The belt and its various attachments were obviously some serious tech and yet works of art at the same time. The overall color was a metallic robin’s-egg blue, with very fine purple accents done as a kind of filigree over the surface. The devices lacked sharp edges in favor of asymmetrically rounded angles. It was almost Victorian. Or maybe steampunk. And some of the items appeared to be clipped on.

In a few minutes, we’d figured out what could be detached and what couldn’t. There were four small devices that were meant to be operated independently, and two panels that were permanently attached to the belt. Some inscribed squares on the panels and devices were likely buttons.

One device had a slider that seemed to set it to three different levels, colored red, purple, and blue. There was also a button that had a symbol on it. “Look at this one,” I said. “Diverging lines. Shower on, shower off?”

“And I don’t really get the significance of the colors,” Patrick added. “It looks like a gun, sort of, except for the odd location of the shower button.”

“Well, maybe it fits the alien’s hand,” I said. “We should check that.”

“Uh huh.” Patrick held up a second item. “What might be a small display screen, up and down arrow buttons, and V and I buttons. I doubt those are from our alphabet, so V and I shapes must mean something to Chewbacca. It has a sort of a grid that could be a speaker or mike. Communicator?”

“Mmm. This one only has a screen. No controls.”

“Touch screen maybe?”

I nodded slowly. “Could be. It’s bigger than the second one.”

“This one also has just a touch screen,” Patrick said. “But the whole gadget is bigger.”

“And the last one. A smaller display screen, and the V and I buttons again. I wonder if those are on and off?”

“Sure, but which is which? And the big question: do we want to push any of these?”

I peered at the devices. “Well, it’s unlikely that any of them is a nuclear bomb. I don’t think we’re going to kill ourselves. But what if one of them is a panic button or communications device? Do we want to call up this thing’s buddies to come find us standing over its corpse?”

“Huh,” Patrick grunted. “Good point. I vote no.”

A voice interrupted us. “What in the hell is that?”

Both Patrick and I jumped in unison, then spun around.

Natalie.