Welcome to Water World

Yes, as I came off the platform here I was informed by the yela'kaja that Kesata is a Xala word meaning "Water-world", referencing the enormous amount of ocean on this planet. By they way, if you haven't figured it our from my rearrangement of the tabs, I've decided to start calling the people from this planet "Kesatans", because I was getting myself confused all the time. The Xala call them xala kesata, or "people of Kesata"--at least, when they're being polite. It took me some amount of coaxing to get the yela'kaja to give me the name that the Xala often call them amongst themselves, which turned up a few terms: xala gaxes, gaxes, de'gaxes; which all seem to be labeling them as intelligent fish.

I half listened to his big speech about how the Xala discovered this planet, but I'm going to let that information wait a while as I talk to some Kesatans. I think it's much more important that I talk about my trip through the portal.

In my last post, I detailed the four major safety rules they tell you. Here they are again to refresh your memory:

1) Keep to the center of the crystal platform.
2) Don't touch the security field.
3) Remain as still as possible.
4) Wait until the security field is taken down before leaving the platform.

Those rules were repeated to us at the platform, but I only half listened this time, being distracted by the Kesatan-form yela'kaja giving the same spiel while the Kesatan delegation generally half-listened to him. They didn't talk among themselves like humans would, though. I imagine that a sign language takes a lot more eye contact and attention to the speaker, so you probably can't split your attention between two people as easily. Either that or Kesatans are just generally more polite than humans.

Anyway, we all stepped onto the platform, which fit us all quite nicely even if I felt like a sardine and probably smelled like one too being stuck in with all those fishy Kesatans. The security field came up with that terrible screech you always get from Xala force-fields as they harden. There weren't any arcs of electricity as they'd been shown in the diagram, but I didn't test my luck on being electrocuted. After all, the field did look a bit different than the window force-fields I've seen before -- a bit less transparent, it seems like, and sort of bluish.

Anyway, now came the fun part. I decided not to close my eyes so I could describe the whole experience. The crystal below us started to glow and then melted away into a wave of energy that washed over us. It was quick, but I was able to notice my body numbing as the energy came up, and then eventually disappearing from all consciousness, like those body parts weren't even there in the first place. Of course the worst part was when it got to my head. The energy invaded my ears, taking my hearing, and washed over my eyes, which actually completely blinded me for a second before it was all over. That said, I'll never do this with my eyes open ever again.

Anyway, after that split second of blindness, the energy receded again and recrystallized under our feet. When the security field went down I thought something was wrong. The room was identical to the one we left from, right down to the technician at the console. The only indication that I'd actually left Jed at that point was the fact that everything: me, my backpack, my computer case; felt just a little heavier. So I staggered out of the station to find myself in a very hot little Xala structure. I was informed later that the transport room of every gâ'axao station is laid out identically to mitigate initial disorientation.

Anyway, they showed me to the quarters they've prepared for me and I'm acclimatizing myself to the environment before I go outside. This structure is built pretty high up and a good ways from the coast, but you can see the ocean from the window. They tell me they brought me to a favorite recreation spot for several other species the Xala have contacted, so it's apparently built for tourism, though most Xala really don't understand the concept all that much.