<div align="center">(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/rcburner/Alien%20Civilization/NuclearPlanetDevourer.jpg)</div><br/>Within the emptiness of interstellar space, a leviathan coiled again and again about a small blue planetoid.  Endless kilometers of dark flesh lit by the glow of organic vents as they flushed countless tons of irradiated material out into the vacuum, and by the bioluminescence created by the billions of organic life forms that swarmed about their God.  A roiling plague of serpentine creatures nearly as long and vast as the Ultothar itself pulsed and flowed, agitated and eager at their mother's display.  The planet's surface was already boiling from the overwhelming heat radiating out from the magnificent beast, and great chunks of it came away in a tumult of molten rock beneath the intense gravitational forces at work.  Occasionally the Ultothar would rear its gargantuan head and spew forth a column of superheated radiation at what had once been continents, melting them in a matter of seconds into a bright green sea that bubbled and split apart.  Feeding day.<br/><br/>But while limitless others celebrated and feasted, there was one who would not be present to clean up whatever scraps the sacred Ultothar could not reach.  He, like all the others of his kind, possessed no unique name.  He was simply Ultothana, and nothing more.  Nor did he desire a name, for to claim one would mean renouncing his own equality and risking banishment from his home.  Though he could not quell his inner disappointment at having to miss the festivities, he was nonetheless honored for having been chosen for such an important task.  The first attendance by an Ultothana at an official Council meeting, and he of all the trillions of worthy subjects had been selected!<br/><br/>The Ultothana quivered in his bio-suit.  It was an extraordinarily snug covering that provided very little in the way of actual protection; after all, he scarcely needed it, being more than capable of surviving in a vacuum or temperatures approaching that of a star.  It was simply a comfort bestowed by the Divine Ultothar itself.  He was somewhat embarrassed that he, like many others before, had a habit of succumbing to panic when venturing outside the flesh of his Mother, and the artificial "womb" was meant to allay such irrational fear.  The exterior was a flexible silicon material that was quite beyond his comprehension to explain, but the interior was actually composed of a fully functioning system of organs that beat and gurgled and pulsed against his hard chitinous skin.  It calmed him considerably, making the travel to the Council station all the more bearable.  It helped that he had been provided with such a top of the line ship!  With its sloping, organic black metal and wide array of flashing buttons that didn't actually seem to do anything, it seemed almost of a higher quality than a Praetorian Rammer!  The Ultothana bloated up with excitement at receiving such special treatment, the bladders in his gut swelling with joyous bile.<br/><br/><div class="floatright">(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/rcburner/Alien%20Civilization/AlienSurvivalSuit.jpg)</div><br/>Apparently there were things known as "schedules" among other societies.  The Ultothana couldn't be sure if he would be "on time", as clocks were an alien concept to him and the ship didn't have one anyway.  The strange Council station was already in sight at any rate, and it certainly didn't seem very busy.  He thought it strange that such an important structure would feel so barren at a glance, when all things of importance within the Ultothar required constant attention and reverence by hordes of his comrades.<br/><br/>The ship bellowed something unintelligible, forcing the Ultothana to come to attention.  He couldn't pilot it of course, but it seemed to know where it was going now.  He waddled over to the center of the spacious cockpit and waited.  The ship descended upon one of the larger spikes protruding from the spherical bulk of the station, the one that seemed like it had been quite recently constructed.  It alighted upon a small opening in the side, wrapping its wings and tentacled feelers about it until it was held firmly in place.  It bellowed once more, and a small orifice in the floor opened with an audible squishing noise.  The Ultothana wrung its tentacles together and hesitantly hopped into the offered hole.<br/><br/>He fell for a short ways before landing on a sort of spongey material.  The gelatinous mass of illuminated red eyes composing most of his head shifted forward until it barely pushed against the oblong window at the front of the suit.  The room he was in now had been rather hastily put together from the looks of it.  Water condensed on his visor until he was forced to wipe it away with irritation.  Odd organic stalks and vines hung everywhere, like someone had transplanted some sort of jungle into the station.  He'd heard something about the Council's attempts to adapt to their member races, but the Ultothana could not say he was very impressed.  Not that he planned on staying in such alien quarters to begin with; the ship suited him just fine.<br/><br/>With some measure of uncertainty he waddled out into the hall and swiveled back and forth.  Nothing but long empty metal hallways that curved off out of sight.  The view depressed him immensely.<em>'How could anyone live like this?'</em>he pondered, massaging nervously at his eye-jelly with a smaller pair of hands set beneath his mandibles.  Listening to the pounding of the hearts within his bio-suit calmed him somewhat, but not quite enough to completely erase the feeling of alienation.<br/><br/>He must have bumbled about, peeking curiously into empty rooms and corridors in search of anyone that might provide some directions, before finally stumbling upon the central chamber completely by accident.  He visibly jolted at the sight of Urud'na, hurrying past him and spinning wildly about several times before taking note of the other two and coming to a stop.  His eyes had trouble focusing, but he was already rather unnerved by everything else in the room.  Somehow the idea that he would be meeting with actual<em>aliens</em>at an<em>alien</em>council hadn't quite struck him until that very moment.  Needless to say it was more than a little surprising.<br/><br/>Remembering himself and realizing the terrible impression he was making, the Ultothana suddenly stood rigid and pressed one of the buttons on the interior of the suit.  A translator, so he had been told.  He hadn't any idea how it worked, but hoped he didn't need to in order to use it.<br/><br/>"Hail, Spawn of Dirt and Stars!" he declared, waving both appendages as high as he could reach them without toppling backwards, and nearly doing so anyway.  "Is this Space of Meeting with Delegates?"<br/><br/>Inwardly he was rather amused by the noises coming from the suit.  He hadn't any idea what it was turning his chirps and warbling clicks into, but it sounded positively absurd!  Was that really how aliens spoke?