The prevalence of these modes of reproduction in Swenson’s Apes, plus their apparent dependence on selenium for efficient reproductive regulation, suggests two things. First, that we might well search for maritime origins for this bizarre set of creatures. Their physiology is certainly more akin to that of widely-dispersed benthic mollusks than that of terrestrial mammals. Second, that these animals are reproductively adapted to extreme and variable conditions.
The paucity of indigenous flora and fauna on New Utah has been the subject of much conjecture, but little science. We suspect that we may now be experiencing a climatic optimum, but we have no way of testing that assumption. Basic geology has not even proceeded to the point of developing local radiometric curves. We have insufficient samples to establish normative carbon isotope uptake and decay, so we cannot validate radio-carbon curves for carbon dating. Similarly, we have not yet established local thermo-luminescence norms. Even if we could, we have virtually no paleontological record to draw from—let alone any archaeological record or deep-time historical sources. Thus, we can only construct a circular argument: we presume that climate in the past has been subject to extremes, in part because Swenson’s Apes’ reproductive physiology is so well suited to surviving them.
More importantly, we might well take a lesson from what we do know: the observed practices of Ape colonies. We should investigate methods for re-establishing selenium-concentrating algal fields for livestock forage and local nutritional supplementation. Doing so would eliminate New Utah’s dependency on imported fertilizers and vitamins.
And lastly, we might well ponder: Swenson insisted that these were not mere animals, but sentient creatures like ourselves. When faced with destruction, some Swenson’s Apes fled. Where did they go? So much of New Utah remains unexplored by science that perhaps, one day, we will be able to ask them ourselves.
Acknowledgements
I owe debts of knowledge and gratitude to many people who informed the science behind this story. Special thanks are due Aleta Jackson of XCOR Aerospace, for providing personal tours of the world of privately-financed space tourism, rocket planes, Mohave Spaceport, and the XCOR Lynx production line. McArthur fellow Prof. Guillermo Algaze of the University of California, San Diego introduced me to the early complexities of Mesopotamian accounting, trade, industry, and labor systems. Professor Lisa Levin of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography illuminated the improbable world and reproductive habits of benthic mollusks. Finally, the owners, operators, staff, and impeccable security teams of Neareast Resources kept me alive and safe amidst the chaos that was postwar Iraq. My debt to them is unlikely to ever be repaid.
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