Self Destructive Liars (2)
"So, shall we go to the observation deck, or my quarters?" Asked Kylie as they approached the junction where a decision would be needed.
"My quarters may give insight into human culture, but you might not be comfortable with being in such a secluded space, given our... reputation".
[violet] considered this. There was no specific advise not to follow humans into secluded spaces, at least the ones that had been vetted for star ship missions and where allies. Turning a slight yellow, [violet] asked: "If we go to your quarters, would you be eating?"
Kylie was briefly puzzled by this seeming non sequitur, but remembering their own briefing on Carapacians, they picked up on the concern behind the question and reassured: "Ah, I'd like to, but don't worry, I only eat plans and fungi. Anyways would know better than to eat animal flesh in the presence of a Carapacian, that was well covered in our cultural prep."
Upon this, [violet] turned a reassured cornflower blue. "In that case, let us go to your quarters."
Kylie flashed affirmation (as [violet] now mentally categorized their smile) and turned towards the human quarters. "Speaking of briefings", they asked, "I do wonder what they tell you Carapacians about us."
[violet] turned a shade of embarrassed amber, being ill prepared for an impromptu exam. "Well, it is not much and I am not sure I remember everything, but certainly the first and most important point being made is that you can conceal your emotions, and thus, you can say things you know to be untrue without that being obvious to another. This creates a lot of risks and they gave us many examples to illustrate the concept. Besides that I was told your colors do not mean what they mean to us and in fact you barely use them for conveying emotions, yet you claim to have fairly similar ones to us. It is just so strange that they are hidden..." [violet] turned mossy again at pondering this.
"Well, " responded Kylie, "it's not quite true our emotions are hidden. We primarily express them with facial deformation or body positions. Also, tone of voice. And all these are largely involuntary so really, almost all of the time humans can kinda guess what the other human is feeling. But I guess it's true that we can suppress these reactions at least to a degree and often do so."
[violet] turned a more intense shade of moss, finally blurting out the question she had not dared to ask earlier: "But how is cooperation possible for you then? You do not know the messages are not a deceit? How, for example, can you know that if a human says they will give you food if you help them build their shelter, they will actually give it to you the once the work is done?"
Kylie took a sip from their bottle before answering: "Well. You're asking a pretty big question and honestly I'm not sure if I'm the best person to answer. In fact there is a whole field of study devoted to figuring that out, or maybe multiple, looking at different angles of that question. But I think it boils down to a concept called 'trust'. I'll try to explain it in terms of mathematics, I suppose that language is universal. So, think of it like we are tracking a probability that someone says what they mean, for every single statement they make. And we track a prior probability for the general likelihood, without context, that a particular human says what they mean. And then we can communicate these probabilities to other humans. And so we build a sort of web. I am born into a family, and my parents have a genetic imperative for my well being, so I would assume they have high probability not to deceive me in a way that would harm me, mind you there are ways to deceive with good intentions..."
Kylie opened the door to their quarters, and [violet] was temporarily distracted from this impromptu lecture by the contents of the room.
Directly ahead was a strange metal device with loose metal parts that seemed to fit together in a modular arrangement, though the purpose was completely mysterious. To the right was a table and chairs, as humans tended to use for resting or working on things with their hands. Behind it where storage cabinets, a shiny black surface of unknown purpose, a water station and some small machines that where unfamiliar. The wall turned an inner corner, hinting at a separate room at the back-right.
To the left there was another table and another chair. On the table was a tablet computer, a box, a monitor and a color chart marked with human runes. Behind that hung a textile, hiding most of the left side of the room.
Kylie had noticed that [violet]s attention was taken up by these new impression and stopped their explanation. [violet] was shifting between various yellow and mossy hues. She was taken aback by the sheer strangeness of the human's quarters. More than half the things didn't make any sense to her. At work, some clever compromises had been found to make the workshop efficient for both species, but clearly humans had a whole different set of activities they did off-shift, which [violet] had never even considered.
"Ahh", said Kylie, concerned at seeing [violet]s colors shift more than usual, "Okay let me try to anchor you a bit here and give you at least some rough categories for what you're seeing. Everything to the right has to do with food. The thing straight ahead is for a sort of body maintenance called exercise. To the left I have hidden away my sleeping surface with a curtain, behind the work desk. There is another room to the back right to do with, let's say, water-related body maintenance. Actually let's move to the back left corner, it's the least busy."
[violet] flashed affirmation, adding a verbal "yes", and followed Kylie to the back left of the room which contained another, lower table and a grey surface which followed the corner. Kylie sat down on it. [violet] saw the surface give a little. "Maybe you can scuttle up there", suggested Kylie, pointing at the other corner of the couch. [violet] scuttled up the grey surface, which gave very good traction, and settled on it. "There is much explanation left", she said, solidifying again in a more stable moss.
Kylie looked around the room and at the Carapacian on their couch, looking so much more alien in this decidedly human environment. "Ah yes, where do I even start..."