The Nature of Predators - Mallin Follow-Up
Added 2023-12-30 12:00:05 +0000 UTCThis one-shot is a follow-up on our characters from The Sacrifice, as requested by many of you!
Memory transcription subject: Cedric Flynn, UN Space Guard
Date [standardized human time]: May 29, 2137
Not days after I’d left Grenelka on a Leshee ship, an extensive cyberattack decimated their society from top to bottom. There would be no more “luxuries” such as gathering in an arena to watch captive creatures die like it was the Super Bowl. For all Kippe had told me about their religious rituals being necessities, the true requisites for Yulpa survival became clear when their world collapsed. Even after the Treaty of Sol ended the war, the unraveling of their entire infrastructure was still in progress; I’d heard Kippe was uproarious in her cell, watching her people take a one-way trip back to the Stone Age. My incident might’ve persuaded the United Nations not to stay their hand, though I hadn’t advised them to wipe out their entire species.
The primary reason for that—Mallin—was currently tussling with some children we’d picked up from a civilian passenger spaceship left with an inoperable warp drive near Titan’s reopened hotel. Persuading the United Nations to let a full-grown Yulpa, who apparently did know how to fly these things, join me as my co-pilot had been an uphill battle. It was beyond the fact that humans who recognized his species would (reasonably) assume he was out to sacrifice them in brutal fashion; his mental capacity, while being a massive reason his asylum request went through so quickly, left the Space Guard concerned about whether he could fulfill his duties. I didn’t think that was fair, so I vouched for him and rallied for his inclusion.
Mallin’s thinking patterns were sometimes simple, and he had limited ability to see anything outside of what he was directly told. However, with clear instructions and patient redirection, he was more than capable of blooming where he was planted. The Yulpa had internalized simple procedures for capturing predators, and when those assumptions were challenged, he was able to determine that I didn’t fit the bill for an animal—unlike any of his companions. Actually, Kippe seemed to understand I wasn’t a simple beast, but she liked that I, as a thinking creature, could anticipate the delivery of agony. The contrast between her and my friend was striking.
I tried not to think about how, sometimes at night, I laid in bed wishing I’d slit her throat. Some inclinations, trained into me or otherwise, were better off left in the box. Mallin would’ve been damaged, and might not have wanted to come with me, if I gutted her right in front of him—where he could see my hands wrapped around the knife. He was right that I should feel guilty about taking a life; it wasn’t something I’d ever wanted to be forced to do. A taut smile graced my lips, as the Yulpa pranced up the aisle. I should focus on other things, like how Mallin had a way with children. He was an absolute delight to the giggling youngsters.
“Big horsey! Giddyup!” a kid squealed, perched atop the Yulpa’s back. I was glad the United Nations agreed to pair him with me, even if it was likely due to a severe shortage in Space Guard personnel…and a fuck ton of borders to cover. “Faster! Hey, can you neigh, horsey?”
“I sure can!” Mallin sucked in air through a high-pitched noise of his own, having learned that request; though the replication left something to be desired. “Humans like rides, and I have fun giving them. It’s easy to carry you, and it makes everyone happy. It’s way better here than home!”
“Why do you call it home, if you live there and don’t like home?”
“I guess I associate home with bad things. That’s where people are mean to me, and they say I’m stupid. I don’t want to see Earth as home, because then I’d hate it.”
“That’s sad! You’re so big, and fun…and brave! You’re not afraid of us like the other aliens. It was so cool when you boarded—we’ve never met any of the space people. You’re a hero, rescuing us out in the stars like it’s nothing.”
I flashed my teeth jokingly. “Oh, so I get no credit for this?”
“Credit?” Mallin echoed. “We get paid by the Space Guard. We wouldn’t want Federation credits anyway; the Federation is gone. Their money is no good.”
“Sorry for the metaphorical language. I meant credit as in, ‘acknowledgment that I helped with the rescue attempt too.’ It’s an idiom.”
“Nothing to do with loans or money. Just…recognition?”
“Yeah. You got it, buddy. I was just teasing you a little, since it’s obvious it was a team effort.”
“I don’t like being teased. You’re making fun of me?”
“No. I would never. Humans give people a hard time sometimes; I can’t really explain why we do it, but it’s not to make fun of you. It’s more that we’re riling each other up to express affection in a playful, ironic manner. Does that make any sense?”
“It doesn’t, but I don’t understand a lot of things you do. I’m still not certain why none of the loud noises scared you off in the woods.”
I blinked several times, taken aback. “We’ve been over this. Unlike the animals you chased, I’m sapient.”
“Yeah, but I saw this thing where a bunch of humans lined up at some white line, and a gun went off—and they all started sprinting for their lives! They seemed to be terrified by the deafening noise, and we had lots of guns: aimed at you. It should’ve scared you off. Why are you different from them?”
Did Mallin watch a track-and-field event? I guess technically, they do that to shock runners into taking off as quickly as possible.
“I shot too many guns in the military to have sensitive hearing like that,” I decided to answer, not sure how to explain firearms at foot races. “Remember?”
Mallin’s tongue lolled from side-to-side as he thought. “Oh. That’s right. My bad.”
“All cool. Let’s not talk about the military, Grenelka, or dangerous things.”
“Aw!” the kid on Mallin’s back pouted. “Why not? I wanna hear about the alien planet. I can handle grown-up talk.”
“I’m sure you can, but Cedric doesn’t want to talk about what he did in the special forces,” the Yulpa answered, with surprising tact. “He’s trying to do something better that helps people, like you.”
I shrugged nonchalantly. “That’s right. Someone has to rescue people who get stranded up here. It’d be real easy to get lost, and any number of things can go wrong. All kinds of debris and natural phenomena up here, from space dust to supernovae.”
“What could you even do about the last one?” the Yulpa-riding child breathed.
“Eh, not much. But if a star explodes too close to another planet or system, it can hurt the atmosphere or endanger people in spaceships like this. The Space Guard keeps tracks of nearby stars and asteroids to Earth, and to all of our territories and travels. Best to be prepared, yeah?”
“I remember the Federation stopped an asteroid from hitting the Drezjin. That was first contact,” Mallin noted. “I think it’d be awesome if we could destroy something that big that was heading for a planet.”
“And I think it would be awesome if no rocks were barreling toward anyone’s world to need saving. Why don’t we stop talking about extinction-level events? That’s for us to worry about, not the kids. We’re just about to drop them back at the Titan hotel so they can catch a ride anyway. Then, we head back out there to find more people to help.”
“You guys are superheroes!” the child on Mallin’s back chimed in. “I got a question, horsey, before you go. Why do your legs not match your body? Your fur is like a horse, but your back legs have white and black stripes.”
“Grenelka is largely a jungle world, so it blends in with partial sunlight and hides our outlines from predators,” the Yulpa replied, pulling that factoid from his memory. “It also helps kids follow their moms.”
“That‘s so cool! I wish humans had stripes like that.”
“Well, according to the Duerten, you do.”
I squinted at Mallin. “What? Do you see any stripes?!”
“No, but they do. Really bright purple ones.”
“You can’t believe everything you hear. They were messing with you.”
“But they said it to other Yulpa too—an entire team of predator catchers! They wouldn’t have lied to everyone. Can you please check?”
“I think I would know if I had stripes. This is some gaslighting bullsh—crap. Let me look this up so it’s unequivocally refuted.”
Struggling to avoid rolling my eyes, I punched “Do humans have stripes?” into a search engine via the local internet. My face contorted into disbelief, as the results pronounced that we did have ultraviolet stripes that were invisible to our vision. Mallin giggled in a way that sounded a bit like a whinny, as he realized he’d been correct; the children gasped in awe, and started gushing about having stripes. I stared at my forearm in skeptical disbelief, trying to glimpse any hint of the invisible pattern…and to envision how I would look to a Duerten. No wonder the Shield didn’t want diplomatic contact with us!
Bright purple stripes, huh? We probably look more jarring than Mallin with his hindlegs.
I shook my head to clear it of this new revelation, as the shuttle latched onto the Titan hotel’s docking port. The children’s father issued his thanks to the both of us, while the mother had her hands full trying to remove the children from Mallin’s back; my partner-in-crime looked disappointed, as the kids offered glum, reluctant goodbyes. Other passengers from the rescued civilian ship unloaded, with several mumbling to themselves about humans having stripes and a Yulpa giving rides to children like a pony. I smiled to myself, knowing in my heart that I’d chosen the right line of work—and the right person to work with, who’d brighten my spirits.
Mallin pranced around the cargo hold. “I was right about the stripes! I taught you something, so I guess that means you don’t know everything.”
“Nobody knows everything,” I chuckled. “Shit, I wouldn’t want to. There’s too many things that you’re better off not knowing.”
“Like our training on how to kill things?”
“Yeah. You think you can tuck it away into a box and forget about it, but it stays with you. It changes you, no matter why you learned it in the first place. Especially when it’s people. You didn’t kill people.”
“I’m glad I don’t know how to do that. I’m glad I didn’t learn with you, because I almost did.”
“The fact that it wasn’t what you wanted to do makes you a better person than me, buddy. I’m a lot happier helping people, but I just hope this is something you want to do.”
“It is, Cedric! I don’t think just giving kids rides is a job, and that’s pretty much the only thing that could be better.”
I leaned back in contemplation. “To be honest, you probably could. You’re five feet tall on four legs; since you enjoy it, who doesn’t want a giant alien to ride around at their kid’s birthday party? I don’t want to be selfish, but I couldn’t do that. I enjoy your company, and I’m real glad I brought you back to Earth with me.”
“I don’t want to leave you. You’re my friend. You don’t want me gone! Everyone always wants me gone, so if you don’t, I wouldn’t leave. It’s nice to feel like I’m worth something.”
“Hey, of course you’re worth something. Having you around brings so much happiness to me, and to people around us like those kiddos. Grenelka didn’t deserve you. You’re an amazing, kind person, and anyone who’d judge you for other things that are out of your control is a fucking jackass.”
“Like Kippe? I heard she’s getting executed.”
I paused, considering what Mallin just blurted out; I hadn’t followed the expedited proceedings for the predator catcher who reeled me in, not caring to know what happened to her unless an execution date was set. My promise to be there as the light faded from her eyes still stuck in my head, as deep down, I wanted revenge. Granted, Kippe was miserable under UN custody, but I couldn’t rid myself of that adrenaline-infused, eye for an eye mentality. It wasn’t in my capacity to forgive and forget for a slight against my species and against the laws of decency. With her cruelty toward me, along with her abuse of my attempts at compassionate deeds, that was the only justice I could perceive.
It’ll take awhile before she actually gets the chair, or however they’re going to do that. Sparing Kippe got us information that helped inform the Space Guard’s procedures and precautions; it might’ve helped with the cyberattack keeping Grenelka neutralized too. Their entire Spirit of Life cult needs to go before we can take our eyes off them.
Mallin tilted his head. “Did I say something wrong, Cedric?”
“Of course not. Maybe now that I know…what happened on Grenelka won’t stay with me that much,” I answered. “I can truly be here with you, and enjoy all the rescues and Yulpaback rides we can give out patrolling the stars together.”
“We should go back out there, and see if there’s anyone else to help. It feels good to be working with you! The kid said we’re heroes.”
“I’m no hero; I sure as shit know that. You’re the hero, Mallin…you brought out the best in me. You reminded me of my human side just by being yourself.”
“I didn’t do anything. I just want friends, and to meet more nice people.”
“I know. That’s why you have a heart of gold.”
“My heart isn’t gold. It’s skin and veins that pump blood.”
“That’s on me; I shouldn’t have used a figurative term. It means that your heart should be treasured, because it’s so pure, special, and precious. You’re a rare find.”
“Heart of gold! I like that. You have one too.”
“I don’t know about that…but you know what, I’ll take the compliment. Let’s get this ship back into gear.”
The Yulpa’s ears swiveled with happiness, as he clopped up to the copilot’s seat and watched me engage the autopilot. The stars beckoned to us both, the unending void replete with complex threats and celestial bodies to monitor; that was where my focus belonged. With Mallin to help me on my missions out in the Great Beyond, I didn’t care about whether I attended Kippe’s execution. Day by day, he was helping me close that box a bit further, and put my ordeal on Grenelka out of my mind. For all of the misfortune that’d been bestowed on me because of my abduction, I was grateful circumstances caused our paths to meet. There wasn’t a more loyal and innocent alien that I could’ve found in the Federation.
My hands tightened around the control column, and the two of us hurtled away from Saturn in our Space Guard patroller—vigilant for whatever might wait ahead. What happened to me after my infamous attempt to rescue Kippe wouldn’t prevent me from returning to my true calling with my new best friend.
A/N - A follow-up for our characters from the Yulpa series! Cedric and Mallin are working together in the newly-minted UN Space Guard, with Mallin finding life among humans much happier than on Grenelka, which has been ravaged by ongoing cyberattacks. Mallin brings out the best in Cedric, and also shares some info on who the Yulpa are beyond sacrifices...as well as something a Duerten noticed about "stripy" humans. Are you happy with how Cedric has been able to return to a more peaceful life, and how Mallin has settled in? What do you think of Kippe getting the death penalty?
As always, thank you for reading and supporting! By the time you're reading this, we are officially one week from the launch of the series about Noah and Tarva's children!
Comments
Kippe and Mallin reminds me of a red wall book by the name of The Bell maker. There were two rats in that story by the name of Slipp and Blaggut. Slipp was a murderous ass but Blaggut was the big dumb type of Rat who was simple to please but he had a good heart. The bell maker ended pretty much the same way this story did. It left me with just as much of a good feeling as well!
Dcluigimario
2024-02-25 21:49:20 +0000 UTCWell now I want to see kippes trial and sentence
Snappa
2024-01-03 12:38:31 +0000 UTCI mean, good luck, putting people on that planet. There difference between the locals don’t like you and the locals want to torture you to death for their God. Trying to garrison that planet would be a nightmare so really staying off it is the best option at this time.
George Smith
2024-01-02 06:39:42 +0000 UTCDid some reading, seems Blashko's lines and that pattern are two separate things.
Wesley Rigg
2024-01-02 05:40:03 +0000 UTCSkalga (Then Venlil Prime) was the first planet they found with life on it. The Odyssey Crew would’ve been thrilled to find microbes
Yannis Morris
2023-12-31 23:27:01 +0000 UTC@SpacePaladin Wait what do you mean “in the right lighting”? Isn’t that how UV works with us too?
Yannis Morris
2023-12-31 23:25:17 +0000 UTCThere was no life discovered to the present date in the Sol system in the NOPverse
Space Paladin
2023-12-31 22:40:46 +0000 UTCThey would under the right lighting with the right people!
Space Paladin
2023-12-31 22:39:34 +0000 UTCSure, but it's a lot more fun to imagine he's going to break into a maximum security prison and then get Kippe out just to style on her some more.
PhycoKrusk
2023-12-31 21:17:39 +0000 UTCYou have to admit, though, there is a certain amount of humor inherent in the notion that he would infiltrate a maximum security prison to break Kippe out just so he could style on her some more.
PhycoKrusk
2023-12-31 21:13:13 +0000 UTC@Lvm I actually found it. Unfortunately, the copyright does prove that I truly am a fossil of an unknown tribe: https://vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=54
PhycoKrusk
2023-12-31 21:10:39 +0000 UTCYeah mate, it be that bad. Humanity has till this point been winning by the skin of its teeth. The smallest failure on humanity's part would have meant extinction. The cyber attacks and leaking the data of the extermination fleet to Isif was the only thing keeping Earth safe. Without the Arxur, there would have been no Earth, without sacrificing Nishtal, Fahl, and Sillus, humanity wouldn't exist. Desperation is undersold by some the HFY theme in the writing, but it is there in the background. Basically, humanity starts off on the backfoot of a war of extermination that it barely survives. That is the plot of the first NoP, it really is that dark.
Adam Myers
2023-12-31 19:03:27 +0000 UTCI am writing the next chapter of Child of the Night, and there are two Yulpa and a Yotul in the same scene. I just know some are going to be confused, lol.
Adam Myers
2023-12-31 18:56:53 +0000 UTCHe's not talking about going to rescue Kippe, he was referring to the past with that. The series started with a false distress signal and when Cedric tried to rescue kippe she then captured him.
Kevin Quintana
2023-12-31 18:16:24 +0000 UTCMaybe they’ll rescue one of the ark ships
Yannis Morris
2023-12-31 14:09:25 +0000 UTCYes they don’t have the manpower to manually declaw 200+ worlds
Yannis Morris
2023-12-31 14:03:59 +0000 UTCCameo why not, but another one-shot will be too much.
un_pogaz
2023-12-31 08:09:40 +0000 UTCAlso, wouldn’t that mean the krakotl see the stripes too? They see with UV light right?
DragonCat
2023-12-31 05:40:26 +0000 UTCONLY female humans have blaschko’s lines!!! For the same reason as calico cats. Skin patterns are tied to the X chromosome. If you have one, XY, you only exhibit one skin trait. If you have two, XX, your skin is patched with expression from both mother’s X and father’s X.
DragonCat
2023-12-31 05:36:53 +0000 UTCAs far as I'm aware you don't really get the death penalty for anything but murder or treason? Then again we only have it here in cases of treason and even then it's not been done for decades
Stueymon
2023-12-31 03:59:43 +0000 UTCFalsifying a distress signal, kidnapping, torture, and attempted murder. While it might not be a standard punishment, I wouldn't call it excessive.
Austin Arlt
2023-12-31 03:50:58 +0000 UTCOnly if its a red SUPER giant. Red giants just keep expanding until the outer layer is sent into space and forms a nebula. And stars function in time frames of trillions of years for red dwarfs. Billions for yellow dwarfs like our sun and only the vary biggest stars live in terms of millions of years. 50,000 Years is a inconsequential blink in the eye of deep time. So that red giant could be one for a couple billion years like our own sun will be. Meaning the time frame, while fast approaching to a star. Would be so far away that for any people on a planet its effectively never going to happen.
Cartoon dinosaur
2023-12-31 02:53:37 +0000 UTCI think Kippe getting the death penalty is a tad excessive. She attempted to murder and killed a bunch of non-sapient creatures but nothing that would be classed as murder regardless of personal feelings about animal cruelty.
Stueymon
2023-12-31 02:47:46 +0000 UTCA lot of the vulpa and Drezdin people are going to starve due to not having machines to farm with. And Die from diseases and injuries due to lack of medicine manufacturing and medical devices. Is the U.N. really so strapped for manpower that they are willing to cause Famine and the accompanying wars, plaques and mass death? Are the U.N. still occupying The harchens and trilfish? Are they at least providing aid to mitigate this? Space paladin
Cartoon dinosaur
2023-12-31 02:38:02 +0000 UTCAlso, its theoretically possible for complex life to use liquid methane or nitrogen instead of water. Meaning Titan might have life on it due to its oceans of methane. In this universe did humans discover any "fish" in Titans oceans?
Cartoon dinosaur
2023-12-31 01:57:49 +0000 UTCMallin Is best boy
Byron Ritchie
2023-12-31 00:03:24 +0000 UTCThe blotchy-ness is a result of parts at random being colors that we can see and others being ultraviolet. The actual stripes are fairly contiguous when you can see all the colors involved.
2023-12-30 23:25:17 +0000 UTCI mean, Kalsim only survived because that one guy wanted to be a contrarian.
2023-12-30 23:22:42 +0000 UTCI'll be honest. I didn't read the series other then the first chapter as It seemed to be something that I would hate reading. But I did commission DD to make a interpretation of the Vulpa and 2 other species. My Idea for the Vulpa was that they were Hellpig like hyper carnivores descended from the okapi who unlike the Axur could survive off of plant matter because of how recent their carnivory was. (Link to post https://www.reddit.com/r/NatureofPredators/comments/17vkej5/nop_species_design_concepts/ ) But not well. giving them all a malnourished look. And the reason they enjoy predator sacrifices is for the same reason dogs like squeaky toys. Sounds made from a successful hunt that they cant get naturally anymore. How close was I to What you had Intended Space paladin??? Again I didn't read the story as I am fairly confident I would of thoroughly not enjoy it. So I may be missing a lot of other context.
Cartoon dinosaur
2023-12-30 22:51:57 +0000 UTCGood to see Cedric and Mallin enjoying their lives. They make a good team! Cedric seems to be struggling with the beast he had to unleash back on Grenelka. I’m glad Mallin is helping him. Just a note about the stripes (not for Space Paladin, since you’ve obviously done your research); since they’re ultraviolet, they aren’t technically a “bright violet” color, but rather a color a step above regular violet. That being said, this is a case similar to “imagine a color that no one’s ever seen”, so “bright violet” is an acceptable analogy. Humans actually can’t see REGULAR purple/violet. We only have photoreceptors for red, green, and blue, and violet rests just outside of the “blue” spectrum. When w something looks violet, we’re actually seeing red and blue at the same time, but since violet isn’t a spectrum between blue and another photoreceptor, it’s not entirely accurate. Essentially, 95/100 times it’ll work, but sometimes our vision is a little off. The sky, for instance, is actually more violet, but since there’s not enough red, we only see the blue parts of it. That’s about all I know. I’m not an expert. It sounds like Cedric is getting a story eventually. I wonder what’s going to cause him to try to rescue Kippe. Also, “rescue”. Weird choice of words. Not “spring Kippe from prison” or anything like that…
EliasArt2Life
2023-12-30 22:03:21 +0000 UTC@Phyco - sorry to say I do not get the reference...
Some Lvm
2023-12-30 21:43:33 +0000 UTCHOW IS THIS NOT THAUGHT IN SCHOOL???
Alekss Žukovskis
2023-12-30 21:24:53 +0000 UTCI have read about birds, insects and some sea life that can see the UV colors on flowers, coral and animals that we can not. Also we can see a little of the UV spectrum. They put it in our white fabrics, white paper and laundry detergent to make the whites brighter! Also markings on money, checks, official documents to make them harder to counterfit. you might be surprised to see what some dental work looks like in UV light as well.
RaptorRed
2023-12-30 21:09:39 +0000 UTCThank you, I enjoyed this one shot. The irony after I just say I am confusing yotul and yulpa to go from yotul to yulpa. Thanks for the species name repetition the extra reinforcement will help with future name recognition!
RaptorRed
2023-12-30 20:52:34 +0000 UTCUltraviolet ones! Called Blaschko’s lines 😅
Space Paladin
2023-12-30 20:45:23 +0000 UTCIt's not only women - all humans have them from where our skin cells migrated and grew in the womb, there is no magical process that means only females have them and males don't
The Moist Crusader
2023-12-30 20:39:08 +0000 UTCHey SP! your link is "The Sacrifice," that comma shouldnt be there.
Alekss Žukovskis
2023-12-30 20:30:50 +0000 UTCI believe he was referring to earlier when his rescuing Kippie resulted in her capturing him and was the start of that story.
Kevin Quintana
2023-12-30 20:21:26 +0000 UTCHe’s referring to when she first tricked him by pretending to need help.
Gumcel
2023-12-30 19:59:58 +0000 UTCHe’s referring to when she first tricked him by pretending to need help.
Gumcel
2023-12-30 19:56:15 +0000 UTCI believe he is referring to his previous efforts to assist Kippe's supposedly damaged ship - which turned out to be a trap - and led to his capture and the events of The Sacrifice. Though he previously got got by Kippe's ruse, he won't let that stop him from helping other fellow voyagers among the stars.
RS
2023-12-30 19:54:09 +0000 UTC… I’m sorry, did he just say something about RESCUING Kippie? I mean, that’s remarkably merciful, but OOF! That’s gonna hurt.
Mr Mopp
2023-12-30 19:29:52 +0000 UTCIt's the boooooy. Love Mallin. And I'm more surprised the UN still has the death penalty than Kippie getting it. Good riddance I guess.
Roscuro
2023-12-30 19:14:06 +0000 UTCYou raise many valid and well-reasoned points, but I don't care; I still believe in the gong! (Onto the next adventure; finding out if anyone knows what I'm talking about, or of I truly am a fossil of an unknown tribe)
PhycoKrusk
2023-12-30 18:41:06 +0000 UTCThat is an interesting supposition, but I think you are taking an expression too literally. If the Yulpa were incapable of manufacturing any of the tech they used, they would have to have everything supplied by the federation, from the basic light bulb to their ships. They would also not have any agriculture. But we know the Kolshians were not building ships for the entire galaxy. We also know they trained Yotul to be space engineers, even though they were in the early industrial age. They Yulpa also had metal spears, even if they were strictly for ceremonial purposes, that is clearly not a technology given to them by the Federation. Finally, we know they gave Arxur specifically the knowledge how to build ships rather than supplying them with ships. No, I think plenty of evidence is there to show that while the Federation encouraged technological and scientific stagnation among its members, they still gave those civilizations enough knowledge to take care of their daily needs by themselves. The real reason those cyber attacks are so effective, is the same one why it would kill many of us: 1. Our cities are simply not built to function without modern technology. No computers = no electricity = no refrigeration, water supply, heating, transportation halt. (A cyber attack may not effect many real vehicles today, but it would wreck things like traffic lights and navigation devices casing massive traffic jams) 2. Though some people still possess the knowledge of how to live without modern technology and make tools from bygone eras, those people are few and far between. The knowledge is not preserved well enough to prop up our entire civilization. Incidentally, for humanity in 2137 a cyberattack would be even worse, since they no longer have sufficient livestock to feed the planet and need to rely on high tech meat factories. No, the only reason humanity and Yulpa are not in the same boat, is that we know how to deal with cyber threats, and they don't have a clue.
Some Lvm
2023-12-30 18:10:19 +0000 UTCMallin is truly a precious soul, and they make a great pair. Love this duo. Always thought the stripes thing was super cool, glad more people have learned about it.
Tazeell
2023-12-30 17:44:31 +0000 UTCMallin of Earth, Orion's Number One Son! As a bonus, this chapter actually provided a lot of insight into the Federation's uplift methodology. Specifically, the mention that the cyber attack sent the Yulpa "back to the Stone Age." That's actually a more specific clue than you might think. If a similar attack succeeded against us as we are today, for example, it wouldn't send is back to the Stone Age. At worst, it would send us back to the early Industrial Age (or possibly briefly to the Late Medieval Period) because we still have this accumulation of generalized knowledge of Bronze, Iron, and Industrial Age technologies. It might take us a hundred years, but we'd be able to climb back to where we are in relatively short order (and hopefully, avoid making the same missteps along the way). For the Yulpa to go back to the Stone Age would mean that a) the Federation found them in their Stone Age, and b) gave them Galactic Age technology and the knowledge only of how to use them. They never learned how to build them and they never learned the underlying scientific principles. This means that, unlike the Kolshians and the Farsul, no blockage is needed over Grelka; the Yulpa never had the ability to leave it by themselves in the first place, and don't have the knowledge necessary to even think about doing so. The Coalition could literally just walk away and come back to check their societal progress in 100, 200, 500 years. Your know, this might actually make guarding against the Remnants easier for the Coalition than we might've originally thought. How many other species were there who were still in the Stone Age when the Federation found them? It stands to reason, based on what we see here, that they were in a similar circumstance to the Yulpa; they knew how to use all this technology but not how to make it, so without being supplied by the Federation, they're stuck. They're might even be some who, when the Coalition comes back to check on them, are like, "Our planet is now unbearable to live on, this sucks. We promise we'll play nice if you get us out of here." Then, they can be uplifted properly, and in a probationary fashion (i.e. start with agriculture so they can effectively feed their population, and run deprogramming alongside it. Most importantly, when Coalition supply ships come down to restock their personnel managing these programs, make sure that every such ship has a dedicated "candy bomber"). That could be an interesting POV character for NOP2: A young adult of such a species mentioned above whose story begins with (or just is), "Hey, you've made tremendous progress, and were ending your probation early. Welcome back to the galactic community." Maybe not as partyof the main story, but a one-shot, sure. I'm just rambling at this point, so we're going to stop there.
PhycoKrusk
2023-12-30 17:34:28 +0000 UTCLove it! So sweet! Go be heroes!
Apogee
2023-12-30 17:29:01 +0000 UTCI had to google it, yes we do have stripe-like patterns called Blaschko's Lines, only visible under UV light!
2023-12-30 17:11:45 +0000 UTCActually, yes. Humans have UV stripes and other marks that we normally do not see.
2023-12-30 16:57:42 +0000 UTCI feel like space guard might be important in NOP2
Greg Gougeon
2023-12-30 16:48:28 +0000 UTCYo wtf we got STRIPES!?
Thrownawaz
2023-12-30 16:44:19 +0000 UTCWould absolutely love a chapter explaining Christmas traditions, I can imagine a Dustin like figure explaining all the ins and outs like why we decorate trees, etc.
Tyler Ellis
2023-12-30 16:23:45 +0000 UTCI’m happy with their situations. At least Kalsim was gaining the ability to understand why he was wrong, to sit and ponder in his cell and one day say to himself “I really am a monster aren’t I?” While Kippe was so far gone it would take a million years to convince her of any wrong doing.
Tyler Ellis
2023-12-30 16:22:07 +0000 UTCProbably level 2-3 as well, he's like a slightly dumber version of me lol. The fact that humans have stripes has been one of my favorites ever since I learned it and I love seeing it referenced here!
ToddTheSquid
2023-12-30 15:06:40 +0000 UTCMaybe Kippe was especially belligerent at her trial, wishing death and suffering on us. Kalsim at least had a line of bullshit about not wanting us to suffer and understanding that we had feelings, but not being able to let us expand and thinking our empathy was selective and could be switched off at will.
Wingit98
2023-12-30 14:53:24 +0000 UTC"A three-step guide to accepting that your religion is a lie!"
sticksnstones
2023-12-30 14:52:28 +0000 UTCI... Did not know we have stripes.... And not nice ones either, apparently. I looked it up immediately and they look all blotchy and freckly. Definitely would make our appearance weirder to the Duertan.
Wingit98
2023-12-30 14:49:44 +0000 UTCHa, yeah. I think we mean escape not rescue! Oh also "Why do you call it home, if you live there and don’t like home?” has a slight typo too
sticksnstones
2023-12-30 14:49:23 +0000 UTCA nice small chapter. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's interesting to hear what the space force will be up to after the war, a war setting can make you forget how much danger there can be in space. The scenario made me think, imagine you come from a star system the neighbors a red giant, it's always visible in your sky and as your civilization learns about space, about what the fact that anywhere from now to a few thousand years the giant could explode and rain heavy metals upon your world in a few hundred years. Imagine how your society would develop. Perhaps it would push them into scientific development where they spear head interstellar colonization as soon as possible, spilling out of their system in generation ships. Or perhaps the dread would over take them, and a doom cult around the red star would form. Ultraviolet Drezjin sight is interesting. I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure only woman are meant to have stripes. Something about how different types of Human skin develop in the womb when different genes or hormones get switched on. (Not sure, I'm by no means an expert 😅) We all start out with the same type of skin but when that change occurs and more skin grows the old skin gets stretched across the body, resulting in stripes.
DemonVee
2023-12-30 14:35:40 +0000 UTCWE HAVE STRIPES LADIES AND GENTLEMEN
Alekss Žukovskis
2023-12-30 14:31:59 +0000 UTCZhao said we would be dropping pamphlets.
PassengerNo
2023-12-30 14:26:27 +0000 UTCAwww... Just awww... I knew Mallin would be great with kids. He has enough faculties not to accidentally hurt them, and his mentality is somewhat closer to theirs than a regular adult. Also: striped humans are a thing? And Duerten can see ultraviolet? Neat! Finally some aliens with actually alien capabilities (yes, I know some animals on earth see beyond our spectrum, like snakes in infrared). I am a bit surprised Kippe is getting executed. Not that she didn't deserve it, but technically speaking she didn't succeed in murdering anyone we know, and we have seen aliens who did being spared many times, so I have to wonder how that happened...
Some Lvm
2023-12-30 13:47:00 +0000 UTCSo wonderful to see Mallin able to have a good normal life! Free from the anger and cruelty of the Federation and Yulpa cultures! And now that you have touched on the Yulpa, I must say I am very curious about their fate. Specifically if they have been given any reason for why that fate has happened. Sure, it’s interesting to see how these sacrifices were not even a little necessary for people looking to survive, but there’s still the potential for some priests of the cult to take charge and convince people their situation is due to not following the cult enough. Or even deciding to openly sacrifice dissenters after convincing others it was their fault. So this attack hopefully included an ultimatum. Some way for them to surrender, and to blame the cult and government for their state. At least before the winter or harvest seasons pass and they rapidly run out of easy food .
John Benjamin Cate
2023-12-30 13:45:38 +0000 UTCIt's probably about how Kippe would have been unrepentant and Kalsim was very close to insane and misguided
Constance Brown
2023-12-30 13:33:58 +0000 UTCI had to google the stripes haha
Mark Baculna
2023-12-30 13:30:44 +0000 UTCYes can i get 1 cinnamon role with extra sprinkles
Blake S
2023-12-30 13:27:04 +0000 UTCMallin gave a hyper specific fact. It's confirmed, he's a Yulptism.
Youre a swedekisser arent you
2023-12-30 13:22:37 +0000 UTCI love these kinds of chapters. I wonder if we will get another insight on kalsim especially post federation.
Cosmic BGM
2023-12-30 13:17:53 +0000 UTCOh my god, Mallin is so precious!
Xskipy 10
2023-12-30 12:54:46 +0000 UTCThe moment of ultraviolet stripes was magic. It still amazes me every time when we reminded this to me. Boy, what a shame that the whole Malin story is a Patreon bonus. For all those in "Genocid them all" mode => Counterargument: Malin.
un_pogaz
2023-12-30 12:53:58 +0000 UTCUhm, can I request a christmas chapter for next year? II would have loved a christmas chapter with Onso being really entusiast and Sovlin ending up playing Santa. And maybe a Virnt POV.
2023-12-30 12:48:06 +0000 UTCMallin is just the fucking best, he deserves all the happiness
Byne
2023-12-30 12:19:30 +0000 UTCMallin is just one huge cinnamon bun, love the follow-up. <3
Joe King
2023-12-30 12:19:18 +0000 UTCThat last line. What are you planning to do with Cedric paladin? Hopefully not some change of heart. Wink wink
Hello There
2023-12-30 12:17:16 +0000 UTCA nice ending to Cedric's story.
Serpent_Bon 274
2023-12-30 12:13:39 +0000 UTCSpace Guard member and oblivious soul become best friends! Honestly, the grizzled dude in the military and carefree optimist trope is one of the best imo. It's crazy to think that Kalsim got life while Kippe is getting executed. I want to see her trial to see the reasoning behind that as I sorta think that the sentences should be flipped.
Paperclip
2023-12-30 12:00:46 +0000 UTCFirst
print Path
2023-12-30 12:00:12 +0000 UTC
