The meeting room where they had chosen to host the party was closer to an auditorium, with space for thousands and permanently installed food and drink stations.
Of course, those could be easily added or removed with Replicator technology, but it was a nice touch.
"Commanders, welcome to the Moon Base. I'm not sure that you've ever been in here before, so let me be the first to formally welcome you to our home and research land. Here, we have developed and refined thousands of ideas to help humanity, many of them sent by your team."
That bit of Uncle Lu's speech made everyone chuckle. That was the reason that so many were gathered here today because the Terminus Trading Company had sent them so many amazing designs over the last few years.
Max stood still while more and more people came to him for handshakes and greetings. There were a surprising number of familiar faces here, people from his time as a researcher on Comor who had come with Uncle Lu when he transferred.
As Max understood it, the research facility there was still up and running, but it was focusing on non-military matters, like gaming machines and sports equipment, which were also becoming quite popular among the Alliance species.
Before Max knew it, the staff from Absolution was there as well, with a swarm of Innu joining the crowd, excited to meet new people with new ideas.
Mary Tarith made her way back over to Max's side. "It's quite the show, isn't it? I forget how excited scientists become when they first meet each other."
"If only you could see in their minds, it's even more insane. But yes, they do get excited." Max laughed.
"They pulled my Nico in, so I thought I would come over here instead of listening to the intricacies of variable wavelength Ion projectors," Mary explained with a smile.
Max laughed at her annoyance. She was greatly looking forward to seeing her daughter again, but there were so many other researchers here that her chance to escape with Nico was blocked the moment that they landed.
"Why don't you come to our place after this? I'm sure that Uncle Lu set us up somewhere with enough space for a guest." Max suggested.
They were actually in the VIP quarters not far from the party and had a whole suite to themselves that was larger than the average house. It was the customary place to put important guests so that they could be kept nearby but not so close that they would have easy access to the research levels unless they were permitted to.
"I've got my own place here in the base as well, but it's smaller than your suite. We will see which one is more suitable." Mary agreed.
In her mind, she was more worried about all these researchers following Nico home like lost puppies and making sure that Mary never got a moment alone with her daughter, but Max resisted the urge to laugh or remind her that he could chase them all away in an instant with a threat to exclude them from tomorrow's work if they overslept and were late.
That was one threat that always got the Innu to bed on time, and it didn't matter if it was adults or small children. The possibility of missing out on research was enough to guide the entire species to bed on time.
When the waiters came around with champagne and snacks, a mixture of savoury appetizers and small pie squares, it was the signal to the Innu that it was time to really party. Before the sugar came out, they considered it a meet-and-greet event. But if there was alcohol AND sugar, it was a party.
The mostly human staff of the moon base seemed confused by the sudden change in mood for a few minutes, but the excitement in the room was hard to deny.
[See, I really do think that they are an offshoot of humanity. Nobody but humans could consider a small pie square a valid reason to party.] Ranarth thought, catching Max's attention.
The old man was tapping the side of his head and looking right at him, making sure Max knew the thought was for him before the Darkling scientist returned to people-watching from the corner of the room.
As the clock approached midnight, Uncle Lu and Ranarth left together, showing the Darkling to his quarters while the two old men bonded about the excessive energy levels of youth.
Uncle Lu didn't quite understand just how much older the Darkling was than him, but Ranarth didn't mind. He had hundreds of thousands of years of experience in xenobiology, and he understood quite well how various species viewed aging.
Max could also tell that the Darkling had some thoughts on how to alter or change that progression among the humans. During the first half of the Eternal War, they were said to have extended their lives to over a millennia in length. Now, human science could extend it to a few hundred.
Neither was a long time by Darkling's standards, but in Ranarth's mind, a thousand years would let them live long enough to begin to gather true wisdom.
The two were getting along famously, so Max went to find Nico and Mary so they could sneak back to the suite and get ready for a long day of questions the next morning.
What he found was Nico and a few other researchers holding the strangest contest he had ever seen. Each of them was given a box with a random pile of parts and microchips, and the one who made the most advanced and functional item out of the pile they were given won the round.
It was a test of both memory and creativity since you could make a known device out of every different box if you recognized the components, but if your opponent could make something different than the base item, there was no guarantee that you would win.
"I give them one more round, and then we take her by force," Mary whispered as Max stepped up behind her.
"It might be the only way."
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