but her intonation made it sound like one any way.

Aala looked at Laura a little oddly, since ey didn't automatically recognise her statement as a question. "Do you wish me to tell what I know?" ey asked. Ey went on to answer. "I don't know anything about Krung Thep. I merely have second-hand stories: I have heard that it is one of this planet's largest cities and that non-Earthlings are welcome here. And of course I know what you told me a moment ago."

Laura made a few more notes on the sheet in front of her, and looked up when Aala stopped talking. "And that's it? Nothing else?" she asked. "Pretty boring second-hand stories." She said with a flippant smile.

Aala stared at Laura's smile, since ey didn't know what it signified. "I read a few more interesting articles about human life, but the amount of names in them confused me and I wasn't quite this good at English when I read them. I suppose a couple of them could have been about Krung Thep, but I admit I remember them more as a unified mess. Are you interested in hearing what they said?"

"Sure. Go for it." Laura replied with a 'why not' shrug to match as she leaned back in her chair and made herself more comfortable.

Aala started listing the things ey had read in a fairly monotonous manner. "One article, the first I believe I read, was about building some kind of new apartment building somewhere. It said the building utilised the newest technology available but was still cheap enough for most people to use as living space. Another was about some kind of social occasion where people wear lots of red clothes and buy each other items, and there was something about sending wrong messages to someone but that was very confusing. Another thing I read about was that the authorities had finally caught a murderer called Bomb Killer who killed people by secretly planting small bombs on them. And there was one about rebuilding a bridge that had started drooping." Ey paused and was confused, thus looking a little annoyed again. "Is this not wasting time?"

Without sitting forward from her slouched position Laura reached forward and made a few more notes on her page. "No." She said after a brief pause, "it's not. It's a necessary part of the interview. But we are, fortunately, just about done now. Unless you have any more questions?"

"Oh?" Aala looked somewhat intense again, trying to think of something short and specific to ask, but didn't come up with anything for now. Ey didn't want to prolong the interview more than necessary. "Just one. Where do I go now?"

Rachel consider replying with "back to where you came from", but thought the joke might be lost on Aala. "Wherever it is you're currently staying." she replied, instead. "We'll contact you shortly to let you know whether your application for residency has been accepted or not. It shouldn't take longer than 48 hours and is usually a lot faster."

"I see. It is fine." Aala collected emself from the chair somewhat strenuously. "Goodbye and thank you," ey said and left the room, going back toward the waiting room.