Indeed, there was no paper to sign the accord between those two. The Unit-9467F was processing, searching a way to conclude the agreement. It never made any deal with a human. Well, the only deals it have done were mostly gathering resources where it was not aware of their location. All they both had were their words. It was then the impossible happened.
[::: What do you suggest, entity 'Doctor Lillian Genda'? :::]
It was the first time it asked a suggestion coming from elsewhere than its own suggestions.
She could start to see the tell-tale signs now of when the intelligence behind the fabricated hulls and machinery began to think, process even, an almost infinite amount of possibilities and events before Lillian herself could likely write a basic thesis on the biological prudence for why the sky was blue. Always a pause, always with the lights, dimming or oscillating at points depending on the topics at hand being discussed or proposed. When it finally came she was, frankly, astonished it had even deigned to ask her of their own opinion. A choice. Maybe there was something they could salvage from the relationship after all. If one could even call it that.
"Well, first off, I suppose you could maintain contact through me using a more trustworthy proxy like the Auxesians seeing as I'm almost certain their whole idealogy and the fact they have a ship docked so close in proximity to your homeworld means you're more agreeable to their presence than anything else." She'd begin, glancing around the again barren deck of the haphazardly shaped interior of this alien ship. "What I'm basically saying is you and yours can just contact me through them seeing as this is only our first meeting. Of hopefully many between the SLRC and your kind."
The unit looked away a moment before to look again at the human.
[::: The entity 'Technocracy of Auxo' is trustable unlike your kind, indeed. However, according what we observed lately, they are mostly occupied by other matters. We come to the conclusion to maintain the contact between our species would be better directly by yourself and us. Although it seems to be an option among many others, we can try the first option given by yourself. Making the first steps, ask the entity 'Technocracy of Auxo' to put our species in relation with your kind... :::]
A short pause was made by the robot.
[::: If we analyse old data, we did not use any better proxy to be in contact with entity 'Technocracy of Auxo'. They became one with time and work as you will do it but for the entity 'Starlight Research Consortium'. We are not 'in needs to hold the hand to someone' to make our own decisions. We can set an uplink at this really moment between you and us. What do you think, entity 'Doctor Lillian Genda' ? :::]
Her response was immediate, nearing final, as she listened to what the construct had to say about their offer. "Elaborate." She would simply say, hands clenched underneath the layer of protective substance keeping her safe from the lifeless atmosphere that seperated them.
Approaching the human again, but less than one metter, the artificial being looked directly into the eyes of Lillian. There was no hostile intentions in its behaviour.
[::: In other words, we will maintain contact between you and us, no other entity between entity 'Doctor Lillian Genda' and us :::]
If it was not clear, the unit would see only one thing to do and it would be to implant a part of itself on Lillian's ship to maintain a communication between those two specifically. It was pretty clear it wanted to maintain the communication only with Lillian. Not because it trusted her or because it planned something. It was mainly to interact with her and make a conclusion how to consider this human. Yes, humans were considered a nuisance to the unit but it wanted to see if this human, Lillian Genda could be an exception. So far, Lillian did not show any hostile intention and she rather preferred to understand the unit. After all, she was in search for knowledge.
For a moment she was worried it had made some sort of nefarious decision that otherwise would have resulted her in being placed atop a surgery table and promptly dissected and implanted with an, as yet unknown, form of invasive tracking chip. Lillian enjoyed this option much better but she wasn't sure why the Artificial Intelligence housed within the unit wanted to specifically single her out for communications and observations. Slowly, she nodded, apprehensively but willingly. "Hm, alright, fair enough. I don't see anything wrong with what you've told me so far. Have you done this for many other humans?" She would ask, looking up at the green unit as it approached once more.
[::: Negative. You, entity 'Doctor Lillian Genda' will be the first 'experimentation'. If the result is satisfying then we both will reach a possible new horizon. However, for the others of your kind, we will see how it goes between you and us first :::]
The robot waited a moment, looking what will be Lillian's reaction about this.
Lillian supposed that was the best it was going to get for a very, very long time. She raised a hand, extending it out for the unit to shake, palms open. An agreement method as old as Earth. A handshake madein good faith and promise. "Then we have an agreement and an accord has been made. I suppose you'll be placing some specific piece of tech upon my ship to monitor, track, and generally communicate, yes?" The researcher would surmise seeing as they were unwilling or unwanting to utilize third-party connections to do so she suspected they wanted a more personal touch in the matter.
The unsure what to do, the unit raised its hand, in the same way Lillian did. It opened its hand, brought it to the human's hand and closely slowly, putting no high pression to not crush her fragile hand.
[::: Affirmative. Let us say it is more by security. We think it won't be a problem to our cooperation :::]
As the handshake concluded, Lillian pulled away and nodded with the finality of their bargain. Their 'deal' as it were. For the moment it seemed completely one-sided but she hoped over time it would develop into something the both of them could use to foster a better relationship between man and machine. However unlikely or likely that future would be seemed to depend now on how she herself conducted business. "In that case, go ahead and do what you need to do. Once you're done I'm assuming our business on-board your vessel will have concluded and that I'm free to go?"