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Who: Nihlus and Newt
What: Nihlus meets his first Earth xenobiologist, Newt meets his first turian
Where: Newt's CONDOR office
When: backdated to about a day after Nihlus's arrival
Warnings: Nothing yet, possibly medical things later?

Thanks to the translator program he got from "Gerrin" and Ben's pointers, contacting CONDOR was easy enough for Nihlus. He's made a start in settling in on Earth, having decided to dive right in and become a registered citizen - and, after getting his first identification papers and sitting through a rather extensive (and tricky to navigate) interview, Nihlus moved on to the next step: meeting the local xenobiologist, one doctor Newton Geiszler.

"Thank you for your assistance," says Nihlus to his guide around CONDOR facilities, and pauses in front of Newt's door, once again running in his mind through everything that he was told about the man. A genius in his fields (plural), apparently, one of the few humans to have come into extensive contact with alien lifeforms and studied them... and someone you shouldn't "mind too much", whatever that is supposed to mean. Deciding that he's about to find out anyway, Nihlus shrugs and knocks on the door before entering.

"Doctor Newton? I am Nihlus," he introduces himself once inside. He has to make use of his omni-tool to communicate, speaking in turian language first and letting the software translate it - thankfully, the output is also in his voice, no awkward computerized default voicebanks of the early versions of translator software.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The only warning that Newt had received that he was going to get a visitor of alien nature was a hastily written email that had been dumped into his inbox that morning. Which of course he's been neglecting, because his brain is getting pretty overloaded and stretched thin these days. It's only when he's been hounded into eating something from Kit's text messages that he had a chance to actually check his emails, and almost spits all his coffee over his keyboard. They certainly weren't eating him back into the job slowly, huh? Not that he minded. He could handle it.

When Nihlus actually gets there, Newt looks up from an email he's writing to Kit to help her with one of the regulars at the clinic, and blinks at the creature that had just introduced itself. He'll never get over the excitement of seeing a brand new species with brand newt biology and brand new history and culture. Never. He's got a long list of alien races he's gotta master now.

Newt stands, waving Nihlus in with a tattooed arm, typing away with the other before punching enter on his computer and then giving the alien his full attention.

"Dude, call me Newt. All this 'Doctor' stuff makes me feel like I'm an old man," he says grinning, a million questions popping into his head all at once. It's hard not to just ask them all. "Cool translator! Where'd you get it? How does it work? What does your native tongue sound like?"

Oops. He tried.

Nihlus stays silent for a few seconds, just watching Newt. Well, he can see why he was told not to mind Newt much now - but thankfully, he's familiar with a whole race of fast-speaking, fast-thinking and generally hyper people. He can handle this.

"Very well, Newt," he says finally. He sees no danger in engaging his curiosity (and besides, it's not like he hasn't already told CONDOR quite a bit about Council technology), so he summons his omni-tool from its background working mode, an orange holographic "glove" appearing over his forearm. "The translator is built-in, but I had some help with acquiring the database for the local language. It scans the original patterns of my speech and builds the correct equivalent in English. As for the last question..." he taps the omni-tool, pausing the translator program. "It sounds like this."

The speech is definitely alien, something bird-like about it: short trills interspersed with clacking sounds, with a kind of a flanging effect to it. Having demonstrated it, Nihlus turns the translator back on.

"I was told you are the local xenobiologist. If so, there are a couple of matters I would like to discuss with you."

He's not really surprised by the reaction--a lot of the aliens and humans he meets have similar ones to just everything about him--and only watches in fascination as Nihlus shows off the alien tech. With one of his doctorates in engineering and robotics, it's almost as fascinating as Nihlus himself. And then speaks in the native tongue. He grin a little, wishing he'd thought to record it. He'd probably be able to later. It sure was strange how many aliens he'd been meeting lately though. Usually he's used to more silent clients. Seeing as they were usually autopsies.

"That's way cool, man," he says, peering at Nihlus over the desk before realising he's been staring a little too long probably and sits back down.

"Uh, yeah! Sure, that's me. My field's been getting bigger lately, hah," he says, motioning to one of the chairs in the office for Nihlus to sit if he wanted to. "I mostly specialise in Alternian, Kree and Skrull biology, but I've been getting pretty good at Cybertronian too, if you've heard of any of those races. What can I help you with?"

Nihlus nods and sits down in the chair Newt pointed to.

"No, I'm not familiar with any of those races," he replies. Some of those names have been dropped during his initial interview, to check whether he comes from a known region of space. "My race is called turian, but I doubt you've heard of it either. I've been sent to you for a checkup - to see if I carry any dangerous diseases, apparently. I do not think I do, seeing as no one's died yet, but the CONDOR want to make sure. The other matters are a little more personal in nature."

He takes a short pause to take a quick look around the office and gather his thoughts before continuing.

"Thanks to the differences in our biology, I am unable to eat local food. It does not provide any nutrition to my body. I do have some food supplies, but they will run out eventually... I'm sure you can see my problem," he explains. "What I want to ask of you is help in engineering something I could eat, or finding someone else who could help. My other request is that you provide medical aid if I ever need it... which, of course, would require the knowledge of turian biology on your part."

He sits back, crossing his arms and giving Newt a thoughtful stare. "I have a number of files with information on our biology, anatomy, common diseases and methods of treatment. Not yet translated, of course, and I hope you'll understand my hesitation in revealing them. I need to see if I can trust you first, but I want you to be aware of this possible future arrangement."

Newt's surprised that Nihlus hadn't heard of at least Skrull and Alternians--mostly because they were big on the whole 'invading other worlds and taking all their resources' throughout the galaxy--but it is a big world out there. And he has no idea where Nihlus is even from. But he's a Turian. He at least knows that.

"I don't know why CONDOR thinks we're all gonna give each other diseases, this isn't War of the Worlds" he says, rolling his eyes a little, before chewing on his bottom lip. "I mean, just with the differences in biology a lot of the diseases humans have won't transfer to other species. We're carbon-based, with carbon-based viruses and bacteria, and I mean. Cybertronians are literally living metal. I've come across silicone-based life forms. It's not like we're gonna catch colds from each other," he finishes. "But it's a good thing nobodies died around you yet. That's always a bonus."

He listens to Nihlus intently, fiddling with a pen on his desk. He's about to argue that he'd need more information on Nihlus' biology before the alien adds the nugget about the files, and that has Newt's curiosity piqued. It would certainly help.

"Yeah, I get it, you don't wanna reveal all to an alien doctor in case they decide to sell your organs on the black market. It's cool," he says, before frowning. "What about our food isn't nutritional?"

Nihlus raises an eyebrow at the mention of Cybertronians - from what little he's managed to gather about the race so far, they sound both dangerous and fascinating. The former outweighs the latter in his mind, though, and he makes a mental note to find out more about them later.

"I'm glad you understand the reasons for my caution," he says levelly. "As for the food... I am not a biochemist, but the issue is common enough where I come from. It's about the chirality of the molecules - my race is built on right-handed proteins. As I was informed, your world is mainly levo-amino acid-based. There may be more complications - there tends to be - but the primary concern is that my body simply can't process your food quite as intended. It wasn't designed for it."

Newt chews on his bottom lip thoughtfully, drawing an incredibly simple formula of an amino acid on the notepad on his desk idly. Biochemistry was something he did a long time ago, and it's definitely not his speciality. It bothers him when something like this goes over his head.

"I'm not really a biochemist, either, let alone a xenobiochemist," he says with a frown, looking up at Nihlus. "But I have some stuff I can look into. Are you good for food, or is this an urgent thing?"

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gosh im so sorry im so slow

...LAUGH...S..