by Jeff Sims
Lexxi shrugged and responded, “I don’t know. My father said that I am supposed to accompany a pair of clueless Altians on some boring two-year deep space mission to investigate old cultures or something. I really didn’t pay much attention to him.”
The similarity of the missions bothered Lorano. He asked, “Exactly how recently were you assigned to this project?”
Lexxi checked her communication pad. She said, “Ten minutes ago.” She read her mission briefing a little further and sighed loudly. She continued, “Oh, apparently I have already located the two Altians.”
Clowy asked, “Which Altians?”
Lexxi had already put on her giant earphones, so Lorano responded. He started to say ‘The two inside the warehouse’ but stopped himself at the last minute. He really didn’t want Clowy to ask yet another question. Instead he responded, “Lexxi is accompanying us on our mission.”
Clowy smiled brightly. Lorano didn’t.
This mission had just gone from exciting to barely passable to something less than barely passable – possibly scarcely passable. Lorano’s plan for dealing with Clowy if she became too annoying was to trick her into getting into a cryostasis chamber. Now, that option was gone with Lexxi tagging along.
Lorano knew that he had to change the dynamic as quickly as possible. He grabbed his communication pad and said, “Computer, call Carank.”
Carank appeared on screen and Lorano greeted him as nicely as possible. He said, “Hello Carank, what useless project are you working on?”
Carank checked the time display and realized that it was a live call and that Lorano was on Advranki Prime. Carank refused to be baited and instead answered, “What brings you to Advranki Prime?”
Lorano briefly described the new mission and asked if Carank wanted to go. Carank responded that he was interested in going, but wanted to finish his current project. Carank asked, “Could you postpone it until next month?”
Lorano responded, “No. The Alliance Senate is really behind this project. They want the four of us to leave within the week.”
“Four?”
Lorano replied, “Yes. Both Clowy and Lexxi are coming on this mission.”
Carank replied, “I will be there this afternoon.”
Carank immediately began packing his belongings. He noted that he was performing the task rather perfunctorily; primarily because his mind was focused on the upcoming trip. He was surprised how excited he was. Well, not the trip exactly.
He wasn’t necessarily excited about spending the next two years with locked on a small ship with Lorano, and to a lesser extent Clowy. However, the concept of fully exploring their secret planet was intriguing and the possibility of discovering even more planets was exciting.
The primary reason for his excitement at the moment though was Lexxi. He was really looking forward to spending the next two years on a small ship all alone with her. Well, Clowy and Lorano were going too, but they were Altians. He would be the only male Advranki within hundreds of light years of her.
“I really like my chances,” Carank summarized.
Carank refocused his efforts on his task at hand and quickly finished packing. He was just about to leave his apartment when he realized that he had forgotten the gag gift that he had purchased for Lexxi while they were on Solaria. He grabbed it and tossed into one of his bags.
He went to the intracontinental transport hub and booked passage on a shuttle. It was a regularly scheduled commercial transport that hopped between Askjunk, where he working, and Avunk, the capital city of Advranki Prime where Lorano and the others were located.
He was early. So early in fact that the transport wasn’t boarding for another hour. Carank wandered around the spaceport for a few minutes. He had been in the spaceport many times before, but had never really bothered to see what stores were available in the waiting area.
He walked past a formal clothing store. He stopped and walked back and looked in the window. Carank dithered for a few moments and finally decided to enter. He selected one of the men’s formal wedding outfits. He had the outfit vacuum sealed into a small tube for ease of carrying and storage.
He couldn’t believe how similar it looked to the outfit in Fletcher Birdsong’s painting. Fletcher Birdsong was a famous painter on Solaria and was also the father of one of his previous crewmates named Ella Birdsong. Ella had her father paint a mural in the Spaceport Hotel and Resort as payment for letting her stay there during the Solarian Celebration.
The painting, technically a fresco because the paint absorbed into the wall, depicted a double marriage. Clowy was dressed in a traditional Altian wedding gown. She was standing next to Lorano, who was dressed in a human inspired tuxedo. Lexxi was wearing a Solarian style wedding gown. Carank, dressed in a traditional Advranki groom’s outfit, was standing beside her.
Admiral Solear was standing between the two couples and was performing the wedding ceremony. He was dressed in an Alliance Navy uniform and holding an Altian urn and an Advranki sea moss square. Both items were traditional wedding accompaniments. The painting, titled Double Wedding, was designed to honor the four vastly different cultures.
Carank boarded the shuttle. The transport lifted off and flew about halfway across the major continent. It landed about 90 minutes later at the Spaceport in Avunk. Carank disembarked and took the electro lift to the 50th floor.
Lorano’s warehouse was about ¼ a kilometer from the spaceport. He decided to walk across the skywalk instead of taking the hovertram or a ground car because it was significantly faster than trying to arrange transportation. He reached the correct warehouse and took the electro lift to the ground floor. He was actually excited about the new project.
That evening, they gathered and decided upon their best course of action. Lorano and Carank made a list of everything that they would need to properly investigate ancient civilizations and uninhabited planets. The first item on the list was a Model 345.22.14 diagnostic computer. Lorano refused to leave the planet without one.
The list grew longer and longer – ground car, environmental suits, hoverbot, hovercarts, sea moss, seedlings to grow fresh sea moss, gravity missiles and gravity tracking equipment, and a vast array of other items. Of course, the last item on the list was a Model 542.26.19 label maker. Carank never left home without it.
Lorano summarized, “We will have to get a mini-freighter. The Buzzkill is too small.”
Lexxi sent the ship change request and the equipment request to the Alliance Senate. A few minutes later she received a response stating that a mini-freighter had been repurposed for their use and all of the equipment was on order. Everything was scheduled to be ready in 6 days.
They spent the intervening time researching old Advranki files about the first contact with Altians. Unfortunately, there was no information about the name change or any mention that Advranki found any inhabited, or even habitable, planets.
The only document they found with any relevance was a mention of an unofficial treaty governing space exploration. It basically laid out the galaxy as a two-dimensional map. The Advranki were responsible for exploring everything east and north of Conron. Everything south and west of Conron was the responsibility of the Altians.
Although they couldn’t find anything of historical value in the ancient records, their research led them to Doctor Purami. She was one of the few Altians that accompanied the Advranki fleet on their ill-fated mission to the Spindle Station. She had recently performed an extensive physical on two human males and was in the process of writing a paper on human physiology.
Doctor Purami was stationed on the battleship Guardian. Fortunately, the Guardian was in orbit around Advranki Prime. As a result, they could speak to each in real time without any delay. Lorano contacted her and exchanged introductions. He informed her of their upcoming trip to search for a causal link between the Solarians and the Humans.
Lorano said, “Doctor Purami, I understand that you have performed in depth physicals on both races. What
can you tell us about them?”
Purami responded, “Well, one race is blue. The other is not.”
Fair enough, Lorano thought. He believed that he already knew that particular fact, but it was certainly helpful to have a medical doctor confirm it. He continued, “Anything else?” He left the qualifier ‘of value’ off of the end of the sentence.
Purami: “The Humans are much taller and stronger than the Solarians. The reason is because their bones are slightly larger and their musculature is more developed. Also, some of Humans actually perform specific exercises to increase this size of their muscles.”
Wow, Lorano thought. So, the humans are taller, stronger, and a different color than the Solarians. He pretty much already knew that too. Lorano responded, “Thank you for that insightful list of differences doctor. How about similarities?”
Purami laughed and said, “You misunderstand me. Those are the only differences. They essentially share the same genome.”
“Genome?” Lorano repeated.
Purami: “The genome is the complete nucleic acid sequence of a species. Both Humans and Solarians share the same genome, or DNA, and the same 23 chromosomes. There are some minor deviations, but not outside the normal probability curve for recessive gene pairings.”
Lorano: “So they are the same race?”
Purami thought for a moment and said, “Yes and no. They certainly started from a similar ancestor in the not too distant past. And empirical evidence suggests that this particular race evolved on Earth.”
Lorano: “So, it is safe to assume that at least part of Solaria’s settlement is true. The statue at Settler’s Monument noted that there were 8,000 original settlers and that they landed about 4,000 years ago.
Purami, “Yes, that certainly makes sense. All Solarians living today are descendants of the original 8,000 settlers.”
Lorano said, “You also mentioned that there was a no.”
Purami said, “In Humans, the pigmentation, or the color of their skin, is the result of changes in melanin from UV light. The darker the skin, the better the protection from the UV rays.”
Lorano asked, “Then if darker skin is a desirable trait, shouldn’t all humans be black?”
Purami responded, “No, because the skin also absorbs vitamin D from the sunlight. The lighter the skin is, the better the absorption process. Humans in colder areas with less direct sunlight have less fear of skin cancer from harmful UV rays. Therefore, they can have lighter skin for increased vitamin D absorption.”
Lorano: “The point.” He mentally added ‘if any’.
Purami said, “The point is that skin color is a trade-off between diet and environmental factors. However, there is no natural pigment that would turn a Human’s skin blue. It is not a result of natural evolution.”
Lorano said, “I understand. Someone or something significantly altered their skin pigmentation. What about the height and weight differences?”
Purami said, “The average Solarian male is 13 cm (5”) shorter than the average Human male. The interesting thing about Solarians is that their average height hasn’t changed in the last 2,000 years. Further, there is very little deviation between the heights. One would expect to see a wider range between the tallest Solarian and the smallest.”
Lorano said, “So, Solarians are all roughly the same height and are all significantly shorter than humans. That is very interesting.” Lorano somehow managed to say that last statement with a straight face and even managed to make it seem sincere.
Purami said, “I have no recent trustworthy evidence, but the Humans that I interviewed stated the average height among males is 177 cm (5’ 10”), but can vary naturally anywhere from 156 cm (5’ 2”) to 224 cm (7’ 4”). Further, they added that there are instances of both taller and shorter males, but these are rare.”
Lorano noted that the tone of her voice was rather patronizing. She sounded as if she was speaking about things that he should already know. It seemed as if she was repeating a lecture that he had failed to attend the first time.
He sighed and said, “I still don’t understand the point that you are trying to make.”
She said, “Recall when you recently went to Earth to perform the semi-century review of Humans? The first mission report was written in the year 1600 and a new report has been filed every 50 or so years since. Nine total missions to Earth have been conducted thus far.”
Lorano had completely forgotten about those reports. He had meant to read them en route to Earth, but hadn’t. Then he meant to read them while on the planet, but didn’t. He should have read them during his investigation of Humans, but again, by that time he had completely forgotten about them.
She paused for a breath and continued, “In the years 1600 through 1750, the average height of a male Human was 165 cm (5’ 5”). There was little or no change. However, the average height increased by 3 cm (1.25”) every 50 years from 1750 through 1950.”
She purposefully paused for effect and concluded, “I was expecting the data from your visit to show that the average height was now 180 cm (5’ 11”). However, the data from your report showed that there was no change from 1954 to now.”
Lorano remembered that particular form. He had assigned it Crista. She asked if she really needed to travel to 6 different spots in the United States and measure and weigh 3,000 people. Lorano recalled that his answer was something along the lines of “Just get it done.”
No, he corrected himself. That wasn’t exactly what he said. He told her to just go ask 50 random people in downtown Akron, Ohio how tall they were, how old they were, and how much they weighed.
Purami waited for a response and didn’t immediately get one, so she said, “Oddly enough, all of your metrics, with the exception of weight, are exactly the same as those from the 1954 report.”
Hmmm, now that he thought about it, they may have neglected to gather all of the necessary generational information. Further, he may have incidentally mentioned to Crista to just copy the census data from the last report if she had any blanks.
Lorano responded, “The height increases over the last two centuries was due to improved diet and food availability. Very little has changed in that regard over the last 60 years. As a result, the average height seems to have peaked.”
He continued, “However, we may soon have to stop using average to describe to population and switch to median and mode. While the average height may not be changing, as you mentioned previously the tails of the distribution seem to be increasing.”
He smiled as he appreciated his fast thinking. That excuse should convince her that they had done a thorough job during their assessment. Heck, who knows - it may even be true.
She responded, “So you believe that the tall people are getting taller and the short people are getting shorter?”
“Yes. That seems to be the case. Or perhaps the variance has always existed but was more pronounced this time because we sampled more data points than previous studies.” He doubted that one was true, but hey, who knows.
She said, “Well, that certainly makes sense. There are three other rather minor differences that are very interesting. The first is that the Solarians are far smarter than Humans. However, their brains haven’t been modified, they just have had centuries of better education.”
“Second,” Lorano prompted.
Purami answered, “Solarians appear to be far, far more docile than Humans. You would logically think that they would exhibit the same violent and anti-social tendencies as Humans, but they do not. My theory is the difference is due to centuries of conditioning combined with selective breeding and possibly some genome tweaking.
“Third,” Lorano prompted.
Purami: “Solarians are somehow less imaginative than Humans. There is no biological or mental reason to explain it that I could find. That said though, the last two generations of Solarians have experienced an explosion in art and literature.”
Lorano: “What would cause such a change?”
> Purami: “I don’t know. Perhaps they are now being exposed to some type of outside influence that is stimulating creativity.”
Lorano: “The Solarians are now watching hours and hours of Human television programming.”
Purami: “Yes. That is probably it. Watching hours of Human television each day would certainly spur creativity.”
Lorano summarized, “So, our working theory is that some beings went to Earth 4,000 years ago, collected a bunch of short, dull Humans, altered their skin pigment blue, fiddled with their DNA ever so slightly to make them more docile and not grow taller over time. Then these mystery beings transported the altered Humans to a different planet and abandoned them.”
Purami nodded in approval and moved her finger to cut the connection. She stopped at the last moment and said, “A fair parallel may be the Neto.”
Intrigued, Lorano responded, “How so?”
Purami: “Recall that the Neto were in the news a few months ago. The Hiriculans did many embarrassing things to the race to try to make them more intelligent. They euthanized the weak, the old, the lame, the mentally deficient, and the chronically ill. They cut off the Neto’s lower set of arms. Then they created a eugenics program…”
Purami saw that Lorano had a strange look on his face. He clearly wasn’t going to admit that he didn’t know what that word meant. She saved him the question and said, “The Hiriculans implemented a planet-wide selective-breeding program where they forced genetically favorable couples to have children.”
Lorano pretended to nod in understanding.
Purami concluded, “If you came across a planet filled with 4-armed, disease ridden, lower intelligence Neto and compared it to today’s planet of 2-armed, smarter, cleaner Neto you would have a similar comparison between the Humans the Solarians.” This time she did break the connection.
‘Seems legit’, Lorano thought.
………..…………
The six day wait turned into a week. The week turned into, well, just a week. Exactly seven days later they were ready to leave. Every item on the list had been loaded into the mini-freighter, stacked in a spot based on either function or color, and appropriately labeled.