It All Started With Magnets

.6.

It was hard to contain my excitement. Bav'ka had finished explaining my scans to everyone. It turns out the gravity on Earth was similar to every other planet except the antwyn and jyngt home worlds. The jyngt's because the gravity was stronger and the antwyn's because it was way less. However I learned that aside from the one thing I could eat pretty much everything they had, whether I would like it or not it would be up to me.

I had also been given a glass of water. Honestly it tasted amazing but then again I had been drinking recycled and filtered water from massive tanks on my ship. So anything was better than that. It was passable but that didn't mean I liked it.

I looked over at Gal'rug as we moved out of the sterile medical bay. "So..." I trailed off before I went up on my toes, my hands behind my back. "Before we go to the crystal garden can I get my phone from my ship so I can take pictures?" I asked it quickly and he gave a bark of laughter and slapped my shoulder, nearly causing me to hit the floor. I managed to catch myself but it was a close one.

"Of course, Rox'ie." He grabbed my shoulder and gave it a rather friendly squeeze and I smiled at him. This was honestly one of the best days of my life. "I believe the grog will be one of the first to embrace you as siblings in this union, you love battle and ethanol. I cannot believe you have just as many variations as we do!" I continued to grin at him as he said it. I had learned that fermenting vegetables and fruits and distilling alcohol was a massive part of grog culture. He had been absolutely over the moon when I told him that we were similar and that we had many variations of how to distill and make alcohol.

He lead me down the hall and I walked behind him and next to At'kat'vo. "So your species doesn't drink?" I asked it casually and his antenna twitched.

"No. We cannot consume ethanol. It causes extreme heat distress and our nervous systems shut down. Very painful death." He clicked his mandibles together and I nodded, trying hard to ignore how creepy it looked.

"The jygnt are the only other species who imbue regularly. The ilthi drink as well but it is rarely." Loril-ee said it as she continued to write in her notebook. "We do not. We cannot process it so it moves through us and we receive no benefit from it. The hant and krent do not drink either. Hard on them, small amounts get them obscenely drunk and massively ill the next day. However they have found other ways to get similar effects without the nasty illness and black out qualities of ethanol." I nodded my head at the new information. There were so many differences and so many similarities between us all, it was amazing. I knew the scientists on Earth were going to lose their fucking minds over this whole trip.

"We steam a certain leaf that is native to our home world. It spices the air and give a rather similar feeling to intoxication but is much healthier for us over all." Hint said it as he moved to walk beside me and I resisted the urge to shy away from him.

"We have some plants that cause that too, we burn them to get that. Or some distill in and put it in edible format."

"Oh, like ch'avk." At'kat'vo said it with a decisive click. "We have a plant we masticate and it brings out nice feelings. We do not use it often but it is nice to use to unwind after a long day." He waved his spider leg fingers and I bit my tongue to keep from reacting to them. They were so fucking creepy. I kept expecting a giant ass spider to pop out of his chest and jump at me whenever they moved.

There was a beeping from all around me and I watched as all of the ambassadors stopped and pulled out little disks from somewhere on their persons. "Jka-la!" Mare-aidee hissed it out. "She is on the news. We need to contact the Councils and alert them." She tucked her little disk away before she rubbed at the sloped bridge of her nose.

"I completely forgot! They cannot hear it from the news, we have to tell them." Loril-ee said it as her wings fluttered.

"I take it that means no crystal garden?" I asked it with a slight bit of disappointment.