Collab between
@Sigma and
@Irredeemable
Earth
Aboard 1-Alpha-OneSigma-Devi, and, by extension, the Collective, was not exactly pleased with contact being re-established. Two backwards states, one obsessed with warfare, the other with old Earth, and yet, without any understanding of what made old Earth great. It was displeasing. Immensely so… And yet, here came a new vessel, sailing through the portal.
A greeting was sent across- the same as the other two, but with a new twist. At the end, they were invited to come aboard and meet with a representative of the Zetan Consciousness, along with directions towards an airlock for boarding.
The exterior of the ship was rather strange-looking, at least by Columbian-standards. It was quite small and had various antenna-like structures protruding from the vessel. Granted, these people may have never experienced what Columbia has, so a ship like the
Alamo may have been completely unnecessary for them at least. After some time had passed, the airlock doors started to whistle and whirl as the Columbian delegation team entered. The airlock doors opened up, the chancellor being the first to step forward as he was greeted by a rather surprising, and at the same time, unsettling sight. “Humans”, if you can call them that anymore, covered in head to toe in various cybernetics and machinery.
Sigma-Devi was once again there to greet them, and now with two anti-predator forms to match. Bowing deeply and then performing the hand-gesture, she smiled warmly, masking her surprise rather well, she thought. An honest, in-the-flesh sapient alien lifeform, walking besides humans? She remembered to get her greetings out first. “It is excellent to meet you. I am Sigma-Devi, these two are for my protection only, and I assure you will do you no harm as long as you abide by the same conditions.” She was faux-beaming, although cautiously optimistic that these new individuals might be more sensible than the last.
“As we declared, we are the Zetan Consciousness, we hail from the Zeta system- how about yourselves?, and, if I might be so bold, I am rather fascinated by the fact that you appear to have made contact with genuine sapient xenos life. Quite astounding, our warmest greetings to you as well.”
The chancellor quickly shook any thoughts out of his head as he extended his hand out. “Chancellor Constantine of the United Republic of Columbia.” He declared. “A pleasure to meet you miss Sigma-Devi.” He turned to his delegation. “And these are some fine officers of the ship that brought me here, the
Alamo, and members of my personal guard.” The escort and officers both put up some smiles, although in truth, they were clearly afraid of what they were seeing. “And Captain Iskel Jashi, captain of said ship.”
“Charmed.” The captain spoke with a bow. “As for my standing here with humans...let’s say that is a complicated story..”
United Republic of Columbia. That sounded promising. Names like
Alamo brought to mind the ECU, but they were different peoples. Remain positive. Remain cordial. When Constantine reached out, she shook his hand once, firmly, and then turned. “Please, follow me. I’m afraid this is not an exploratory or diplomatic vessel, so you must excuse me for the slightly unprofessional appearance. We are already working on a proper set of diplomatic vessels and stations.”
The halls of the ship were tight and cramped- just big enough for the anti-predator forms to comfortably walk through, but otherwise stuffed with pipes, tubing, foil insulation, regular insulation, panels and all other manner of equipment and infrastructure. After just a minute or two of walking the small group emerged out onto what was very obviously a cleaned up cafeteria, Sigma-Devi offering the chancellor and his companions a seat.
“The other ships,” she explained, “are being piloted by representatives of the ‘Earth Cultural Union’ and ‘The Undefeated.’ They seemed rather concerned by our augmentation, which was disappointing.” She pulled a seat out for herself, lifted up a corner of fabric that threatened to be tugged if she wasn’t careful, and sat down. “I assure you that we are no less human just because of a little metal.”
The chancellor and his entourage took their seats, the poor captain was not exactly at his most comfortable. Small spaces like this were suboptimal for humans, but for a Janari, a bit too cramped for his liking, even bumped his head a few times on the way. The chancellor and others had a little chuckle at his expense. Julian turned his attention back to the Zetans. “I’ll..take your word for it.” The chancellor said, trying to be as polite as possible, although, he couldn’t help but perhaps agree with those other groups, but no need to be rude to possible friends. “Although I must admit, your form, with respect that is, has taken me aback, what brought on such changes to the human body? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“Apologies, we didn’t expect for someone of a… Significantly taller stature than our defensive forms here to ever wander through these halls.” Sigma-Devi inclined her head slightly, before answering the question. “The world we hail from, Zeta, is not one that is inclined to allow humans to live on it without a great amount of strife.” She paused for a moment.
“Human beings are naturally adapted to life on Earth, and we found ourselves subjected to radically different conditions. Conditions of temperature extremes, higher radiation, a more toxic atmosphere and a lack of water. All of these needed to be compensated for, lest we wished to be cast into the evolutionary dustbin. With flesh not sufficing, we had to use alternative methods of biological progress.”
“That seems awfully tragic in a way.” The chancellor said. “You’ve sacrificed so much to survive on an unforgiving world, you’ve beaten the odds, but by the looks of it, it has cost you much.” The chancellor paused…the Zetans will probably take this as offensive. “But…in a way, it’s also enduring, you’ve dominated your world, where others would’ve given up or simply died out. Granted. I wouldn’t wish such a fate on anyone purposely.”
The frown was obvious on Sigma-Devi’s face, and she made little attempt to hide it… Until the compliment came. “Thank you. The others thought a similar way about the tragic nature of it. We do not see it that way.” She reached up to run a hand along the metal replacing her neck. “To us, this metal is not a sacrifice, or a burden, or a rejection of our humanity.” One of the defensive forms behind her splayed its articulated hand out as if admiring its fingernails.
“Throughout history, mankind has changed and adapted itself to fit new environments. When we were cold we sewed ourselves clothes. When we needed to cook food we lit fires. When we needed to safely hunt we made bows. When we needed fast transportation we made cars, planes, rocketships, telegrams for communications and guns for fighting. We have always been a species that defined itself not by the limits of its form, but by what it could create. We have simply internalised our tools.” A small drone rolled over to the table, carrying several meals taken from Zeta specifically for guests. “Please, enjoy,” she continued.
“And, I can assure you, it is a fate that we undergo quite willingly. Nobody forces us to undergo augmentation, but having a way to surpass it only highlights the limitations of the original human form.”
The chancellor pondered Sigma-Devi's words, resting his chin on clasped hands. “While I don’t necessarily agree with some of the changes, it is not my place to judge you on circumstances that were beyond your control. Granted disagreement won’t equal condemnation, our society thrives on the age-old human pastime of disagreements and debate, it’s how anything gets done or differences made known and are respected or ignored, there’s ups and downs.”
“I’m very glad to hear you still follow the democratic methods of old. As the saying goes, it’s the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried.” She smiled at her own joke. “The Consciousness is a democratic society as well, although we prefer a more direct approach to voting.”
While the two talked, the officers and guards helped themselves to the meal provided, surprisingly good for food made by robot people. “Heh, all too true.” Julian said in reaction to the joke. “A bit surprising, but comforting to see humanity has not lost its way in ways of democracy. On Columbia, we’ve fought hard to preserve the old spirit of freedom, both from our own, and others.”
Sigma-Devi’s eyes flicked between the non-human and the rest of the Chancellor’s entourage, her mind mulling over his word. “From others.” She stated, although it was not a question. “It seems you have quite the story to tell. I shared how Zetans came to be augmented, perhaps you could share a tale of your own?”
“It would be fair to share, yes.” The Chancellor said. “Over three decades ago, Columbia was visited by an alien intelligence of far greater technological level than humanity, they called themselves the Yulzan. We didn’t and still don’t know how far their empire reaches, all we knew was that they were large enough to conquer and enslave several species.”
“My people, the Janari were among them.” Captain Jashi added. “I and many others were forced to fight for the Yulzan, it was all we knew of our lives…”
“We’ve fought for fifteen years, in the aftermath, the Yulzan left our world scarred and broken. In their retreat, they had left millions of their slave soldiers behind, at our mercy.”
“Many of my kind fought still. But I and many more others, grew tired of war, and surrendered.”
“The long and short of it, we’ve fought and beaten an interstellar empire, and in the end, we’ve made new friends and allies out of former enemies.”
A concerned expression spread across Sigma-Devi’s face, and at once the Consciousness had a new thread to focus on. An interstellar empire, likely with a greater technological might than Zeta, enslaving races to fight underneath it? Zeta had no navy, no army and little interest in weapons technology, but this… This was cause to prepare.
“Thank you for sharing,” the diplomat said kindly. “It certainly sounds like you’ve had some tremendous obstacles of your own to overcome.” A long pause hung in the air of the cafeteria.
“We have, yes.” Julian agreed as he leaned back. “But we emerged stronger, more cautious of the stars. Never again will we be caught off guard.”
“I have a proposition for you, chancellor. As we speak, plans are being made for an embassy in the orbit of Zeta-5 and for a station established here above Earth. We would like to welcome you aboard either, or both, of these vessels- or, whichever diplomatic staff you would prefer, in the hopes that we could facilitate strong diplomatic, trade, and perhaps even military links between our nations. Together, we are much stronger than split apart.”
The chancellor smiled, some friends are being made today, the travel was well worth taking. “I will gladly take you up on your proposition, Sigma-Devi.” He said, leaning forward once more. “And you are very welcome to establish an embassy of your own in our orbital outpost, Sentinel. The station has more than enough space for such facilities.”
“The Consciousness has granted me the honour of overseeing the embassy here over Earth, but no doubt another of my fellows will arrive to your system in due time.” She extended her hand out to the man. “To forthright relations.”
Julian replied in kind, shaking her hand. “And to a better tomorrow.”
These are people we can do business with. Thought the Collective.
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