This chapter provides commentary to the commander of the exchange team during the first experiences on project Serpo. Commander's notes were recorded on the cassette tape recorder. Part 4.1 is a comment before and during a trip to Serpo. Part 4.2 are notes made on arriving on the planet and part of 4.3 are comments on the second day on Serpo.

4.1 The way to SERPO
This is a real, literal diary of the team leader. It started in the morning on the day of departure. Each team member had EBE control codes and their three-digit numbers. There were other codes and abbreviations for some issues that were not explained.

First day

We are ready. It's hard to think that we finally did. The team is motivated and quiet. Final instruction MTC and MTB (Note: probably the code number for the EBE commander). The cargo is loaded on EBE ships. They could have some problems with our weapons. I will talk to MVC. Numbers 899 and 203 will be in charge of the total number of weapons. There is no sync system or we don't know about it. Everything goes smoothly. Numbers 700 and 754 provide each member of the mission with a final check, before boarding the aircraft. Everything is OK, we loaded and stored everything. We have to transfer it to the largest ship as soon as we get to the rendezvous point.

This makes us somewhat annoyed, but we do not have any reservations against it. MTC asked all team members to make their final decision. All team members say they will go, so we go. The interior of the EBEn is big. There are three floors, the ship is different from the one we were trained for. I think it was a landing ship, this is the mother ship.

We loaded the load on the lower deck. We will stay on the middle deck and the crew of the ship will be on the upper deck. The ship has strange walls. They appear to be multi-dimensional. There are three habitats, four of us will sit in each. There are no armchairs, just some benches. We would not even have come to those small crew seats.

MVC says we don't need anything special, neither oxygen nor helmets. I don't know what to do with them. The final inspection was OK. MTC told us the final words. One of us prayed. We boarded the EBE ship. No. 475 is really nervous, 700 will be watching him. The entrance is closed. There are no windows. We can't see out. Everyone is sitting in their seats on the benches. There are no harnesses to attach. It's okay, we're bound by a barrier.

The boat triggers the engine or something called the power nozzles. We seem to be moving, but nothing is inside. We still can not describe it. It's something dizzy. 102 sits next to me and has a weakness. It's really fun. I have to rewrite it because I can not describe it directly.

First day - second entry.
We left the transport vessel. We don't know where we are, but it looks like we were all unconscious or somehow dazed during this journey. According to my wristwatch, the journey took about six hours. Or maybe more. We left at 13:25 and now it was 19:39. I'm not sure what day it is. We flew a big ship. Now we are standing in some sort of niche or something.

There are many EBEs who help us. They seem to understand that we are confused. The cargo was quickly unloaded one bit. The deck containing our cargo was moved without unloading the individual parts. This ship looks like the inside of a really big building. The ceiling in this ship is about 30 meters high.

Okay, we were moved to another part of the ship. We were in another room or compartment. How big is the ship? I just can not describe how big it is. It took us about 15 minutes before we reached our department. It seems that something special is prepared for us. The seats are bigger. But there is only 10. Well, I think 203 and I will sit in other places above these seats. We are relocated by an elevator, but I can not understand how it works.

We are all hungry. We do have our backpacks, which contain some C-sets, and I think we could eat. But I have to ask MVC. I can't find him and we can't communicate with those two EBEs. They seem to be really good. 420 will try to use their language skills. It's almost funny. Their voice sounds like a scream at football. We used sign language to indicate that we want to eat. One of the EBEs brought us something in a box. It doesn't look nice, but I think it's their food. It looks like porridge or oatmeal. 899 tastes it and says it tastes like paper. I think we'll stick to our nutrition bars.

OK, finally MVC appeared. He told us that we would soon be on a trip. He said two "mils", I think it means minutes, but I certainly do not know. Perhaps it was not such a good idea to eat before departure. We feel no weight, and we do not feel dizzy. But we do not know what to expect from this. They show us that we have to sit on the seats.

Day two
I'm not sure how long we've been shutting up in some boxes. We sat on the seats and a transparent hatch was placed over us. We were completely isolated in this bubble or ball. We could breathe well and see out, but we felt dizzy and confused. I think I have slept or fainted. It was another day, but the watch showed only one hour from the time we sat, but it seems that it was the next day.

Our timekeepers are located in our backpacks, which are stored in another part of the ship. We're still in this section, it looks good. No. 899 figured out how to get out as we stand. I opened my ball. I'm not sure we could leave our mailboxes, but 899 said he came to EBE, looked at us and left again. The other members of the team are asleep, 899 and I are walking around this room.

I got our timekeepers. It seems we traveled about 24 hours. I do not see any windows here. We were originally told that the trip will take about 270 days. OK, EBE came up and showed up on the seats, I think we have to go back and sit down.

Write 1
Because I'm not sure what the day is, I do not specify a date for my record, so I'll just enter the record number. We're all sick. We have dizzy and irritated stomachs, 700 and 754 have given us a cure for calming our stomachs, but we really feel bad. It seems we are not able to focus our eyes, and we do not know where it's up and where we do not even know how to sit. Really bad feeling.

Medicine helps a little, so we can eat a bit. 700 and 754 tell us to eat and drink the water we brought, we do it, and we feel a little better, we can not concentrate on anything, so now I will not record anything.

Write 2
I feel much better now. The EBEs came and put something in the room. Everything looks brighter, we are not so confused and we are not dizzy. Again we ate and drank the water. We feel much better. We are out of our cells, but at some point we have to stay there. EBE showed us a series of lights above the entrance. There are green, red and white lights. If the light is red, we have to sit in the cell. If the light is white, it's okay. EBE never explained the green light. It's probably not good.

We have no idea what the day is 23: 19. According to 633, our timer does not work well. He thinks we travel longer than 10 days, but it is not quite certain. We've been locked in this room all the time. I think this room was made for us and we are safe in it.

Maybe it would not be wise to leave her. There is no weightless state. I do not know how they do it. But we feel a little easier when we walk. The room seems to be under pressure. Our ears are under pressure. If we have to sit in this room for 270 days, we'll really get bored. We can not do much, all our equipment is elsewhere.

We have our backpacks that contain only a few items. We want to bathe, but we have not found our bathroom outside of our cells, we have to get rid of it in the cells. There are small metal containers that empty the EBE. EBEs are bringing us some food. We tried it and tasted really like paper, it is tasteless, but maybe it's something special for space travel. 700 to her. It seems to be all right, but it irritates his intestines. Their water is milky-colored and tastes like an apple. It's weird.

Write 3
It's been a long time since I made the record. We guess we are about 25 days on the ship. But we can be wrong about 5 days. We've been locked in our cells for a long time. We had to leave them to relax, so in the end we opened the cells. When we did, we all got sick. We were dizzy, confused, and some could not walk. We had problems with urination and excretion. 700 and 754 who ate EBEN food do not seem as ill as we do. They treated us with our medicines. The EBE came and pointed to the blue light above us. We felt better, later much better.

EBE pointed to our seats and we think we have to go back to them. We showed him our garbage cans and showed us on the seats. He understood it and left the room. Then he returned with small containers that we could place inside the cells. He also brought a small jar of milk liquid and advised us to drink it. We returned to the cells and sat there with waste containers and a mug of milk drink. We drink it and it looks like we're doing better, except 518, which seems to be sick. But we were warned to stay in the cells.

Write 4
I have no idea how long we stayed in the cells this time. But the EBE came and instructed us to come out. We were able to move without dizziness or illness. EBE even allowed us to leave the room. We traveled for a long time after a very narrow corridor, maybe 20 minutes. Then we got into a lift that moved quickly because we felt the movement.

We went to a huge room where there were many EBEs sitting on the seats. Maybe it's a control center. Our escort entered the room. We saw control panels that contained many lights. There were four different stations served by six EBEns, which were at different levels above the floor.

The upper level inside this room contained only one seat. One of the EBEs sat in it. I guess it must have been a pilot or a commander. He seemed busy with the dashboard. There were many screens, but all of them showed only the language of the EBEs and a series of lines, both vertical and horizontal. Maybe it was some charts.

We were able to walk alone without being bothered by EBEni. 633 and 661 were really interested in everything. 633 seemed to understand it better. There was also one window through which we saw something. It was dark there, but we could see the wavy lines. Maybe some distortion in time. We have to move faster than light, so we can't see anything from the window.

OK, finally MVC arrived. He explains in foul English that we are halfway to the home planet. Everything works properly and we all will feel better as soon as the ship gets out of this time wave, as it is called. MVC says we can go through this part of the ship, but we have to stay together.

He had to show us how to control moving devices. I think he meant elevators. It looks simple, just put your hand on one of the operating lights. White and red. White sets it in motion and red stops it. We hear some ringing, MVC says it's just sounds from space. It means anything. We could walk around the whole ship, but it's so big that it's hard to understand how such a big ship can move so fast.

633 wants to see the engines. The MVC will take the four of us to the engine room, or as they call this room. It contains large, huge metal containers. They are in a circle and the ends of each point to the center. They are connected by many pipes or some type of pipes. In the middle of these containers is a copper coil or something that looks like it. From above, a bright light shines into the center of the coil. We hear a very monotonous noise, but no loud noises. 661 thinks it is a system of antimatter and ordinary matter.

Write 12
I dreamed of our Earth. I really had some vivid dreams about Colorado, the mountains, the snow and my family. It was as if I was really there. I had no worries and I never thought about the situation inside an alien spaceship. Then I woke up. I was confused and disoriented. I was in a bowl, at least it looked like a bowl. I don't remember how I got here. My first thought was of my crew. I grabbed the canopy of this glass bowl and opened it. I heard a hissing sound coming from the seams or joints.

I looked around and saw that I was inside a room. It was not the room I remembered, but we were all inside these glass bowls. The other crew members were asleep. I climbed and realized that my feet really hurt me. I climbed out and went to see every glass bowl and checked the crew. I found only eleven. Someone was missing.

But who? I'm so confused! I'm also very thirsty. I can't find any of the water bottles. We had some, but I can't find any. My eyes have trouble focusing on anything. I can't write the recording, I have to record it all. I found the number… .. She's alive. But who is missing? I have to look at each bowl. This room is large. The ceiling looks like a mattress. The walls of this room are also soft. There is nothing solid in this room, except for the bowls and pipes that come out of them to the floor. I see the lights on the bottom of each dish flashing. A bright light shines on the ceiling. We're like inside a mattress or something. I can't open more bowls. I tried everything. EBEni must help me.

I found the door, but didn't open it. I can't remember opening the other door. How long have we been in these bowls? I can't remember anything. Maybe space travel is causing problems with human memory. They told us during training, but we've never been this far in space. We are like test samples. Maybe I should go back to the bowl. Maybe I woke up too soon. My watch says it's 18:00. But which day, in what month, in what year? How long did I sleep? The floor seems soft, with cross-running wires. I see some type of screen in the corner of the room. I think it's a monitor watching our dishes. I can't read anything on the screen because it's in the EBEs language. I'm not happy about that. Maybe it's health information. I hope that means everyone is breathing and alive.

But we are missing one member. Did I forget something? Did anyone die? I can not remember. I have some kind of rash on my hands. They feared it. Maybe it's from some radiation. But where are the radiation monitors that we had in our inventory? There were our survival packages, but I did not find anything. I'm going back to the bowl. I'm lying. I close this entry in my diary.

I'm up again. Eben's in the room. My bowl is open. Some of my crew walk around. Ebenians help them. I climbed out of my bowl. English-speaking Eben saw me and I asked him if all of my crew members were okay.

He does not understand what "good" means. I show the crew. I say there are eleven of them. Where is the twelfth? Ebe then points to a bowl that is empty and says that this person from Earth is not alive. Okay, somebody died. But who is it? My crew walked confused around. I can not catch the distraction. They look alive dead. What's wrong with them? I asked Ebe 1 what was wrong with them. Ebe replied that they had a space illness but that they would soon be healthy. Okay, that makes sense. But I have no idea for how long. We're still flying, but I do not know how long. Ebe 1 delivers fluid and something that looks like a biscuit. The liquid tastes like chalk and biscuit also has no taste. We all eat and drink the liquid. Almost immediately we feel better. It's good, we'll get organized. I told 203 to assemble the entire crew. We've found that 308 is missing. It must be the dead crew member.

Ebe came back and led me to 308. He was in a bowl that looked like a coffin. 700 and 754 wanted to examine him. Ebe 1 warned us not to do anything with him. I don't understand his caution. 700 and 754 were there. I'm trying to tell Ebe 1 that these guys are our doctors and they have to examine him. Ebe 1 told them not to do so because of a possible infection. He thinks 308 must have an infection and it can be contagious. But is 308 really dead? I do not know it.

We take Ebe 1 into consideration. 700 and 754 just looked into the bowl and said it looks like 308 is really dead. All other members are looking good. Liquid and biscuits must contain some kind of energy nutrition. We can already concentrate our eyes and we can normally think. No one remembers how we got into this room. All our equipment is here. Everyone is concentrating on our position. Ebeni ​​are friendly, but they do not tell us much. 899 deals with being closed here, 633 and 661 think we should be ready for everything.

I agree. I order everyone to check everything inside and see if something is missing. That's what the team will employ for some time. My watch says it's 04: 00. But what day and date? I do not know. Very strange is that I am not able to measure time. We have no pointer in this room or in this spacecraft. We unpack the annual hours we bring when we get to them. We do not know where they are.

The entire crew reinvented their packages and rations. Everything is counted. 899 wants his weapon. I told him he didn't need her. We don't need weapons. No Ebe has treated us dangerously yet. We checked the compass, but it also didn't work. We took our radios. We'll have them attached to our belts. I don't know if they will work outside the room. We've got them involved and they're working. We can hear each other. Okay, so we have communication. But we must be careful, the battery life is only about two days.

I suggest that everyone starts writing their thoughts. He got a diary like me. I was not ordered to do it, but I will continue to do so as long as I can. I will not do it daily because I can not tell when it will end. 661 indicates that we will create a calendar and record system as long as we are here. It's a good idea, we'll do it.

The calendar will work on a seven-day system. We use our wristwatch to measure 24-hour time and we will consider it one day. We start with 06: 00, which is approximately 45 minutes. 518 tried to monitor the air. It seems we breathe the ordinary air. This is a joke about using the 518 nomenclature for common air. It's good that we have a sense of humor. Ok, the beginning of 1 is 06: 00 hours. 661 hides the calendar. We should have done this long ago. We have no idea how long we are in this spacecraft and how long we travel. Are not we in a command ship? Maybe it seems. I finished the first part of my diary.

Ebe 1 entered. He told us we were almost at the end of the road. He led us down the hall. We boarded the elevator and moved to another part of the ship. We came to a large room with many devices that I can't identify but look like wardrobes or bedding. They also took us to a large table with food. Ebe1 told us to eat. He said it was good food. We looked at 700 and 754, they say it can be eaten. Ok, so let's go to the table. It looks like the ceramic plates are really full. I chose something that looked like goulash. Then I got the biscuit we ate earlier.

The drinks were in metal containers. The same fluid we drank before. We all ate. , Goulash had almost no taste. Something like potatoes, maybe cucumbers, some kind of stems. But it was not entirely wrong. Biscuits tasted the same. Everyone sat and ate. We found something like apples, but it was not apples. It was sweet and soft, I ate it.

It left a taste in his mouth. The whole team looked happy. Some are surprised that they have no ice cream here. Ok, MVC is fine. We saw him first. He speaks with help

Ebe 1. Their language really worries my ears. High sounds and loud sounds sound strange. Ebe1 tells us that the MVC wants us to prepare for landing. Okay, we'll do it. We have to go back to the bowls. Nobody wants it, but if necessary, we'll do it. We have to go back there. We are accompanied back to the room with bowls. We're getting into them. Some use dispensing vessels. Then they get into the bowl. We close the lids, but we're awake. We just lie there. I suddenly fall asleep.

4.2 Arrival to SERPO
The lids of the bowls opened. My watch shows 11:00. I think it's the first day. We're climbing out. Ebe 1 is with us and tells us that we landed at their house. Ok, I think we're there. We collect our equipment. 700 reminds us of using sunglasses as soon as we leave the ship. We pack our personal luggage and walk down the long corridor and then the elevators. We're going for about a minute. Then the door opens. We're in a big room. We see our stored equipment. It is a huge hangar, there are many smaller spaceships.

A large door opened and a bright light appeared. We see this planet for the first time. We're on the ramp. There is a large number of Eben here waiting for us. I see Big Eben, the greatest we've ever seen. He comes to us and starts talking to us. Ebe 1 translates a welcoming speech from this representative. I think this EBE is a leader. It's about one foot taller than others. He tells us that we are welcome on the planet and something we do not understand. Ebe 1 does not do a good translation. We are then put into an open arena. Looks like a showcase. There is dirt on the ground. Looking up, I see the blue sky. The sky is very clear. I see two suns on it. One brighter than the other.

The landscape here looks like a desert in Arizona or New Mexico. There is no vegetation to see. In the distance there are hills, but around nothing but dirt. This must be the capital. We landed in an open space with large structures, like electric poles. There is something on top of these towers. In the center of the city is a large tower. It looks like a concrete structure. It is perhaps 100 meters high. There seems to be a mirror on top of this tower.

All the buildings look like they are made of clay or pigsty. Some are bigger than others. Looking in one direction, you can't estimate the size, but there is one very large building. All the Ebony are dressed in the same attire, except for some who were on the spaceship. I see that some are dressed in dark blue, different from others. Every Ebony has a box on his belt. They all have belts. I don't see any children, but maybe they are the same size. Our shoes leave imprints on the ground. The brightness is almost unbearable for our eyes without sunglasses.

Looking around, I can only see buildings and bare ground. There is no vegetation here. I wonder where the crops grow for food. What a strange planet. It is hard to believe that we will have to live 10 for years. But even the journey to 1000 miles starts with one step. I can not remember who said it, it just came to my mind.

We welcome a large number of Ebenas. They seem friendly. Then we are almost shocked when someone speaks English. We all look at him. This Eben speaks English very well. The one to whom we call Ebe 2, he speaks almost fluently in English, except that the words are not spelled correctly. But Ebe 2 does a good job when she speaks English. Ebe 2 says we are welcome on Serpo. Okay, it's the name of their planet.

Ebe 2 shows us the device on the belt and says that each of us has to wear it. It looks like a small transistor radio. We put it on our belts. The weather is extremely hot. He asked 633 to measure the temperature. Says it is 42 ° C. We are very warm. We take off our jackets and leave only light tricks. The Eben look at us, but they look very friendly. Some are wearing some sort of dress. I asked Ebe 2, who says they are women. OK, everyone looks alike. It's really hard to distinguish one from another if they have uniforms. Some have colorful uniforms. I asked Ebe 2, says they're military uniforms. Okay, that makes sense.

Ebe 2 leads us to a number of houses that look like pigs. There are four. Behind them is an underground room or storage area. It is built underground. We have to go in on the slope. The door looks like a military cover, where we place atomic bombs on Earth. All our gears are transposed from a spacecraft. We are entering this area. There is a very large room. It is very cold, it is much more enjoyable than outside. Maybe we'll have to sleep here. There is all our equipment here. This room is made of something that looks like concrete but does not have the same structure. Looks like a soft rubber but very dense.

The floor is made of the same material. There are lamps in the ceiling. They look like dots. They probably have electricity here. We have to inspect all the equipment sometimes. We're going back to the cottages. It's colder there than outside, but still very warm. We have to organize. I tell Ebe 2 that we will have to be alone to organize everything. Then I finally realize that Ebe 2 is a woman. He says it's okay. So we are left alone.

I asked for body 308. Ebe 2 looks confused and knows nothing about any body. I explained, Ebe 2 then held her hands across her body and bowed her head. It was an expression of her emotions because she almost cried. Ebe 2 told us that the body would be brought to us, but it must first be checked by her instructor. The expression instructor shocked me. Is Ebe 2 in the class and someone teaching her? Or does the word instructor mean to Eben for something other than English? Maybe it means a leader or a commander. I am not sure. Ebe 2 is gone. I told 203 to all gather in the lower storage area. We will have a team meeting. 633 suggested that we begin a new calendar to date. It's 13 p.m., our first day on the planet Serpo.

Write 13
We have a serious problem. How do we explain our science to strangers who do not know Einstein, Kepler or any of the other scientists of our time. Simple mathematics seems quite foreign to them. Ebe 2 is intelligent. He seems to understand our language better than EBE1. He even seems to understand our basic math. We started with the basics of mathematics. What is 2 plus 2? Then she continued. She understood everything so quickly that she continued on her own, without our help. We realize that she has high intelligence when she stated 1000 x 1000 and found the answer right away. We showed her our ruler. It took her a few minutes to realize what it was for, though I don't think she fully understood all the symbols.

He's really somebody. We found her personality. Maybe because we have more contacts with her than with others. She is very cordial, we feel it in her. She really cares about us and worries about us. During the first night, we seemed to be making sure everything was fine. She warned us of heat and light. She mentioned that SERPO is not as dark as Earth. I wonder how did she know? Did she visit Earth? Perhaps she was brought up by earthly qualities. Maybe they have books about Earth. Anyway, the first night told us about the wind.

A strong wind begins just when there is only one sun in the sky. The second sun remains below the horizon. The wind blows dust. We had a very heavy first night. We call it the night, but it seems that the Ebenes just call this their period. Ebe 3 knew the word day, but it was not comparable to Earth's day. Perhaps he was not on Earth. We did not sleep well during the night. Eben does not sleep as we do. They seem to be resting for some time, then go back and go to work, they will do whatever they need.

4.3 The next day at SERPO
When we woke up, Ebe 2 was in front of our cottage. I opened the door and waited. Why was she there? How did she know we were awake? Chats may be monitored by a sensor. Ebe 2 told us to follow her into the dining room. She did not use the word cafeteria or catering. She used the label a place to eat. Once I gathered the team, we passed through the village - I would call it a village for the correct formulation. We entered a large building. It seemed to be large, compared to the little Eben characters. There were food on the tables. I think we'd call this place a diet. Ebeni ​​looked at us and continued to eat. They do not prepare food inside their huts. It seems everyone is eating here. We went to the dining tables. There was the same meal we saw and ate on a space ship, except for some dishes. There were large bowls of something like fruit. Strange looking things. They also had something like this, tasted like sour milk, but after tasting it seemed right. I called all team members to eat and drink.

We could also use our food out of stock. But 700 told us to eat one of our meals a day and to save our rations at a later time. In this way, our digestive system will adapt to eating Eben. We sat down at the table, smaller than our standard, and ate. Ebony was a lot, probably 100, everyone ate and did not bother us at all.

Every moment we noticed Eben, who was looking at us. We were probably grotesque for them, not us for us. We are here as guests. We are foreigners. We really have to feel weird. We all look different, they all look the same. How can we compare them? It's impossible. We look at them, they look at us. Then we see another Eben. Very strangely looking creatures, big, long arms, almost floating on their long legs. This can not be Eben. We all look at him. This creature simply floats and does not even look at us.

I'm looking for Ebe 2. She's with three other Ebenes. As soon as I approach her, he rises and turns his head toward me. Maybe just health, I have to remember it. I asked her about the creatures we saw here and asked if it was another kind of Eben. Ebe 2 looks confused. She asked me what kind of creation? I used the word of creation. Maybe it was an insult, or perhaps she did not know the word.

I showed the creature at the other end of the room. Then she saw what I meant. Ebe 2 said: "No, it's not Eben, it's also a visitor like you" and she showed me.

Okay, I see there are more foreign visitors here. I think we're not the only one. Then I asked Ebe 2 to tell me from which planet the visitor came from? Ebe 2 said something like CORTA, I was not sure of the exact name, so I asked her to repeat it twice. Ok, where's the CORTA? We move to the monitor, at least it looks. It is located in the corner of the room. Looks like some type of touchscreen. Put your finger on the glass and something pops up. Is it the universe?

I see star systems. I don't know any of them. Ebe 2 points to one place and says the word CORTA. Ok, and where is the Earth? He points to another place and says Earth. Based on this screen, CORTA and Earth are very close to each other. But I don't know the scale of this map. Maybe it's trillions of miles or 10 light-years. But they seem to be close. I'm going to have to ask one of the scientists to look at this. Okay, thank you Ebe 2. She looks pleased. He looks almost like an angel. She's so pretty. She touched my hand, pointed to my table, and said, "Eat, do you like the food?" I laughed and said, "Yes, it's good food." She looked confused. I don't think he knows what a dining room is. I pointed to the building and said, "This is a dining room, a place to eat." She repeated what I had said - a dining room, a place to eat. I laughed and left. Now he will think that all earthly restaurants are canteens.

We went back to our chat rooms. We need to be better organized. We have an appointment. Everybody looks good. Are we interested in toilets where we will relieve? Ebe 1 comes in, almost as if he read our thoughts - maybe even. He says he'll show us the pots in the cottage. We all were interested in what it is. Okay, it's our latrine. We realized it would not work well, but we'll do what we can. Then we realize that the pots have some chemical inside. Our waste will dissolve or something like that. I can not really say it exactly. Each of the four chalets has one such container. Perhaps it will work so far. Ebe 2 tells us to go out. You are not sure what it means, but 420 says we could go for a tour of the neighborhood. Okay, we'll do it.

I'm organizing a team, 102 will go, 225 will stay. I want 633 and 661 to look at the space map screen to see which star system is CORTA. I'm asking 518 to measure temperature and observe the weather. I know it's hot, very hot. It must be above 60 ° C. 754 warns us to protect ourselves from the sun's rays, saying that the level of radiation is high. It doesn't sound very good to me. It reminds me of Nevada in 1956, during one of the atomic bomb tests. The weather was hot and we had to take care of measuring the radiation from atomic explosions.

Now we are on this strange planet, 40 light years from Earth and there is also radiation and heat. But we have to examine it, so we were sent here. Beginning with exploration of the environment, 475 takes photos with our military apparatuses. I hope the film will not be affected by radiation. How do we call it? Maybe we did not think so. I'm following 225. We enter the big building through the open door. We go, it looks like a classroom, but there are no Ebenas. There is a large screen that occupies the entire wall. There are some lights flashing on this screen. We're looking at the screen, it's very thin. I wonder how it works. Where is an electron tube or electronics? Mthey are much more advanced in this area than we do. It has to be this way. We have not found anything else in this building. We go on, there's also hot, I hope we'll somehow make use of what we've seen. We are coming to a great tower. Looks like an antenna tower, but it's got a big mirror above. We saw her when we landed yesterday.

We see Eben standing by the side at the entrance. We ask him if he understands English. She just stares at us, but she looks friendly. I do not think he speaks English. We are entering the building, but we have not found any stairs here. We see only a round glass room. Maybe it's an elevator. Then we will hear English. Turn around and see Ebe 2. Where does he come from? I ask her if we can see this building. She said she obviously did, and she pointed to the glass room and says to go upstairs. Okay, we'll go into the glass room. Her door closes and we get up quickly.

In a short moment we are at the top. But what is it? We ask Ebe 2 for it. It points to the sun and then to the top where the mirror is located. Then it points to the ground. Okay, we see it. The tower is in the middle of a circle on the ground. There is a symbol in each square quadrant. I see that the sun beam is pointing mirror to the ground. Maybe it's not a mirror, as we know it until sunlight reflects, but when sunlight passes, the beam moves toward a symbol in a circle. Ebe 2 says that when the light touches the symbol, Eben will change something. I'm not sure what it means. Perhaps it tells Eben what they have to do. 225 seems to think it's a sundial. When the sun touches the symbol, the Ebenes will change their activity they did and do something else. Perhaps Eben's day is somehow structured. Or maybe their hours. Oddly! But we are on a strange planet ....

I'm glad I still have a sense of humor. It's our first day, the first day at school. We have a lot to learn. We must have an open mind. We can not compare these issues with the Earth. We must open our mind to new thoughts and new science. All of these things are alien to us, but we have to learn it.

I pointed at my wrist watch and then pointed to the ground and gestured to Ebe 2 to indicate whether the two items were time slots. I do not know if she understood it. But I said 'time' and she understood it. Yes, she said, it was the time of the Ebenes and she pointed to the ground. Again, I pointed at my watch and said, "This is earth time." Ebe 2 then smiled and said, "No, there's no time on Earth at Serp." Ok, that makes sense. 225 said he had just discovered that Earth time did not work on SERPO. I think that's the way it is. What are our watches or time devices when they are not working?

We need to start using Eben Time. But we must also preserve our time, because we must know when to leave. Ten years here look like a million years. Maybe it's because of the Ebony time that it feels like a million years to us. We must hope. We do not have time to think about home, we have a mission and responsibilities to our goal. We are a military team and we must follow this idea. 225 and I return to the glass elevator and return to the ground. We go to another building, which is also large. Inside we see long rows of plants. It must be a greenhouse, their food is grown here. There are many Ebony inside. They take a quick look at us. We walk around them. One Ebony comes to us and speaks, unfortunately in Ebony.

Looks like he's telling us something. He pointed to the ceiling and then to our heads. Maybe he's telling us to cover our heads. I have to find Ebe 2. We go back out, and then we find Ebe 2, it always seems to be close. Now we understand why we have the equipment we have on our belts. I ask Ebe 2 what it's for. He says it's for food. Ok, maybe we contaminated the landing site. We told her that another Ebony was talking to us and then he pointed to our heads. Ebe 2 seemed confused and returned to him with us. This Ebe then spoke to Ebe 2, who then told us that we had to wear helmets on our heads in order to enter. Why? We don't know. This other Ebe gave us a hat, so we wear it. We walk around, Ebe looks happy, we can look at their plants. They grow in the soil. They have an irrigation system here. They also have a transparent substance above each plant. I point to the irrigation system and ask Ebe 2 if it's drinking water. Ebe 2 says yes. Then she knew we were thirsty. Ebe 2 leads us to a place near the next entrance and offers us water, at least we think it's water. It tastes like chemicals, but it's water. It actually tastes pretty good.

Write 13b
The Ebene leader is bigger than the others. He seems to be more aggressive than other Ebenas. When I write aggressive, I do not think hostile. He looks like a boss, like me, the team leader. His voice is harsh and with a different tone than others, even though I can not understand a word all the time. 203 argues that it is the attitude of the leader. I agree with that. It is very friendly to us and meets all our requirements. He has also asked us many things, most of which we have given him.

One particular thing is our blood. He wanted us to surrender blood samples. Ebe 2 explained that the blood or group, as Ebe 2 said, is necessary for them to give us a cure if we ever need it. 700 and 754 believe that a blood sample can be used for other purposes. We allowed Ebene to use the 308 body for experiments. They took all his blood without our consent. I wrote about this in the 3888 protocol. So we had a very tense situation with Ebena. When we transported 308 to the building, we were confronted with several Ebenas. Ebe 1 appeared there, explaining to him that we wanted the 308 body.

Ebe 1 told us that his body is in custody and we cannot marry him. We told Ebe 1 we wanted to marry him. Eleven of us then walked out of six Ebena and entered the building. They didn't try to stop us. While we were inside, we could not open any containers. There was a security system, perhaps a cryptographic one, that they used to lock the containers. We found a box with body 308. We decided to send 899 to our warehouse to bring some explosives to open the container.

Ebe 2 came with their leader. She was very polite and asked us to wait. She used that word several times. In fact, he used the English word "beg" (beg). We stood behind ours and I told Ebe 2 that we want our friend's body and we want to explore it. Ebe 2 translated it to the manager. There was a long exchange of words between the two. Finally, Ebe 2, who looked very frustrated, told us that the leader would like us to go elsewhere and talk to another Eb-doctor, about the body of our 308. Ebe 2 explained that everything we would like to know about the 308 body, Dr. Eben explained, because she speaks English, she confirmed. I told Ebe 2 to keep 308 from 899 and 754 here, and I'll go with the others to where we meet a doctor. Ebe 2 translated it to the manager. Again, there was a long exchange of words between the two. It took a few minutes. Eventually Ebe 2 said the leader would want us to leave this building and visit a doctor. I told Ebe 2 not that I would not leave the body alone. I felt confrontation.

I told 518 and 420 to come back soon and bring our weapons. I did not want Eben to allow the commander to reverse my decision. When Ebe 2 heard it, she told me to wait and put my hand on my chest. I told her to translate it to the headmaster. Again, there were several minutes of conversation between them. Ebe 2 then said the lead would bring the doctor here to discuss the situation here. Ebe 2 asked me not to send my gunmen. Weapons will not be needed. We can do everything without weapons. I told Ebe 2 that we would not have guns, but we will stay here until we see the 308 body. The supervisor did something with the communication device on his belt. About 20 minutes later, we had three Ebena in the building. One of Eben, who called himself a doctor, spoke very well in English.

This doctor had a special pronunciation, almost like a human voice. He did not have such a high intonation as Ebe 1 and Ebe 2. I was so amazed by the doctor. I wonder where the last 18 months were. We have never seen him before. This doctor told us that the 308 body was not closed inside the container. Ebeni ​​conducted experiments with his body because they considered it an honor to work with such a specimen. The doctor told us they had used the 308 body to create a cloned human being. At this point I stopped the doctor. I told him that my colleague's body was the property of the United States of America and the planet Earth. The body did not belong to the Eben, and I did not allow any experiments with 308. I explained to him that people consider the body to be a religious symbol.

Only I could allow the use of the 308 body for experiments. I asked him to see the body. The doctor explained to me that the body was already gone, he said that all blood and body organs were removed and used to clone other beings. The use of the word "beings" really made me enrage, and others. 899 was also very angry. I cursed their doctors. I forced myself to stay calm. Then I told 203 to leave the 899 building. I realized that this matter could actually result in a big incident. I could not afford it. We were only eleven, and we realized that if the Eben wanted to imprison us or kill, they could do it very easily.

I did not think Eben would resort to such a deal. But I was not going to let this incident evolve into something worse. I realized that with what the Eben had done with the body of 308, nothing else could be done than we could do ourselves. Ebe 2 looked very upset. She told me that everyone should be nice and repeat it many times.

Ebe 2 did not want this matter to be stepped up. I apologize to her for trying to mediate this matter. 203 suggested we go back to our homes and arrange a team meeting.

I told the supervisor that I do not want to do any further interventions in what was left of 308 after their experiments. I pointed at the commander's face. Ebe 2 translated it with a doctor. The doctor was very straightforward, and he told me that nothing would happen to the body, and he revealed that little was left of the body. Ebe2 told me that the manager was afraid we'd be upset because we were their guests. She was also upset because we were offended. The leader did not want to worry us any further, and he promised nothing to happen to the body. I thanked Ebe 2 and let her rely on their leader.

We returned to our cottages. We were all upset, especially 899. So I told everyone to calm down. I explained our situation to them so that every member of the team would realize that we were only here as eleven military workers. We have no way to fight the Eben. We didn't come 40 light-years away to start a war with Eben. We could not win such a war. We couldn't even win an ordinary fist fight with the Eben. Yes, maybe we could beat them, but what then? We need to be aware of our situation and act accordingly. I challenged each member to reconsider the situation regarding the facts about body 308. I told 633 and 700 to evaluate this cloning procedure with an English-speaking Ebony doctor. Let's look at all the facts about what they did to the body and what we can find out about the Ebony body and the body's experiments.

Ebe 2 came to our shack to follow us. I told her that 633 and 700 would examine what was left of body 308. They would also examine the Ebony experiments performed on body 308. Ebe 2 looked very worried. Sometimes it was difficult for us, even after we were on this planet, to find out the meaning of the Ebony facial expressions. Ebe 2 replied that she must first obtain consent. Approval was a new word for Ebe 2. They must learn to read or learn our language. Maybe he's choosing the right words. I told Ebe 2 that she could get permission because we were told when we arrived that we had no restrictions on where we could go. Ebe 2 said she would talk to the leader. 633 and 700 assembled research instruments and prepared to study the Ebony Laboratory.

According to our timekeepers, Ebe 2 returned about 80 minutes later. She told us she was approved to have my people visit their lab. I decided to visit her too. I myself, 633 and 700 accompanied Ebe 2 to the lab. We had to get there by helitransport, as we call their helicopters. We were interested in it before we reached this place. According to our compasses, which are not fully functional, we chose reference points and we traveled to the north. The device was large, according to the Eben scale.

The building looked like a big windowless school. We landed on the roof where the landing area was. We went with an escort on some sidewalk or ramp. There are no ladders on the planet. I think I wrote about it in one of my past contributions. They have sloping ramps everywhere.

We came to a room with white walls. Then we walked through the corridor to another larger room. We met here with our English-speaking physician. We saw many other Ebenes dressed in blue-gray one-piece overalls. It was different from the ordinary suits I talked about in my past papers.

The doctor told us that all the experiments carried out inside this building, which is not called a laboratory, but just a building, are carried out to create cloned beings. We were led to the next room where there were a series of containers that looked like glass tubs. There was a body in each bath. I was shocked, just like 700 and 754. It was strangely looking bodies. It was not human bodies, at least not all. We started walking through the space between the baths. We looked in. There were ominous creatures. I asked the doctor what type of creature is inside these vanes. The doctor told us that these creatures come from other planets. 700 asked the doctor if these creatures died when they came or the Eben had already brought the dead. The Doctor said that all beings were brought to life on the planet. 700 asked whether these beings were kidnapped or brought against their will. The doctor was not sure what the word was kidnappers.

The doctor looked confused and asked 700 for this question. 700 said that these creatures were taken from another planet and brought to Serpo without their permission or leaders from their planet. The Doctor said these creatures were brought to experiments. These creatures are not intelligent beings. Ebe 2 then used the word animals. Okay, I understand now. All of these are animals from other planets. The doctor apparently did not understand the word animal. Ebe 2 and the Doctor exchanged words in Ebene and the doctor then said they were real animals.

Then I asked him if there were intelligent creatures in this building. The doctor said yes, but they were all dead when they arrived at Serpo. 700 asked him to see these creatures. The doctor corrected him to call them beings. Okay, I think creation are animals and beings they are like humans.

Let me first describe a few of these creatures within these trays. They are not all the same. The first creature I see in the bathtub looks like a porcupine. There is a tube inside the tub leading to the box under the bathtub. The second animal I see looks like a monster. He has a big head, big deep eyes, no ears and mouth, no teeth. It is about 1,5 meters long and has two legs but no feet. He has two hands, but he does not seem to have any elbows. He has palms but no fingers. There is also a tube running through the creature.

The other creature didn't look like anything I could compare it to. It had red skin like blood, two spots in the middle, maybe it was the eyes. No hands or feet. The skin looked scaly, like fish. Maybe it was a fish.

Another creature was human. His skin was white, not just skin, all white. The skin was wrinkled. It had a big head, two eyes, two ears and mouth. The neck was very small, the head looked as if it were sitting directly on the body. The chest was thin, with large bone protrusions. His hands were twisted, palms without thumbs. The legs were also twisted, feet with only three fingers. I could not look at the creatures anymore. We walked another corridor, another room, down the sloping ramp to another room.

We came to a room that looked like a hospital room. There were many beds, or some type of bed, used by the Ebony. I used to describe them. There was a living being in each bed, as the doctor called them. The doctor told us that all beings are alive and well taken care of. 700 asked the doctor if these beings were sick. Ebe 2 had to translate, but the doctor said no, that they were living normally. All three of us were completely amazed by this announcement. I asked Ebe 2 what the doctor meant. Ebe 2 spoke to the doctor and then used the word cultivated. 700 asked the Doctor whether these are the cloned creatures he mentioned earlier. The Doctor said yes, every creature here is grown, using the same word as Ebe 2 just used.

754 asked the doctor whether these creatures were grown as plants. The doctor said yes it was a good comparison. 700 asked him how they were grown. The Doctor said that certain parts of other beings are used to grow these beings. The whole process can not be explained in English because it does not know the appropriate words. 700 then asked Ebe 2 if she could explain the growth process. Ebe 2 said she also does not know the appropriate English words. Ebe 2 then said that cells from blood and other organs are used to produce a substance that is given inside the bodies of these beings. That was all Ebe 2 could explain in English.

I told 700 to come back, find 420 and come back. While we waited for 420, we looked at these creatures. They looked like people, at least most of them. The two creatures at the end looked like people with dog heads. These beings were not awake, either asleep or drugged. 420 returned. I told him to see if he could translate the method they used to cultivate these beings. 420 then talked to Ebe 2. 420 is really good. As long as we've been here, I've estimated it to be about 18 Earth months, so 420 has already learned ebony well. He said that the growth process involves cells taken from other beings, cultured and mixed with chemicals, and then inserted into the bodies of other beings. That was about all he could explain. 420 did not know the words that Ebe 2 used. But a word cells was used. Ebe 2 then told me that some parts were taken from the cells.

700 and 754 then asked if the parts obtained from the cells were cell membranes or genes. Ebe 2 translated it to the doctor. They both looked confused and said they could not explain the cultivation process because they do not know the English words. 700 has used words for the procedure of biological extraction of cell membranes. But neither Ebe 2 nor the doctor knew anything about the process. I asked 754 if she understood what they were doing. He said that human cells contain substances that can identify structures with cell membranes. It was not something Earth technology knows, but 754 read it before departure, but it does not think Earth technology can be used to grow living cells as Ebenians do.

Eben had to find a way to grow the cells up to the stage of living beings. 700 and 754 said that nothing is known on Earth. Then I asked the doctor if the 308 body is also used to create beings. The doctor said yes and showed one creature. I was shocked, just like 700 and 754. It was a creature from our colleague's blood and cells, and it looked like a great Eben. Hands and feet, however, were similar to human ones. How could she grow up so fast? Obviously, this is far beyond our understanding.

I saw everything I wanted to see. I told the doctors that we wanted to leave. Ebe 2 saw that I was upset and touched my hand. I felt anxious. Ebe 2 was also concerned about what I saw. She said we were leaving. We went outside this building, which I did not want to see again. I saw here the dark side of this civilization. Eben are not the human civilization that we thought they were. But I have to say they did not hide anything. The Doctor told us everything, like other Ebenas. They do not know what it is to lie. We have seen everything we wanted and changed our impression of Eben as long as we stay on this planet.

Write 16
It was difficult to talk to Ebena about science. How do we explain Einstein? How do they explain their Einstein? We had a difficult problem to connect with our science. But they seemed to understand our physics and chemistry faster than we can understand. We have been able to observe some strange things about their technology.

We first examined one of their locators we had on our belts. It was not easy. There were no screws to hold together. We had to break it. The electronics inside were not what we'd ever seen. There were no transistors, capacitors, diodes, coils or other electronic components that our technology uses. This thing had only wires and some frequency detectors at certain points. There were two devices that were never seen before. We could not use the frequency detector to determine the transmitted and received frequencies. It was beyond our reach.

633 and 661 used some other device to analyze the subject, but they could not understand it as well. We asked the scientist Eben, whom we called Ebe 4. The problem was a translation from Ebe 2 because Ebe 4 did not speak English. There was a lot of loss in translation, even though Ebe 2 knew English very well. We showed Ebe 4 one of our Motorola FM portable radios, which was quite complicated for us. It was new and contained four channels.

661 opened the radio in front of Ebe 4 and explained the parts and the different semiconductors we use. Ebe 4 did not understand. He looked from our interpretation as lost, just as we did from his.

Ebe 2 told us that Ebe 4 does not understand the receiver or how it works. So it was a dilemma. How to exchange expertise? Each of our civilizations must learn from each other. So we decided to start at school. Our first days were pretty tough. We started with simple things that we thought were similar to what we all should know. We chose the light. 661, who previously taught something like this, started with wavelengths. He started with invisible light and frequency units in angstroms. Then he showed them the spectrum of visible light and eventually displayed the cosmic rays and how we measure it. Then he explained gamma rays, X-ray and ultraviolet rays. 661 explained that light is what we call electromagnetic waves.

Over time, 661 explained everything he knew about light, frequencies, and the description of frequency bands. During this time, several other Ebony came and listened. Ebe 2 was extraordinarily commissioned to translate the subject. Ebe 2 had difficulty explaining everything he said to 661 because she did not know the Ebony terms for all terms. But she did an excellent job of describing what 661 was saying.

I do not think Ebe 4 understood everything he says, but it did not take long before Ebe 4 realized what 661 was describing. 661 then showed Ebemu 4 a repair manual for one of our test facilities. Because everything or almost everything we brought was military equipment. The manual contained circuit diagrams. Ebe 4 was completely lost here. But he eventually figured out what 661 is pointing to is inside a test rig. 661 began to explain the basics of electricity. Ohm's law, various patterns for the transformation of voltage and current. Ebe 4 was clearly confused.

But one of the other Ebenes who came to listen quickly grasped these thoughts. We call him Ebe 5 or Einstein. This Ebe was exceptionally clever. After three years, we finally met Eben, who was able to understand our science. The only problem was that he could not speak English. But he asked questions that Ebe 4 could not ask. Although it took several hours to teach Ebe 5 what each symbol means in the formula, Ebe 5 finally realized what we were saying. This Eben had an IQ of at least 300. Ebe 5 has actually solved some of the simple problems presented by 661 on the basics of electricity, such as circuit resistance and similar simple things. It was a remarkable scene. Ebe 5 has become our best student. We could not get rid of the guy. He followed us and asked questions through Ebe 2. When he was not available, he was simply unlucky and shrugged. We would speak with him in English or we will use 420 or 475 for translation.

But only 420 could understand most of what Ebe 5 told us. We've noticed more interesting things. Ebe 5 looked a little different than the other Eben. Over the last few years, we have noticed that some of the Eben, especially those living in the north, look different. They seem to have a slightly bigger head. The winds have a worn face. Ebe 5 was probably from the north. It lives in the second village north, at a distance of approximately 5 kilometers. I drew a map in the 4432 report, showing all the villages in the north.

I'm sure they have more villages, but we have not visited them yet. Ebe 5 does not have any friends yet. That's strange, but it's not entirely unusual. We found some Eben without friends.

We could not dive into the personal life of Ebe 5, even though 518 wanted it. I explained one comment on Eben's technology regarding screws, mothers, etc. They do not. Everything they produce is connected by some method of soldering or melting.

When we visited our factory, we were amazed at how efficient their furniture, helicopters, or other flying machines were. So far we have not seen their main spacecraft factory. It must be at a remote location in the west or south. I'm sure one day we will visit this place.

We still have seven years, or the last seven years, before we leave. As I have already mentioned, we have completely lost sight of Earth's time. We've been making records many years ago. We once had terrestrial time on Serpo, but Eben's time is extremely difficult to count as I have already mentioned.

Today they had a holiday. Some festivity. We've used our last C-nutrition packages, because the Eben have no longer cared about our food. We killed some animal. As I have already mentioned, Eben has allowed us to kill animals for meat. Their meat is not really bad, 899 says it tastes like a bear I've never eaten. But the Eben look very strange to us when we eat meat. It's weird when they can clone creatures and other kinds of beings but can not eat meat. They seem strange to us. But they let us do everything we want and food is something we need for protein. We used the last pinch of our salt and pepper stock because it makes their food much more tasty.

Ebony has nothing like salt and pepper. They have an herb, we say something like oregano, which they use. It has a strong taste, but it is not to our taste. The holiday was great. We took part in dances that the Ebony really likes. They are very happy when they dance and play their weird games. I've described them before, but on this holiday, we saw something else. The game was played like chess, but with Eben standing on a large square. The squares were divided into 24 fields. Each had two more places. How and why the Ebony moved was a mystery to us. One of the Ebony said a word and then another continued. It seemed to us that it was a team game. Six Ebony on each side. We couldn't come up with the purpose of the game, but in the end the Ebony danced together, which probably meant victory, as we thought.

It was a funny day. My team has been playing softball with some active Ebens who have learned this game. Perhaps for the most part. They still did not understand that they had to catch the ball before it hit the ground. But they had fun. Among Eben we found some extraordinarily gifted athlete. Then we found someone who had no athletic skills. Just like people. Our softball game ended when it started to rain. We finally found ourselves in the dining room. We ate our food and returned to our living space.

As we do it every day, we had training at the end of the day. We check our mental and health status. Our day ends and there will be eight hours of rest. Ebeni ​​have different time periods, as I have already mentioned. They take about four hours after each 10 hour of work. We must realize that their time is slower and that their days are longer. So we stopped using our time and used Eben time. It's hard to understand, but it's just another calendar.

As soon as we return to Earth, I can explain the difference of time and why we had to use the time of Eben instead of our time. I keep writing on every record in my diary of time, but it's important to realize that when we were around for three years, we took time on Earth and used Eben time. We tried to use their two suns as a counting system, but it did not work. Then we tried to use our own watch, but it did not work either.

So we gave up our timekeepers, using only the Ebony time tower. Each village has one with easy-to-understand symbols. Each symbol means a certain time and also a certain working time. Ebe 2 came to us after the holiday. She was interested in 754. As I mentioned in one last record, 754 fell ill, but then recovered. We don't know what happened to him, but 700 treated him with penicillin, which he took. We were all somehow sick during our stay, except for 899, the guy was like a solid rock. He was not ill even in the winter. 706 and 754 keep detailed records of each team member and their health and physical condition. We have been trying to maintain a stable physical fitness program since we arrived here. We'll watch him for a while before we ever finish.

We are all in a good overall condition, at least physically. Mentally, this may be another story. Some team members miss Earth, just like me, but no member of the team has shaken or needed any kind of psychological help from 700 or 754. Our training process was great. Our cure was to keep up with the work.

We are still extremely busy exploring and fulfilling the goals of our mission. At one of our recent team meetings, I and 203 decided to give up military greetings and greetings, so each member grew the usual way. I have decided that we will maintain our military attitudes and behavior, but we will give up the greetings. All team members agreed. We have no problem with it. The Ebenes did as soon as they were done. They also have their greetings. Ebenes exchange greetings according to the time of day. Occasionally they hug, sometimes they touch their fingers or bow down. We still did not know why they were doing it. Ebe 2 explained to us that these are formal greetings.

Ebony have a very strict regime. They keep it for life. We saw some deviations, but only a few. The army keeps everything in line, it acts here as a police force, as I have already mentioned. They have no weapons, but they have different uniforms, and every Ebony respects this uniform. The army is still guarding them. Soldiers walk in pairs and look very friendly, but can be very strict.

We saw two Ebens walking across the field. Two members of the patrol quickly approached them and pointed to the building. Both Ebeni ​​entered the building with a military patrol. The soldiers shouted something at them. Not even 420 or 475 were available for translation at the time, but I think these two Ebony broke some custom or law. The soldiers warned us not to do something we think we should not do. The military is very respectful when it comes to us, but they do not allow us to break any of their customs or laws without warning us in advance.

When we first killed one of the sand snakes, we had six soldiers on the neck. Many diplomacy was needed to address this situation. But the army never touched us or threatened us. The Ebenes have adapted us just as we have adapted them. We continue our mission and they allow us what we want to do.

One of the forbidden activities is to enter a private dwelling house. Once we did, we were politely driven out of the army. There seems to be more military force than it really is. They have guns, as I have already mentioned. With these weapons, we rarely see a soldier. But we saw them during a warning that happened some time ago. Ebe 2 entered our dwelling, just after one of our rest periods. She was excited and told us to stay inside and not leave our dwelling. We asked why and Ebe 2 said that an unknown spacecraft had entered the planet's orbit. Ebe 2 assured us that the army will take care of this problem.

Of course, we have made our own arrangements for our defense. We took our weapons and stood outside to keep our living space safe. We violated her instructions and went out. We watched the sky and saw many planes. Then we saw all the soldiers with weapons and something that looked like a field gear. They were ready to fight, as 899 called it.

The warning did not last long, Ebe 2 returned, looked at us somewhat curiously, and then told us that everything was OK and the emergency was over. We asked if an unknown spacecraft had been identified. She said it was not a spaceship, but just a common piece of space waste, and she let us do it. We did not believe it, but we had no way of telling the truth. We went back to our routine.