The Nature of Predators - Cilany's Adventures (2/7)

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Memory transcription subject: Cilany, Harchen Reporter

Date [standardized human time]: November 30, 2136

My hotel door sealed shut behind me, and I wandered over to my desk. Being entirely at the human doctors’ mercy, as they placed tubes down my throat and ran various tests, left me feeling caged. That debacle confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt whether the Kolshians had instilled the meat allergy in the Harchen. Clearly, it had been passed down the genetic chain. The Terrans concluded that cross-contamination occurred in the kitchen, likely from contact with a contaminated surface or instrument; Zhao apologized profusely.

My energy was drained, but I mustered up the willpower to document my experiences on my blog. As part of the Secretary-General’s apology, I’d managed to push him into disabling the comment screening I knew his people were performing. It concerned me what humans might say on the internet, with a mask of anonymity and zero filtration, but it would show what they really thought. I pulled up my story on Kalsim, where my line, “The humans came in peace in their natural state” had gained some traction.

The autotranslation feature turned the webpage into my lexicon, mercifully. It struggled with the acronyms and misspellings, though it spit out enough of a meaning for me to gather the gist of it. Some commenters had heard about my anaphylactic episode, and offered their well-wishes.

TheZurulianAddict12: hope ur doing ok cilany!

Badass_Chef: Love your reporting! We’re pulling for you.

BrainNovocaine: kalsim=fool 😊 sorry to hear that your sick! land on your feet and go get ‘em! your stories have been a gift 2 earth

It was all rather tame for an unfiltered discourse of predators, to the point that I doubted Zhao had lifted the restrictions. However, when I scrolled past the popular, liked comments at the top, more vitriolic and vulgar rhetoric surfaced. I glossed over a comment with a handy amount of sexism and forwardness; while that wasn’t something I hadn’t encountered before, I didn’t expect killing machines to be so occupied with those drives. However, one post was especially controversial, actively wishing harm upon me. The chain beneath it had exploded in a debate.

HF4ever: You Feddies deserve to rot in hell. The fucking hospital should euthanize xenos, coming to our planet and taking our resources. Zhao and his henchmen should’ve watched this Harchen bitch choke on her saliva and called it a day. #GenocideFahl #RememberEarth

>Thomasss2125: Wtf is wrong with you? Cilany is on our side

>Badass_Chef: Wow, actually talking about your feelings? Shouldn’t you HF neckbeards be blowing up stuff?

>> PandaRose-2: Thats a common lie about hf. I am 28f influencer SINGLE MOM <3 and hf is a welcoming community. They raised money for bombed cities and put a roof back over my head. ppl like this make us look bad…i agree with putting humans above aliens and i like cilany. she exposed nikus and helped us.

>>>HF4ever: You’re no member of ours, Panda. You’re a fucking traitor to Earth. This Harchen does ONE interview and you just forgive her?! Where was her reporting, when Fahl was planning to join in the genocide party to start with?

I leaned back in my chair, and consoled myself with the fact that extremism wasn’t the popular sentiment; while harmful predators existed, their thoughts were mired with contempt from their peers. It was true that I’d been complicit, when we cast our lot with the extermination fleet. Sovlin had been my anonymous source on my most explosive stories. Had anyone else told me to give the humans a genuine look, I would’ve disregarded it due to their Arxur ties. I was ashamed of that, but honest enough to admit it.

So much for my pledge to the truth, when I started off assuming it was human deceit. It was only when I looked and saw how things didn’t add up…how history backed their case…

Still, it was obvious to me that humanity was trying to come off as blameless as possible, like paragons of virtue. My resolve hardened, reminding myself of my self-commitment to share the truth, whatever it might be. An uncensored Earth needed to be documented. It might be best to ask my human audience for direction on where to start my search. Drawing a weary breath, I decided to record a short update for my followers; it seemed wise to ignore the handful of Humanity First death threats.

“Thank you all for the well wishes. I’m still recovering from the ordeal, but I apologize for the content drought. I was thinking of doing various pieces exploring the culture of Earth, and I’m willing to look at any aspects in a neutral light—including ones that are subject to predatory bias and Federation criticism. I’d like to understand you humans for…you. The real you.

Please, reach out with any suggestions you’d like to see from an alien point of view. I always imagine that the people I’m talking to, when I’m looking at nothing but a microphone, are my friends. If I could start to connect with some of you in the audience through this journey, that would be wonderful. I’ll touch base after I get some rest; truly appreciate your feedback.”

My flimsy toes ended the recording, and scrambled to upload it under a “Status Update” title. Swiping off the holopad, I curled up on the human-sized bed. It felt like it was mere seconds later, when my groggy head rose off the pillow. The memory of my previous post spurred me to reopen my holopad, and scroll to the comments section. HF4ever had posted another diatribe, calling for my corpse to be donated to science; I considered blocking the user, but decided it was important to leave within my view. That was why I wanted the censors gone, though my focus should stay on actual suggestions.

ManchesterVibes: Visit different places on Earth, and make a travel guide ^.^

It wasn’t a bad idea to compile a list of tips and advice on activities for Federation visitors; not every guest to Earth would be wrapped in a bubble, the way I had been for the initial duration of my stay. Some Terrans had an authentic kindness to them, yet all of them were entrenched in predatory practices. It wasn’t necessarily bad, just who they were to their core. Their views were in stark contrast to the rest of the galaxy.

Schnapps56: Review some tv shows. Maybe some really old stuff like Star Trek.

I fed that title into a search engine, and read a quick blurb about its premise. Apparently, it followed the voyages of a fictional crew of a human starship, who explored “strange new worlds” and sought out new civilizations. The universe included a United Federation of Planets, not dissimilar to our own concept, of which future Earth was an integral member. It championed peace, freedom, and non-interference. Was this utopian society, ripe with cooperation, really what violent predators fantasized about alien life?

I was nervous to approach Terran entertainment, for fear of its thematic content. I think I just figured out which show to start with.

TheZurulianAddict12: u want to see things that aren’t allowed by emergency order 56 right? I could show u ‘predator’ entertainment cuz id like to see ur reaction. Dm on Planasnap if ur interested in a meetup…same user.

“What is ‘Emergency Order 56?’” I echoed aloud. “I need to look into that, if I want the exact nature of what Earth doesn’t want aliens to see.”

The UN had intended to keep me off of social media, for fear of what dialogue I’d stumble across. Planasnap loaded this time, as if the restrictions had been lifted; perhaps I could freely search out these predator behaviors now. Creating an account was a streamlined process, and I navigated to TheZurulianAddict12’s profile, hoping it would give me a feel for the person. This commenter had seemed benign in the past.

A human male had uploaded hundreds of photos, with timeline updates that had much better grammar than his comments on my blog. He was extremely articulate here, where more eyes were upon him. I suspected the slippage in his blog feedback was mere laziness, rather than a lack of language ability. Cutting out a few letters here in there saved some fractional amount of time.

Most pictures were of a snarling human with pale skin, flaxen hair, and piercing blue eyes. It was mildly amusing to think that predators could be vain, taking so many poses of themselves doing nothing. A few images were taken with others, mostly while wearing matching pelts that were bulked out by armor. He seemed to have an affinity for food too, with several of his meal snapshots definitely including flesh. I skipped past those in a hurry, and tried not to dwell on my asphyxiation episode.

The majority of Terrans, including Samantha and Carlos, weren’t herbivores; I wouldn’t hold it against this mysterious human, even if he was showcasing his catch. Time to just tuck that aside and forget about it. What was important was assuring myself that this proposed meetup was a good idea. I could afford to make predator friends on Earth. To understand them like any other race meant befriending a couple, as daunting as that seemed.

A large chunk of the photos from the past month included a male Zurulian, who seemed amused by the Terran’s antics in most of them. One that caught my eye was where TheZurulianAddict12 had a blanket covering his entire face, and the quadruped’s glistening eyes showed laughter. Another picture had both the human and the Zurulian caked in flour, pointing at each other with glee in a kitchen. It was clear the two shared a whimsical bond; I wondered how they’d connected with each other. For starters, this explained the username.

Someone friendly, but not the least bit censored. He might do fine as a tour guide of Earth’s predatory underbelly.

I scanned the “About Me” section at the page’s banner, and wondered if it would reveal more about this man. The predator listed his occupation as a dentist, claimed to be part of the Zurulian exchange program, and stated his nationality as Swedish. His real name was Lars Isaksson. I clicked the “Message” icon, and swallowed the jittery feeling. I typed out an initial greeting with haste.

Hi. It’s Cilany.

Three dots appeared, before they were replaced by an empty space. Had the human changed his mind about his offer to connect with me? There couldn’t be much in it for him. Seeing my reaction to predator entertainment wasn’t a reward of itself, unless he enjoyed watching aliens quiver with fear. He must appreciate my journalistic endeavors a lot to throw that out without thinking.

My holopad buzzed with an incoming call, which nearly made me throw it across the room. If I was considering meeting him in person, it couldn’t hurt to familiarize myself with his visage ahead of time. There was a sliver of nervousness about him hurling profanity at me, or spewing other ill-intentioned rhetoric; his entire meetup idea could be a scheme to lure me to a Humanity First stomping ground. Then again, he had sent well wishes after my incident, and posted praise to my stories.

I steeled myself for an unpredictable encounter with a human, and accepted the call. The blond-haired Terran blinked into the screen; his binocular eyes widened with what seemed like delight. My toes raised in a human-esque wave, offering my friendliest greeting. He mimicked the gesture, and his lips curved to an unnatural height.

“Wilen said you would never contact me! I had to be sure it was really you, not him messing with me,” Lars chuckled. “Shoulda known he’s too busy making out with Fraysa to care about me.”

Confusion addled my mind. “What?”

“Wilen’s been swooning over this Zurulian chick for years, and finally got the nerve to ask her out. He’s my exchange partner. Now he’s so in love, it’s just sickening, and the PDA…enough about that. Aw shit, please don’t write that in your blog!”

“I won’t. It’s nice to meet you, Lars.”

“What the fuck? I never told you my name.”

“It’s in your profile…”

“Oh. My bad. I thought you did some journalism sleuthing, ran a background check or something psycho. I’m thrilled to be talking to you…you could say I’m a fan. The way you told Nikonus, ‘You dumbfuck, I’m wearing a wire’ was just kickass cool.”

“I didn’t say that?”

“I’m paraphrasing! Anyhow, you’re a real one. If you want to visit Sweden, I’d be happy to show you the sights. Even the ones they want to pretend don’t exist, ‘cause they need to protect you from the mere appearance of predation.”

“What is Emergency Order 56?”

“It governs extraterrestrial communication, and not saying anything the UN thinks would hurt our standing. I got arrested for ‘willful disregard’ in the Zurulian exchange program. Wilen had to barge into the Office of Alien Affairs and bust me out. All I did was show him things I liked, and start off with the hard ones!”

“That seems draconian, Lars. It stifles free expression to an unreasonable degree…by the sound of it, things you do in your daily life are prohibited.”

“Tell me about it. It’s like a bad joke. Good news, with Meier having kicked the bucket, they don’t enforce it as much. Zhao isn’t on the appeasement train, not to that degree. They lost a bunch of free speech lawsuits. Human rights groups, and the…other human groups, aren’t fond of it. They hate the word 56 as much as the name Nikonus.”

“I have to interview you about what happened, and that order. Is it safe for us to meet up? Are you comfortable going on the record?”

“They won’t be happy to see my name on their radar, but that just means you can’t rat me out or nothing. They’re not gonna hurt me for talking, if that’s what you mean. At worst, I get arrested. I’d love to meet up and chat, Cilany.”

“Great. I guess I can be in touch over this platform; I’ll get a flight as soon as possible. Should I be worried about the United Nations interfering?”

“Nah, you can say whatever to whomever. They like the press and they like aliens. Now my yapping to a journalist about ‘predatory’ pastimes will have them watching me like a hawk. I know they’re surveilling you, and they’ll see who you’re visiting. Long as they don’t get wind of my violations, better known as honesty and fun, we’re cool.”

“I won’t share anything that you’re not comfortable with. All I want is to understand humans.”

“I can work with that. Oh, already got the best idea for where to go! I’ll see you real soon.”

Lars flashed his canines a final time, before the call dropped out. Every human I met so far had their own oddities and quirks; it was clear their personas weren’t a one-size-fits-all bucket. They were individuals with stories to tell, and this one came off as a zany character in his own right. The Emergency Order 56 lead he offered screamed potential to my ears. What were Terrans really like, that their government would impose such strict restrictions?

This was exactly what I’d been looking for to kickstart my investigation into Earth. Drawing a deep breath, I sent a communique to Zhao’s office. The Secretary-General would be more than willing to accommodate this foray to Sweden, especially with his guilt over the restaurant incident working to my favor. Some innate curiosity beckoned to me, beyond journalistic interest; I was itching to see what the human homeworld was really like.

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A/N - Part 2! Cilany recovers from what we learn was the cure's allergic reaction, and sees unfiltered comments on her blog for the first time. After picking through a handful of suggestions for things to react to, she finds an overeager guide to navigate around Emergency Order 56's purview: Lars Isaksson himself. What do you think Lars has in mind for his "best idea"? How will Cilany and our Swedish dentist get along?

As always, thank you for reading and supporting!