The stars, but they become the gray wind

"Big deal? Huh? What is this?!!" After hearing Elena's answer, Luo Ying felt deeply in his spirit, sensing the priority information in the network, and was immediately overwhelmed by the flood of information about what was happening now that poured into his mind.

"A never-before-seen spacecraft suddenly appeared in the aphelion region of the Sky Star system. Based on its external characteristics, it has been confirmed that it was not manufactured in this star system or any other star system controlled by the Sky Star civilization. The probability that this spacecraft may belong to an alien civilization other than the Sky Star civilization is... 100!!"

"What is this?!" Luo Ying was also shocked after reading the news.

"It looks like... the Sky Star civilization may be about to have its first official extraterrestrial contact in history?" Elena said as she squinted her eyes. The portable holographic display in the observer's hand projected an image of the spaceship. The spaceship, with a total length of 22 kilometers, has an overall appearance of a dagger with a concave rectangle in the middle. The silver-gray hull is dotted with green lines, and the sharp bow divided into three areas is like a sharp trident. According to the analysis of the appearance characteristics of the ship, its outer shell is almost absolutely smooth and has a mirror-like reflective effect. It is very likely made of color nuclear force material. The nozzle-shaped structure at the tail releases a small amount of gamma rays. Based on the observation of the material ejected from the tail, it can at least be judged that this spaceship may use antimatter annihilation as propulsion or energy.

"Elena... then... I should..."

"No, let's stay here for now. For your safety, we're not sure about their intentions yet, so it's better to be cautious."

"And... that spaceship suddenly appeared there without us noticing. Before it appeared, we didn't observe any blue shift of light or gravitational disturbance in the area. That is to say... their technology is very likely more advanced than ours." Elena used one hand to hold down Luo Ying who wanted to stand up, signaling her lover candidate to stay calm.

"The Tree of Life will be responsible... We've already assembled a complete team of scientists and diplomats to contact them. We need to at least confirm whether they are friendly or malicious."

…………

The Tree of Life was very surprised. The spaceship suddenly appeared in the sky galaxy without her noticing, and what was happening now was obviously beyond her cognition to a certain extent.

As the super server and computing center of the entire Sky Star civilization in the mother star system, it is distributed throughout the Sky Star System, from quantum communication base stations as large as dwarf planets to micro sensors in every Sky Star community, and even the information interaction between every Sky Star and its own computing center through the brain-computer interface. The Tree of Life has such strong control over the Sky Star System that it is almost omniscient.

But that spaceship... appeared there suddenly without any warning. Before it appeared, all the observation facilities distributed throughout the star system did not detect any precursors. Within milliseconds of the spaceship appearing in that area, the Tree of Life, aware that an incomprehensible alien object had appeared in its own star system, turned its attention here and notified all the sky alien individuals in the entire star system. Less than a few seconds after it sent out the information about the spaceship, no less than millions of applications requesting to participate in this first contact with an alien civilization were immediately sent to the Tree of Life. The main consciousness of the Tree of Life spent less than a millisecond thinking and selected about a dozen people from the millions of application messages as the diplomatic and scientific research team participating in this first contact.

After selecting the team that would represent it in making the first contact with the Sky Star civilization, the Tree of Life sent several communications expressing friendly greetings to the spacecraft, and also sent a coordinate message pointing to a newly built large space station facility somewhere in the galaxy that had no inhabitants yet.

…………

"It seems like they're inviting us over. They've even sent us several friendly messages and given us a docking location. Do you want to go?"

Although she had already determined that no one didn't want to go, out of politeness, Kalisi still asked.

"Of course...why not?...let's go together!"

"By the way, where are Cabot and the others?" Yuki suddenly asked.

"She? Still slacking off in the lounge..."

"Then quickly pull her over. Even though she's considered our sister, she's still her daughter, isn't she? It would be unreasonable for her, as a mother, not to see her daughters who have been left alone for tens of thousands of years."

"Oh right...what about the communication problem? The language they use should be different from ours, right?"

"That's okay... Just now, the greetings our sisters sent included the language they used. I've uploaded it to the mind network. Just enable the language translation function on the visual interface of your mind network."

"Everyone, get ready...this is our...first contact!!!" Carlisle announced solemnly to the crowd in front of her.

…………

Not long after, at the Constellation 2 Space Station, more than a dozen sky aliens from different racial branches, with cat ears on their heads, pointed ears on both sides, or scales on their bodies, gathered in the spaceport of the Constellation 2 Space Station, watching the huge spaceship slowly entering the airtight shield of the spaceport. As the spaceship was anchored by the tractor beam in the spaceport, a pink-haired cat girl became a little excited.

"Finally...finally...I've been waiting for this!"

"Sure enough... In this universe, there are other alien intelligent life forms besides us!!" The cat girl with long pink hair was both excited and nervous about this.

"Calm down... Iris, I know you, like Kylias, have been searching for extraterrestrial life for nearly 100,000 years without much success. However, since this is our first contact, I still hope you can stay calm." A mermaid girl with beautiful translucent scales on her neck and long, smooth sky-blue hair held down the shoulders of the very emotional Iris.

"And we're still unsure of their intentions...so we should be more cautious."

"This is alien life! Lina! And it's the real thing, probably at a level of development similar to ours or even more advanced. Alien intelligent life!!!" The pink-haired cat girl was so excited that she almost jumped up, but was comforted by the gentle touch of the head by the mermaid girl Lina who was admonishing her.

On the other side, an area under the huge spaceship that was fixed by the tractor beam moved to one side. Several figures emerged from it under the action of the spaceship's own tractor beam and slowly landed on the ground of the spaceport. After seeing the appearance of those figures clearly, Iris, Lina and others showed shocked expressions.

There is no other reason, because those "alien lives" are almost the same as the Sky People in appearance. They also have one head, two hands and two legs. Even their appearance almost perfectly fits the sexual preferences of the Sky People.

"Aren't they too...similar?" Elise was a little dumbfounded as she looked at the several "aliens" who were walking into her team. In her and Kylias's initial assumptions and inferences, the differences in life form and appearance between alien life and Sky Star people should be so great that they are difficult to understand. However, according to the scanning results of these aliens by the sensors in the spaceport of the space station, except for some details, they are at least not much different from Sky Star people in appearance. This high degree of similarity makes Elise feel incredible. Moreover, from Elise's aesthetic point of view, these "aliens" are really beautiful, and they can be considered first-class in Sky Star society.

.........

"Is the translator function turned on?"

"It's open now. Who will say the first greeting later? Forget it, I'll do it myself!" Carlisle said in the thought network.

"Okay... just don't make any mistakes." Yuki warned solemnly.

"Don't worry, leave it to me!"

…………

"I am Lina, a representative of the Sky Galaxy Civilization Diplomatic Corps. On behalf of all individuals in the Sky Galaxy Civilization, I welcome you!"

Lina expressed her greetings and welcome to the other party in very standard Sky Language.

Note 1: This is commonly referred to as a Dyson ring or an artificial ring-shaped megastructure around a star. This concept originated in the novel "Ring World" by American science fiction writer Larry Niven, who described a massive artificial ring structure surrounding a star. Using external power to rotate the ring, a gravity-like effect is generated on its inner surface. Chinese science fiction writer Liu Cixin also described this structure in detail in his novel "The Three-Body Problem: Part Three." The Niven ring is a common concept among science fiction writers, representing a stellar-scale artificial megastructure. Of course, there is currently no evidence that such an artificial object exists in our universe. Furthermore, based on current physics, constructing a Niven ring presents significant technical challenges, power requirements, and gravitational interference.

By the way, the effective space utilization rate of the ring world built around the star in the original version of Stellaris is really too low. A considerable part of the structure is simply used as support, and the part used to build the artificial ecosystem is actually very small. Under normal circumstances, the space of the entire ring world should be utilized, not the half-baked giant structure in the original version that was welded in two sections and used in one section.

Chapter 145 What to do if an unexpected event occurs during first contact (5000 words)

Lina warmly welcomed the group of "aliens" who looked unnaturally similar to her. According to the normal Sky Star civilization's greeting and communication style, Lina should have extended a hand to establish contact, a handshake to show friendship and willingness to make friends. However, this time, apart from the verbal expression, Lina did not make any unnecessary gestures.

It would be disastrous if our etiquette and communication habits conflicted with the other party's culture. Although, judging from the current contact and the other party's behavior and appearance, these abnormal aliens, similar to her own, did not seem to be hostile intelligent life or civilization, and if a small mistake did occur, it might not have serious consequences, but this was the first contact in the history of the entire Sky Star civilization with extraterrestrial intelligent life, so Lina still treated the matter with the utmost caution.

In fact, as the leader of the group, Calisi was also a little panicked. Since this was her first time dealing with something like this, how could she possibly have any experience or theoretical knowledge to refer to? She had no choice but to respond to the other person's greeting.

The multifunctional translator converted her words into the language and expressions of the Sky Star people in real time. After a certain degree of polishing and modification, the Sky Star Yilin Yaosi language spoken by Kalisi became more fluent and standard, preventing any misunderstandings caused by inappropriate or inaccurate wording during the communication between the two parties.

Lina wasn't surprised to see the fluent and standard Sky Star language emanating from the other party's mouth. Rather, she would have been surprised if the other party, a civilization with a technological level comparable to hers, or even more advanced, couldn't quickly parse and master her language and communication methods.

But as a person who has long been dedicated to discovering and studying possible alien life, Lina and her fellow compatriots present are now concerned about another thing - why do these aliens look so similar to themselves?

Throughout the history of scientific research and social development within the Sky Star civilization, the question of what aliens might look like has remained a largely unanswered question. Given the vastly different natural environments and ecosystems that exist on different planets, alien life could theoretically present a wide variety of forms. However, some Sky Star individuals hold the view that no matter how bizarre their form, appearance, or body structure, they will undoubtedly possess complex, energy-intensive thinking systems, dexterous limbs capable of crafting and manipulating tools, and various sensory organs for perceiving the external environment.

There are numerous reasons and evidence supporting this view, though these arguments are based solely on the only type of intelligent life known to the Sky Star people: themselves. For example, advanced intelligence requires a highly developed thinking apparatus, which implies complex microscopic structures and extremely high energy consumption. For example, intelligent life must possess strong operational capabilities, and a body with dexterous limbs can perform extremely precise, complex, and regular operations. For example, life is more likely to originate in a stable environment with a suitable temperature, atmosphere, and liquid water. A mild, stable environment that doesn't undergo drastic changes is more suitable for long-term survival and evolution. And so on...

Some theories and viewpoints seem reasonable and have clear evidence and samples as actual examples, while others seem far-fetched and difficult to understand. However, from ancient times to the present, no one in the entire Sky Star civilization has discovered or come into contact with aliens in any form or sense. Therefore, this topic has been discussed for more than 100,000 years since the Sky Star civilization observed the starry sky, but there has been no result.

Today, this question that has been debated for a hundred thousand years finally has practical examples to prove it.

Why are all individuals of extraterrestrial intelligent life highly similar to us?

Could it be that this humanoid body and appearance is the universal form of intelligent species in the universe? Looking at the alien's beautiful, somewhat unreal face, Lina thought to herself.

Then, the purple-haired alien in front of her stretched out his right hand towards Lina.

[She stretched out her hand towards me! What does this mean? Is she trying to express some kind of body language to me?] Lina swallowed her saliva and stared at Kalisi's right hand that was stretched out to him with wide eyes.

.........

From Carlisle's perspective

[Nah, what should I do? Can anyone give me some tips? I'm panicking! ! ! !]

[Don't panic...it's not a big deal] Yuuki's steady voice sounded in Carisi's mind.

[Because it’s a big deal… there’s no point in panicking…]

Please give me some constructive suggestions!!!

[In their... way of communicating... extending their right hand for a handshake is supposed to be a friendly gesture, right? Why does her expression seem a little odd? Could I be mistaken? Damn it! ! What if I'm really mistaken? ! ! !]

From the outside, the purple-haired girl's expression hardly changed. She just raised her right hand with a friendly smile and looked at Lina in front of her. But in her heart, Kalisi was already panicking and started howling like a ghost, and her companions around her were completely unable to give any constructive and practical suggestions. Kalisi was now in a strange state where no one could help her and no one would respond.

Lina, who was standing in front of Kalisi, stretched out her right hand while staring at her. She swallowed nervously, and after hesitating for a moment, she slowly stretched out her right hand and held Kalisi's right hand, which looked and felt smooth and white. The first physical contact and communication between the two sisters who had never met and different civilizations took place smoothly.

But at the moment when the palms of the two figures Yi Qi Ba Ling Qi Liu Yi touched, something strange happened suddenly. A weak electric current suddenly appeared between their palms, and then the two people who were shaking hands felt a sharp pain in their brains. Their limbs suddenly lost strength, and they both collapsed to the ground with their hands covering their heads.

"Lina?!!"

"Kalici!!!"

Seeing the two men suddenly fall to the ground with their heads covered, their companions who participated in the meeting and contact between the two sides rushed forward to help the two men who collapsed on the ground.

"What's going on?" Yuki looked at Calisi, who was lying in his arms with dazed eyes and no response no matter how he slapped her, and asked Renlong behind him in panic.

"I don't know either." Renlong, who still didn't understand what happened, looked across at Lina, who also collapsed in Iris's arms. The other party also collapsed in her companion's arms, her eyes blank, and no response to external stimuli.

Just as both sides were anxiously checking and confirming the safety of their companions, a voice sounded in the minds of all Sky Star individuals at the same time. No matter where they were, this information spread from this space station to the Sky Star mother planet, as well as the entire star system, and every individual in the more than 5000 star systems controlled by the Sky Star civilization. They all heard this announcement in their minds simultaneously and without delay.

"Hello, my daughters... I'm sorry I'm only just letting you see my true form. Those you've encountered, who appear to you to be aliens and who bear a striking resemblance to you, are actually your blood sisters. You've never met before, but I believe you'll get along well. You two sisters are each a gift from me to each other... The Sky Star civilization will reap the coveted superluminal technology and its accompanying closed time curve machine... and the entire galaxy and the future... And my dear subordinates, no... shouldn't I call them 'daughters'... will gain... as a fully developed Type 2.7 civilization. You will become important aids and partners to those sisters, perhaps even their companions and true family. Hand in hand, you will journey into the starry skies, explore and master the entire galaxy, and then... you will receive the coming-of-age gift I've prepared for you, hidden within those two black holes. At that time, you will no longer be bound by the laws of the universe."

"Perhaps you were initially just an unintentional creation of our experiment, but you gave us a very interesting surprise, and we subsequently invested a great deal of energy and genuine affection in you. After this, you are no longer experiments to us, but real children. I hope that as my 'daughters', you can own the entire universe and become a member of our family without experiencing any sadness or pain."

"Rejoice... My dear 'daughters', be prepared to receive this small token of my love and this gift of adulthood that I have sent you through the hands of your sisters!"

My daughters... I will give you a priceless gift... a brand new era that has never been seen before..."

"A great era that goes beyond the speed of light."

“An era completely beyond space and time.”

"Together we will cross and stroll along the long river of time, achieving truly infinite time and space."

"Welcome... to a time when time has lost its meaning."

"So...are you...ready? My dear daughters..."

"And... as a member of the mother who created and nurtured you, I love you!" Cabot concluded with a playful and frivolous remark, making a small declaration to the entire Sky Star civilization and expressing the peculiar form of maternal love expressed by a senior star governor of the Combined Fleet.

"This is..." After this announcement, Iris recalled what Cabot said. In Iris's arms, Lina's eyes, which had been dazed due to the stimulation, gradually returned to normal. She shook her head and stood up with Iris's support.

On the opposite side, Calisi, who was originally lying in Yuki's arms, covered her still dizzy head and stood up with the help of Yuki's shoulders. Then he saw Cabot hiding at the end of the team with a smirk on his face.

"How is it? Is it surprising enough as a first greeting?" Capote asked with a smirk.

"You also prepared... this... for me. This is really a surprise... in every sense..." Carlisle rubbed her dizzy head and complained dissatisfiedly.

"I was scared to death. This happened on our first contact. I thought something big had happened..." Seeing that the two people who shook hands were fine, Ren Long, who had been extremely tense when the two fell down, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Next time you want to do something like this, can you tell me earlier?" Renlong said to Cabot angrily.

"If I told you in advance, it wouldn't be a surprise... I still like to prepare some unexpected and interesting things for you."

"You call this a surprise? It's almost a shock, isn't it?!!"

"Even though they're sisters, this is still the first contact between two different civilizations. If something goes terribly wrong, it'll be terrible!!! Can you at least be serious?!"

"Don't worry, there will be no problem with my work. Look, your sisters have no objection, right?" Cabot said as he turned his gaze to the Sky Star Civilization delegation who had been staring at him nervously since the beginning.

"So... you are... our creator?"

"I guess you are one of them... But I still hope that you can call me mom or mother or something like that. After all, to me, you are more like my daughters whom I have been secretly watching over and helping... By the way, these are your sisters, so you must get along well with them." As Cabot spoke, he familiarly pulled over Calisi, Renlong and others and introduced them to everyone in the Sky Star delegation.

"Hello, you can call me Carlisle. We are Capote's subordinates, although she seems to treat us as her daughters..." Carlisle said while rubbing her head with her left hand, and extended her right hand towards Lina again.

"Oh... hello, my name is Lina."

"The one next to me is my friend, Iris. What are these...names?"

"Charcoal Grilled Renlong, just call me Renlong."

"Yuuki Yuuna, just call me Yuuki."

"Ze Mingluo, other people usually like to call me Aze."

"Don't be so distant. You are sisters in every sense of the word. It's okay to just call me elder sister or younger sister." Cabot, who was fanning the flames and not minding any trouble, watched the exchange between the two parties with great interest.

"Common sense suggests that every Sky Star person is actually your four older sisters. Conversely, to all Sky Star individuals, you four are just like the youngest sisters who lack common sense."

"Come on, don't be shy! Wouldn't it be better to call each other sister? I'm also happy to see you call each other sister." Cabot directly pressed the heads of both parties with his hands, so that Calisi and Lina's faces were almost directly pressed together.

"Hmm? Please... please... please wait a moment!!!" Looking at the face of the purple-haired girl who suddenly came close to her, Lina felt a little at a loss.

"Come on... call me sister or sister, or call me mom or something like that." Cabot pressed their cheeks together with a sinister smile. Looking at the panicked look of Calisi and Lina who were pressed face to face under his irresistible power, Cabot felt a kind of pleasure that came from teasing his own daughter.

"How can there be such a despicable mother like you?!" protested Carlisle who was pressed together.

"Oh...what did you say, my dear daughter?" Cabot's expression suddenly became kind, and the pressure and aura he exuded frightened both Calisi and Lina, who were sticking close to Lina, so much so that they dared not move.

"Well, I mean, as a kind and responsible mother, can you be a little gentler?" After swallowing nervously, Carlisle said after thinking for a while.

"Don't worry... As a gentle mother, even though I don't have experience raising children, taking care of my daughter is still easy for me."

"So, as a first step to meeting your daughter and facilitating subsequent interactions...shouldn't you two call me Mom or Mother or something like that?"

"Mom!" To Calisi's surprise, before she could even open her mouth, Lina, who was sticking close to her, decisively called Cabot "Mom."

"Um...dear Mother Cabot, can you let us go first? This position is a bit uncomfortable." Lina said, raising her right index finger.

"Of course no problem...my dear daughter..." Cabot said, and then released his hands that were pressing on the back of the two people's heads. After Cabot released his hands, Lina and Carissa finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"I say...Sister Carlisle..." Before she could catch her breath, Lina suddenly called out to Carlisle softly.

"What's wrong?" In fact, Kalisi didn't care too much about how Lina addressed her. Although it was a bit strange to be called "sister" by a strange girl, Kalisi didn't mind too much.

"Thank you for all the hard work you've put in for so long..."

“???” Carlisle was full of questions.

"Living with a mother like this for so long... I'm sure it's been pretty hard for you all along, right?"