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The Nature of Predators 2-12
🕑 Added 2024-02-15 12:00:05 +0000 UTCMemory Transcription Subject: Taylor Trench, Human Colonist
Date [standardized human time]: March 16, 2160
It turned out for the best that a security guard broadcasted our conversation with Gress to the colony; dozens of citizens overheard his outburst leveled at the Federation. There were still a few shocked expressions, even people cowering or instinctively turning their faces away, as we led the Krev rent collector out into the common area. His eyes scanned the city, marveling at the sights and sounds. I felt strange being pushed by Cherise in a wheelchair, and even stranger to see an alien so unfazed, surrounded by primates. The green scales on his tail reflected the artificial lighting, as he cautiously approached a roaming child.
“Hi!” Gress whispered, kneeling with soft eyes. “Look at you, running around, little girl.”
The kid stopped with a puzzled expression. “Mom says you would kill us if you saw our faces. Are you gonna kill us?”
“No. Parents are wrong sometimes. I…really like your faces, for what it’s worth.”
“You do? Thanks! I didn’t realize you were that big and scaly, but I like yours too. Can I touch your scales?”
“Maybe another time. Why don’t you go tell your mother, and anyone else willing to listen, that the Krev have no issue with your species? It’d be super helpful of you.”
“Okay! Bye Mr. Alien.”
The Krev chuckled to himself, as the young girl ran off. Mayor Hathaway studied him for several moments, as did I; for someone who’d only ever been rude in our interactions, Gress definitely could flip on a fatherly aura around children. I found myself feeling a lot more partial to him getting home to his daughter, Lecca. It never occurred to me that an alien species would see us for who we were, and want us to stay. My rash actions had somehow saved our home, assuming the rent collector was being straightforward with his promise to let us stick around. Their past deeds were a clever scheme, in hindsight, to force us out without violence through the constant demands.
If they hate the Federation like we do, I’m surprised they let us stick around at all. Wouldn’t they be worried, driving us out, that we’d report on the Consortium’s existence to those prey snots? I supposed if we missed a presumed check-in, or the Krev imagined a Federation party might come after us to check on us, it’d worsen the situation.
“You poor things. What did the Federation do to you?” Gress turned toward me, as if he wanted to hear it from my lips for some reason. He continued to tail the mayor, who was leading us to the nearest memory vault. “I can imagine how they treated you, but it sounds like it was…the unthinkable.”
I bowed my head in sorrow. “Gress, they wanted to kill us. As far as we know, they murdered the ten billion people on Earth: bombed them from space with zero remorse. We pleaded with them, bartered and begged until we were blue in the face: and it didn’t matter. Not one of their near three hundred members saw us as anything but monsters. When our ship left, they were marching an extermination fleet down on our homeworld. What you see in front of you, and the humble shops in that cavern…it’s all we have left of humanity.”
“We have videos and music. Images of our cities. Little pieces of that history Taylor described,” Cherise added. “Every species couldn’t bear the sight of us. So we swore never to show our faces again, and give aliens the incentive to slaughter us.”
The Krev’s eyes watered, as he swiped up on a hologram of Earth. “That’s awful. I am so unspeakably sorry. I had no idea. If your world had been in our space…I know it’s zero consolation, but it would’ve been different. I’m grateful you’ve decided to trust me to see what you once were.”
“We all work toward the colony. There’s not much room for expression or experimentation,” I sighed. “I feel as though I want something so much more, then feel guilty for wanting that shit.”
“You can have more, from here on out. With your permission, I’m going to bring this atrocity to the Consortium’s attention. The Krev can help you, friends; your refugees would even be welcome, if any of you wished to integrate with our society, on our homeworld, Avor. I understand you might not want any people leaving, with preserving your species in mind. We can help restore your numbers, build up this world, and provide you with anything you need. You won’t have to worry for a thing; you can express yourselves to your heart’s content!”
Mayor Hathaway narrowed his eyes. “With respect, how do you know that your people will go along with this?”
“Because I know they’ll love you! Even if you were a different species than primates, we’ll protect anyone who wants to avoid the Federation.”
“You say that like it’s a known fact. Does that imply that you’ve taken steps to help other species before?” I questioned.
“That’s…complicated, Taylor. The Consortium is committing to stopping any of our races from being found. I’ll say that, hearing what they did to you innocent humans—on the basis of your eyes and presumably, if you’re like our obors, your diet—I know we made the right decision with the Jaslips.”
“Jaslips? What decision? I want to know what exactly that means.”
“There are six species that are a part of our association, with the Jaslips being one. It means that we prevented the Federation from finding them. It was controversial at the time, but your story proves that it was a necessary evil. Why don’t I tell you the rest later, when I go over each of our allied species that you’ll meet?”
“Fine,” the mayor chimed in, cutting off my protests. “I’d like to hear this story, Gress. But you can take us to the obor first.”
The Krev rent collector’s features showed visible relief, as though he’d bought himself time to avoid an unpleasant subject. “Gladly. Can’t be that far, I assume?”
My mind was racing, weighing what Gress might mean by a controversial decision made to prevent the Federation from finding another species. “Necessary evil” wasn’t phraseology that my ears liked to hear. If after all of the leaps and bounds we’d made with these aliens, it turned out they’d killed them to stop the herbivores from finding them, that…well, our little colony on Tellus was fucked over by their protection. I couldn’t bear having to reckon with another genocidal alien group lording over us. Perhaps our experiences with the Federation had made us a bit too paranoid over xeno intentions; this Krev seemed like a normal guy.
Gress seems genuinely distraught over what happened to Earth, so it’s a stretch to assume he’d let us die. They let us land here because they didn’t want blood on their paws. He said it would’ve been different if Earth was in their territory.
“What are you looking at?” I cleared my throat, as I noticed the Krev pacing around me like I was a zoo exhibit to view from every angle. Gress tugged at my sleeve in response. “Ah. I see. I probably should explain one thing, before we have another misunderstanding. Our…body attire is something we legitimately wear, even among ourselves. You can see that we have negligible fur, and just, er, bare skin.”
“It’s considered highly…improper for us not to wear concealing attire in most situations, because of our unique biology,” Cherise chimed in.
“Yeah, we are genuinely a private culture; this isn’t about not trusting you. Check our relics from Earth and you’ll see it’s ubiquitous across our daily lives.”
Gress stepped away, trying to keep his paws to himself. “Noted. I was simply curious if they had some sort of special meaning, or if they doubled as armor.”
“It means warmth. Not getting sunburned. Not signaling less-than-public intentions. If you check our films, there’s a particular scenario where you’ll see us without garments. I’m not a bashful person, but I hope you won’t make me spell it out.”
“Less-than…oh. It’s part of your…no, I understand. Ahem. Uh…so who wants to feed Juvre? I’ve got a nice bag of dried insects for him in the kitchen. You can, uh, hold him, if you want? Very nice obor…and it’s an elevator! We’ll be at the ship soon! Time for a tour.”
Gress is easily embarrassed. That’s good to know. I’m glad he didn’t decide to keep playing twenty questions, for what it’s worth.
The four of us crowded into the elevator, as Mayor Hathaway gestured toward the metro tunnel—commenting that the drill accident site, and the mines were past that transit line. That brought back images I was trying to force out of my head, of the accident I’d caused and how Kabir was dead now because of that. I needed a more uplifting focus. My face turned skyward, waiting for the long-anticipated feeling of rays of natural warmth striking my skin. The ascent brought me new energy, as my antsy feet kicked against the supports of my wheelchair. When the doors swung open, I was ready to taste the outdoors on my lips, and to feel the sand between my toes. I bared my fangs in one of those toothy grins that the Federation thought were so ferocious, and slid off my boots with laughter.
Gress watched as, off-balance, I stomped around; curling my toes in the grainy earth, and pulling up clumps of it with my feet. Cherise hesitated, before crouching down, grabbing a handful of the sand; she let it slip between her fingers, without any gloves between her palm and the dirt. I whooped and hollered with delight, hearing the thunder of my voice echo into the distance. Several farmers and technicians who were out of the loop were gawking at us, masks pointed at us directly. My dizzy head caused me to stumble onto my knees, and like a madman, I kissed the coarse dirt against my lips. I felt alive. The Krev watched with a strange emotion in his eyes, before placing a paw on my back.
“You’ve forgotten what it’s like to be outside,” Gress guessed. “No wonder you don’t feel like you’re fully alive. It’s cruel to keep any primates penned in a small area for long.”
I dusted myself off, plopping back in the chair. “It feels…real. I want to run to the horizon; climb a mountain!”
“When you heal up, you can.”
The Krev waited for Cherise to drift back behind my wheelchair, before leading the way to the landing pad. With how quickly the alien tried to scurry off in the past, I hadn’t thought he would ever invite us to its interior. Gress paused by an entry airlock, opening it via a scale scan of his tail. The barrier zipped ajar with mechanical rapidity, and the rent collector stepped over the threshold. I admired the minimalist nature of the hallway to the cockpit; luxuries and supplies were kept exclusively to the wings, while the cargo bay was used to transport large shipments. There was no sign of a pet primate, though Gress was calling Juvre’s name. I wondered which variant the obors would be like: nothing too uncanny and violent like chimpanzees, I hoped.
The Krev seemed to take a scurrying noise to his left as a sign of Juvre’s presence, jogging into what appeared to be a kitchen. My eyes saw movement near the low ceilings, as a hairy creature with light auburn fur was scampering down from the cabinets. The obor couldn’t have been more than two feet tall, with a slender tail, a sunken nose on his pinkish face, and beady, binocular eyes. There had been no trickery to get back to the ship, like the cynical part of me suspected in the back of my mind. Gress truly had a pet primate; I supposed he couldn’t have faked the look that he wanted to smother us with love. I watched as the creature stared at us from the countertop, and his lips curved up in a happy smile.
Aw! Juvre recognizes us as primates. He likes us! Gress said I could hold him; that is too adorable. It makes me wish we still had our own pets, like we did on Earth.
I rose from my wheelchair, opening my arms and returning my own happy grin. “Come here—”
Juvre shrieked, lunging at me and latching onto my face. With an obor attached to my skull, I stumbled backward, and tried to pry him off with my hands. What the fuck was wrong with this thing; it’d been friendly moments before! Gress’ plan couldn’t have been for his pet to attack us, and take us out—he should’ve warned us if this was a junkyard obor. I yelped, as I crashed back into my wheelchair. My fall was awkward, while Cherise and the mayor tried to help me remove the stubborn fiend attached to me like sticky glue. The Krev gasped with what seemed to be alarm, throwing his own body forward.
“No, humans! Don’t hurt him,” Gress pleaded. “Juvre, NO! Bad obor! Come!”
The scaly mammal lunged forward, yanking at the obor’s tail; Juvre yelped, and relinquished his stranglehold on my head. Gress swooped him away from me, seeming to soothe his pet as though that terror was the victim. I grimaced, as Cherise helped me back into my wheelchair. Now that I didn’t have a living creature stapled to my head, I found myself fuming at the Krev. Forget goodwill toward his obor for being a fellow primate. It was an animal that attacked me out of nowhere, unprovoked! My enthusiasm for this tour was soured, as I prepared to round on Gress with a tirade.
“What the literal fuck?” I hissed.
Gress eyed Juvre, before placing the obor back on his shoulder. “What the fuck is wrong with you? You’d think a primate, of all the sapient species out there, would know a fear grimace when you see one. He was terrified of you, and you flashed your teeth to assert dominance in response, then made like you wanted to grab him? That’s on you, Taylor. I have no words.”
“What? He was smiling! That’s…that expression means happiness. I thought it was cute.”
“Wait. You’re telling me that humans bare your teeth to signal that you’re happy?! I’ve seen relaxed mouth curvature that signifies submission in primates, but that extension makes zero sense. I thought that you were afraid of the sand, when you were baring your fangs outside; same for when you did it at me earlier. You’re the most bizarre primates I’ve ever heard of! ”
“I’m sorry that I, um, misunderstood. I should’ve asked if I could approach him.”
“It’s alright, Taylor. I’m sorry Juvre attacked you. He’s usually quite friendly with people, even aliens, but—”
“Primates don’t like other primates,” Mayor Hathaway chuckled. “And we’re territorial.”
I scowled at him. “Stop laughing! You’re not the one who got your head taken off.”
“Unfortunately for us, it’s still attached to your shoulders,” Cherise snickered.
Gress tried to mask his own amusement. “Are you alright, Taylor? I’m aware you had a preexisting head injury.”
“I’m fine. I’m just swell,” I grumbled.
“Good. I suppose you’ve gotten a taste of what it must’ve been like for early Krev to domesticate the obor! Primates are…known to be extremely aggressive and violent animals in the wild, which is why frankly, I’m surprised you didn’t club me over the head sooner, Taylor. I’m more willing to forgive the act with that in mind.”
“That’s not an excuse for us. We’re sapient. Whatever the Federation said about us, we’re not…out-of-control animals. We’re just a little prone to strong emotions.”
“I understand that. My point is, the obors weren’t easy to mellow out at all. They figured out they could use us for food, and their species was close to extinction, so…living with the Krev probably saved them. They’re lucky we’re stubborn shits. The first obors would bite as a form of communication, they were destructive as can be, and completely uncontrollable. If you weren’t domesticated over centuries, then I can imagine humans have those tendencies.”
Cherise smirked. “We actually are domesticated. Self-domesticated. We chose to select for more…docile behaviors over time. We even show forms of neoteny, which means—”
“Juvenile traits that stay until adulthood. That must be why you have so little fur, and such short canines! Little Juvre probably has bigger chompers than you. That’s why you’re so cute!”
I heaved a bewildered sigh. “Uh, thanks? I guess this beats having aliens tell us how terrifying our canines are, but it’s also kinda weird.”
“I’m sorry. I’m just excited. You’re so goofy, and furless, and you have all these weird traits; I’m getting carried away. It blows me away who was really under those masks, after all the awful things I imagined about you. Every Krev needs to know!”
“Then we need to know what you were talking about earlier with the Jaslips,” Hathaway interjected. “And we need to be briefed on every species in the Krev Consortium.”
“A deal is a deal. All I can hope is that you won’t judge us too harshly for our choices. We’ve only ever done what we thought was best for every species.”
I crossed my arms. “We’ve heard that before, from a group of species who did anything but what was best.”
“Taylor!” Cherise warned.
“No, I think that you need some time to process what you’ve learned about us; and Taylor needs time to rest and recover before we head to Avor,” Gress interjected. “I would like to have him accompany me home, and speak to the Consortium. Before this all blew up, he was a wonderful advocate for humanity.”
I gestured to my chest with incredulity. “Me? But I attacked you! This isn’t a ploy to whisk me off for punishment, is it?”
“It’s not. I want you to come with me, and show that we’re both willing to start over. I’m going to need some trust from all of you, but I’d like some time to think of how to explain our Jaslip rationale. I’d also like to send word home that I’m alright, so that they don’t send in a pissed off fleet. When Taylor is healed up and I’ve cleared your arrival with the Consortium, we can set sail—and then, it’ll be an appropriate time to brief you.”
My eyes rolled back in thought; given that I had been the one who stopped the Krev from speaking, right when he was about to divulge the truth, it might be best if I agreed to his terms. The entire whirlwind of waking up in the medical bay, the tense encounter with Gress, and discovering his true feelings on primates and the Federation had left me exhausted. The others would be fine, but if I was the one he insisted on bringing, I needed to be in a better state to process whatever he had to say on the Jaslips. The mayor seemed to see that I was in dire need of a rest, because he nodded in agreement with the Krev’s terms.
“Very well. I’ll send Taylor to Avor, to plead humanity’s case and request assistance, on one condition,” Hathaway said, after exchanging a look with Cherise. “You take Cherise Benson with you as well. I don’t feel right sending Taylor alone, with his recent behavior.”
The security guard raised her eyebrows. “Plus, he needs someone to protect him. We know nothing about what Avor is like.”
“And there’ll be no more delays with the scoop on your controversy. We’re sending our diplomats in blind enough as is.”
The Krev petted Juvre absent-mindedly. “Very well. I’ll spend some time getting to know your people—if you’ll have me. It’s long overdue. Taylor can find me when he’s back on his feet.”
“Well, I guess I have no say in getting shipped off to an alien planet,” I grumbled. “Nice of you to ask.”
“You owe us both,” the mayor challenged. “After all the problems you’ve caused, you’re due for a little service to fix humanity’s situation.”
“Heard. I’ll barter for our survival, and clear up any misunderstandings. You’ve got my word.”
“Good. Take him back, Benson. I have some things I’d like to discuss with Gress in private.”
Cherise nodded, before pivoting my wheelchair back toward the exit. I risked a glance over my shoulder, noticing Juvre seeming to giggle as I was carried away. I stuck my tongue out at the obor, who scowled back at me with an ugly expression. Riding on Gress’ ship with that nasty pet sounded unbearable; it was obvious that thing didn’t like me. If that obor ever tried to lay a paw on me again, I was going to teach it a lesson. No tiny monkey would get to antagonize me, just like nobody would ever oppress this colony and our species anymore!
Huffing to myself, I tried to contemplate what exactly I should say to the Krev Consortium, and what else we might find out about their ways. To my amazement, I found that I somewhat liked Gress; I hoped the full story about the Krev wouldn’t make me regret that generous assessment.
A/N - Part 12! Gress catches a glimpse of how the humans live, and learns the truth about why the ark fled: how (according to our narrators) Earth was destroyed by the Federation, and they're the last survivors trying to rebuild the human race. He vows that the Krev will protect and aid them, while cryptically mentioning something about a Jaslip decision, before leading the humans to the ship; Taylor relishes his first real taste of the outdoors in his memory, surprising some aboveground workers.
Will the Consortium prove helpful to elevating the ark colonists' conditions? Will the humans' spirits improve with an alien species finally accepting them, and the Krev showing pity toward their story? And just what is the truth about the Jaslips?
Then, of course, our narrator makes one of the most common mistakes that humans make with other primates...that was no smile, since our cousins aren't insane enough to signal submissiveness constantly to get along. Juvre misinterprets the bared teeth as an act of aggression; Gress chews Taylor out, before it's explained what happened. What do you think of our glimpse of an obor? What do you think of Gress' specific request to take Taylor to Avor, to request aid for humanity?
As always, thank you for reading and supporting!
Comments
Bow-Tied Engineer
I knew it! We ARE the dog aliens of NOP! Aside from playing fetch, I think this makes all off the dog alien tropes accounted for.
Yannis Morris
Theory: Krev Consortium culture makes travel between worlds strictly prohibited (So as not to tip off the Federation). The other Consortium species may start to accuse humans of using cute privilege to get around the restrictions (Become refugees on the Krev home planet)
Jay Scott Raymond
Re Lisa: The Kolshians were paranoid control freaks who believed they were saving the galaxy from the rise of predators. It'd be a bit odd of they weren't looking around. The Krev are close enough to have found out about the Feds and their tendencies. If the Krev could find the Feds, the Feds could find the Krev.
Lisa
Why do you think the Kolshians were out looking for aliens? I don’t recall that ever being mentioned, or any sign of it. Sure, they explored their immediate area, but the entire Federation could be crossed by FTL in a few weeks. The Krev are years of FTL away. Why would the uncurious Kolshians be studying planetary atmospheres that far away?
John
Whatever gave the impression the Krev were like the federation?
br900
Even without us screwing up our planet things go extinct all the time and not always from some great event.
Koda
My theory: they uplifted the Jaslips Prob found them and they saw they where vulnerable to the Feds so they intervened to save them which is prob ridiculously controversial at the time with some in their mini alliance arguing that letting the Federation hopefully pass them by was better than to interfere with a species so early in their development and become ‘just like the Feds.’ Prob drawing a parallel to what happening in our other little corner of the SPUniverse.
Koda
I’ve been putting off reading the Krev chapters because I thought it would be fedration2-electricBoogaloo but now I’m hooked. Monke 🙈
Corporal Chunk
Probably yeah, just feels short for me
Willy
I actually think the Krev moved the Jaslips Gress says they *prevented* the feds from finding them. Which means they moved them from their home world and you understand where the “necessary evil” thing comes from. Suddenly saying goodbye to your home isn’t easy, the Krev were so empathetic that they let an unknown species live in their space. Krevs won’t be evil.
Stella
Hating the Feds doesn’t mean they’re good guys. Maybe instead of genociding predators they forcibly domesticate them? or something.
Mutedmirth
like i said always a catch lol
John
What? The Krev explicitly hate the Feds no way they are bad guys.
Willy
Accept the Space Cannibles saved us. Oh! And let’s not forget the planet we neutralised wanted to genocide us at the first sign of our existence. Noone is innocent at this point. With this kind of technology comes the potential for many great evils. So far humanity is doing a good job at not becoming delusional power mad imperialist, this is mostly thanks to our cute instinct towards the other former fed species.
Willy
This chapter was actually like any other chapter its just perception fucking you up.
Colin Jordan
I believe that the whole of ark 3 before last chapter was ment to be a parallel to how Kolshian society was after 'the hunger'.
Willy
Im getting federation bullshit 2.0 vibes
Alex
Crabs. There's like 7 distant different times they've evolved, unrelated too each other. Don't see why arboreal mammals that look like primates wouldn't be common as well. There's been prior monkey-like mammals as well that were unrelated to primates and monkeys.
Yannis Morris
@Ella Yeah I saw that too. “Primates on the brink of extinction who figured out they could use the Krev for food and safety”. I’m sure that has no bearing on current events
Kilo Rat
I agree, they might just treat the humans as pets and not respect them as equals. The humans in that situation have no leverage, so it's up to the Krev if they want to do the right thing.
Wingit98
The level of convergent evolution in this universe is pretty wild. To have similar looking animals is one thing, but the fact that they even exhibit all the same behaviors is crazy.
Ella
Yeah something felt just a little uncanny to me when Gress mentioned that the Obors had been on the brink of extinction when the Krev found them. A little too familiar, maybe.
Jay Scott Raymond
richfiles, who are you responding to? I've already made it crystal clear that radio broadcasts are the least of the issue. In fact the only time I mention radio is to point out it isn't just that.
richfiles
You greatly overestimate the range of radio broadcasts. Grand ideas of catching alien radio transmissions are... Not so grand once real physics gets involved, and you look at signal losses with distance. It's not long before you are below the noise floor of the cosmic background radiation. Just don't point anything FTL their way, and you're good by way of inaction.
Sobek
monke
Guardian
Nah, just a bonk.
Gavin Pierce
Maybe even destroyed their homeworld and relocating them thinking it was better(which for some very well could have been)
PhycoKrusk
"Hey, you. You're finally awake."
RaptorRed
I am glad we didn't torture.
RaptorRed
Just read the last 2 krev chapters. That was unexpected. so we don't have to hate the krev anymore? Is it too early to celebrate? Will they really do/allow all the things gress is saying. I am still skeptical. Also it's weird to be on the receiving end of you are cute. That's because you don't know us. Nobody tell them our history on earth. How does one just get treated poorly for so long and get instant forgiveness? the krev hated us but not anymore because we are primates like your pets, you believe us when we say we aren't feds? I guess if you know enough about the feds you would know we would never have been accepted. You are really ok with Tyler hitting you over the head? You just hated us cause we were secretive and you thought us the feds? Don't mind me I am still recovering from the whiplash and now I can't wait for more, thank you.
Willie
Look I haven't joined the discord yet sue me
everything very
Am I the only one kinda urked that none of the humans or krev cared to tell the aboveground workers the good news asap?I get that Taylor and Cherise (and by extension gress but to a lesser extent) were overwhelmed but the mayor was totally in a position to be able to spread the good news and had an obligation to do so. And the other three only had a kinda brief window where it was acceptable for them to not communicate
everything very
Just hold tight and pray for Cheris to speak instead
everything very
Being in a prison or a nuclear bunker 🤔
Jon Arbuckle
I'm sensing something disturbing on the horizon. Especially that note about domestication.
Gumcel
Alright now I’m thinking that the consortium has people who want to keep hiding, and those who would rather fight the federation. And the emergence of a new species being victims of a federation genocide is going to push the argument in favour of those who’d rather fight.
Jay Scott Raymond
First its not just the Jaslips, its all of them. Second, dude, honestly, what a meaningless handwave. I just gave a fairly detailed explaination (for a forum post like this) as to why this would be a horrendously difficult problem over deep time, especially with paranoid control freaks like the the Kolshians searching for millenia for anyone who might upset their apple cart and your answer is essentially just to move them to some magical place where they are hidden? No it isn't that simple. Yes you do need something special. At least in any universe where something like known physics applies. Sorry if I'm coming across as aggressive here, but after reading your post I almost broke my nose with the facepalm.
Gumcel
I don’t see why they necessarily have to be carnivores/omnivores, even if they were herbivores it would be bad for all of them if the federation found them. Also sp has already told us on discord, they’re fox like mammals, yes I know foxes aren’t herbivores but the thafki, kolshians and now krev all resemble carnivorous earth animals despite being true herbivores.
PhycoKrusk
The good news is that space provides a good buffer; where Ark-3 is now is after running in FTL for 3 years without stopping, or close to it. The Coalition is struggling to keep itself together enough to interact with the Bissems and they're next door. The Consortium is pretty safe in that regard.
PhycoKrusk
Hathaway is the real villain here. He doesn't want to do the work, so he sends Trench. If everything goes well, then he's a genius for sending him. If it goes poorly, then it's not his fault that Taylor went rogue, it appeared that he had recovered from his head injury, oops.
PhycoKrusk
You really don't need anything special to do it, because the best way to not be found by someone is to not be in the place where they're looking for you. That's it. If they want to conceal the Jaslips from the Federation, they just have to make sure they're in a place where they can keep the Federation from looking.
Gumcel
Taylors obviously not blameless, but all of this shit is mostly the mayor’s fault. Which is why his behaviour pisses me off so much, he acts like none of this is his fault when in reality most of the blame falls on his shoulders. And of course he fucking sends a concussed man and a guard to act as diplomats instead of doing it himself, because he fucking sucks.
Gumcel
“The kid stopped with a puzzled expression. ‘Mom says you would kill us if you saw our faces. Are you gonna kill us?’ ‘No. Parents are wrong sometimes. I…really like your faces, for what it’s worth.’” Almost identical to the Marcel meeting Nulia scene, surely that’s intentional? All we needed was a scene of Taylor torturing Gress and it would’ve been a perfect parallel. And Hathaway continues to rub me the wrong way and Gress continues to be based.
Gumcel
I’m guessing they snatched up the Jaslips and relocated them while they were hibernating lol.
Tazeell
Ha well that was pretty funny. It should be exciting to see the gress and these I presume carnivores they've kept secret.
Jay Scott Raymond
To both Melez and Kilo Rat: You're missing my point. I'm pointing out that there needs to be some serious sci-fi unobtanium or if you prefer handwavium tech involved to manage this hiding. It isn't just signals like radio. It's heat signatures of both spacecraft and a planetary civilization. Its the effect of the chemistry and processes of life on the atmosphere visible to spectrographic analysis. Some of these things are out there long before your planet's life even achieve's sapience, let alone realizes they might want to hide those signs or even beyond that, developes some means to do so. Bottom line: this hiding a spacefaring civilization thing? We're talking some serious applied phlebotinum here. If you want to better understand this, I suggest you head over to YouTube and find the "Science and Futurism with Isaac Arthur" channel. Fair warning: binge watching may ensue.
Melez
My cats are destructive little terrors. And hardly domesticated. All they’re lacking is thumbs and sometimes that doesn’t stop them. Don’t get me wrong, I love them dearly
Melez
The Milky Way is something like 87,000 light years across, I’d think that’s enough time to go from your first radio waves to FTL… at least before anyone detects your earliest transmissions as anything more than background noise
Lunam
The SECOND Taylor went "Oh the monkey is smiling" I was all NO YOU FOOL And I was riiiiiiiiiiiiight~
pfreya
Yeah, my suspicion is that they moved the Jaslip to consortium space, maybe even uplifted them? Controversial decision because it was interfering with their natural growth and progression as a species, but considered imperative because of the fed’s genocidal tendencies
Yannis Morris
And apparently that’s not a human thing. It’s an ape thing to reassure apes with bared teeth and Obors are not apes.
Yannis Morris
@Space Paladin Gress just said they were *(narrows eyes in suspicion)*
Yannis Morris
@T___ I like this comment the most
RS
I for one like Taylor as a character. He has flaws, but he also has redeeming qualities. He volunteered to suffer very real consequences for attacking Gress, which shows a level of selflessness and remorse. He managed to turn attacking Gress into a positive outcome, which took some level of wisdom and courage. He seems loyal enough. I don't even blame the mine explosion entirely 100% on him - the equipment operator did not have the integrity to stand up to Taylor's pestering, just as Taylor did not have the integrity to stand up to the Mayor's pestering. The only one that didn't pay some price there is the Mayor. Taylor comes off as impulsive, juvenile, naive, and a bit dumb, but there's plenty of room for him to grow out of these traits in the adventures ahead. Without the meta knowledge that Taylor is the protagonist, I would not send Taylor in his current state to Avor for the formal introduction of humanity to the Consortium.
Conure King!
I could see the Consortium becoming incredibly militaristic after this if they aren’t already, so it could Defo be interesting.
Conure King!
I mean with a threat as drastic as the federation it might be necessary
gilean23
I mean, that’s the best possible outcome, IMO.
Alex
I think I can guess at the reasoning, given by theories on why we smile as a show of happiness: Same sort of situation as how fighting words can be words of endearment among friends. It went from aggression to standard greeting, To assign of happiness.
Wesley Rigg
I'm a fast reader and this took me a solid 15 minutes.
Wesley Rigg
As is tradition.
Sap
Called it! I could have seen it happening to any of the three because anyone who's inexperienced with primate behavior is likely to misinterpret the fear grimace as a happy smile. It's much more amusing that Taylor's the one who got monkeyed though.
Vladi Vladi
humans are THE most alien primate on earth. None of our cousins smile. They coo to signal happiness. We don't even know if Neanderthals or other Homo species smiled. I'm gonna guess the average Ark human is just uneducated in zoology because it serves no purpose without animals, otherwise, not knowing the little fact that no animal EVER bares their teeth as a form of happiness is a new low for Taylor
Danny Luca
Bri is right. We never domesticated cats. They domesticated themselves because they figured out they could use us for food.
T___
Primate speach is also not as cut and dry as some people write here. And there are differences between monkeys and apes. Dominant individuals also bare their teeth when they try to reassure others. In this way Taylor was right to smile and not expect an attack. "The human smile derives from the nervous grin found in other primates. - - nervously signaling non-hostility."(Primatologist and Professor of Primate Behavior Frans de Waal)
ToddTheSquid
Sorry, that's where I keep my skeletons.
ToddTheSquid
I love the implication that rent collectors aren't typically sapient lmao
ToddTheSquid
To be fair, he's traumatized by the feds and clearly has trust issues (the entire ark ship population is like this), and concussed at the moment, plus there is unironically a lot of psychological stuff going on with being under basically forced labor, effectively being kept inside, *underground*, for most of his life, and forced to hide who and what he is. Much like LGBTQ+ people of today, that seriously screws with your mental health and capacity. I genuinely believe that as things improve for him, he'll mellow out and become a far more likeable character.
EliasArt2Life
Well, things are looking better for the colony. I’m glad that Mayor Hathaway had the foresight to send Cherise with Taylor. Let’s hope she can cover for Taylor when he forgets himself and smiles (or makes another dumb mistake). Or maybe he can prove that he’s more capable when he’s rested and in a better state of mind. While I don’t like Taylor’s actions, I want people who say that they hate him to give him a little slack; keep in mind that he was something like 9 when he left Earth. That means that he lost about half of his childhood to aliens attacking his planet, has been forced to live in barely tolerable conditions for decades, and it sounds like he may not have even had any family to take care of him. Simply put, given the hand he was dealt in life, he could have turned out a lot worse. He’s not as bad as William Kane, but has far more reason to be. (No, William Kane is NOT my benchmark for a hatable character, I’m just using him as an example, since I know most of you share that experience of said character.) As for the Jaslips Decision… hmm… Gress said that the Consortium hadn’t increased their number since they came in contact with the Federation, so the Jaslips aren’t a species that was brought into the fold (unless they’re an exception, but I won’t account for exceptions in this prediction). Gress also phrased the decision as relating to hiding from the Federation. Finally, it was considered controversial, and he can tell it’ll make the Consortium look bad to the humans, and the Jaslips are still part of the Consortium. Did the Jaslips decide to try to contact the Federation; see if they had changed, and the rest of the Consortium forcefully occupied the Jaslips worlds in order to prevent that from happening?
Blake S
They might have just been conquered and forced into hiding, or underground, something along those lines. You would have to keep very close eye on a species to make sure no individuals through malice, or mistrust of the consortium tried to break quarantine as it were. Worst case scenario brutal dicatorship, maybe technological or biological regression to make them less likely to be spotted by the feds.
Blake S
It sounds like in consortium space everyone is a prisoner.
T___
What made the hair on my arms go up was the mayor having a tête-à-tête with Kress. He has been using Taylor all this time. Maybe he is telling Kress that if it seems difficult to negotiate, it is okay to feed Taylor to the wolfs, so to speak. Secret, shadowy government backroom deals are never good. He's sending too people out there and withholding crucial information, as he has in the past.
Tyler Ellis
Am I really excited to learn of the Consortiums other races? Yes! Am I extremely worried/paranoid about the fact that it’s TAYLOR of all people that is being sent to speak on Humanities behalf? Very!!!
T___
I think in those lines as well. Maybe they kept trying to contact friends and family in Federation Space, and they had to confine the species somehow. Perhaps under the watchful eye and tech, perhaps transporting the entire species far away and put some dampening field or something. Or underground.
Space Paladin
It’s a good thing if it feels that way!
Space Paladin
The Venlil will be mentioned shortly!
Space Paladin
Perhaps some will try later on. We do miss our pets dearly, and people think pet monkeys are cute. Problem is they’re destructive little terrors and not domesticated!
Kilo Rat
They must have been confident that humans couldn't contact the federation, so they had to have had a way to block signals from the refugees too
Kilo Rat
It's fun seeing humans being the ones suspicious at displays of kindness for a change. Usually it's aliens being suspicious of humans.
Jay Scott Raymond
I gotta wonder what sort of unobtanium tech they're using to hide from the Federation. Hiding a space faring civilization, or even just a technological one like us present day, is somewhere between extremely difficult and impossible under any currently known physics. This is why our astrophysicists are fairly certain we are alone, at least in this galaxy.
The Moist Crusader
Is Gress forgetting that humans are ALIEN primates? Even though their primates seem to act similar to ours, he doesn't know that lol, it's on him that he assumed the body language of alien primates would be the same as theirs
Apogee
I suspect they took technology away from them so they wouldn’t make signals to be found by the feds which could have easily been violent or relocated the species to another world killing those they couldn’t take to make it seem like they wiped themselves out. Also the Mayor is more and more sus, he a villain, I can feel it Loved the obro! And man I understand Taylor’s character and why, but I don’t like the man that’s for sure. Well more room for character growth!
Apogee
That’s what I was thinking
Apogee
I suspect they took technology away from them so they wouldn’t make signals to be found by the feds which could have easily been violent or relocated the species to another world killing those they couldn’t take to make it seem like they wiped themselves out.
Yannis Morris
Well they have no issue with meat-eating
Yannis Morris
Most primates, while not being sapient, are still pretty smart, you know?
Willie
So the jaslips are most likely omnivores or predators themselves.... wonder what kind mammal reptile avian bug? Now that would be interesting I don't see the consortium being bad baring something we'll hidden... maybe it's the shield? Or the anti predators- I hope the arxur are doing well
Alekss Žukovskis
no, glassing with antimatter would emit energy particles that feds are searching for
Alekss Žukovskis
a necesary evil migth be... they federationed them
Edmund Lam
Taylor is an idiot. The monkey was just protecting his daddy.
Bri
Literally cats
Byron Ritchie
Tbh I don’t see any twist that the consortium are going to be evil, morally ambiguous? Yes maybe even the main antagonists? Probably But I doubt the consortium is going to be truly malicious like the federation was
BigSneppy
I hadn’t considered that, uh oh
OctupleThreat
That's also a distinct possibility. I think it probably will come back to some form of cultural genocide to prevent a total genocide.
Youre a swedekisser arent you
I'm getting a little concerned that the SC are gonna go scouting around the area, making the Consortium want to defend the Tellus humans, and well... war breaks out because neither side knows what it looks like from the other's perspective.
Dookus Maximus
Nah, he'll just harbor a grudge against an animal who doesn't know any better.
Rusty Deviant
“the obors weren’t easy to mellow out at all. They figured out they could use us for food, and their species was close to extinction” and “Juvre seeming to giggle as I was carried away. I stuck my tongue out at the obor, who scowled back at me with an ugly expression” have me worried a bit. This reads to me like they were forced into becoming pets in exchange for their species survival. They might’ve been another sentient species, once.
Joe bro
"...a necessary evil". [Stares with concern]
everything very
Best case scenario cherise has to do the speech instead
everything very
Or maybe overthrowing a government by force to make the species more discreet and not risk detection by the federation
everything very
we have done so many "nessary evils" and even more unnessary ones :/
Qwerty Smith
Kinda curious what would happen if a human raised an abor. Would it learn out cues in absence of its own kind or would nature take its course?
Dragon Writer Luc
That's about what I figured. It doesn't sound to me like they'd really do much at all with the humans here other than ask that they stick to already inhabited worlds in the region.
Amanda Chowning
That was my thought as well, that they forced some non-consensual gene mods, things like eyes and/or diet, in order to hide them from The Federation. They might have figured it was a necessary evil to protect both that race, and others allied with it, from being exterminated by The Federation if found. Along with them going so far to hide their existence (the no new planets, no new races, etc. mentioned in the last chapter- anything to keep what that race was previously a secret). They might not know The Federation gene modded races themselves, and just assumed they killed every predator on sight. They do seem to know The Feds burned predators, as it was mentioned in the previous chapter.
Elliott
My distaste for Taylor 'Stench' grows each chapter. Gress is just a lil guy who sees us as space puppies and Taylor is still way too stuck up his own ass and emotional to do basic diplomacy. We're gonna have Federation Summit 2.0 if they send him to represent humanity. At best they see us as stupid monkey people, at worst they see us as emotional ungrateful violent monkey people. Hopefully the binocular "puppy dog eyes" will save us.
Ella
Taylor's been promoted from having a feud with the sapient rent collector to having a feud with... his pet monkey. Very proud of him.
OctupleThreat
My bet is that they relocated as many as they could (possibly the entire species, or at least that was the plan) then glassed their home world to prevent the Federation having any trail back to Consortium space . So now the Jaslips live in diaspora among the other species of the Consortium
Elliott
To be fair humanity isn't really innocent even excluding stuff like Hiroshima/Nagasaki the Sapient Coalition literally locked a planet in a debris field, allied with space cannibals, and caused two near extinctions. I think we can forgive the Krev, whatever their transgressions were.
Anemoia
Hell yeah, monkey business.
PassengerNo
Now remember, Taylor has never been to a zoo. Taylor should read all vault info on Earth primates, as homework.
Alicja Pielichowska
Noooooo please no “necessary evil” Just when I thought that there were one sane alien species.
Kingarthur
Well given he's being all tight lipped about Jaslips my first thought is some kind of population control measure or enslavement. Maybe a bit harsh so they might have also forcefully regressed them tech wise to pre space faring.
XavHD
I bet the Konsortium gen edited them to have side facing eyes or something
Anthony Mears
Chris's evil pointing monkey 🐒
Anthony Mears
another Taylor "Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape"!
John Benjamin Cate
Looking forward to the complications arising! Like what the humans had to go through to pay off the debt as well as how people died in a desperate attempt to pay off the doubled amount. And I am also looking forward to seeing what these necessary evils could be. I do hope that some can actually be solved and healed.
Charles Michael Santos
Hopefully they'll be allies eith the consortium Wonder how awkward it would be if the consortium sent a fleet towards the Federation to take revenge for the humans on ark 3, only to find out that the humans are now one of the top species in that galaxy and that they yeeted the federation.
Paperclip
I'm sensing a lot of scary possibilities with the Jaslips and it's making me nervous. But it's just about penguin time, so we can worry about Naltor and Tassi's spa day instead. If they hang out together for the whole series, I might be inclined to call them a dynamic duo (I'm a Naltor superfan)
Anthony Mears
the venlil were somewhat accepting at the time they left. I'm surprised they weren't mentioned as an ally among the federation species. yeah, smiling monkeys will get you every time
John
Oh hey, what's in this closet you have over here?
Mutedmirth
there's always a catch with these aliens. We did what we thought was best brings way too many red flags. Looking forward to what that would be!
everything very
"just say first anyway"
Corporal Chunk
Well uhh.... Quite short eh?
print Path
First
