The downside to being giant, intelligent, arachnid-like beings is that the ones you want to befriend so often run away. Even many of those lovely ones they call humans. -- Anon Guest
Sargasso stations are always "interesting" in the sense of "interesting times". They're either run by Nae'hyn who use them as retirement homes for decommissioned or retired Gravity Drives, or they are run by low-G insectoids. There is no middle ground.
Welcome to Pappus[1] Station. Bring your own gravity.
Low-G species abound here. They are the creatures that evolved in decommissioned hulks or strange nebulae, and thus flourish. Those adapted to more... traditional environments rarely stay. If they do, there is a special quarter set aside for their gravitational needs.
Entomophobes rarely, if ever, stop by. Of those who appreciate and admire all things arthropodic, there is one thing that is almost universally a dealbreaker.
The H'nuffruff.
It was quite a long time before they learned that making a loud noise and running away was not a friendly gesture in humans, nor a greeting of any kind. Now that they are members of the Alliance, they have learned better.
The Human had found a park to anchor at and enjoy their lunch. F'tibb could see that. F'tibb admired their flexibility and weird squishyness, but knew better than to just run up and say that.
So many diplomatic disputes had been caused by such an impulse.
Very carefully, very slowly, F'tibb edged into the Human's line of sight. Foothooks keeping a firm hold of the navigation cables. Palps kept very carefully still. This was a time for strictly physical diplomacy.
Body language was vital.
To be certain F'tibb was reading the Human correctly, ze had a bodyspeak translation app loaded and running on hir datareader, with a feed directly to hir eyescreen. There would be lag, but at least there would be fewer misunderstandings[2].
F'tibb knew ze had been seen when the Human froze and, very slowly and very carefully, loaded up an app of their own.
Universal sign-speak gets very tricky when it includes species with multiple limbs.
F'tibb raised one of hir legs with a colourful foot. Usually employed in mating displays, ze waved it in the recognised sign for, Hello I am harmless.
The responding Human wave with sequentially-curling fingers meant, Hello I am nervous.
Understandable. Humanity had a long and terrified history with creatures that looked just like hir. "Horrible" and "hairy" were often used in conjunction with the arachnidae in question.
F'tibb lowered hir profile and tucked hir legs in a little, Who me? I will not attack. Look how small I can make myself.
The Human's unconscious reaction was to shy a little away, though they did not abandon their food. Nuh-uh, I don't believe it. After a moment to make certain, there was a sign for, Please stay there.
F'tibb sighed and hunkered even further in place. One day, one day, ze might find a Human who ticked the I like spiders box and meant it. Even for ones as big as a Human.
[1] The official name for the fluffy seed of a dandelion.
[2] Because one Human culture's gesture for "all good" can be another's for "up yours".
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / pixelmaniak]
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