A happy mrrrrrp echoed across the mudflats.

Finally, Dr. Voss did the only thing that made sense. She lay down on the warm mud, belly-first, arms and legs splayed out in perfect imitation.

In the far reaches of the Chitin Expanse, the Galactic Zoological Society received a distress signal from the mud-volcano moon of Gloop VII. The message was brief, sticky, and smelled faintly of damp socks: “SOMETHING IS SPLOOTING OUR RESEARCH STATION.”

“It’s not an anomaly, Klik,” she said, smiling as the alien’s warmth seeped through her suit. “It’s a diplomat. It came here to teach us the most important word in the galaxy.”