Unnamed Samian Explorer

When Lieutenant Commander Rupert Smith, brought the Erthumoi ship Inside Straight to examine a Hidden Folk artifact near the Crab Nebula, an explorer from a nearby Samian ship broadcast a strange message to him. "Go back, Erthuma, go back, go back, or we fire, fire, fire. Last, last, last, last, warning." While it was Samian linguistic custom to repeat every important point in threes, the content of the message was atypical for Samians, the most mellow race in the known universe. Smith sent a reply asking why the Samian would violate the interstellar laws regarding Hidden Folk salvage, but the Samians merely sent a paraphrase of their original message.

While Smith was pondering this paradox, the tone of the Samians' messages soon changed: "Help us, help, help, help! Help all of us, all, all, all!" Then the line went silent.