¿¿¿ ɹǝʇdɐɥƆ
Things had changed much since our friends first came to us, needing shelter. With each new ship that arrived, with each new commander, we began to feel more and more uneasy. What we in our ignorance had taken for curiosity and kinship took on a sharper edge. The ɿ̶͓̏̆ʏ̵̨́͝ʜ̵̼͋q̶͉̬̕ɘ̸̦͝Ƹ̵̗̉͌ became secretive, mistrusting. They were only interested in what minerals they could extract from our world, and how best to keep us from watching them too closely.
We knew that we had let things go too far, so we withdrew, unable to look upon the damage they had wrought on our home but unable to bring ourselves to turn our backs on the memory of their predecessors. That was our folly.
The arrival of their newest commander changed everything.
My predecessor, xe asked us, did they give you something?
It was a simple question, one we could have answered easily. But we knew somehow that we could not tell xem about the glass sphere. Nor about the spheres that had come after, each one exchanged for a promise that we would take care of the fragile life forms held within.
No, we said. You have not given us anything for a long time. Only taken, and taken.
Xyr face changed, then. And though we still did not fully understand expressions, we knew that we did not like it.
We are allies, are we not? Xe insisted. Allies would trust one another. Allies would share their information freely. They would not keep secrets, nor take things which do not belong to them.
Indeed, we agreed. Allies would not do those things.