The biggest warmongering race of Aliens declare war on the local Galaxy cluster. The opposing group of peace-loving Aliens, who had befriended most Alien races, are finally forced to reveal their secret weapon, a ‘classified’ species called Humans, and their tenacity as persistence predators.
Skrai dol Ikkiri, First Representative of Siro didn’t think much of the “Secret Representatives” from Earth. Not because one was clearly disabled and using a wheeled assistance chair. (If anything, that added points to their development as a species.) Prime Speaker of the Adat had been talking up their tenacity and the reasons behind their classifications as both Protected and Secret. They simply did not look like what Skrai would consider relentless persistence predators. Skrai had been expecting something like a sentient doro, or maybe a merkat.
These Humans were mostly hairless, and ranged between one and two so in height. Two wearing what Skrai thought might be uniforms, One wearing a jacket with a pleated skirt. The Human in the wheeled chair was wearing trousers, and blouse. This Human turned out to be the First Representative. “We thank the Prime Speaker for their introduction, and the friendship of the Adat toward our species. Their aid and assistance was instrumental to our technological uplift and has allowed us to enjoy more than a century of peace and prosperity.”
“Of course it came with a price tag,” one of the Humans in a uniform says, then appears startled when their voice is amplified, and words translated. The face of the First Representative crunches in an expression Skrai was inclined to think was annoyance, or perhaps exasperation.
“John, did you think ‘Council of Whispers’ was some weird poetic thing?” The First Rep asks. “Everything you say gets amplified and translated.”
“And it’s right in the Compact about why weren’t getting direct Contact with other species yet,” the other Human says. “Now let Jade talk.”
The First Representative, Jade Tsosi introduced her fellow Humans, John Davies and Lau Xiùyīng. “Please allow us to offer a presentation of the reasons behind the Adat decision to ‘hide’ our species from the Ekherth, and the rest of your alliance. During this presentation, I would like you to remember that we are not actually by nature a warlike species.”
Skrai thought it would be hard to tell from the history lesson provided by Representative Davies and Lau. It was an ugly list of wars, genocide and imperialism. There was no attempt to make war brave or noble, only ugly and terrible. At the end, the human Lau Xiùyīng says, “We were fortunate in our First Contact with the Adat, though we think we scared them a little bit.” The Prime snorts at that, and the Human’s face crunches differently, revealing a flash of blunt teeth.
“At the time of contact we had managed to end most of our conflicts but were paying the price of earlier incompetence in regard to environmental concerns and husbandry of the biodiversity of our world. The Adat assisted us with these concerns and discovered other skillsets.” The next part of the presentation is Humans fighting fires, recovering the land, cleaning their oceans. The Humans are obviously able and willing to work long hours, and show a thread of loyalty and compassion toward their own kind, or in many cases their own domestic livestock and companion animals. “We’re social,” Lau Xiùyīng says. “Very social. We like the Adat, from what we’ve heard, we don’t like the Ekherth.”
“We’re also stubborn, which is the point Prime Speaker was making in regards to being persistence hunters. The games we play focus on endurance more often than not, and in some cases our art,” John Davies says with that same flicker of a smile. “Our ancestors and our modern traditional hunters basically walk our prey to death. Most of our prey species rely on short bursts of speed to escape ambush predators. They don’t have a defense against something that’s not going to stop chasing them until they drop.”
“You have ritual endurance races commemorating the death of a messenger who dropped dead after completing the same distance,” the Prime Speaker says.
“Ritual makes it sound religious,” John Davies protests. “It isn’t!”
“Even the ones for charities?” Jade Tsosi asks, teasingly.
“No!”
“Now for the next part of the presentation, lets show you some of our sports and arts,” Jade Tsosi says.
“And Giraffe Snuff Films,” John Davies says.
“Demonstrations of persistence hunting,” Jade Tsosi says.
What’s shown is a mind boggling array of sports, running, jumping, acrobatics, climbing on rocks and buildings. There’s dance which often seems to include acrobatics, and racing with furry predators pulling sleds. There’s sports involving balls, with and without riding beasts, and occasionally involving sticks. It’s easy to see the athleticism and and endurance with these images and the sheer skill level of some of these athletes and artists.
Hunting makes an appearance next, from “traditional” low tech hunters using bows and spears to hunters using ambush techniques and pellet throwers. Skrai, who is an enthusiastic hunter is greatly interested in the techniques, though they can tell other Representatives are disturbed.
At the end of the presentation, Jade Tsosi says, “we’d like to answer any questions you have.”
There are a number of them, from “how are you not warlike?” to “why do you feel hunting is necessary, when you have domesticated livestock?” (Skrai rattles their quills irritably at that one. Rep Soro followed an anti-hunting philosophy that can be frankly obnoxious.) The questions are answered each in turn, and with a sort of friendly tolerance that was either diplomatic or genuine, it was hard to tell.
The question Skrai eventually asks, after some time trying to word it is, “One of you seemed extremely unhappy at being asked for aid against the Ekherth threat. Is this feeling shared by a large number of your populace?”
“Oh, that’s not what I’m unhappy about,” John says. “I mean, being asked to fight a war because we’re incredible endurance athletes is slightly less horrible than because we’re horrible violent killer apes, but this has never been my favorite trope.”
“Trope?” One of the other Reps asks. “Your species has speculated about this?”’
“More or less,” Jade Tsosi says. “It’s a popular theme in a genre called ‘military science fiction.’ The set up involves friendly aliens asking humans to protect them from their enemies. Occasionally the friendly aliens are actually also unfriendly.”
“Don’t say that like you don’t have the entire Valor series,” John Davies says.
Leave a comment