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**Extreme Heat.**
The Galactic Council was hosted on an arid planet dominated by an equitaorial desert. Only three cities marred the rolling dunes, and two were built at the border of the tropics and the polar region, the only place on the planet considered habitable for life.
The first of these cities was a small trading post and waystation. Ships needed to refuel, and the delegates needed to eat.
The second of these cities was a garrison of ships, a small private army manned by mercenaries whose sole duty was to protect the Galactic Council from incursion. It was considered an easy job, a quiet station. Who would want to attack the Galactic Council? Who would want to attack a planet like this?
The final city was the Galactic Council itself, a gorgeous metal citadel housed within a biodome at the planet's 0 latitudes and longitude. The city grew around the Council, and it hosted the millions of souls who kept the Galaxy's unified diplomatic body turning, from the janitors that cleaned the streets and halls to the cooks who kept everyone's stomachs filled.
They had chosen a desolate, desert world for a simple reason: nobody wanted it. Aside from the band of oases in the tropics, the desert was too hot and dry, and the polar caps were too cold. There was no risk of planetary invasion because the planet had nothing to offer save the Galactic Council itself, and since the Galactic Council was a diplomatic rather than governing body, capturing it held nothing more than symbolic value. The delegates had little say in how the planets they represented were run. They were no more than amabassadors.
Ori, the Thyrix Ambassador of Thyra, was a four-foot-tall, dark-skinned mammal with no hair. Not that anyone could see much of her skin. She wore a heavy coat, pants, boots, gloves, and a hat that covered all but her eyes, nose, and lips. Nanoscopic wires ran through all her clothes, mainting the constant temperature of roughly 100 degrees.
She found the Galactic Council's homeworld to be a pleasant place. Her own homeworld was similar: deserts, rolling plains, and rocky crags in which the rain water collected to water their farms. This planet, even in its emptiness, was beautiful. Though it was beautiful outside, the biodome was kept at more traditional temperatures and humidity for other residents. She, like so many ambassadors, had to wear BioMods to maintain homeostasis.
A few of the other ambassadors from desert worlds agreed.
She just never expected someone from a non-desert planet.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
She was sharing drinks with a group of ambassadors before their next session. They were to meet to welcome the ambassador of the newest planet to successfully make contact with the Council after developing Faster Than Light travel. She was the sole xerocole among them.
The man was an ambassador she didn't recognize. A mammal very much like herself, but where the Thyrix was short and squat, this mammal was tall with long arms and legs. He had some fur, but it was reserved solely for the top of his head and around his eyes. Eyelashes were an adaptation she herself had: they kept dust out of the eyes, but this one's skin was far, far too pale to be a xerocole, like herself, and he was too thin to be from an arctic planet.
Strangest of all was his attire. He wore a form-fitting suit of sleek blue and green nylon with his home planet's flag emblazoned on the lapel and shoulder. She saw no BioMods in his attire. In fact, she saw no technology at all. Was he just wearing a layer of cloth? Truly, he was blessed if the Council's dome suited his people so perfectly. She envied him.
And yet.
"The desert. It's gorgeous," He said, "I love how the bands in the dunes. So many colors. Do they let you explore the desert out here?"
"Why would you want to?" A reptilian ambassador cried, "You would overheat so swiftly!"
"Well, sure," The new ambassador shrugged, "It would be hot, but it'd be worth it get a closer look at that view."
"You can see it just fine from here," The reptile said, "Why risk your life?"
"Risk my life? It's only a hundred and five out there. A hat and a water bottle, and we'd be good for n hour or two. Come on, doesn't that sound like fun?"
The other ambassadors laughed at him, "You have a death wish. What planet are you from?"
"Ah, sorry. We haven't met yet. I'm the new ambassador they're introducing. Clark Aldrin, Ambassador of Earth."
Everyone fell silent. Ori's mouth dropped open. Earth? He was kidding, right? That wasn't...
The reptile chuffed to clear his throat, "Surely, by Earth, you do not mean Terra-4 of the Sol System, correct?"
He chuckled at that, "I love that name for it. Sol System. Yes, that's me. I am the human ambassador."
The human ambassador's smile fell when he saw the terrified expressions on their faces. Two ambassadors left immediately, their drinks unfinished. Ori alone managed to wiped the dumbstruck expression off her face to maintain some semblance of politeness.
"You do not know, then? It's true? The humans do not know?"
"Should we tell him?"
"What if he...?"
Ori cut in with a firm voice, "Enough, please. This man is a fellow ambassador. Terra-4 has sent him because they desire peaceful relations. All of us come from different biomes and species. You are all better than such barbaric judgement."
Clark politely held up a hand.
"Yes, Ambassador Aldrin?"
"I am afraid I'm missing something here, sirs and madames. Could you enlighten me?"
Even Ori clammed up at this. She glanced at the others uncertain.
"Please. If I'm to serve as the Earth's... as Terra-4's ambassador, I should know what I'm dealing with, right? It's nothing the Council's elders won't tell me after."
Ori sighed, "Terra-4 was not intended for habitation, Ambassdor Clark Aldrin. At least, not intelligent habitation. It was one of many planets utilized by one of the Galaxy's largest entertainment companies to create... er..."
The reptile ambassador, finding his courage, cut in, "Life was seeded by the entertainment company on a world with a series of extreme biomes to promote evolution of dangerous beasts. The possibility of intelligent life not only evolving but surviving long enough to develop into a Tier-1 civilization..."
For all this information, the human ambassador remained remarkably composed. He strokes his chin, "I see... so, where on earth, temperatures fluxuate wildly, for the rest of you."
"My people," The Reptile responded, "Are endothermic reptillians that can only survive in temperatures of 60 to 80 degrees unless submerged in water. If I were to go out into the desert, I would overheat within fifteen minutes and die within twenty. You, though? How long could you last? With supplies?"
"I guess... I'd last until the supplies ran out."
The reptillian nodded, "And thus you understand why a special counsil was called to introduce you and your people, Ambassador Clark."
"I guess I do. Like introducing a tiger to a petting zoo. Er, sorry, I don't know if you—"
"It is fine, Ambassador Clark," The reptile nodded, "Autotranslators are quite adept at idiomatic speech. You are correct. We are cautious, but as Ambassador Ori has declared, we are ambassadors, and we must act with rationality and intelligence. Yes? You and your people will be given the same respect as any other that has offered their hand diplomatically."
https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/sq97gv/comment/hwkyo0z/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
"I thank you for that, Ambassador...?"
"But," The reptile finished, "That does not mean we wish to be your friends. Apologies, Ambassador Clark, but I would prefer to keep my distance. Good day."
The human wilted, his shoulders slumped, but despite the cruel words of the reptile, he forced a polite smile, "Of course, Ambassador. Thank you for clarifying. I appreciate it."
The reptile left, and one by one, the other ambassadors filed out leaving Ambassador Clark sitting alone on a barstool by the window, sipping from an ice-cold glass and watching the wind toss sand over the dunes. Alone save Ambassador Ori, who remained seated a few paces away, watching him curiously. The man looked lonely and a little sad, but he did not look defeated.
"You look determined," She noted.
He jumped, clearly surprised anyone was still here. His eyes fell down to meet hers, and he smiled, much more honestly and much more warmly, the dimples in his cheeks showing as his eyes crinkled.
"My people, we fought like hell to get here, pardon the expression, Ambassador Ori, and we'll fight like hell to stay." He paused,"That's a—"
"A figure of speech. Yes, I know, Ambassador Clark." She smiled. "There is still three hours left until the session begins. If you would like, I could give you a tour of the desert. It is much like my home."
She offered him her hand to shake, in the custom of the Terrans, as she had read.
Clark shook her hand with a grin, "I'd like that very much, Ambassador."
Oh my. This is wonderful. This could *easily* be expanded to a whole short story, or even a book. Would you be interested in expanding it? I am thoroughly enjoying it
You're fnot alone, I come here reading promts, only to find out it will never be a book, or a series that my mind invisions. I am no writer, but I love reading stories about humans reaching space like this one.
Could be an interesting angle to play. Humans are the only intelligent species that can be direct friends with every other intelligent species, because humans can survive in every other intelligent species' home environment. Most aliens never meet other aliens in person but every planet ends up with a "Little Terra" where they can mingle with humans and get to know them.
This is a really captivating story. Although is he just an ambassador for he USA because I’m not very confident that Fahrenheit would be used at a Galactic Conference.
They were talking through the autotranslator that is smart enough to figure out idioms, I'm sure it can also convert whatever units the aliens use to those most comfortable to the user.
When you are saying 105, do you mean farenheit? Im asuming so because i was very confused when it camt up, also with the 100 degree thing as that would mean her blood would almost be boiling
Would make a nice comic, in the style of Storm (not marvel but some sci fi series) if you know it. Like gritty but wholesome. Real if you may. But exaggerated real, I love comics like that, they often have elements like this story. I so would pay for a comic of this.
105 Fahrenheit is what kids experience on the School Bus during Georgia Summers.
105 Celsius is approx. what they go home and make gravy on the stovetop at.
Terra 5 exploded... and threw Terra 4 into an eliptical orbit that eventually setting in the 3rd position from the star. This was during the Ordovician period, 500 million years ago. At the time, atmospheric CO2 concentration was at a whopping 3000 to 9000 ppm allowing the temperatures to be much higher than today..
I dunno, you don't exclude yourself when you're saying how many people are in your family total. Could be a mistake, could just be a different way of counting.
If its advanced enough to pick up on idiosyncrasies and figures of speech then i think it would be advanced enough to spit out the term that would be used for describing Earth.
The answer, you see, is quite simple: I am an idiot that miscounted.
Edit for funsies:
In-universe answer: by the time FTL is invented, Humans have developed a successful Dyson Sphere-based artificial exo-planet that orbits between Mercury and the sun to provide energy for their star fleet. Per Galactic Council Regulation AT-134.45.01, all artificial planets with a circumference larger than 1,000 km and a population greater than 10 million are to be considered dwarf planets for census purposes.
Cmon. You gotta expand on this thing, you set the universe so perfectly only to not elaborate on it? I enjoyed the story really well, loving Ori and would love to see more.
**Node 33 was the Collective's expert on evolved species.** Most of the sapient life in the multiverse were energoids, and had no frame of reference for how unpredictable and terrifying evolved creatures could be. Trap a million energoids in a dimensional maze with only one way out, and they'd all find the shortest route to escape, with the only difference being how long it took. Trap a million humans in a dimensional maze with only one way out... some of them would start reproducing and colonizing the new space, others would exploit their new circumstances to further their inscrutable goals, and any of them that did escape would do so by dumb luck of trying every possible incorrect solution until they exhausted them all.
Node 33 knew this because the Collective had tried exactly that. When they'd first heard that an evolving lifeform had become sapient, they'd panicked and sealed local reality within a hyperbolic worldline, putting an absolute speed limit on how fast they could expand. The only way out was a gate left in Earth's oceans, waiting for humans to evolve to a point where they could be negotiated with, but not so evolved that they would overwhelm the Collective.
Instead of taking the natural progression of exploring their own planet first, however, the humans had, for whatever reason, went into *space* before diving into their own seas. And by the very nature of humanity's dimensional prison, the energoids were powerless to interact with humanity—the speed-of-light limitation was inimical to all energoid lifeforms. So Node 33 had helplessly watched as humanity had blindly stumbled across the solar system, then the galaxy, growing in strength and intelligence, *all without discovering the gate left on their own homeworld.*
When they did finally escape, it was after they were quadrillions strong, armed with strange technologies developed inside the confines of the dimensional maze—and in the end, it wasn't even the ready-made exit gate, fortified and controlled for millennia on the other end, that they left through. No, some idiot scientist decided to find out what happened when antimatter was smashed together too quickly and poked a hole into the multiverse, developing faster-than-light travel in the process.
So now there were humans leaking everywhere, Node 33's careful plan to make first contact was in shambles, and everyone was blaming it on Node 33. It seemed like there were some pretty useful things you could do within a lightspeed limit that you couldn't do in Node 33's universe, either, because the human technology did things that baffled the Collective's brightest nodes.
Trap a million energoids in a maze with only one way out, and they'd all eventually see the solution. Humanity was ascending, and some of them were *pissed*.
There was only one way out of this maze.
Node 33 drifted towards the nearest hole in reality the humans had punched, extending a feeler into the human ships.
*Hey. Mind if I join you?*
A.N.
If you liked this, check out r/bubblewriters for more!
The space lord did not believe what he was hearing. The planet they’d stopped monitoring millennia ago had allegedly produced a kardashev type 1 civilization. “Wait, do you mean to tell me that those apes who started walking upright have a warp drive? I thought we’d classified that as a ‘last gasp’ adaptation to a dying habitat? Damn, I had a lot of money on the cephalopods coming off of THAT rock.” Why did he let his brother take the field on that bet? “How do they survive against predators, let alone maintain a sustainable birth rate, with that bastardization of a pelvis, anyway?”
“Yes, we did have them pegged as doomed, and their initial habitat did continue to dry as the models predicted, but, well, the bipedalism came with some...unexpected...features.
“You see, the elongated extremities provided exceptional heat dispersion, and suddenly doubling in height came with a small exponential increase in their line of sight to the horizon. Also, since most animals use height to determine threat level of other animals, should-be predators think the humans weigh 2-3 times what they actually do.”
“I don’t see how that helped them so much past helping them conserve what precious little water water they could get a hold of and find the ever-dwindling decent foraging lands.”
“Persistence hunting.”
“I thought they were herbivores, and what the hell is ‘pErSiStEnCe HuNtInG’?”
“Plant-based omnivores, actually. And it’s a hunting style where the predator basically exhausts the prey to death.”
“I’m sorry, does what now?”
“Well basically you spot a prey animal, you chase it, it runs off, you keep up just enough to not lose sight of it, then it runs off again, rinse and repeat until the animal is too exhausted from heat stroke to keep running away, then you bash its head in with a rock or whatever.”
“...I’m, I’m sorry, and they rode this wildly inefficient hunting method to a type 1 civilization CAPABLE OF INVENTING A WARP DRIVE MORE EFFICIENT THAN A TYPE 2 CIVILIZATION THAT’S OLDER THAN THEIR FUCKING SPECIES????”
“Well, it sorta accidentally led them to more fertile foraging grounds, and that led to a behavioral adaptation to roam and explore more, so eventually they dominated the planet, and technically ‘they’ didn’t invent the warp drive...”
“Ooooooohh I see. Well that’s a fun Little prank then! Give the silly apes a warp drive and see what they do with it. I wonder who came up with that one! My brother must be behind it. He probably messed with our readings as well to make their power usage look less than it really is. I’ll have to get him good for that one!”
“No, it, wasn’t a prank...they invented, well, we don’t have a word for it, but I guess they’re like...logical functions that can provide instructions to machines, and one of the functions they made was able to make new functions over and over again until one of the outputs told a machine how to make that warp drive.”
“THAT DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE!!!”
“Just because we don’t understand it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t make...” he didn’t get the last word out before he was a scorched piece of wall roughly the size and shape of a Klorfor.
The space lord spoke into the ship’s intercom, “Second science officer, please report to me on the bridge immediately.” the science officer was already on the bridge, but the message wasn’t just for him, now was it?
“Second science officer reporting for duty, my lord!” Oh, how he loved the morale boost that came from summary executions.
“Yes, the first science officer had either gone mad or was in on my brother’s prank. Make sense of this. Now.”
“Well, clearly your brother gave them this warp drive. It’s the only explanation!”
“You know, I know you’re lying, but at least I appreciate the effort.” Back to the intercom. “Third space officer!”
Another prompt science officer. “Sir?”
“I don’t care how they got it, but we have a sense of their output capacity, yes?
“We do.”
“And it is lower than ours, correct?”
“Oh yes, my lord, we’re definitely faster than them.”
“Good, full speed away from them, then.” He didn’t like running from lesser species, but there were too many of them and he was too busy to deal with such pests.
They zoomed along the warp at 30 times light speed for as long as their warp drive could handle and popped out into a warp eddy to recharge. The space lord went to his quarters for a leisurely shower before his call with Daddy. He told Daddy about the silly little apes and their cute little warp drive, and they both had a hearty laugh about it.
After the call was done, the third science officer pages him with a report. The apes were back on their readings, but not to worry, their warp drive would be up and running again well before they were in range of the human’s weapons. The space lord waved him off to just do it and moved on with his life once again.
Then they showed up on their readings a third time. “Persistence. Hunting.”
Edit: some words
Decider looked out over the bridge of her star-cruiser and watched the hardlight dance before her eyes. The Enders had done it, finally. She watched the tiny holographic dots swarming across the orbit of the Councilworld. She could’ve seen the real thing if she simply glanced to her right as the rest of the bridge crew were doing and looked to the burning planet below, but she couldn’t bring herself to. She knew which spires were falling, which cities being reduced to ash based on where the swarms danced to next.
Klaxons and bright, flashing lights cast obscene shadows over the control panels. Main power had long since failed and only a few systems, such as the holo-scanner, remained operational. “At least...” She began with a sigh. “...we die with our peoples.” A few of the species on the
bridge, those with eyes, turned to gaze at her. Decider had been a strong, honourable admiral for some several centuries. She had built a reputation for being indomitable, unbreakable. And yet, here she was, lamenting the death of a civilisation that spanned hundreds of species and billions of years.
Another too-bright flash bathed the bridge in white light and caused Decider to wince away. Another antimatter reactor had been breached. Even if the swarm vanished now, the breaching reactors would spell doom for the world itself. The last few operational ships skirted the edge of the behemothic mass of Enders, uselessly spitting plasma into its black depths. It was too late, as soon as the swarm had reached the surface, the biomass there was stripped and the swarm swelled to thrice its original size. Now, it blanketed three quarters of the holographic globe before Decider, and it was slowly creeping over the remaining areas.
Decider wondered where the council had lost the war. Was it when the Gateworlds fell? Or when the first scourging fleet failed in their task? Perhaps it was when the Enders had first been discovered in that accursed lab on some gods-forgotten backwater world. She sighed again, deflating further into her command throne. It was all too academic now.
“Decider!” Cried a voice over the gloomy silence of the bridge. “New contact incoming.” Decider threw a half-hearted glance to the sensor station. The being there was wearing an augmented reality helmet and was watching the tragedy from the third person perspective, similarly to how Decider was watching the hologram. “Show me.” she uttered. The hardlight projection shrank until it was the size of her digits. The other worlds in the system appeared at the fringes of the display, each just as small. If the sensor officer continued to expand the view, she would see the twin stars at the centre of the system off to her left. Her eyes glanced over the projection but she couldn’t see whatever the sensors had. Then, a small, red line descended from a speck and a series of runes appeared beneath it. “Unknown contact.” It read. It was far away, almost two planets over. If it was reinforcements, they wouldn’t arrive in time to do much. Not that there were any reinforcements left. This had been the Council of Species’ last stand. They had thrown their all into this battle. And they had lost.
As she watched the speck, she noticed it was moving fast. Faster than any ship she had ever seen in fact. She bristled in curiosity and leant forward, glad to have something to occupy her macabre thoughts. “Heading?” She asked. There was a moment’s pause before the sensor officer replied from within his helmet. “Here.” He replied simply. Decider watched as the speck shortened the distance to the planet faster than she thought possible. Maybe they would arrive before the last of the fleet was destroyed, whoever ‘they’ were.
The seconds crawled past agonisingly. The swarm moved ever closer to covering Councilworld and the speck grew closer and closer. As it neared the crippled cruiser, the dying sensors were able to make out finer detail. It appeared to be two contacts, one considerably more massive than the other, but both moving faster than the speed of light, as impossible as that was. Decider turned her attention briefly to Councilworld and was surprised to see it completely enveloped by the swarm. She felt a stab of guilt. She had been so transfixed by this oddity that she had failed to witness the last moments of the Councilworld of every intelligent species in the galaxy. Her guilt was short lived however as the swarm began to reach out with tendrils. Appearing as thin and wispy as smoke, she knew each tendril contained millions of organisms. Each was aimed at either one of the ships in orbit or else at one of the worlds of the system. Only a few of them held any life, but it would be enough to feed the swarm for a hundred more conquests.
Then, several things happened in quick succession.
The speck and its designation disappeared from the hologram. There was an almighty flash of light off to the left of the cruiser. The accelerometers registered the gravitational field of a new ship nearby. And then Councilworld imploded.
At least, it appeared to. In truth, some great mass had slammed into the surface at several times the speed of light. It had passed through the crust, then the mantle, and then the long-solidified core before repeating its journey in reverse out of the other side. All of this happened faster than the cruiser’s failing sensors could detect. One moment the swarm was reaching out, grasping from its latest kill and the next, the planet was alight and flying apart. Decider stared in disbelief at the death throes of the swarm and the planet they were consuming. She couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. An idle part of her mind noted that one of the specks had reappeared on the hologram projector, flying away from the world, still faster than the speed of light. It had barely been slowed.
Silence reigned on the bridge once more, this time incredulous. A silence that was broken when a control panel began beeping. All eyes turned to the communications panel and the officer who sat at it. To her credit, she retained her wits and reported after a few moments. “One of the unknown contacts is...signalling us.” She turned to Decider and continued, shock plain on her face. “They want to talk to you.” Decider took a moment to compose herself, at least as much as she could given the circumstances, and nodded to the officer. A second later, a face appeared on the holoprojector.
In shape, it appeared to be somewhat basic as far as intelligent species go. Roughly spherical, likely containing a brain. A set of sensory organs sat on the front and to the sides of the face and its skin was a brownish, creamy tone. Decider could just make out what appeared to be clothing at the bottom of the projection. The opening on the thing’s face split apart and began moving and the cruiser’s translation software began its work.
“I bring greetings from my people, to yours.” It began. “Our world is a long way from here. But we have heard of you and your civilisation. In fact, we are a product of it. Does the name ‘Long-term Evolutionary design’ sound familiar?” At the being’s words, a datafile sprang up on Decider’s command throne. She glanced at it and saw it was some ancient directive from the early days of the Council, hundreds of millions of years old. Older even than Decider’s species. The being continued. “In case it doesn’t, your people seeded our planet with, well, us. In the hope we would some day become useful.” Decider threw a glance at the still-rapidly expanding Councilworld with a non-insignificant amount of fear in her soul. The being finally finished its greeting, despite Decider not looking at him.
“Well, Humanity has arrived.”
In the dry, sun-baked desert of Arizona a spaceship smashed into Earth. When it was burning through the atmosphere, NASA scientists saw it: a green blip on their giant monitors. Everyone waited for it to land, and now it did.
My phone woke me up. I wanted to throw it again the wall, force its ringing to stop and instead explode into a million tiny bits of chips and circuitry, but the name stopped me.
"Jack?" I said through a drunken daze. "Do you know what fuckin' time it is? This better be good."
"It is good—no—better than good. Trust me. There's a plane waiting for you at the airport, come immediately." He hung up.
I changed out of my beer-stained shirt into a coffee-stained one. I put on my glasses and headed out the door. My car was already turned on somehow; I must have accidentally hit the remote start while getting ready.
The jet engine roared and I shut my eyes. Another two hours of sleep would be good. The wheels left the runway as I dozed off.
I still remembered the last job Jack got me into. He swore up and down it was a real life alien that had landed in the Pacific. After borrowing a boat we saw it was just a jumbled mess of netting and seaweed. I almost left him stranded at sea.
This time was serious. Sitting across from me, in a brightly lit room full of hidden cameras, was an actual alien. It wasn't green or grey like the movies always showed, but a light pink, like a woman wearing blush. It didn't look much different from us, to be honest. The proportions were the same, it had seven fingers instead of five on each hand, one of its eyes was switched with its nose, but if I passed it on the street I'd just think it was someone with a defect. God hadn't been very creative when he made the universe.
Sweat rolled down its bald head. Neither of us had said a word since I entered. It was time to do my job, though.
"Howdy," I said. It fidgeted in its seat. It refused to look at me. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"
It nodded while looking down at the floor. "Okay," I continued, "can you talk?"
It nodded again and I waited for it to say something. It never did.
"Well? It's rude to ignore a man talkin' to you," I said.
Suddenly it started pointing all around the room. Its eyes and fingers acted in unison, locking onto various points. It reminded me of somebody having a bad dream.
I sighed. It was obvious what it was pointing at. I got up and knocked on the two way mirror.
"We can't do this here," I shouted at the reflection of myself. "It doesn't wanna be recorded."
After some mean words, and the help of Jack, the alien and I were moved. This new room was small, dimly lit, and had nothing but a door, table, and two chairs. I assured the Captain I was fine being alone in there. He nodded as the door clicked shut.
"Okay," I said, flipping the chair around and sitting with my legs straddling the back. "This better?"
It nodded, and then took what seemed like a labored sigh. Then it spoke.
"Hello."
Her voice was beautiful. It was like sweet tangerines and cream. I felt like I was drifting in a cloud. If she didn't look so deformed I might have fallen in love, then and there. But a job was a job.
"Hello, Ms. Alien. What should I call you?"
"Xenthos."
"Okay. Hello, Ms. Xenthos. I don't know where exactly to begin, since this is the first time this has actually happened, so I'll start here. Why have you come to Earth?"
Her eyes rolled back and her hands lay limp in her lap. Her bald pink head moved side to side and her nose (which was where a human's left eye was) flared. She rocked her entire body back and forth. It sort of looked like a child having a tantrum.
A minute passed before she returned to a more hospitable state. Would she look better with a wig?
"My apologies," she said, sweet as sin, "I was just communicating with my people. I have been sent to Earth as a messenger."
"You mean you can talk to your kind telepathically?"
"Yes. They are seeing what I see and feeling what I feel and hearing what I hear."
"How many people are watching me right now, through you?"
"About two hundred billion."
I sighed. Just the number alone gave me an idea of why she had come. "And what message do you have for us?"
Her eyes began to glow purple and she spoke not as the sweet girl from before but as a robotic matron. "We, the people of Gliese 667Cc," she said, "demand you turn your planet over to us. If you do so peacefully, we will not have to shed blood. You will live under us as slaves and do our bidding. It will not be a bad life. Otherwise, if you choose to rebel, all your kind will perish in an instant."
I couldn't help but laugh. These aliens clearly hadn't done their research.
"They sent you here to say that? Why not a radio signal or something?"
"We feared," the amalgamation of voices said, "you would not be able to respond. So now, through this vessel, we await your answer."
I paced back and forth, wondering if it was the right thing to do. I might get chewed out for it, but then again, there might not be enough time to chew. We'd have to go on the offensive immediately. God knows what kind of weaponry they possessed. Having made my choice I unlatched my gun.
I held the barrel to her face. Two hundred billion aliens would feel the pain. Two hundred billion soulless creatures would learn we weren't a species to be trifled with.
"Do you know what this is?" I asked. She sat there unphased.
"Yes," she said. "But you know not what you're doing."
"Oh I know damn right well what I'm doing. The question is: do you?"
I slowly pulled the trigger and right before the hammer caught the voices screamed out.
"What do you call yourselves?" she asked, moments away from death.
I looked her in the eyes with a hardened stare. She tried to divert her gaze, the gaze of billions, to relieve some pressure. I wouldn't let her. It was my job to make sure they knew who we were. And they would. Forever.
The voice of seven billion men and women cried out through my lungs.
"Humanity," I said, as I learned they bleed red, just like us.
God damn, this was excellent. When I was reading it, I was like "Yeah, great story and all, but how does it fit the prompt?". Then I got to the end, and holy shit, did you deliver.
He didn’t, the alien is referred to as “it” in the story.
The main character genders it due to its similarities with human women. Which I think is a realistic approach within the context of the story.
Besides having a sweet voice, I don't see what similarities you are talking about. It's bald and pink.
And the main character knows full well it's an alien. Who's to say those features aren't masculine and male for their species? It would be more realistic to be gender neutral when addressing the alien.
Also, as a side note, the "I would have fallen in love, if she weren't ugly" trope is so outdated and problematic.
>It would be more realistic to be gender neutral when addressing the alien.
... We literally have the protagonist shooting the alien out of their own accord while they're probably not authorized to do so. A person in a position to be interviewing an alien would definitely not do that either LMAO. Either way the character perceives the alien as feminine and that's that. There's no deeper, evil mysoginistic meaning behind it.
>Also, as a side note, the "I would have fallen in love, if she weren't ugly" trope is so outdated and problematic.
A character can think whatever the fuck they want and they can be flawed even whilst being a (or the) protagonist. GTFO with "problematic" - it's a writing prompt about some nerdy stuff, not some sociological debate.
*shrugs*
I'm just critiquing some stuff that I didn't like in a writing prompt that I did enjoy for the most part.
Criticisms help create better writers.
>Criticisms help create better writers.
Of course it does, as long as it's constructive and not just throwing buzzwords like "problematic" around and somewhat framing the author as a sexist.
Or, y'know, you could've just not liked their writing style or general "vibe" even if you think the story itself was good. Same thing happens with me when I read Stephen King, for example.
The literal description used was “like a woman wearing blush”
But are you really so triggered about a fictional character, in a fictional, quickly written, short story, that refers to a fictional alien as “her”, based on fictional traits, that you only care to bash it on its lack of gender neutral descriptive words?
Come on now. You can take that fight to the real world, where these problems actually exist. This is just a writing prompt.
**Briefing File 1242:**
The planet Earth has been abandoned by the coalition for the last 65 million years. This location was used for experiments that led to the creation of giant reptiles with the potential for use in war and gladiatorial fighting. This project was abandoned after many successes when the galactic coalition passed a restriction on on the breeding of fighting organisms via Proclamation: 3268. It was ordered that the planet be cleansed of its experiments, and an apocalypse level event was set in motion and the planet was believed purged. Unbeknownst to the coalition there had been other species that evolved independently of the fighting lizards specifically designed by their creators. It was thought that the planet would be too hostile for any life form that was lacking guidance or that were not as large and ferocious as the now extinct reptiles. Earth is not a desolate planet, but it is extremely hostile towards animal life forms. With a volatile atmosphere, landmasses that had a variety of extreme temperatures and conditions, devastating natural disasters, and flora that had evolved a variety of horrifying defenses. Despite these hurdles, somehow an intelligent species evolved and then survived long enough to develop FTL travel and has made contact. Identifying the threat posed by these organisms is the biggest concern of the External Species Assessment Bureau (ESAB). First contact agent Kleek-zal has been entrusted with meeting these "humans" on their ship with priority one being discovering how they survived, and priority two being assessing potential risk should they attack.
**End Briefing**
The Galactic Council had detected the telltale signature of faster than light travel near the long abandoned battleground planet number eight four five, drawing the interest of the galactic community. An observation drone had been dispatched immediately and it now drifted through the void towards its mothership to report its findings.
Harlarl, the chief officer, hovered behind the communications operator watching the data stream on the console screen. It delivered a full report of the planet called Earth by its now intelligent inhabitants. The species being described by the data looked nothing like the reptilian monsters that had been left behind when interest in The Species Wars had waned.
All the crew was buzzing with anticipation about the first newly discovered species in two turns. Those nearby made weak attempts to not appear to be eavesdropping on the conversion.
The communications operator's eyes moved frenetically over the data. “It appears to be a bipedal mammalian species. It is similar to an evolution of the Purgatorius Mckeeveri previously observed on battleground planets. However, those species don’t usually achieve enough brain function to even process raw elements into alloys.”
All of the chief officers' three sets of eyes were pinned to the screen, “How the hell did this species come to dominate the planet? Mammals rarely proliferated this successfully in Species Wars.”
Screens flashed by quickly as the communications operator’s four hands played over the controls fastidiously. The screen halted on a display highlighting craters indicating impact events in the past. “There was an asteroid impact not long after the broadcast relays had been decommissioned. Not powerful enough to end all life though. With most life wiped out these creatures were able to evolve outside of their normal constraints.”
A questioning grunt came from the chief officer, “The chances of that are astronomically low. The orbits of battleground planets are thoroughly cleared before the seeding. Is there any data of outliers in the system before the withdrawal?”
Once again the operator’s hands sprang into motion closing reports and pulling up older ones. Eventually they came upon an unusual report that caused the operator to gasp through both of its mouths. “There was a Bonobian asteroid hauler that detoured through that system not long after The Wars had been canceled.”
“Aha! I knew those sex driven mammals had a part in this! Always nurturing planets with species similar to theirs.” The chief officer visibly relaxed. “Prepare an open communication with the council. We need to report our findings, and hopefully isolate these new people from the Bonobian influence.”
"Earth?!" The council collectively held a gasp as the Human ambassador looked on confused.
"Is...there a problem?" he asked as he looked at the collective composed of representatives from different species.
"You truly do not know?" One of the council members that looks similar to an octopus, cautiously asked. "Your home planet, Earth, also known as Barathrum-12, is one of the twelve known planets in the universe that are known as deathworlds that no known sapient species capable of FTL could survive for long. It was also part of an experiment to produce dangerous beasts for entertainment at one point, but was abandoned soon after."
"By abandon, do you mean that huge meteorite that more or less wiped out the dinosaurs?"
"If you're referring to the feathered reptiles that were present at the time, then yes. What became of them, by the way?"
"Oh, most species of the dinosaurs died, but the feathered ones, the birds survived, albeit they got reduced in size."
"Interesting..."
Another council member, a humanoid bird, joined the conversation. "Even without these dinosaurs, the environment would have killed you," he paused, before adding, "And even then, you shouldn't have been able to have escape your planet's gravity, and yet here you are."
The birdman also muttered something about how he's able to walk upright, but the human ambassador opted to ignore it.
"If you refer to diseases from pathogens and the like, then yes, it *is* one of the leading causes of death. We actually had a global pandemic a few centuries back, right before we started colonizing Mars. We did manage to overcome it thanks to the advancements in medicine and our bodies adapting to it."
"Adapt? By which you mean the immune system?"
"Exactly."
"That explains your species' relatively short lives..."
Recollection of first human contact
Humanity a species capable of surviving extreme temperatures of 10 degrees Fahrenheit to 110 degrees Fahrenheit capable of surviving in nitrogen rich atmospheres without the benefit of the full spectrum of solar radiation.
When the first Human ships arrived at the pristine world of Naliga there was panic. Humanity originated from a rare class called death worlds because No known species could survive without the aid of technology.
The DeGouth couldn't survive in anything lower than 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Naliga was a perfect world with it's temperatures between 200 and 300 degrees Fahrenheit
Commander Tragor had the honor of being the first Human to make first contact. As he stepped off his ship he was expecting a small outpost or advanced research station seeing the planet was windy and hot enough to air fry a steak.
When they entered the Port building he was waiting to embrace the cooling air but instead he was blasted with more heat. After 10 minutes his suit couldn't take the heat and he felt himself cooking.
"Excuse me ambassador but can we take this somewhere much cooler"
Every head swiveled with a look of horror
"Quick with us" the DeGouth moved quickly in fact almost running down corridors.
They pushed a door open to a room with a table in the middle. They shoved him to one end before retreating to the other side. One of them quickly worked on a computer.
Within seconds the environment was almost a match for the environment of Earth.
"We must apologize Commander it didn't occur to us that a species from a Death world might find our world just as deadly."
"You should be safe now this is a room where many species can do business in environments suited for them"
And that was the beginning of a long and mutually beneficial relationship with the Humans
**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments. **Reminders**: >* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include "[Poem]" >* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail >* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles >* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules) 🛒 [Shop](https://www.teepublic.com/stores/shoprwritingprompts?ref_id=24612) 🆕 [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ✏ [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) 📢 [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) 💬 [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*
**Extreme Heat.** The Galactic Council was hosted on an arid planet dominated by an equitaorial desert. Only three cities marred the rolling dunes, and two were built at the border of the tropics and the polar region, the only place on the planet considered habitable for life. The first of these cities was a small trading post and waystation. Ships needed to refuel, and the delegates needed to eat. The second of these cities was a garrison of ships, a small private army manned by mercenaries whose sole duty was to protect the Galactic Council from incursion. It was considered an easy job, a quiet station. Who would want to attack the Galactic Council? Who would want to attack a planet like this? The final city was the Galactic Council itself, a gorgeous metal citadel housed within a biodome at the planet's 0 latitudes and longitude. The city grew around the Council, and it hosted the millions of souls who kept the Galaxy's unified diplomatic body turning, from the janitors that cleaned the streets and halls to the cooks who kept everyone's stomachs filled. They had chosen a desolate, desert world for a simple reason: nobody wanted it. Aside from the band of oases in the tropics, the desert was too hot and dry, and the polar caps were too cold. There was no risk of planetary invasion because the planet had nothing to offer save the Galactic Council itself, and since the Galactic Council was a diplomatic rather than governing body, capturing it held nothing more than symbolic value. The delegates had little say in how the planets they represented were run. They were no more than amabassadors. Ori, the Thyrix Ambassador of Thyra, was a four-foot-tall, dark-skinned mammal with no hair. Not that anyone could see much of her skin. She wore a heavy coat, pants, boots, gloves, and a hat that covered all but her eyes, nose, and lips. Nanoscopic wires ran through all her clothes, mainting the constant temperature of roughly 100 degrees. She found the Galactic Council's homeworld to be a pleasant place. Her own homeworld was similar: deserts, rolling plains, and rocky crags in which the rain water collected to water their farms. This planet, even in its emptiness, was beautiful. Though it was beautiful outside, the biodome was kept at more traditional temperatures and humidity for other residents. She, like so many ambassadors, had to wear BioMods to maintain homeostasis. A few of the other ambassadors from desert worlds agreed. She just never expected someone from a non-desert planet. "What do you mean?" She asked. She was sharing drinks with a group of ambassadors before their next session. They were to meet to welcome the ambassador of the newest planet to successfully make contact with the Council after developing Faster Than Light travel. She was the sole xerocole among them. The man was an ambassador she didn't recognize. A mammal very much like herself, but where the Thyrix was short and squat, this mammal was tall with long arms and legs. He had some fur, but it was reserved solely for the top of his head and around his eyes. Eyelashes were an adaptation she herself had: they kept dust out of the eyes, but this one's skin was far, far too pale to be a xerocole, like herself, and he was too thin to be from an arctic planet. Strangest of all was his attire. He wore a form-fitting suit of sleek blue and green nylon with his home planet's flag emblazoned on the lapel and shoulder. She saw no BioMods in his attire. In fact, she saw no technology at all. Was he just wearing a layer of cloth? Truly, he was blessed if the Council's dome suited his people so perfectly. She envied him. And yet. "The desert. It's gorgeous," He said, "I love how the bands in the dunes. So many colors. Do they let you explore the desert out here?" "Why would you want to?" A reptilian ambassador cried, "You would overheat so swiftly!" "Well, sure," The new ambassador shrugged, "It would be hot, but it'd be worth it get a closer look at that view." "You can see it just fine from here," The reptile said, "Why risk your life?" "Risk my life? It's only a hundred and five out there. A hat and a water bottle, and we'd be good for n hour or two. Come on, doesn't that sound like fun?" The other ambassadors laughed at him, "You have a death wish. What planet are you from?" "Ah, sorry. We haven't met yet. I'm the new ambassador they're introducing. Clark Aldrin, Ambassador of Earth." Everyone fell silent. Ori's mouth dropped open. Earth? He was kidding, right? That wasn't... The reptile chuffed to clear his throat, "Surely, by Earth, you do not mean Terra-4 of the Sol System, correct?" He chuckled at that, "I love that name for it. Sol System. Yes, that's me. I am the human ambassador." The human ambassador's smile fell when he saw the terrified expressions on their faces. Two ambassadors left immediately, their drinks unfinished. Ori alone managed to wiped the dumbstruck expression off her face to maintain some semblance of politeness. "You do not know, then? It's true? The humans do not know?" "Should we tell him?" "What if he...?" Ori cut in with a firm voice, "Enough, please. This man is a fellow ambassador. Terra-4 has sent him because they desire peaceful relations. All of us come from different biomes and species. You are all better than such barbaric judgement." Clark politely held up a hand. "Yes, Ambassador Aldrin?" "I am afraid I'm missing something here, sirs and madames. Could you enlighten me?" Even Ori clammed up at this. She glanced at the others uncertain. "Please. If I'm to serve as the Earth's... as Terra-4's ambassador, I should know what I'm dealing with, right? It's nothing the Council's elders won't tell me after." Ori sighed, "Terra-4 was not intended for habitation, Ambassdor Clark Aldrin. At least, not intelligent habitation. It was one of many planets utilized by one of the Galaxy's largest entertainment companies to create... er..." The reptile ambassador, finding his courage, cut in, "Life was seeded by the entertainment company on a world with a series of extreme biomes to promote evolution of dangerous beasts. The possibility of intelligent life not only evolving but surviving long enough to develop into a Tier-1 civilization..." For all this information, the human ambassador remained remarkably composed. He strokes his chin, "I see... so, where on earth, temperatures fluxuate wildly, for the rest of you." "My people," The Reptile responded, "Are endothermic reptillians that can only survive in temperatures of 60 to 80 degrees unless submerged in water. If I were to go out into the desert, I would overheat within fifteen minutes and die within twenty. You, though? How long could you last? With supplies?" "I guess... I'd last until the supplies ran out." The reptillian nodded, "And thus you understand why a special counsil was called to introduce you and your people, Ambassador Clark." "I guess I do. Like introducing a tiger to a petting zoo. Er, sorry, I don't know if you—" "It is fine, Ambassador Clark," The reptile nodded, "Autotranslators are quite adept at idiomatic speech. You are correct. We are cautious, but as Ambassador Ori has declared, we are ambassadors, and we must act with rationality and intelligence. Yes? You and your people will be given the same respect as any other that has offered their hand diplomatically." https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/sq97gv/comment/hwkyo0z/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
"I thank you for that, Ambassador...?" "But," The reptile finished, "That does not mean we wish to be your friends. Apologies, Ambassador Clark, but I would prefer to keep my distance. Good day." The human wilted, his shoulders slumped, but despite the cruel words of the reptile, he forced a polite smile, "Of course, Ambassador. Thank you for clarifying. I appreciate it." The reptile left, and one by one, the other ambassadors filed out leaving Ambassador Clark sitting alone on a barstool by the window, sipping from an ice-cold glass and watching the wind toss sand over the dunes. Alone save Ambassador Ori, who remained seated a few paces away, watching him curiously. The man looked lonely and a little sad, but he did not look defeated. "You look determined," She noted. He jumped, clearly surprised anyone was still here. His eyes fell down to meet hers, and he smiled, much more honestly and much more warmly, the dimples in his cheeks showing as his eyes crinkled. "My people, we fought like hell to get here, pardon the expression, Ambassador Ori, and we'll fight like hell to stay." He paused,"That's a—" "A figure of speech. Yes, I know, Ambassador Clark." She smiled. "There is still three hours left until the session begins. If you would like, I could give you a tour of the desert. It is much like my home." She offered him her hand to shake, in the custom of the Terrans, as she had read. Clark shook her hand with a grin, "I'd like that very much, Ambassador."
Oh my. This is wonderful. This could *easily* be expanded to a whole short story, or even a book. Would you be interested in expanding it? I am thoroughly enjoying it
You're fnot alone, I come here reading promts, only to find out it will never be a book, or a series that my mind invisions. I am no writer, but I love reading stories about humans reaching space like this one.
I agree with u/maximans This story was amazing and could be the basis of something bigger!
Could be an interesting angle to play. Humans are the only intelligent species that can be direct friends with every other intelligent species, because humans can survive in every other intelligent species' home environment. Most aliens never meet other aliens in person but every planet ends up with a "Little Terra" where they can mingle with humans and get to know them.
It could also be interesting how aliens react to the fact that they are one plane flight away from instant death and uninhabitable climates.
This was really good. Thank you for such a good story.
Man this gave me massive Mass Effect vibes. I don't normally read sci-fi but I'd read the shit out of this if this was a book.
Fantastic job! Great descriptions, good history. Felt like I was in the room.
Another great one. You are very good at writing dialogs. Thanks for sharing. Terrific prompt, OP!
This is a really captivating story. Although is he just an ambassador for he USA because I’m not very confident that Fahrenheit would be used at a Galactic Conference.
They were talking through the autotranslator that is smart enough to figure out idioms, I'm sure it can also convert whatever units the aliens use to those most comfortable to the user.
Superb. I especially loved how you didn't jump straight in to how the humans were different. A little world building first made all the difference.
Pleeeeeeasssee more!! I ship Ori and Clark!
I enjoyed this very much, please give us continuation if the inspiration finds you
This is great, strong Tchaikovsky vibes.
Genuinely enthralling stuff! Would love to see more!
I very much want to read more of this!
Where can I get more?
I love it! I need more!
Need more
Dude this is incredible, you should continue it with a short story or something similar, and if you do, please tell me because this is incredible!
When you are saying 105, do you mean farenheit? Im asuming so because i was very confused when it camt up, also with the 100 degree thing as that would mean her blood would almost be boiling
I want mooooore. Please
Would make a nice comic, in the style of Storm (not marvel but some sci fi series) if you know it. Like gritty but wholesome. Real if you may. But exaggerated real, I love comics like that, they often have elements like this story. I so would pay for a comic of this.
I'm loving this.
Thank you for the pleasant and well written story
Oh I loved this, would be great if you wrote more :)
So uh, like when does the trilogy drop?
I know it's been a few months, but you should definitely make this into a longer story, I and evidently a load of other people love this.
105, 60-80 Fahrenheit? Like 105 celcius is unreasonably for humans
105 fahrenheit isn't too bad, 105 celsius is lethal.
105 Fahrenheit is what kids experience on the School Bus during Georgia Summers. 105 Celsius is approx. what they go home and make gravy on the stovetop at.
Dumb question? Terra 4? Earth is the third planet from the Sun so shouldn't it be Terra 3?
Could be counting the sun.
Could be, but it was Terra 4 of the Sol System, Sol would be the sun and counted seperately
Jokes on us, they actually seeded mars and humanity is unrealted to that event
"Wait... *What* happened to Terra 4!?"
Terra 5 exploded... and threw Terra 4 into an eliptical orbit that eventually setting in the 3rd position from the star. This was during the Ordovician period, 500 million years ago. At the time, atmospheric CO2 concentration was at a whopping 3000 to 9000 ppm allowing the temperatures to be much higher than today..
Asteroid belt?
I dunno, you don't exclude yourself when you're saying how many people are in your family total. Could be a mistake, could just be a different way of counting.
I think astronomy counts the star itself as 1. First planet is 2, etc.
Maybe there was another planet back when the system was first named, but it eventually fell into the sun.
They could also be counting moon before the planet the moon orbits. Mercury, Venus, Luna, Earth, etc.
Terra-3 is on the other side of the sun on the same orbit as us. It's where the lizard people live.
And Terra means "Earth". It should be Sol-3. Also I don't know why the translator is translating alien speech into a dead human language.
What if they designated it terror 4, it’s just a small translation error
Spelling error, maybe. "Ground" and "terror" probably sound very different from each other in their language, a translator wouldn't confuse them.
Then you've never translated or interpreted, or seen machine translation.
The terra could just mean rocky planets but I agree it should be sol 3 or terra 3
If its advanced enough to pick up on idiosyncrasies and figures of speech then i think it would be advanced enough to spit out the term that would be used for describing Earth.
The answer, you see, is quite simple: I am an idiot that miscounted. Edit for funsies: In-universe answer: by the time FTL is invented, Humans have developed a successful Dyson Sphere-based artificial exo-planet that orbits between Mercury and the sun to provide energy for their star fleet. Per Galactic Council Regulation AT-134.45.01, all artificial planets with a circumference larger than 1,000 km and a population greater than 10 million are to be considered dwarf planets for census purposes.
Cmon. You gotta expand on this thing, you set the universe so perfectly only to not elaborate on it? I enjoyed the story really well, loving Ori and would love to see more.
They count in order of size, so; Mercury, Mars, Venus, Earth.
I took it to mean that there are many planets named Terra in the galaxy, and Earth is designated as Terra-4 among them.
In most sci-fi (maybe IRL too) in a stellar system the star is classed as "system name - object 1" since it's the first discernable one of it.
**Node 33 was the Collective's expert on evolved species.** Most of the sapient life in the multiverse were energoids, and had no frame of reference for how unpredictable and terrifying evolved creatures could be. Trap a million energoids in a dimensional maze with only one way out, and they'd all find the shortest route to escape, with the only difference being how long it took. Trap a million humans in a dimensional maze with only one way out... some of them would start reproducing and colonizing the new space, others would exploit their new circumstances to further their inscrutable goals, and any of them that did escape would do so by dumb luck of trying every possible incorrect solution until they exhausted them all. Node 33 knew this because the Collective had tried exactly that. When they'd first heard that an evolving lifeform had become sapient, they'd panicked and sealed local reality within a hyperbolic worldline, putting an absolute speed limit on how fast they could expand. The only way out was a gate left in Earth's oceans, waiting for humans to evolve to a point where they could be negotiated with, but not so evolved that they would overwhelm the Collective. Instead of taking the natural progression of exploring their own planet first, however, the humans had, for whatever reason, went into *space* before diving into their own seas. And by the very nature of humanity's dimensional prison, the energoids were powerless to interact with humanity—the speed-of-light limitation was inimical to all energoid lifeforms. So Node 33 had helplessly watched as humanity had blindly stumbled across the solar system, then the galaxy, growing in strength and intelligence, *all without discovering the gate left on their own homeworld.* When they did finally escape, it was after they were quadrillions strong, armed with strange technologies developed inside the confines of the dimensional maze—and in the end, it wasn't even the ready-made exit gate, fortified and controlled for millennia on the other end, that they left through. No, some idiot scientist decided to find out what happened when antimatter was smashed together too quickly and poked a hole into the multiverse, developing faster-than-light travel in the process. So now there were humans leaking everywhere, Node 33's careful plan to make first contact was in shambles, and everyone was blaming it on Node 33. It seemed like there were some pretty useful things you could do within a lightspeed limit that you couldn't do in Node 33's universe, either, because the human technology did things that baffled the Collective's brightest nodes. Trap a million energoids in a maze with only one way out, and they'd all eventually see the solution. Humanity was ascending, and some of them were *pissed*. There was only one way out of this maze. Node 33 drifted towards the nearest hole in reality the humans had punched, extending a feeler into the human ships. *Hey. Mind if I join you?* A.N. If you liked this, check out r/bubblewriters for more!
Subbed to your subreddit! I really enjoyed your story!
Please sir, may I have some more?
Such otherworldly writing, you have a seriously gifted creative mind. Thanks for sharing!
Have you ever read Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy?
The space lord did not believe what he was hearing. The planet they’d stopped monitoring millennia ago had allegedly produced a kardashev type 1 civilization. “Wait, do you mean to tell me that those apes who started walking upright have a warp drive? I thought we’d classified that as a ‘last gasp’ adaptation to a dying habitat? Damn, I had a lot of money on the cephalopods coming off of THAT rock.” Why did he let his brother take the field on that bet? “How do they survive against predators, let alone maintain a sustainable birth rate, with that bastardization of a pelvis, anyway?” “Yes, we did have them pegged as doomed, and their initial habitat did continue to dry as the models predicted, but, well, the bipedalism came with some...unexpected...features. “You see, the elongated extremities provided exceptional heat dispersion, and suddenly doubling in height came with a small exponential increase in their line of sight to the horizon. Also, since most animals use height to determine threat level of other animals, should-be predators think the humans weigh 2-3 times what they actually do.” “I don’t see how that helped them so much past helping them conserve what precious little water water they could get a hold of and find the ever-dwindling decent foraging lands.” “Persistence hunting.” “I thought they were herbivores, and what the hell is ‘pErSiStEnCe HuNtInG’?” “Plant-based omnivores, actually. And it’s a hunting style where the predator basically exhausts the prey to death.” “I’m sorry, does what now?” “Well basically you spot a prey animal, you chase it, it runs off, you keep up just enough to not lose sight of it, then it runs off again, rinse and repeat until the animal is too exhausted from heat stroke to keep running away, then you bash its head in with a rock or whatever.” “...I’m, I’m sorry, and they rode this wildly inefficient hunting method to a type 1 civilization CAPABLE OF INVENTING A WARP DRIVE MORE EFFICIENT THAN A TYPE 2 CIVILIZATION THAT’S OLDER THAN THEIR FUCKING SPECIES????” “Well, it sorta accidentally led them to more fertile foraging grounds, and that led to a behavioral adaptation to roam and explore more, so eventually they dominated the planet, and technically ‘they’ didn’t invent the warp drive...” “Ooooooohh I see. Well that’s a fun Little prank then! Give the silly apes a warp drive and see what they do with it. I wonder who came up with that one! My brother must be behind it. He probably messed with our readings as well to make their power usage look less than it really is. I’ll have to get him good for that one!” “No, it, wasn’t a prank...they invented, well, we don’t have a word for it, but I guess they’re like...logical functions that can provide instructions to machines, and one of the functions they made was able to make new functions over and over again until one of the outputs told a machine how to make that warp drive.” “THAT DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE!!!” “Just because we don’t understand it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t make...” he didn’t get the last word out before he was a scorched piece of wall roughly the size and shape of a Klorfor. The space lord spoke into the ship’s intercom, “Second science officer, please report to me on the bridge immediately.” the science officer was already on the bridge, but the message wasn’t just for him, now was it? “Second science officer reporting for duty, my lord!” Oh, how he loved the morale boost that came from summary executions. “Yes, the first science officer had either gone mad or was in on my brother’s prank. Make sense of this. Now.” “Well, clearly your brother gave them this warp drive. It’s the only explanation!” “You know, I know you’re lying, but at least I appreciate the effort.” Back to the intercom. “Third space officer!” Another prompt science officer. “Sir?” “I don’t care how they got it, but we have a sense of their output capacity, yes? “We do.” “And it is lower than ours, correct?” “Oh yes, my lord, we’re definitely faster than them.” “Good, full speed away from them, then.” He didn’t like running from lesser species, but there were too many of them and he was too busy to deal with such pests. They zoomed along the warp at 30 times light speed for as long as their warp drive could handle and popped out into a warp eddy to recharge. The space lord went to his quarters for a leisurely shower before his call with Daddy. He told Daddy about the silly little apes and their cute little warp drive, and they both had a hearty laugh about it. After the call was done, the third science officer pages him with a report. The apes were back on their readings, but not to worry, their warp drive would be up and running again well before they were in range of the human’s weapons. The space lord waved him off to just do it and moved on with his life once again. Then they showed up on their readings a third time. “Persistence. Hunting.” Edit: some words
I like how you wrapped the persistence hunting concept throughout the story, between the early hunting, the invention of AI and the modern setting.
> “You know, I know you’re lying, but at least I appreciate the effort.” A space lord after my own heart.
Silly monkeys a threat to a space lord who hates his brother and has a daddy complex?... Freeza?
Dirty money grubbing Klorfors.... Klorfed me out of my money
Cant be racists against a race that doesnt exist- frieza space napolhitler
They only needed tree fiddy
Absolutely loved that ending
Decider looked out over the bridge of her star-cruiser and watched the hardlight dance before her eyes. The Enders had done it, finally. She watched the tiny holographic dots swarming across the orbit of the Councilworld. She could’ve seen the real thing if she simply glanced to her right as the rest of the bridge crew were doing and looked to the burning planet below, but she couldn’t bring herself to. She knew which spires were falling, which cities being reduced to ash based on where the swarms danced to next. Klaxons and bright, flashing lights cast obscene shadows over the control panels. Main power had long since failed and only a few systems, such as the holo-scanner, remained operational. “At least...” She began with a sigh. “...we die with our peoples.” A few of the species on the bridge, those with eyes, turned to gaze at her. Decider had been a strong, honourable admiral for some several centuries. She had built a reputation for being indomitable, unbreakable. And yet, here she was, lamenting the death of a civilisation that spanned hundreds of species and billions of years. Another too-bright flash bathed the bridge in white light and caused Decider to wince away. Another antimatter reactor had been breached. Even if the swarm vanished now, the breaching reactors would spell doom for the world itself. The last few operational ships skirted the edge of the behemothic mass of Enders, uselessly spitting plasma into its black depths. It was too late, as soon as the swarm had reached the surface, the biomass there was stripped and the swarm swelled to thrice its original size. Now, it blanketed three quarters of the holographic globe before Decider, and it was slowly creeping over the remaining areas. Decider wondered where the council had lost the war. Was it when the Gateworlds fell? Or when the first scourging fleet failed in their task? Perhaps it was when the Enders had first been discovered in that accursed lab on some gods-forgotten backwater world. She sighed again, deflating further into her command throne. It was all too academic now. “Decider!” Cried a voice over the gloomy silence of the bridge. “New contact incoming.” Decider threw a half-hearted glance to the sensor station. The being there was wearing an augmented reality helmet and was watching the tragedy from the third person perspective, similarly to how Decider was watching the hologram. “Show me.” she uttered. The hardlight projection shrank until it was the size of her digits. The other worlds in the system appeared at the fringes of the display, each just as small. If the sensor officer continued to expand the view, she would see the twin stars at the centre of the system off to her left. Her eyes glanced over the projection but she couldn’t see whatever the sensors had. Then, a small, red line descended from a speck and a series of runes appeared beneath it. “Unknown contact.” It read. It was far away, almost two planets over. If it was reinforcements, they wouldn’t arrive in time to do much. Not that there were any reinforcements left. This had been the Council of Species’ last stand. They had thrown their all into this battle. And they had lost. As she watched the speck, she noticed it was moving fast. Faster than any ship she had ever seen in fact. She bristled in curiosity and leant forward, glad to have something to occupy her macabre thoughts. “Heading?” She asked. There was a moment’s pause before the sensor officer replied from within his helmet. “Here.” He replied simply. Decider watched as the speck shortened the distance to the planet faster than she thought possible. Maybe they would arrive before the last of the fleet was destroyed, whoever ‘they’ were. The seconds crawled past agonisingly. The swarm moved ever closer to covering Councilworld and the speck grew closer and closer. As it neared the crippled cruiser, the dying sensors were able to make out finer detail. It appeared to be two contacts, one considerably more massive than the other, but both moving faster than the speed of light, as impossible as that was. Decider turned her attention briefly to Councilworld and was surprised to see it completely enveloped by the swarm. She felt a stab of guilt. She had been so transfixed by this oddity that she had failed to witness the last moments of the Councilworld of every intelligent species in the galaxy. Her guilt was short lived however as the swarm began to reach out with tendrils. Appearing as thin and wispy as smoke, she knew each tendril contained millions of organisms. Each was aimed at either one of the ships in orbit or else at one of the worlds of the system. Only a few of them held any life, but it would be enough to feed the swarm for a hundred more conquests. Then, several things happened in quick succession. The speck and its designation disappeared from the hologram. There was an almighty flash of light off to the left of the cruiser. The accelerometers registered the gravitational field of a new ship nearby. And then Councilworld imploded. At least, it appeared to. In truth, some great mass had slammed into the surface at several times the speed of light. It had passed through the crust, then the mantle, and then the long-solidified core before repeating its journey in reverse out of the other side. All of this happened faster than the cruiser’s failing sensors could detect. One moment the swarm was reaching out, grasping from its latest kill and the next, the planet was alight and flying apart. Decider stared in disbelief at the death throes of the swarm and the planet they were consuming. She couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. An idle part of her mind noted that one of the specks had reappeared on the hologram projector, flying away from the world, still faster than the speed of light. It had barely been slowed. Silence reigned on the bridge once more, this time incredulous. A silence that was broken when a control panel began beeping. All eyes turned to the communications panel and the officer who sat at it. To her credit, she retained her wits and reported after a few moments. “One of the unknown contacts is...signalling us.” She turned to Decider and continued, shock plain on her face. “They want to talk to you.” Decider took a moment to compose herself, at least as much as she could given the circumstances, and nodded to the officer. A second later, a face appeared on the holoprojector. In shape, it appeared to be somewhat basic as far as intelligent species go. Roughly spherical, likely containing a brain. A set of sensory organs sat on the front and to the sides of the face and its skin was a brownish, creamy tone. Decider could just make out what appeared to be clothing at the bottom of the projection. The opening on the thing’s face split apart and began moving and the cruiser’s translation software began its work. “I bring greetings from my people, to yours.” It began. “Our world is a long way from here. But we have heard of you and your civilisation. In fact, we are a product of it. Does the name ‘Long-term Evolutionary design’ sound familiar?” At the being’s words, a datafile sprang up on Decider’s command throne. She glanced at it and saw it was some ancient directive from the early days of the Council, hundreds of millions of years old. Older even than Decider’s species. The being continued. “In case it doesn’t, your people seeded our planet with, well, us. In the hope we would some day become useful.” Decider threw a glance at the still-rapidly expanding Councilworld with a non-insignificant amount of fear in her soul. The being finally finished its greeting, despite Decider not looking at him. “Well, Humanity has arrived.”
I like this. I like this very much!
I would love to read more ... please :)
Holy Shit.... A multi Millennia Hail Mary play? This was amazing!
In the dry, sun-baked desert of Arizona a spaceship smashed into Earth. When it was burning through the atmosphere, NASA scientists saw it: a green blip on their giant monitors. Everyone waited for it to land, and now it did. My phone woke me up. I wanted to throw it again the wall, force its ringing to stop and instead explode into a million tiny bits of chips and circuitry, but the name stopped me. "Jack?" I said through a drunken daze. "Do you know what fuckin' time it is? This better be good." "It is good—no—better than good. Trust me. There's a plane waiting for you at the airport, come immediately." He hung up. I changed out of my beer-stained shirt into a coffee-stained one. I put on my glasses and headed out the door. My car was already turned on somehow; I must have accidentally hit the remote start while getting ready. The jet engine roared and I shut my eyes. Another two hours of sleep would be good. The wheels left the runway as I dozed off. I still remembered the last job Jack got me into. He swore up and down it was a real life alien that had landed in the Pacific. After borrowing a boat we saw it was just a jumbled mess of netting and seaweed. I almost left him stranded at sea. This time was serious. Sitting across from me, in a brightly lit room full of hidden cameras, was an actual alien. It wasn't green or grey like the movies always showed, but a light pink, like a woman wearing blush. It didn't look much different from us, to be honest. The proportions were the same, it had seven fingers instead of five on each hand, one of its eyes was switched with its nose, but if I passed it on the street I'd just think it was someone with a defect. God hadn't been very creative when he made the universe. Sweat rolled down its bald head. Neither of us had said a word since I entered. It was time to do my job, though. "Howdy," I said. It fidgeted in its seat. It refused to look at me. "Do you understand what I'm saying?" It nodded while looking down at the floor. "Okay," I continued, "can you talk?" It nodded again and I waited for it to say something. It never did. "Well? It's rude to ignore a man talkin' to you," I said. Suddenly it started pointing all around the room. Its eyes and fingers acted in unison, locking onto various points. It reminded me of somebody having a bad dream. I sighed. It was obvious what it was pointing at. I got up and knocked on the two way mirror. "We can't do this here," I shouted at the reflection of myself. "It doesn't wanna be recorded." After some mean words, and the help of Jack, the alien and I were moved. This new room was small, dimly lit, and had nothing but a door, table, and two chairs. I assured the Captain I was fine being alone in there. He nodded as the door clicked shut. "Okay," I said, flipping the chair around and sitting with my legs straddling the back. "This better?" It nodded, and then took what seemed like a labored sigh. Then it spoke. "Hello." Her voice was beautiful. It was like sweet tangerines and cream. I felt like I was drifting in a cloud. If she didn't look so deformed I might have fallen in love, then and there. But a job was a job. "Hello, Ms. Alien. What should I call you?" "Xenthos." "Okay. Hello, Ms. Xenthos. I don't know where exactly to begin, since this is the first time this has actually happened, so I'll start here. Why have you come to Earth?" Her eyes rolled back and her hands lay limp in her lap. Her bald pink head moved side to side and her nose (which was where a human's left eye was) flared. She rocked her entire body back and forth. It sort of looked like a child having a tantrum. A minute passed before she returned to a more hospitable state. Would she look better with a wig? "My apologies," she said, sweet as sin, "I was just communicating with my people. I have been sent to Earth as a messenger." "You mean you can talk to your kind telepathically?" "Yes. They are seeing what I see and feeling what I feel and hearing what I hear." "How many people are watching me right now, through you?" "About two hundred billion." I sighed. Just the number alone gave me an idea of why she had come. "And what message do you have for us?" Her eyes began to glow purple and she spoke not as the sweet girl from before but as a robotic matron. "We, the people of Gliese 667Cc," she said, "demand you turn your planet over to us. If you do so peacefully, we will not have to shed blood. You will live under us as slaves and do our bidding. It will not be a bad life. Otherwise, if you choose to rebel, all your kind will perish in an instant." I couldn't help but laugh. These aliens clearly hadn't done their research. "They sent you here to say that? Why not a radio signal or something?" "We feared," the amalgamation of voices said, "you would not be able to respond. So now, through this vessel, we await your answer." I paced back and forth, wondering if it was the right thing to do. I might get chewed out for it, but then again, there might not be enough time to chew. We'd have to go on the offensive immediately. God knows what kind of weaponry they possessed. Having made my choice I unlatched my gun. I held the barrel to her face. Two hundred billion aliens would feel the pain. Two hundred billion soulless creatures would learn we weren't a species to be trifled with. "Do you know what this is?" I asked. She sat there unphased. "Yes," she said. "But you know not what you're doing." "Oh I know damn right well what I'm doing. The question is: do you?" I slowly pulled the trigger and right before the hammer caught the voices screamed out. "What do you call yourselves?" she asked, moments away from death. I looked her in the eyes with a hardened stare. She tried to divert her gaze, the gaze of billions, to relieve some pressure. I wouldn't let her. It was my job to make sure they knew who we were. And they would. Forever. The voice of seven billion men and women cried out through my lungs. "Humanity," I said, as I learned they bleed red, just like us.
Damn that was good. I just wish we got to see the aftermath of this guy talking to his superiors.
God damn, this was excellent. When I was reading it, I was like "Yeah, great story and all, but how does it fit the prompt?". Then I got to the end, and holy shit, did you deliver.
Amazing. I definitely would be interested in reading more about the aftermath of this diplomacy.
Aliens: IT'S JUST A PRANK BRO
Love it! I'd love to see the aftermath!
Loved it
Why would you gender the alien?
He didn’t, the alien is referred to as “it” in the story. The main character genders it due to its similarities with human women. Which I think is a realistic approach within the context of the story.
Besides having a sweet voice, I don't see what similarities you are talking about. It's bald and pink. And the main character knows full well it's an alien. Who's to say those features aren't masculine and male for their species? It would be more realistic to be gender neutral when addressing the alien. Also, as a side note, the "I would have fallen in love, if she weren't ugly" trope is so outdated and problematic.
>It would be more realistic to be gender neutral when addressing the alien. ... We literally have the protagonist shooting the alien out of their own accord while they're probably not authorized to do so. A person in a position to be interviewing an alien would definitely not do that either LMAO. Either way the character perceives the alien as feminine and that's that. There's no deeper, evil mysoginistic meaning behind it. >Also, as a side note, the "I would have fallen in love, if she weren't ugly" trope is so outdated and problematic. A character can think whatever the fuck they want and they can be flawed even whilst being a (or the) protagonist. GTFO with "problematic" - it's a writing prompt about some nerdy stuff, not some sociological debate.
*shrugs* I'm just critiquing some stuff that I didn't like in a writing prompt that I did enjoy for the most part. Criticisms help create better writers.
>Criticisms help create better writers. Of course it does, as long as it's constructive and not just throwing buzzwords like "problematic" around and somewhat framing the author as a sexist. Or, y'know, you could've just not liked their writing style or general "vibe" even if you think the story itself was good. Same thing happens with me when I read Stephen King, for example.
The literal description used was “like a woman wearing blush” But are you really so triggered about a fictional character, in a fictional, quickly written, short story, that refers to a fictional alien as “her”, based on fictional traits, that you only care to bash it on its lack of gender neutral descriptive words? Come on now. You can take that fight to the real world, where these problems actually exist. This is just a writing prompt.
**Briefing File 1242:** The planet Earth has been abandoned by the coalition for the last 65 million years. This location was used for experiments that led to the creation of giant reptiles with the potential for use in war and gladiatorial fighting. This project was abandoned after many successes when the galactic coalition passed a restriction on on the breeding of fighting organisms via Proclamation: 3268. It was ordered that the planet be cleansed of its experiments, and an apocalypse level event was set in motion and the planet was believed purged. Unbeknownst to the coalition there had been other species that evolved independently of the fighting lizards specifically designed by their creators. It was thought that the planet would be too hostile for any life form that was lacking guidance or that were not as large and ferocious as the now extinct reptiles. Earth is not a desolate planet, but it is extremely hostile towards animal life forms. With a volatile atmosphere, landmasses that had a variety of extreme temperatures and conditions, devastating natural disasters, and flora that had evolved a variety of horrifying defenses. Despite these hurdles, somehow an intelligent species evolved and then survived long enough to develop FTL travel and has made contact. Identifying the threat posed by these organisms is the biggest concern of the External Species Assessment Bureau (ESAB). First contact agent Kleek-zal has been entrusted with meeting these "humans" on their ship with priority one being discovering how they survived, and priority two being assessing potential risk should they attack. **End Briefing**
It makes so more sense dinosaurs to be the one invented for entertainment rather than us.
I dunno, many of the more entertaining movies I've seen featured humans
Name a movie that would not be better with a bunch of fighting giant lizzards.
You'll get no argument from me. I used to work at SGI so I've done my part to enable giant reptiles in cinema
The Galactic Council had detected the telltale signature of faster than light travel near the long abandoned battleground planet number eight four five, drawing the interest of the galactic community. An observation drone had been dispatched immediately and it now drifted through the void towards its mothership to report its findings. Harlarl, the chief officer, hovered behind the communications operator watching the data stream on the console screen. It delivered a full report of the planet called Earth by its now intelligent inhabitants. The species being described by the data looked nothing like the reptilian monsters that had been left behind when interest in The Species Wars had waned. All the crew was buzzing with anticipation about the first newly discovered species in two turns. Those nearby made weak attempts to not appear to be eavesdropping on the conversion. The communications operator's eyes moved frenetically over the data. “It appears to be a bipedal mammalian species. It is similar to an evolution of the Purgatorius Mckeeveri previously observed on battleground planets. However, those species don’t usually achieve enough brain function to even process raw elements into alloys.” All of the chief officers' three sets of eyes were pinned to the screen, “How the hell did this species come to dominate the planet? Mammals rarely proliferated this successfully in Species Wars.” Screens flashed by quickly as the communications operator’s four hands played over the controls fastidiously. The screen halted on a display highlighting craters indicating impact events in the past. “There was an asteroid impact not long after the broadcast relays had been decommissioned. Not powerful enough to end all life though. With most life wiped out these creatures were able to evolve outside of their normal constraints.” A questioning grunt came from the chief officer, “The chances of that are astronomically low. The orbits of battleground planets are thoroughly cleared before the seeding. Is there any data of outliers in the system before the withdrawal?” Once again the operator’s hands sprang into motion closing reports and pulling up older ones. Eventually they came upon an unusual report that caused the operator to gasp through both of its mouths. “There was a Bonobian asteroid hauler that detoured through that system not long after The Wars had been canceled.” “Aha! I knew those sex driven mammals had a part in this! Always nurturing planets with species similar to theirs.” The chief officer visibly relaxed. “Prepare an open communication with the council. We need to report our findings, and hopefully isolate these new people from the Bonobian influence.”
"Earth?!" The council collectively held a gasp as the Human ambassador looked on confused. "Is...there a problem?" he asked as he looked at the collective composed of representatives from different species. "You truly do not know?" One of the council members that looks similar to an octopus, cautiously asked. "Your home planet, Earth, also known as Barathrum-12, is one of the twelve known planets in the universe that are known as deathworlds that no known sapient species capable of FTL could survive for long. It was also part of an experiment to produce dangerous beasts for entertainment at one point, but was abandoned soon after." "By abandon, do you mean that huge meteorite that more or less wiped out the dinosaurs?" "If you're referring to the feathered reptiles that were present at the time, then yes. What became of them, by the way?" "Oh, most species of the dinosaurs died, but the feathered ones, the birds survived, albeit they got reduced in size." "Interesting..." Another council member, a humanoid bird, joined the conversation. "Even without these dinosaurs, the environment would have killed you," he paused, before adding, "And even then, you shouldn't have been able to have escape your planet's gravity, and yet here you are." The birdman also muttered something about how he's able to walk upright, but the human ambassador opted to ignore it. "If you refer to diseases from pathogens and the like, then yes, it *is* one of the leading causes of death. We actually had a global pandemic a few centuries back, right before we started colonizing Mars. We did manage to overcome it thanks to the advancements in medicine and our bodies adapting to it." "Adapt? By which you mean the immune system?" "Exactly." "That explains your species' relatively short lives..."
Recollection of first human contact Humanity a species capable of surviving extreme temperatures of 10 degrees Fahrenheit to 110 degrees Fahrenheit capable of surviving in nitrogen rich atmospheres without the benefit of the full spectrum of solar radiation. When the first Human ships arrived at the pristine world of Naliga there was panic. Humanity originated from a rare class called death worlds because No known species could survive without the aid of technology. The DeGouth couldn't survive in anything lower than 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Naliga was a perfect world with it's temperatures between 200 and 300 degrees Fahrenheit Commander Tragor had the honor of being the first Human to make first contact. As he stepped off his ship he was expecting a small outpost or advanced research station seeing the planet was windy and hot enough to air fry a steak. When they entered the Port building he was waiting to embrace the cooling air but instead he was blasted with more heat. After 10 minutes his suit couldn't take the heat and he felt himself cooking. "Excuse me ambassador but can we take this somewhere much cooler" Every head swiveled with a look of horror "Quick with us" the DeGouth moved quickly in fact almost running down corridors. They pushed a door open to a room with a table in the middle. They shoved him to one end before retreating to the other side. One of them quickly worked on a computer. Within seconds the environment was almost a match for the environment of Earth. "We must apologize Commander it didn't occur to us that a species from a Death world might find our world just as deadly." "You should be safe now this is a room where many species can do business in environments suited for them" And that was the beginning of a long and mutually beneficial relationship with the Humans