Xenophobia - Chapter 14

    After the last meeting, Darrian noticed that the cycles began to pass at a sluggish pace. At first, he couldn't wait to get to the meeting room. That was, until he noticed that Jin'thun was missing. Unlike before with Juag-e, the old Judge said nothing about the Gorderian's absence.
    That meeting dragged on like nothing else.
    The next meeting wasn't any better. No Jin'thun. No word of whether they had rallied support or the Gorderians had gone to the Tulgucks aid.
    It was like this for a dozen cycles.
    During this time, the humans were already making immense progress with their colonization of Mars. The colony ships from both China and the United States had arrived safe and sound and had quickly begun the process of creating life-support habitats for the colonists. Once they finished their construction, the humans immediately sank their time into agricultural and scientific endeavors.
    One thing that struck the council as odd was the fact that the humans from the two ships remained separated and seemed to make no attempt to actively interact with each other. Despite their only difference being geographical location on Earth, their groups remained separated aside for occasionally checking that the other was alive and well.
    Darrian thought he'd never understand how humans disregarded their own species so much.
    The humans' presence on Mars created a number of unique problems for the analytics team as well. Unlike on Earth with it's rather massive population, a lone individual or group of individuals stuck out compared to the general populace of Mars. It wasn't a matter of simply slapping on a holographic imager and walking into the crowd. Every human knew every other human and they couldn't simply walk into a mess hall as an unknown.
    But Harris's team was talented.
    Utilizing a combination of technological infiltration and carefully hidden listening and viewing devices, a small group of the analytics team was able to monitor the humans as they progressed into their colonization. It proved challenging keeping their craft hidden, sometimes in orbit and sometimes on the surface, and it was not nearly as informative but they made it work.

    "I just don't get why they don't really interact with each other." grumbled Ugul.
    "Hmm. Do you think it could be the whole 'language barrier' thing that Harris had mentioned before?" said Cagool snidely.
    Darrian couldn't help but feel that the Yool had become absolutely insufferable as of late. While he had actively denied any interaction or affiliation with the Tulgucks or Gorderians, his mood swing seemed too conveniently timed. Ever since Jin'thun's disappearance, he couldn't seem to keep his condescension to himself. Maybe he just liked being the contrarian.
    "Many of the colonists speak each others regional linguistics, Cagool." groaned A'alan't 32.
    "Well, maybe this is a new batch. Who knows? With how short lived they are, maybe they had to reproduce on the ship before the original batch died of old age. Did we think to check?"
    "Would you just shut up?" snapped Ferris in an unusually bad mood.
    Maybe he was just used to being the sarcastic one or maybe Cagool was just getting under his skin. Either way, Ferris had more venom then normal.
    "I feel like you haven't had anything useful to add to these meetings in a while." Ferris added quickly.
    "What's there to add?" asked Cagool. "We're basically just watching a virus grow in a petri dish while we wait for the doctor to come and destroy it."
    "Cagool." warned the old judge.
    "What?" he said as he looked around the table. "You might not like it, but facts are facts. The Tulgucks are on their way right now to wipe them off the map."
    The old judge glowered at him and a few of the other councilors looked uncomfortable.
    "Even if the Gorderians decide to try and stop them, which they probably won't, the Tulgucks have good headway. I'd give it another few cycles before for the first warships show up and then we can start doing something better with our time."
    "Cagool. Are you suggesting that this is a waste of time and that we should be supporting the Tulgucks in their vicious slaughter of a young species?" demanded the old judge.
    "Hey. I didn't say it. You did."
    Darrian could feel his throat tightening and was about to say something when the light on the holographic imager started flashing.
    The old judge reached down and hit a button on his datapad and Harris, not in his human disguise but instead his proper Merrenian form, appeared above the table.
    "Harris?" asked the old judge. "Is something wrong? You have this labeled as a priority one message."
    "I bet the warships just showed up." muttered Cagool quietly.
    "Would you just..." growled Ferris.
    "Shut it!" snapped the old judge. "Harris?"
    Harris adjusted himself and cleared his throat.
    "Yes. Well... I'm not sure how to put this. As you are aware, the humans begin their scientific research on the surface of Mars. Some of that research includes extensive digging. Archaeologic searches and the like..." his tone was hollow and he looked nervous.
    The room fell quiet. Even Cagool didn't have something snide to add.
    "What did they find, Captain?" asked the old judge with hesitation in his voice.
    Harris seemed to look around the room as if he was considering what or how to say whatever it was needed saying. After a moment, he sighed heavily and looked back to the old judge with a stern expression.
    "The humans have found a Guillae, sir."

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Xenophobia - Chapter 11

    The next ten cycles were a maelstrom of activity. The council met at least once a cycle, if not two or three. Darrian was even required to attend several Consortium meetings over that same time period. Everything was concerning the humans' attempt to colonize Mars.
    While the news of their upcoming attempt definitely made ripples, the main reason for the constant deliberation had more to do with the speed that humans seemed to operate at. Every cycle brought several new challenges. Something new to review and discuss.
    Recruiting for the colonization begun. Political arguments rallied regarding planetary ownership. A competition among geographic "nations" broke out regarding who would be the first to reach the planet. Tensions rose between those nations and even threatened war. Several interplanetary vessels were destroyed by what was believed to be sabotage.
    Despite all the setbacks and changes, the colony ships launched at the very end of the tenth cycle. There were two ships; both from different geographic "nations". One from a location known as "China". The other from the "United States".
    Juag-e never showed up to a single meeting during that time.

    "Where is he?" the old judge demanded of Jin'thun at the beginning of the second cycle.
    Jin'thun gave the old judge a withering glare before responding.
    "Do I look like a Tulguck?"
    "You two are always together." interjected Darrian before the old judge could respond.
    "Politically." agreed Jin'thun with a threatening growl. "The same can be said of him and Yool, yet I don't see you turning a sharpened tongue towards him."
    "Hey. Don't drag me into this." retorted Yool.
    "The fact remains," continued the judge, "We just went through an entire cycle without so much as a notification as to his whereabouts. Juag-e needs to take this council seriously."
    "Who could?" snapped Jin'thun. "Particularly when you can't seem to tell me apart from an entirely different species."
    "It's jus..." began Cherryl.
    "It's just what?!" demanded Jin'thun. "I am not an ambassador from Tulguck. I'm a Gorderian and you'll be wise to remember that."
    "Calm yourself, Jin'thun. They meant no disrespect." said A'alan't 32.
    "Of course they did. Because we dare have a different opinion from their own." he said, turning his rage on the little Bivvie. "It's the same reason Ferris likes to call Juag-e, Yool, and I the Trifecta."
    "That's right." he snarled, turning towards Ferris. "You're not as quiet or as funny as you think you are Merrenian. But what can you expect from a rodent in a robot?"
    "Jin'thun!" yelled the old judge.
    "What?" he responded in a low, threatening tone.
    "This is a council meeting. If you can't control you're temper and follow the rules of etiquette you will be removed from this council."
    "Would those be the same rules of etiquette that dictate interspecies relations, specifically on the matter of respect, tolerance, and mutual agreement? Or perhaps you're referring to the subsection that dictates what a council lead is to do in the absence of a species ambassador?"
    The judge had no response and no other counselor dared the Gorderian's fury.
    "Before you yell at me about my breach in etiquette, consider your own. I am not Juag-e's keeper and I will not be put on the spot for his absence." growled Jin'thun. "If you want to know where he is, contact his embassy. That's yours and his problem. Not. Mine."
    Despite the fact that Jin'thun was clearly still fuming, he settled back into his place at the table. The room was silent for several moments as no one knew what to say. Finally, the old judge stepped up.
    "I apologize for my inconsideration, ambassador." said the old judge in a soft tone.
    "Damn right, you are. Now, we've got a job to do. Let's get to it."
    And they did.

    Despite the fact that Darrian was sure the old judge would have contacted the Tulguck embassy immediately after the debacle with Jin'thun, no one heard anything regarding Juag-e for a good while. He didn't return nor was a replacement Tulguck arranged to take his spot. His place at the table remained empty.
    It stayed that way until the evening of the twelfth cycle.
    "Just when I thought we were done with meetings for a while." grumbled Ferris.
    "I thought so too." agreed Darrian as they settled into place.
    "There can't possibly be something else going on." Ferris complained towards the old judge. "The human ships aren't supposed to arrive on Mars for another six or seven cycles."
    "Did something happen?" asked Illiquina with a hint of concern. "Was there an accident? More sabotage?"
    "No accident." confirmed the old judge. "But, to be frank, we have a problem."
    "And what is that?"
    "The Tulguck Armada has been mobilized and they have declared hostile intent against the humans."

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Xenophobia - Chapter 10

    “WHAT THE HELL IS THIS ABOUT?!” bellowed Juag-e as he stormed through the council doors.

    Most of the counselors who had already gathered for the message briefing were too surprised to respond. A’alan’t 32, however, had no such issue.

    “If you read the message,” she said in her normal quiet, cool tone. “You’d know it was regarding humans attempting to colonize Mars.”

    “Of course I read the message!” snapped Juag-e, his eyes wide and his teeth bared. “How in the hell are they already attempting to colonize another planet?!”

    A’alan’t 32 simply shrugged and settled at her place at the table. Darrian thought this only made Juag-e more upset. He watched the little Tulguck’s scales actively hackle and his eyes follow A’alan’t 32 threateningly.

    “I’ll remind you,” said the old judge warningly, “we will not have this manner of disrespect in a council meeting.”

    Juag-e glowered at the robot for a minute, seemingly debating if he should pursue the matter further. The old judge matched his gaze. Neither looked away for several tense moments.

    Finally, Juag-e gave up.

    Juag-e was still hackled, but he houghed loudly and made his way to his place at the table where he buried his face in his datapad. Nothing else was said as the remainder of the counselors made their way into the room.

    A moment later, they were all settled in.

    “Can someone explain how we are having this meeting right now?” demanded Cagool.

    “Well, first we came into a room…” started Ferris.

    “No!” Juag-e shouted, cutting off what was sure to be an incredibly sarcastic explanation. “Now is not the time for that! It’s been a total of twenty-nine cycles since the humans launched their first Mars-bound craft. TWENTY-NINE!”

    “Right.” Agreed Cagool. “How are they talking about colonization already?Did I miss a rotation or two?”

    “You’ve missed nothing.” Confirmed the old judge.

    Cherryl cleared her throat before standing up next to the judge.

    “C-correct.” She said with a little nod. “The humans have already decided to try their hands at colonization.”

    “But they’ve only been to the planet a few times…” said Ugul in confusion.

    “Twice, actually.” Agreed Cherryl.

    “And their technology… It’s so…primitive.”

    “You’re not wrong.” She said as she started typing something on her datapad.

    “I’m sensing a ‘but’.” Said Darrian.

    “But, if any species…” started Cherryl before she was suddenly cut off by Illiquina.

    “But if any species was suicidal enough to try it, it would seem to be humans.” Illiquina said coolly.

    The old judge flashed her a warning glance.

    “I mean it in the most complementary way.” She said with a playful tone to the judge.

    “Right.” Said Cherryl, starting again. “With that said…”

    She didn’t get to say more before she was cut off again. This time, it was by Jin’thun.

    “Is that what it’s come down to then? We’re complementing these monsters?” he growled.

    “Jin’thun!” gasped Cherryl.

    “What?” he snapped at her obvious discomfort. “Have I been the only one listening to what’s been said? This is just another obvious facet of this species’ deficiencies.”

    “For trying to colonize Mars?” inquired Darrian with just a hint of disgust.

    “For trying to do it almost as soon as they’ve touched Mars dirt! It’s reckless abandon!”

    “Or perhaps it’s simply fervor.” Said Ugul. “Excitement.”

    “Fervor?!” snapped Juag-e. “Jin’thun is right! Is it considered fervor when a virus is contagious? When it hops from host to host as fast as possible without care for who or what harm it does.”

    “Now hold on.” Said Illiquina.

    “No! We said that this species reminded us of a plague early on and it seems that the similarities just keep coming.”

    “Why are we even bothering with these meetings?” He demanded. “All we do is talk. It hasn’t even been a twentieth of a rotation and this species has already attempted and succeeded at interplanetary travel. Now they’re attempting to colonize just as quickly! All while they are so violent that they literally slaughter each other in droves back on their home planet!”

    “How long do you give them before these monsters are on a door step? Before they achieve deep space flight and bring their violence to us?!”

    Even the old judge was left speechless as they watched Juag-e’s explosion. Jin’thun had been mad but it was clear that Juag-e was furious. No one knew how to respond to the outburst.

    “Go ahead.” Juag-e growled, his scales standing on end. “Keep talking. That’s all we’ve ever done about the humans. See how good that does you when they come knocking down your door.”

    With that, Juag-e stormed back out of the council room. Jin’thun seemed to consider for a moment and then quickly followed after the Tulguck. Expectantly, the remaining counselors glanced at Cagool.

    “Don’t look at me.” He said in his usual stand-offish nature. “That was all them.”

    The remainder of the meeting was tense but proved less eventful than the beginning. The council reviewed the spacecraft and number of humans who were traveling on what the humans openly called a ‘one way trip to Mars’. They discussed the likelihood of survival and what the trip might mean for human technologies. One constant question revolved around if they would find any remains from the Guillae population that had been there before.

    No one dared talk about what Juag-e’s outburst might mean for Consortium or the human population. They didn’t want to think about it, but the fear of what to come hung thick in the room. It followed Darrian back to his office and wouldn’t leave his thoughts for several cycles.

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Xenophobia - Chapter 9

    The next couple dozen or so cycles passed quickly. The council met a few times regarding the human’s excursion to Mars during that time. There was always a little fervor and disagreement, particularly from the “Trifecta” as some of the counselors had started to call Cagool, Juag-e, and Jin’thun, but nothing ever got out of hand. The old judge always managed to rope them back in.

    Instead, the majority of time was spent reviewing data from the analytics team and arranging deep-space signals to keep unwary travelers out of the quarantine zone. It was monotonous sometimes but needed to be done.

    Falling right in line with Harris’s message, the human interplanetary vehicle launched at the tail end of the sixth cycle.  Six passengers were on a course for the nearest planet with the trip expecting to take something in the range of six to ten cycles.

    Reviewing the specs that the analytics team sent back proved entertaining in a way. The craft was dirty in comparison to most space craft, being little more than a series of controlled explosives that helped escape the atmosphere; but Darrian couldn’t help but admire it. The humans demonstrated a nearly suicidal determination for exploration when only twenty cycles before they seemed to have no interest in even leaving their own orbit.

    Additionally, while the council waited for the spacecraft to complete its journey, there was a scattering of other reports that trickled in. These reports were not directly related to space travel, but rather the state of the planet.

    Darrian could never decide if they made him hopeful or fearful for the future of the human species.

    The reports tended to be on both sides of the spectrum. On the one end, there were a number of wars and conflicts taking place across the planet at any given time. Violent actions were so constant amongst the inhabitants that there were a number of special categories; the two primary of which were “assault” and “murder”. Life was damaged or extinguished at a terrifyingly constant rate.

   Yet, on the other end of the spectrum, there were a large number of humans that displayed a much more civilized manner. For every war that broke out, there were humans that resisted the call of violence. Some protested while others fought to defend the innocents caught in the crossfire. Others attempted to garner legislation to their favor while still more actively rescued and healed rather than harmed.

    Most simply did not act on the baser need for violent action. Instead, they went about their time trying to better themselves and their communities using the infrastructure of support that civilization could grant.

    Darrian couldn’t help but feel respect these people.

    The more meetings he attended and the more data he reviewed, the more he started to notice a number of interesting trends.

    The first was that the number of overly violent humans was actually lower than previously thought. Only something in the range of ten to fifteen percent seemed to have a predisposal towards overt violence. These numbers were drastically lower than the initial meetings might have suggested.

    Instead, one of the major problems seemed to be that those individuals predisposed towards violence always seemed to find their way into positions of power and leadership. An otherwise placid population was forced towards violence through the will of a select few.

    Perhaps it was a side effect of the combative tendencies that these violent individuals ended up in positions of power. Or perhaps the humans’ current governmental systems simply favored an archaic need for bloodshed. No one in the council could really agree.

    “Maybe if more humans worked to correct their problems versus just standing by as atrocities happen, they could move forward as a species.” Jin’thun growled during the discussion.

    Darrian couldn’t help but agree. The more he studied the population, the more he realized that most problems were fed more by global indifference than anything else.

    Another pattern that he noticed was that a lot of the global issues seemed to have geographic correlation. Similar to how violence was perpetrated by a select percentage of humans, certain localized populations seemed more inclined than others towards violent and self-destructive tendencies. These populations were often the same ones that contributed to war conflicts and global crisis around the planet in comparison to other locations.

    There had been some arguments over it, but no one could understand how it worked. For whatever reason, specific ‘countries’ as they called themselves seemed to believe they were better than the rest of the global population. It was like they believed that they were the only ones that mattered despite the only difference being their geographic location on the planet.

    These moralistic dilemmas preoccupied most of the council meetings for more than a few cycles. It was taxing because the council had no real power to act upon a quarantined species and so most time was spent just debating with no real endpoint.  They were just arguing over atrocities.

    It made Darrian a little thankful when he found a new priority message flashing on his datapad.

    “Humans are attempting to colonize Mars.”

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Xenophobia - Chapter 6

   Despite the aggression that was briefly displayed that evening in the Consortium, the Tulgucks and Gorderians did honor the decision of the council. Actions were quickly arranged to set up a full time analytics team that could both monitor the state of the planet as well as study the population of AV32784 further. There was a bit of scrambling to figure out a system of semi-permanent air purifiers to deal with the oxygen atmosphere, but all in all, things were set up without a hitch.
    The first forty solar cycles after the analytics team arrived were relatively unexciting. Aside from facts and complaints about the flora and fauna on the planet, the council was provided little more than a few interesting tidbits of astronomical data.
    It would seem that the planet was known as "Earth" or "Terra" depending on what the analytics team found. Likewise, the planet's solar cycles were known as "days" as were their solar rotations known as "years". Both were drastically shorter than Merrinians'. Initial guesses were that the planet ran something in the range of one hundred times faster than their own.
    Darrian figured it would be the last he'd be hearing from that hellish wasteland for a while.
    He was wrong.
    It was on cycle Forty One after the analytics team arrival when the first priority message was delivered to the council chambers.

    With a heavy sigh, Darrian made his way out of his office and back down the hall towards the meeting room. Ferris and Cherryl were already waiting in front of the door, rapidly talking with each other.
    Ferris, who had not been present at the Consortium meeting, had been brought into the fold to assist Darrian with the council details. Cherryl, on the other hand, was the ambassador for the Celestial Commissionary in that sector and was the main liaison between the analytics team and Merrinian.
    "Dare I ask?" Darrian questioned Cherryl as he approached.
    "Don't bother. She won't tell us anything before the meeting." Ferris grumbled and gave Cherryl a nasty look.
    "I-I can't." She stammered in her normal soft tone. "You'll know soon enough though."
    Darrian motioned towards the door and they both filed into the meeting room. He followed quickly after them and the three of them settled into their spots around the table. The old judge was already at the front of the room and a number of others had already taken their places. The council was primarily Merrinian with a handful of alternate species from the Consortium on hand to represent their individual interests.
    Once everyone was at the table, the door sealed with a soft hiss and the old judge spoke up.
    "Alright everyone. As you were aware, the analytics team that we recently stationed at AV32784 was sent there with specific instructions to monitor the population for any changes that might effect the global community."
    "When last we discussed this planet, the "human" population had demonstrated a capability for space travel, but had only shown an interest in a few lunar excursions and utilizing orbital technologies. That has changed."
    "Changed?" asked Juag-e, the lone Tulguck emissary. "That quickly? We only just got there."
    "Correct." agreed the judge with a nod. "Just like everything else on this planet, it seems that minds change quickly as well."
    The judge reached down and clicked a few buttons on his datapad. The room darkened and the holographic imager lit up to reveal the soft featured face of a human. For a minute, Darrian wondered if somehow a human had somehow discovered the analytics team and sent the message, but his fears were abated when Harris's snarky voice came out of the creature. However, there was no sarcasm or attitude in his voice this time.
    "The humans have initiated a program to reach and colonize their closest planet. Much like their 'race to the moon', the species has begun a seeming competition to send colonists to the fourth planet in their solar system. It would seem that dissatisfaction at one of the current organizations "NASA" has instigated a sudden boom of interest by a secondary organization to try and accomplish this task. While their technologies are still very limited, further initiatives may allow for or prompt research into deep space travel. The first ships are said to leave within three to six cycles. Please advise. Over."
     The imager went black once again and everyone sat in silence for a minute. Finally, it was Ferris who broke the quiet.
    "Sound like we sent a team at just the right time."
    "Yes." agreed the judge with a nod. "It would seem so."
    "Did they really say three to six cycles? Do we even have time to respond?" asked Ugul, the massive Jigger who sat at the end of the table.
    "N-not really." said Cherryl with a shake of her head.
    "Do we have any data on the planet they're trying to colonize?" asked Illiquina, the Cadrax of the group.
    "Quite a bit actually." responded Cherryl quickly. "It's a deserted planet and hasn't had life for quite sometime. It was originally home to the Guillae but according to Harris's reports, the humans like to refer to it as 'Mars'."

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(Hello Lovelies. So, you may have noticed that we have yet more Xenophobia! While, I know that it's October and I had talked about started Spookytober, I want to keep the ball rolling for as long as I can. Xenophobia continues to be very well received and, unlike some projects, it's flowing smoothly without trouble. I want to keep producing as long as I can and, should my attention drop off a bit, then I will switch over to Spookytober. I hope you enjoyed and check back again for the next Chapter! Ta!)