NationStates Jolt Archive

Somewhere out in the Eastern spiral arm was a tiny planet Xaluxax. It wasn't the sort of place anyone ever bothered with. There was no industrialization and no particularly exciting geological or botanical samples. It was simply a rock. Most of it was desert.
Admittedly, it didn't look like desert. There were animals everywhere and trees and the whole place was covered with yellow-brown grass-like substance, but the fact remained that thre was no surface water. There were some lush jungles elsewhere on the planet, but it was the deserts that were the most interesting, because, against all odds, a race of primitive but nontheless intelligent human-like mammals had managed to survive there.
They were known as the Xexu.
They built no cities and created no machinery. They didn't even mine. Most of them had never seen metal in their lives. They had a rudimentary language, made up mainly of clicks, and lived in extended family groups. Since they had no concept of ownership, there was no greed or covetousness. There was no violence since there was never anything to fight over.
Which is why it perplexed several more advanced races when they heard an open-wave transmission coming from Xaluxax. To anyone who understood their language, they would have heard:

"Look! There is a red light in the Thing now, and shapes are moving on Its smooth part."

"Do you think It has woken up?"

"No, I don't think It is alive. It looks like a built Thing."

"But who built It?"

"Look the red light is fading an..."

We are sending an ethnobotanical, anthropological, and science survey research team. This should be interesting. A small scout ship exited hyperspace outsystem. They had picked up a signal from a primitive world. There were very few primitives in the galaxy, a rare thing.

The scout ship began moving closer to the small planet. They sent out a GPS mapping probe which would pinpoint the location of the signal. It flew out making a slow swing around the planet taking detailed pictures of the terrain. What a strange place, no water but lots of jungles and deserts. They had come across what looked to be primitive huts with humanoids. Round things made of mud with simple palmlike fronds for the roof.

There were ordinary trees and grass. The ship began a long descent to the world below. They would collect plant, bacteria, and animal sampes even if they weren't that exciting. It would be another complete ecology to add to their biodomes, in fact an ecology that was very simple was an exciting find, it would be easy to reproduce. Simplicity would be a blessing.

Xixi's family stared up at the beautiful shiny bird that was descending from the heavens. This had been an interesting day for them. First, they had found the Thing, and now the Gods were sending them a new bird that roared when it flew and never flapped its wings.
They gathered around the new creature, staring intently, but never daring to touch it. They were a small people, averaging about three feet each, which was why they could survive on so little water. Their skin was dark blue and most had blue eyes, although there were a few who had purple. They wore very little. They didn't need to in the desert sun. The men clutched simple bows and the women held their babies up to see the magnificent arrival.

The smooth cylinder landed gently, it seemed to float to the ground. There it stayed. Hidden scanners lightly went over the natives, pictures, video, and audio was fed into the central AI of the ship, where it was run through a language translation program. The ship sat for many hours doing nothing apparently to the natives outside. But inside many things happened the outer atmosphere was scanned for contaminants and biologicals, the pictures of the natives were examined closely. Then from near the top of the ship several miniature helicopters flew out scanning and photographing the countryside looking for the native village, plants and animals. They rose into the air circling around the ship in a wide circle scanning and recording the scenery and animals until they had covered a wide swath around the ship to make sure everything was absolutely safe. Also a GPS satellite mapped the planet systematically creating files on the world.

When everything outside seemed safe and calm and they had run hypno tapes and fed the data of the natives language into the bio implants of two of the science team, they opened the hatch to let out one unarmed transhuman and a moreau neodog. They were dressed as the natives were dressed, the neodog in a simple loincloth, sash, and carrying sack, the transhuman women in a piece of cloth wrapping her upper torso, a loincloth and a carrying pouch. The woman was 6' tall with bronze skin, silver hair, and deep purple eyes, the neodog was a 6' 2" bipedal german shepherd. They slowly came down the ramp, the neodog spoke in the clicking language, "Greetings, we come with open arms, blessings to you all."

Xixi, who was the de facto leader of th family, as he was the oldest male who was still strong, stared at the two giant creatures in amazement. The hairy one looked a bit like a luxex, but walked upright and wore skins. The other was hideous. She looked like a woman, but with skin like dead grass and pale hair, like something that had crawled out of a rotting log, and it grew long, not at all like the short, curly hair of the Xexu. She looked quite young, but covered her breasts like an old woman. They were obth so big, they would have to dig for roots all day to get enough water for them.
Xixi looked to the rest of his family, trying to confirm by their expressions that they thought the same thing he did. As far as he could tell, the general consensus was that they were Gods.
"We are honored by your visit," he said nervously "And... thank you for sending us such useful things, like meat and wood and dewdrops..."

The neodog spoke again, "We are most happy that you honor us, we wish to sit with you and talk to you of your people. In due time we may bring dew and wood and meat and honey.", The neodog thought to himself,--How strange that I would bring dew and meat and honey.

The neodog spoke using the maps from minicopters, "We have seen your village from afar and wish to sit in the shade of jubjub tree. I am Tarzan of the world of Paradise." He thinks,--This place is hot, much hotter than we expected.

The woman is listening carefully, her eyes and ears are recording the conversations into the wetware in her skull. She follows behind.

Xixi bowed deeply and soon the others followed. They then swared around the newly arrived Gods, each struggling for a grip on one's hand, and ushered them to a large tree.
Xixi's sister Xisa, who was tugging on the woman's finger, asked timidly "Have you come for the annual sacrifice? We were going to set off tomorrow to make it to the Xaxla, but now that you are here prsonally, we can make it directly to you."

Marth Ohyes , "No, it is better that you make it to Xaxla, for that is your original intention, for in time you will get to know us as we are. We merely wish to rest here under the shade tree and talk to the elders of your people. We make no claims upon you." Martha Ohyes, thought,-- are these people so strange that they practice human sacrifice, it is not our place to interfere.

The neodog speaks, "We come from afar to learn of your peoples knowledge, where is the elder keeper of knowledge, or rememberer. We wish to here the recitations of the memory of your people about all things under the great sky. Let us hear the poetry of your people of the plants, animals, history, medicine, and knowledge."

A buzz of whispering started up among the confused Xexu. Finally, the oldest-looking male said "This does not seem to make sense, exalted ones. It was decreed that we make sacrifices to the Xaxla, only when the Gods themselves are not here. And now you have come. Why do you not want what you have demanded in exchange for giving us so many useful things?"

The neodog says, "You have labeled us as gods, thinking our made thing that flies in the sky is the work of gods, we make no claims that we are gods, we are travellers from afar. Having seen something both wondrous, beautiful, and terrible you do not understand you conclude that we are as gods. We are beings from a far away place with different knowings and different ways. We come here to learn from those who are different from us. It is our curiosity that brings us here. We offer you these things in exchange for learning-- wood, dew, meat, and honey because to you these things are good." Both the neodog and the woman bow low. A signal is sent to the ship and a floating platform with wood, dew (water), meat and honey is brought to the small people.

A ripple of disappointment passed through the group, until they saw the wter. The other things, they could get easily enough, but water was the most valuable and rare substance known to them.
However, others were still disenchanted with the news that they were not Gods. The oldest man, Xiri, raised his hand.
"Gods they may not be, but they bring us valuable treasures," he turned to them "I will tell you of our past and present, our customs, way of life, and nature of our surroundings. However, tomorrow, we must go to the Place of Sacrifice to meet with the other families and give the Xaxla what they demand. Will you come with us?"

The neodog says, "Yes we will come with you to observe. We are honored to be at the presence of the sacrifice."

The woman smiles, " We will come." She sends a simple command to the ship, send silenced mini-copter with lightbender packet.

Xiri smiled, sat down beside them, and began to speak. He told them about how they lived in family groups and rarely saw other families, how they used fire-hardened wooden knives to carve their bows, from which they shot small arrows dipped in a relaxant that made animals go to sleep. He told them about the fruit-bearing saxixalx trees, the far-reaching xenxe vine, and the enormous rxix roots they dug up and got water from. He told them about the mighty xux, largest but most peaceful animal in the world, the majestic herds of horned xisex whose skins they wore, and the fearsome luxex "wich look a bit like you," he said to the nodog "And then there's the Xaxla, servants of the Gods."

The lady listens carefully taking in descriptions of everything which the native is talking about. Her descriptions are broadcast to the ship via implant. The search copters identify the different animals and plants being described and seek out seeds from the plants, and tranquilize and collect small genetic samples from the animals. They make an effort to be nonobtrusive and not harm the animals or plants.

She listens intently trying to understand how these humanoids live so peacefully. Almost no other humanoid species do. The roots which preserve water will be very useful and new types of fruit bearing trees are always appreciated. The natives descriptions are listened to very carefully so an understanding of how the ecosystem of the world can be built.

The lady asks many questions about the properties of the animals and plants, describing many of them as if by magic in exact detail from information sent to her implants by the ship. She wants to know the different qualities of the living things.

The neodog says, "We thank you for your descriptions of this world, we have learned a great deal and wait to meet the servants of the gods. You are truly blessed for you live with peace."

Xiri shrugged. "We have nothing to fight about. We have evrything we need and enough of it to share with everyone. It is forbidden to punish a child, or even speak harshly to one. As such, the children are very well behaved and do not fight with each other."
"You will meet the Xaxla tomorrow," said Xixi, who had taken up residence beside Xiri to listen to his descriptions. "Every year, when the stars are right, all the families congregate in the Place of Sacrifice so that the Xaxla may walk among us and choose which ones they want. Usually, we would be gathering food and water to take with us, since there is not enough in one place to support large numbers. But since you have given us these things, we may rest today."

The lady listens carefully, she thinks, -- There is something strange happening here, like this world was planned. She asks the ship to take deep readings of the planet using some very advanced technology, neutron scanners, gamma ray scanners, seismic readings, and similar technology. This should penetrate fairly deeply into the earth. The ecology seems to be too simple and nonrandom. The ship further is instructed to scan the sky for stellar patterns and anomalies.

The neodog thinks, this is planned, -- there should be starvation from overpopulation, also even with perfect peace there should be conflict because it is the nature of some creatures to question and confront. These must be removed by their "gods."

The neodog smiles, he tells a story. We shall tell you why we are here. He tells of how there are many worlds, with many different kinds of life, and it is their job to collect, preserve, and understand life. How they have gone to many worlds to see how life is different in different places. He further says life is a precious thing rare and beautiful among the stars. Some peoples have expunged all life from their worlds and know no peace. Others are preservers who know peace, but these are few and it is rare to meet them.

OOC: Hee hee. There's a simple explanation for the lack of overpopulation. I think you're looking a bit too deeply into the peace thing, though. The culture is loosely based on the Kailhari bushmen. They are completely peaceful and without conflict. It is possible.

IC: The scanners recorded nothing unusual on most of the planet, but it did pick up a surprisingly large number of semingly random pieces of advanced technology, such as the shipboard communicator Xixi had found and unknowingly used to send a transmission. Most of the other machines were badly broken, and usually buried. However, thre was a large amount of working technology roughly a hundred kilometers north-east of Xixi's family's campsite. It was very deep underground, inside some sort of large cavity. There appeared to be a network of tunnels connecting this cave to the surface. Apart from that, there was nothing unusual on the whole planet.

Xixi an Xiri listened carefull the the visitor's story. It had never occured to them that there were other worlds before, places with different life. They had to re-adjust their thinking to fit around this idea and were silent for some time.
"What is your world like?" Xixi asked at last. "Is it like ours?"

The neodog begins telling a long story, first of Sol, birthplace of humanity, where the Commonalitarianism was born with its huge variety of cultures, overpopulation, pollution, conflicts, then tells about the founding of the colony world of Paradise, a huge world with lots of vegetation, oceans, and very little advanced life, a mesozoic world. She describes the arcologies built on Paradise as cities that combined built structures with living things to create huge garden cities. Then he describes the built worlds where lifeless rocks are turned into living worlds with arcologies, and the life forms of many worlds forming into wide open spaces. Then he describes Muse a world teeming with life, a world where life is a constant jungle struggle where everything even the plants tries to eat everything else. Then he describes the offer of Itzamna from British Londonium where they have built huge floating platforms on oceans of water. All of it is marvelous and almost mythical. Throughout the narrative there are descriptions of how living systems work together and a theme of a unification of philosophy, a unified theory of physics, and ecology.

IC: The ship will scan for and attempt to pick up any pieces of technology that are easy to get at and won't disturb the ecology or be noticed by the bushmen. Basically scavenge to pick up a few pieces of technology. There are a few other people inside the ship other than the contact team.

OOC: I realize the Bushmen are peaceful, but part of this peace is lack of outside contact. The bushmen did fight with the nomadic khoi khoi --herdsmen when they encountered them, they also are currently forced onto reservations. The bushmen have excellent conflict mediating mechanisms. A truly isolated society is often very peaceful.

Several other Xexu joined te little group during the lady's story of their home planet. Few of them understood what she was talking about. They couldn't comprehend people fighting because they lived differently, or how people living could destroy the environment.
They listened in wonder to the stories of second grounds, floating in the sky, and of plants that ate animals. The thing that amazed them most, however, were these 'oceans'. Huge amaounts of water, stretching further than one could see, sitting in giant holes. And things lived in them. There were creatures that actually lived surrounded by water, like they were by air. It was too much to believe.
Xiri seemed to be the one who understood her story most. He was in a very thoughtful mood. "Why," he asked "did you come here? You said you were looking for information, but if there are all these worlds everywhere, then why this one?"

The starship Élmbar sedately drifted through deep space. Four kilometres long, it boasted a flotitlla of smaller sub-craft and armaments to match a necron heavy cruiser, and the capacity to manufacture vessels up to a kilometre in length entirely within itself, as well as housing at a fairly basic level for millions, and training and more luxurious accommodation for tens of thousands of operatives. It was the self-aware heart of an extensive paramilitary operation cryptically known as ‘The Venturers,’ established by the warship Erisavenus and co-conspirators as a means of promoting good causes in the universe. Its members were recruited primarily form “the C’tan” and Menelmacar, but also from many other places, and they were a diverse group.

The best part of a parsec out from the world of Xaluxax, it waited, as one of its sub-craft, a small unmanned blackbody probe, took up station outside it, and disappeared in a blink of light, appearing an infitesimal instant later in orbit of the distant planet.

The strange woman speaks, "Because it was there, you will hear this if you encounter humanoids from other worlds. We are curious as most humanoids are. A person will see a mountain and find a challenge and attempt to climb it, because it is there. Life is precious and worth preserving. Most places are barren worlds. Out of thousands of worlds only a few have life and of the few that have life, most of it is different beyond comprehension. Many are so strange that we can not understand them. Rocks that walk, poisonous air, and things which will eat a man in a single gulp. We seek to understand life in its many forms."

Xisa was a young woman, only just moving out of girlhood. She was beautiful and bright-eyed and her loinloth and headscarf were dyed with reds and yellow in contrast to the uniform brown everyone else wore.
"I like you," she said to the lady, hugging her round the waist "You're nice."

The woman gently places a hand on the small persons shoulder, it is a very strong hand genemodified for the scout service to walk on many different worlds from 1/2 a gravity to 5x earth normal gravity. "Thank you." She blinks slightly.

The ship quietly picks up the technology that is easy to get at bringing it in for analysis.

From orbit the big ship should pick what looks like a living ship with an outer shell of what looks like a superdense organically based ceramic.

A deafening noise filled the Xexu camp. It was like a cross between an elephant-like trumpet and the croak of some enormous frog.
Within seconds, the whole place was a bustling hive of activity as Xexu rushed around, gathering thier belongings, wrapping up the wood and hide tents they lived in and loading up armfuls of the gifts the two visitors had bought. Xixi looked severely at Xisa, who ran off into the crowd.
Xiri nodded grimly. "My hearing is less than it used to be," he said "How far away are they?"
Xixi put his head to the ground, listebning to the rumbling as something drew closer, then pointed the a cloud of dust on the horizon.
"Far enough," he said "Even the old will get away." He turned to the transhuman and neodog "The xux are stampeding," he explained "We need to leave."

The neodog and the lady join the running natives. They are extremely very fast runners having been chosen for the scout service. They are able to pick up some of the slower stragglers and carry them while they are running.


OOC: The scout service is a special deep space service. It consists mainly of "second lifers", people and neodogs who have done long service to the Commonalitarianism. They are given a second life being offered rejuvenation and having their bodies rebuilt to explore in the most dangerous environments high gravity, poisonous atmospheres, alien contact, alien archeology in exchange for deep space exploration and permanent exile as explorers, archeologists and diplomats. Essentially, they are the point men of the Commonalitarianism-- think Allan Quatermain, Doc Savage, and other adventurers.

There was no screaming or panic, simply determination and quick efficiency. The family group, their belongings on their backs, ran with surprising stamina to be out of the way of the charging beasts.
Xixi and his cousin pulled the Thing behind them with two thick vines. They didn't want to leave it behind.