{"id":2425,"date":"2022-09-10T14:13:30","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:13:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/?p=2425"},"modified":"2022-09-10T14:13:30","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:13:30","slug":"uncivilized-apes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/2022\/09\/10\/uncivilized-apes\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncivilized Apes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

prompt: Write a story in which someone says \u201cYou’ll never be content.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

available at Reedsy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ambassador Innuluk 2327 had an annoying, sloshing, unease behind all four of its eyestalks. It hoped the translator was wrong. No sapient being could be as obtuse and stubborn as this stiff-jointed, endoskeletal biped that called itself \u201cCarlie\u201d or maybe \u201cChief of Engineering\u201d or \u201cHuman.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It looked at the creature in front of it. Taller than the ambassador currently shaped its body, binary sensory organs placed in an arrangement that suggested a predator. Brown skin showed on the head and manipulators that extended past the creature\u2019s protective garments, except where a thick covering of black curly fibers topped its head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet\u2019s back up a little here,\u201d it said. \u201cWhat is your function? Your title?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChief of Engineering.\u201d Carlie pointed to the tag on her coveralls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd your species?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHomo Sapiens. Or just call us humans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou are in charge of all engineers of humans?\u201d All four of the ambassador\u2019s eyestalks swiveled to face the human in surprise. It flattened its body some, becoming even shorter. \u201cI am not worthy to negotiate with you. I will send for ambassador number one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, I\u2019m only in charge of the engineers here\u2026on this<\/em> project.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ambassador\u2019s body shifted again, becoming more cylindrical, and taller than the human. \u201cThen you are certainly not of a high enough status to negotiate with an ambassador of my rank, engineer human.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know, right?\u201d Carlie sighed. \u201cI tried telling them that, but I\u2019m the most senior here, and we can\u2019t get a political type out here in less than two months. So, I got stuck with it. And call me Carlie, please. You said your name is Innuluk? Can I call you Innuluk?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat is the meaning of \u2018carlie\u2019? The translator is not understanding it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my name.\u201d Carlie pointed at herself. \u201cMe. My name is Carlie, my species is human, and my job is engineer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think I understand. But calling me \u2018Innuluk\u2019 would be like me calling you \u2018Human.\u2019 You may refer to me as \u2018Ambassador\u2019. In the Conglomerate, we are identified by our employment, species, and rank.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t guess it\u2019s any weirder than talking to an amorphous blob with eyestalks and tentacles.\u201d Carlie tilted her head. \u201cAre you male, female, both, neither\u2026something else entirely?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAh, sexual differentiation. This is known among other species in the Conglomerate, but Innuluk are not. And since we are on the indelicate matter of reproduction, we can bud off and an offspring will grow, but stronger offspring are created when two or more buds are combined. And you are\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m a female. Since you know of other species, I\u2019m sure you know what that means. Now, Ambassador, with that out of the way, what brings you here besides the obvious?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat is the obvious?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou came to welcome us to the neighborhood, first contact, all that sort of thing. Probably want us to join your Conglomerate or something, after ensuring that we aren\u2019t just a bunch of backwards, uncivilized apes, right?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, not at all.\u201d The ambassador shrunk in height a bit, pulling its tentacles in closer and shortening its eyestalks, embarrassed to have what should have been obvious pointed out to it by an engineer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh.\u201d Carlie straightened a non-existent wrinkle out of her coverall. \u201cDid we\u2026encroach on someone else\u2019s territory?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ambassador returned to its properly dominant shape. \u201cNot at all. The Conglomerate wondered, though, why it is your species is spreading so far, and so thin. Wouldn\u2019t it be prudent to build up your populations in a system before colonizing yet another?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carlie laughed, a sound that the translator couldn\u2019t identify. \u201cNot really. We were over ten billion on Earth before we even started a colony on Mars\u2026the next planet out in our star system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe nearly killed ourselves on Earth, and the population on Mars grew faster than the infrastructure could be expanded. It was the feeling of having lots of room, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She pointed out the window to the planet that passed by every hour on the station\u2019s rotation. \u201cThe gravity in here is one-third of Earth normal. The planet out there is more than two times the diameter of Earth yet has a gravity of only eleven-point-seven meters per second squared. That\u2019s right around twenty percent higher than Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe point?\u201d The ambassador felt it was getting nowhere with this creature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been finding lots of \u2018Super-Earths\u2019 like this one, but most have too high of a gravity for us to live on them. This one is like a paradise just waiting for us to shape it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She watched the planet transit past the window out of view before continuing. \u201cHalf the surface is covered in water\u2026fresh<\/em> water, and the climate is steady with tropical heat at the equator, mellowing to sub-arctic climates at the poles. A reasonable stellar rotation of thirty-four hours and a few minutes, and the existing microbial life is harmless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn short, this planet will be as important to humans as Earth in a matter of two or three generations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ambassador lowered its eyestalks in query. \u201cDoes that mean that human expansion will stop here until this world is over-populated?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carlie tilted her head. \u201cWhy would we do that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou just said yourself how important this planet is, and that it would be a paradise. Is that not enough?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEnough what?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor your species. Enough for your species. Will it make humans happy?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf course\u2026some\u2026for a while.\u201d Carlie put a tentative hand on one of the ambassador\u2019s tentacles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was surprised as much by the gesture, as by the texture of the manipulator; smooth and dry, with small whorls and ridges that no doubt provided grip. \u201cI think I have an understanding of humans, now. You will never be content.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe. Are you saying that once we find something good, we should just stop? Be content and complacent and never strive for anything more?\u201d Carlie shook her head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot complacent,\u201d it said, \u201cjust content. Expansion should only occur when the current holdings can no longer support the population. It is the civilized<\/em> thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLook, Ambassador, we\u2019re not all the same. Some humans will<\/em> be content to settle down and stay put. Others won\u2019t. We\u2019ll continue seeking to expand our knowledge, capabilities, and our borders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carlie patted the ambassador\u2019s tentacle then stepped back. \u201cIt\u2019s been a pleasure meeting with you, and answering your questions, but I have a lot of work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She turned to leave and stopped, turning back again. \u201cThe only sure<\/em> way to protect humanity is to ensure we are spread far and wide. Tell your Conglomerate that if their idea of civilized<\/em> is to expand only when your population is in jeopardy, we\u2019ll continue to be uncivilized apes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

prompt: Write a story in which someone says \u201cYou’ll never be content.\u201d available at Reedsy Ambassador Innuluk 2327 had an annoying, sloshing, unease behind all four of its eyestalks. It hoped the translator was wrong. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[208],"tags":[210,228,209],"class_list":["post-2425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trunk-stories","tag-fiction","tag-science-fiction","tag-short-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pxT7i-D7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2425"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2426,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2425\/revisions\/2426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}