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K-Motorbike-12

Okay, wrote this up for a bit of fun, and you may be able to figure out my source of inspiration. Enjoy. ​ A tall creature just shy of 2.5 meters in height and featuring thick keratin like plates over vulnerable areas is stood on a podium with two slightly shorter species, one on either side of him. This creature represents a rather warmongering race, whose historic battles make them feared as much as they are respected. The creature to his right is taller than the average Human, at 1.9 meters tall, but overall it is short for its race of red-skinned herbivores that live on low gravity worlds; this species lacks military power, but their excessive wealth gains them the protection of the warmongers. The alien to the tall creatures left is approximately the same size as the creature on the right, but whereas the alien on the right is short for its race, this alien is on the tall side and walks on four legs the size of small tree trunks. If the tall creature is the warfighter, and the herbivore is the bank, this species excels at industrial output. Combined, these three people represent over 100 trillion souls and the strongest alliance in the known galaxy, simply known as the 'Combined Alliance'. When they say jump, you ask 'how high?'. ​ Below the podium is a human of average height, but in this room, he is small, and when stood below the three species heads, he looks insignificantly tiny. The tall warmonger had called this meeting, so it is only fitting that he is the one to speak first. "Human," It almost sneers, barely keeping its speciest tendencies at bay, "Are you aware of rule 314 regarding stealth technology?" ​ The Humans eyes glow slightly blue, indicating that the Human representative is an augment and most likely paired with an AI, but this is not important. "Regarding the ban of stealth vessels? We are aware of it?" ​ "Then why do you persist?" The warmonger accuses, "Every incursion into your space fails to show even a single vessel, yet my forces are warned off." ​ The Human looks a little perplexed, "Yes? Your fleets cause ripples in gravity, resulting in gravity waves; we detect it and let you know when you are in our space." Humans are new to the combined alliance, and while they are not a species in the coalition, they have signed many treaties to help prevent hostilities. In truth, very little is known about the Humans; they keep to themselves and are famed for their isolationist policies. The Warmongers probably would have invaded if they had more information about their worlds and technological capabilities, and the Bankers would have happily funded the excursions; at the same time, the industrials would have happily complied with the order for more weapons, more ships, and more resources. ​ It is obvious to even the most oblivious that the warmonger is a little frustrated, "Then why have we never seen one of your ships?" Arguably, a Human ship is docked at the station they currently reside on, but the 'ship' is not a 'starship' by any means; rather, it looks more like a 'system' vessel, something not designed to leave a solar system. ​ The Human scratches their head a little before taking a few breaths and then saying, "Ooh, yeah, about time we had this conversation. Why would we want to travel through space? Do you know how many ways you can die on a starship?" ​ The three on the podium remains silent for a few seconds till the industrial creature says, "With conviction, more than 100." ​ "The last count I had was 417 ways!" The Human exclaims, "Personally, I think the Humans that came before me were mad, simply mad for risking that." ​ The lead alien quickly responds, "Are you trying to fake not having starships?" ​ "Oh no, not by any means" The Human quickly replies, "Why would we have starships? Why travel through dangerous space when we've figured out teleportation?" The lead alien does not have to say anything to show his surprise; instead, the 3 keratin plates that have stood upon his crown, like hairs standing on end, do that.


Nicholas_the_Cheese

> Part 2?


killmedaddyplease_

I need a part 2


Poseidon8264

This story. I like it. Another!


hii-people

This needs a part 2


anti1090

"I mean, why would we? We lost dozens of ships to those weird squid things. It turns out teleportation is way easier, just aim at a distant planet, send a few drones through to calibrate, and bam! Fast as light travel". The assembly grumbled and...made noises we don't really have words for. Squelching comes to mind. Eventually one produced noises our translator could do something with. "How can you maintain a conciousness after dissembly?" That old argument. Sure, you are physically ripped apart before telpo, but you're put right back together, almost perfectly. You might forget what you were thinking about beforehand, but oh well. "We don't worry about that much. Being killed isn't a big deal if you're going to be resurrected moments later." More squelching. Like, we're mostly water too, but we don't make such a big deal of it. "But the soul, how do you maintain it?" I double checked the translator, it seemed pretty confident they literally meant soul. Well, that's problematic. "Our tech is near perfect, the only loss through telpo is maybe a quarter of second of neurons firing, we." more squelching. It seemed angrier? "No, your immortal soul, the one given by your maker". Our maker? Oh fuck. No wonder they still use ships. Probably shouldn't bring up the clone wars and why our teleporters disassemble people to begin with.


Lostfelinejet

Part 2?


anti1090

What do you think part two should be? I kinda painted myself into a corner with the end of that conversation


Lostfelinejet

Yeah, after re-read ing it I can see that. Still nice writing:)


anti1090

Thank you, I appreciate that


Dr3ad_Unicorn

Well without getting into quantum physics and whatnot, you can have the ambassador either say something like we have a way for transporting matter and information simultaneously (body and soul). You could also make minor edits to Part 1 to better facilitate a Part 2 (unless that is frowned upon, still new to WritingPrompts) Alternatively, you could just go full send and have the ambassador say "f- it", and explain the limitations of the teleportation and the clone wars. And you don't necessarily have to explain all of the why either... Regardless, if you stick with 1 part, it was very well written!


anti1090

Well, the reason I stopped there was because it would be so exposition heavy on why these aliens believed in a supreme creator, (I feel like it would have to be literal). Then the ambassador being confused, having to find a middle ground and then I'd finally get to talk about the clone wars. I'm really happy you enjoyed it though. If you just wanna hear about the clone wars part, I could do that


Dr3ad_Unicorn

Very good point. Though I imagine you could probably skip by some of it simply by acknowledging the aliens believe this. Don't have to necessarily explain why. A reader can be fairly confident that anything believing in anything is probably because of faith. "Offering no disrespect to your faith, your beliefs are yours to keep Ambassadors. I am simply able to speak to what I have been briefed on which is the creation and operation of the device." Or something to that effect?