* * * * *
At least one thing is certain— the visuals did come from these people, Lier thought as the face of a woman appeared in the holo-monitor. Like the man they had seen in the visual wave communication, she was a humanoid, similar to Seynorynaelians but with slightly larger and more angular ears, but still flat against her head. Her bright amethyst eyes were slightly larger, and her lips a rich burgundy-red color.
Chiyenn had not erred in his image reception calculations. The woman's skin was milk-white, and her hair was black. The woman began to address them in the same language that had now become frustratingly familiar though it remained as indecipherable as ever. Her words had the euphonious quality of subtle music.
His attention was drawn, however, to the gesture the woman made with an emerald green-clad arm, and the image panned to the right, showing part of the city that they had seen in the holo-monitor. A smile appeared on the woman's face as she lifted her chin. Her manner gave Lier the impression that this was the inhabitants' gesture of welcome, that this woman had been selected to make their invitation.
Lier tried to maintain his sense of caution, despite the woman's invitation and outwardly good intentions. He wondered what Seynorynaelians would have done if another race had come to Seynorynael first—how the Seynorynaelians would have reacted to an alien intrusion—as his own crew had now come to a planet they would one day discover was called Kayria. Then he stopped, considering this. I'm assuming Chiyenn's tales are wrong, he thought, and that there were no comet riders, no supposedly alien ancestors of the Seynorynaelians.
Of course the comet riders hadn’t existed, he told himself. Not until now—his own crew were the first real explorers to another star system.
The image ended, and silence reigned.
"All right, prepare to land near the city," Lier finally said. They had come here with a mission, and they might as well start now.
The Comet Riders: Book Five of Seeds of a Fallen Empire Page 5
