Chapter 331: Planet of the Little Green Aliens.
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Due to the Kerbalian's exploratory prowess, the entire Kerbal Star System was under their influence. On the outer rim of the system lay the smaller star confederations like the Kabala Commonwealth. Hao Ren turned the ship's outer sensors as well as monitors towards the core of the star system and saw two gigantic halos. It looked almost as if two giant suns were hiding behind the space debris. Tamula explained that this was a unique feature of their system. About a million years ago, two of the core stars in their system went supernova and caused a distortion so bad, that it compressed thousands of miniature suns in the area into the two giant halos. The Kerbalians had been trying to figure out a way to explore and research the mystery behind the halos, but they never succeeded.
"It's just too hot, too radioactive and too gravitationally unstable," Tamula explained excitedly as his head bobbed about. The whole incident seemed like good news to him. "Not many are lucky enough to have such a phenomenon happening to them, and we have one just outside our doorstep. It brought us much joy, and oh... a little trouble as well because it's difficult to live anywhere near the halos. They look majestic, don't they? But the distance from here to Earth is about two million light years... Hmm.. Based on humans' current sensor and detection technology, they'll probably see the explosion about a million years later."
Tamula remembered that Hao Ren was from Earth and added the last bit for his benefit. However, Hao Ren's mind was preoccupied with something else: These little green people were probably the most intrepid and daring explorers in the universe. It was his first time hearing someone so excited about a star going supernova near his home planet...
The Petrachelys did not fly directly into the star system rather, it circled the more sparse outer rim for a few light years before arriving at a more barren part of the space. They had already exited the Kerbal Civilisation Sphere's network, and were now in confederation territory. Hao Ren noticed that the communication monitor had switched from the official Kerbal Civilisation Sphere channel to a new channel with lower volume. An automated welcoming message popped out through the holographic projector, "The Kabala Commonwealth welcomes its new visitors from beyond the civilisation sphere. We, in good faith welcome all races who come in peace. A blessing from the Kerbalians: may your death be far from whence you came from."
"Say... how did you guys not get into a fight with other races because of that greeting of yours?" Hao Ren popped the curious question as he looked at Tamula. The latter patted the back of his head for a while as he said, "I don't know to be honest. But, the chronicles say that the Kerbalian's first diplomatic efforts with an alien race went swimmingly. After the first contact, we established a long lasting friendship and consensus. Although it seems like something awry happened later on. Nonetheless, that is what our history books describe as an unqualified diplomatic success."
"..."
Hao Ren thought something was definitely wrong with these jovial little green men.
The spacecraft had arrived on a purplish-blue planet. The planet orbited around a pretty old, peach-coloured sun. There were three other planets in the system, but they were all gaseous bodies. Tamula's planet was the only one within the system that was habitable. The commonwealth had received word from their leader, and three ships were deployed to guide the Petrachelys. With the reception ships guiding the way, the Petrachelys broke into the atmosphere of the planet and landed safely on the starport at the city's edge.
Lily was the first to bounce out of the ship. She had already caught sight of the gathering Kerbalians at the starport, and she wanted to be the first doggie to step foot on the Kerbalian's planet (But of course, she would call herself a werewolf). In any case, she was always the first to dash out when they reached a new planet and even Vivian gave up when it came to that. The moment the werehusky got out of the ship, she waved at the Kerbalians with all her might. "Ohh, ohh! How are all of you? Thanks for coming! I'm from Earth..."
Hao Ren knocked the werehusky at the back of her head as he stepped out. "Behave yourself. We're on official duty."
Vivian sighed. "Forget about it. You think you'll ever be first with that husky around?"
Hao Ren had developed a habit by now; every time he visited a new place, he would spot the characteristics of the local architecture. This would help him quickly understand the general attitude and lifestyle of a race. He noticed that the Kerbalian architecture design was focused on simplicity and efficiency. All of the buildings near the landing zone were made of pre-fabricated alloy or concrete modules. The colours on the buildings were dull, but as the building materials were modular, there were plenty of designs and styles. So, the dull colours did not dull the atmosphere. In an area with squarish, modular buildings, a conical tower stood out like a sore thumb while most civilian buildings were decorated with spacecraft engines. It seemed like the architects had a whale of a time designing the houses. This showed off the Kerbalian's signature characteristics: Free-spirited, informal, and doing things on a need-to-be-done basis. As long as the basics were there, they did not fret about the details.
There was already a giant horde of Kerbalians waiting to welcome their leader and the inspector representing the Celestials. But, there was not much pomp to the welcoming party. In truth, most of the crowd were just normal civilians who heard that something interesting was happening in that part of town. They came to see what was happening, so Kerbalians in all sorts of uniforms gathered around. Aside from a few personnel who were maintaining order, there were no formal lines of sorts and no uniformed slogans as well. Not a single person came forth with flowers. It was just a whole group of Kerbalians yapping about seeing how the inspector would look like....
Despite that, Hao Ren was grateful for their informal nature. If there had been a group of Kerbalian lasses in line with flowers and kisses, Hao Ren was not sure if he would have survived the experience...
Together with his men, Tamula went towards the crowd and pulled out a few high ranking officials from there. After a few exchanges in the Kerbalian language (basically exchanging pleasantries and giving updates on the happenings during the last few days), Tamula motioned at Hao Ren and his party."Inspector! This is the person in charge of the monitoring facility.
Hao Ren had lost track of Tamula by then and after Tamula blended into the crowd, he could not tell anyone apart at all. It was a sea of cloned, bobbing green heads. Hao Ren could not even tell their gender apart. It was only when Tamula called out to him that he managed to identify the governor from the crowd. Hao Ren dared not blink as he quickly ran towards the Kerbalian and grabbed him by the hand. "Yeah, let's get on with our business."
Hao Ren was really afraid that the moment he blinked, he would confuse another Kerbalian for Tamula... The governor was dressed almost no differently than the other little green men. And at least a few hundred present were dressed in similar garbs.
"Oh! I like this kind of alien visitors!" the Kerbalian in charge of the monitoring facility said as he stood aside. He or she looked at Hao Ren with a satisfied glance. "You are way better than those uptight, rule-bound aliens. Come, I have prepared the cars. We will be heading straight to the facility."
The Kerbalian in charge brought them to a long, floating vehicle and Hao Ren immediately noticed a problem. Y'zaks would not fit in.
The Kerbalians' transportation was designed to fit their small frames and their official vehicles while wider than most, were still pretty small. An Earthling of Hao Ren's frame could squeeze into it, but a giant like Y'zaks could barely even get a leg in. The great demon pulled his leg out from the door and scratched his head. "That's a bit tight."
Y'zaks was literally a giant to the Kerbalians and many of them were very interested in the gigantic lifeform. The Kerbalians standing closest to him had to look up to see what he was doing and with that big head of theirs, quite a few lost their balance and fell backwards. Hao Ren laughed awkwardly and pulled out his new car from the Dimensional Pocket. "I think it's best if take our own transport..."
The Northstar may have looked like a small car for someone like Y'zaks, but the vehicle came equipped with a spatial adjustment device and it could easily fit everyone in it. After a moment, the Northstar was darting through the planet's massive speedway.
It was barely a few moments before they reached the facility, which housed the Orb of the Holy Synod and the four ascetics.