"I think the best course of action would be to meet in open space."
"Good choice captain, Ill send out a request right away!"
"Cool," you say as you lean back in your captain's chair.
You sit there for a bit, content at the progress you've made, and then immediately get bored out of your mind.
"How long does this usually take Erin?"
"With any other species, it would probably take anywhere from 3-8 hours to process and then validate the request, however, the Ufu love alien contact, so it should take no more than 15 minutes to process, and then send out a contact ship."
"What makes the Ufu like other species so much."
Erin paused for a moment before answering.
"Well, its probably because of their low status on trade negotiations and such. They're not a very cutthroat people, and this makes them less respected. The tougher a nation, the more you will have visits and all that comes with interspatial attention."
"And where do humans fit on this... Interspatial ranking?"
Erin played a whirring sound effect to make it seem like she had to think about it, even though you know that wasn't the case.
"Average."
You fake pouted and put a grumpy face on, even though internally you were relieved that you weren't below average.
You both fell silent as the ship continued to sit in the docking bay.
"Helloooooo! Earth to captain!!!!! We gonna get this show on the road or what?"
Startled by her sudden words, you jumped and nearly fell out of your chair. Blushing, you slowly flew the ship out of the bay and off into space.
"Where to Erin?"
"Oh there's no need for you to manually pilot," Erin said cheerfully, "Just sit back, relax, and let me take us where we need to go."
"Well, what am I supposed to do?"
"You can talk with me!"
"Not while your driving I won't!"
"Captain, I'm a computer, and unlike most of you bumbling creatures, I can multitask. Also technically the ships autopilot is separate from me, but that's a whole other conversation."
"Sorry Erin, its just... I feel awkward talking to a disembodied voice. Makes me feel stupid."
"How about this? You get yo butt out of that chair, head on back to the lobby, and talk to my physical form."
"You have a physical form? And we have a lobby?"
Erin sighed audibly. "Did you pay any attention to the training video?"
"Uhhh, I plead the fifth."
"Just get back here already."
You stand up from your chair and head into the lobby. The lobby was about as big as 2 houses stuck together, being around twice as long as it was wide.The lobby itself was divided into segments, a kitchen here, game room there, all of the basics. Attached on the sides were windowless sealed rooms for private exchanges between passengers.
"Do ya like it?"
You turned around to see a tan girl around 5' 4" in a light blue strapless dress. The dress was cut off right above the knees, allowing for a little thigh to show, and the top hugged her breasts, not allowing any cleavage to show.
You let out a low whistle. "This is what you look like?"
Erin blushed, "Well technically I can look however I want. I chose this form for you. I figured it would make you feel closer to home."
"Keep pulling tricks like that and I might never leave!"
Erin smiled bashfully. "Well, we have time to kill. We meet up with the Ufu in 10 minutes. Anything you want to know before we get there?"
You sit down on one of the couches in the main area. "I don't know, what are some... physical abnormalities?"
Erin sprawled out on a large, fluffy ottoman face down, and lifted up her head so she could see you. "Well, you saw the little feathers that covered their more sensitive areas? Well they can actually retract them back into their body. They actually spend most of their time with them retracted because the planet that they live on is fairly warm, ranging from 80-100 degrees on average. They usually only extend them when they fly."
"The Ufu can fly?"
"Yeah! The feathers on their arms can actually extend further, basically turning into wings."
Suddenly, a beeping sound started coming from the cockpit. "Looks like they got here faster than I thought."
Erin rolled off the ottoman and started running over with you close behind.
You sat down in the pilot seat and Erin took copilot. Erin pushed a button on the dash to take an incoming call. "This is flight H1 over."
The returning message played over the intercom. "This is U8653, requesting permission to board over."
"Requesting flight code over."
"Flight code FeatherE over."
"Flight code confirmed. Permission to board granted over."
A soft clunk could be heard as the Ufu vessel attached to your ship.
Erin looked at you expectantly. "Waddya say captain? Shall we go greet some visitors?"