Saturday, July 9, 2022

QHW, Day 12: Domestication

The inhabitants of Terra Firma 177549-Aleph-Charlie were first discovered in the year 678 of the Yangu Millennium.  At first, our researchers concealed this information from the general public, at the behest of the security forces.  Their concerns were about contamination from an alien biosphere and atmosphere, potentially.  However, it is swiftly discovered that the biosphere, though bizarre and nonsensical based on our earliest observations, seemed to be fairly similar to our own.  The atmosphere was also ruled to be non-poisonous, though our respiratory systems could not consume their atmospheric mix with nearly the same level of efficiency, though simple filtration nodes were easily able to compensate. 

Once the initial risks were made known, a series of autonomous artificial devices were sent through to gather information on the biosphere of 177549-Aleph-Charlie.  These projects were collectively referred to as "Project Horizon".  Horizon got off to an excellent start at first, and the first images of a totally alien world were sent back to us within 27 hours.  But swiftly, we realized something bizarre.  Unlike many of the other worlds that we had investigated, we found this one not only supported life, which was only the case in approximately 43% of cases, but intelligent life as well, which was the case in only 3.5% of the aforementioned 43%. 

This intelligent species was dubbed Aleph-Charlie Sapient Self-Organizing Organisms, or simply Alphies.  Alphies were bipedal, with two manipulating limbs and a mobile head which also hosted the majority of their sensory organs, as well as their cognition center.  They were surprisingly hardy, capable of surviving severe damage to both the central, unsegmented body or to the extremities, even able to survive without or all appendages, as later determined by medical examination. 

Alphies were studied feverishly during those early days, with each subsequent expedition gaining many more questions than answers.  For instance, Alphies were intelligent, but lacked any other form of defense.  They were easily out-classed in terms of natural offensive options and durability by many of the more powerful species on their planet.  They had managed to become the dominant species of their planet, but it was clear that this was because of tool use and collective action.  This led to theories that perhaps Alphies were actually a formerly star-faring race that had become stranded on an alien planet, as in all prior cases the apex predator had been the one to first achieve sentience on all previously studied planets. 

  These organisms demonstrated a high degree of development, having cultivated and manipulated their planet to better support themselves.  They demonstrated impressive mastery of architecture, science and language.  Yet for all our observations, we found that unlike other sentient life we had encountered before, Alphies demonstrated no knowledge of the Universal Truths.  This was a clear failing on our part, as we had previously assumed that all sentient species had experienced and had a chance to embrace the Universal Truths. 

At this realization, our scientists submitted their report on the Alphies to the Executive Committee, along with a request for further instruction.  After some deliberation, the Executive Committee determined that it was necessary to immediately speak to the Alphies, and tasked me with the task of putting together a delegation to speak with their Central Hive and present them with knowledge of the Universal Truths and to return with their answer. 

- From the Memoirs of Decelia Ho'bra, Supreme Mediator of Cognition and Information

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