The pudgy young man from the Golden Legion's city happily climbed onto the larger crab drone when it arrived to pick him up, and quickly set about trying to interface with it from an electronic device in his pocket.
"Oh, he's their version of a tech nerd. That makes sense, he wouldn't need physical fitness for that job. But isn't he too out of shape? Does their species actually have a very low metabolism?" One of the Innu asked as they watched the hacking attempt in amusement.
"They should have a pretty good metabolism. Perhaps he has some sort of condition. I have the data from the other survivors found in the city here, and his build is a rarity among the locals. Almost all are heavily muscled, even the women appear to have done regular strength training." Nico informed them.
"Interesting. Alright, has everyone prepared a question for our guest when he arrives?" Max asked.
"Wait, we need to talk to him? Does he speak our language? Can't we just spend time in the lab with the kitten?" One of the human team members asked.
"All fair questions, and you will get to spend time with the kitten. But we do need to find out more about the locals, and you will need that information in real time to adjust the drone programming, so you can't wait until someone else compiles the data for you." Max replied.
The team all groaned in frustration at not being allowed unfettered access to the kitten, but Max had already started to study the data they had, and that was no ordinary house cat.
The drones probably hadn't been wrong that the creatures were smarter than half of the people in the rubble, and the local dogs were certainly not on par with either species.
It was still intrigued by the drone though, and not protesting its relocation at all, despite now being many kilometres from home. Max briefly wondered if the animal actually understood that they were bringing it to them to study and not to harm, and that was why it wasn't protesting, but there wasn't any way to tell what the creature was thinking until he could get a lock on its thoughts.
It should have some, the scans said that its brain was formed to have the capability, so all he had to do was pick it out.
Fortunately, they had moved quite a distance from the city, and without the interference it was becoming much easier.
[Adventure, going on an adventure with the crab.] Max finally found the feline's thoughts.
It was not at all afraid, and it was quite enjoying its time with the crab.
[No, move right, that berry is a tasty one.] It was thinking, so Max ordered the crab to move over to the bush where it had spotted the food.
[Did it understand me? YES! I have a pet crab now. Eat that, Golden Dunce! No, why are we moving again, I wanted more berries.]
Max laughed as the cat rambled on and on in its own mind, complaining about not getting more berries, celebrating seeing new things, and trying to get the crab to understand it again so that it could use the drone as a mount.
[Armour Crab with Laser Beam Eyes. I definitely need one of these for myself. Maybe the ones who brought me here will let me have one. If they can train it to come find me, surely they can train it to be a proper battle mount. I could be the first of my kind to take out an enemy vehicle.]
Its thoughts showed the many times that it knew of its kind slaying other creatures, from mice and birds to alien warriors foolish enough to not have a helmet. They weren't large, but their claws were sharp, just not sharp enough to cut through armour.
[That's a new kind of house. I've never seen one like that before. Did the strangeness bring a whole house here? It must be full of crabs. Yes, that's it, the crab is bringing me to meet its people.] The cat decided.
Max did his best not to laugh at the cat's wild ideas and plans for city dominance with a battle crab, which supposedly would grant it full rights over the fish market. The two guests were almost at the ship now, and the man from the Golden Legion was starting to panic as he saw the obviously alien ship, despite not having any concerns about riding the attack drone all the way here.
Max stepped outside to greet him and stop the panic attack.
"Relax, young man. If we wanted to kill you, we would have had the attack drone you're riding do it, instead of bringing you all the way back here. We just have some questions for you about your people and your city so that we know if they're worth allying with during this insane situation." Max greeted him.
[The strange man wants to ally with the idiots? Oh, he's in for so much disappointment. If only I could tell them that they wear that silly armour to keep their stupidity anonymous.] The cat was thinking.
Max looked down at the small cat. "We will speak with you as well, but I can do that afterwards. The others here would desperately like to brush your fur."
[Brush my fur? Like grooming with a tool? That sounds good. Hey, does this guy understand me, or is he one of the weirdos that talks to animals?]
Max laughed. "Maybe a bit of both. But the other's can't hear you."
The kitten leaped off the small drone and landed on Max's pant leg, then climbed up his coat to look him in the face.
[Say that again, do you really understand?]
"Of course I do. I just answered you a few seconds ago. But I need to speak to this one first, since his people are the larger military force." Max explained.
[Alright then, lead me to this thing you call a brush.]
