“How many times do I have to tell you? Don’t mess with the Humans!” Cryell’s fur bristled around his eyes as he brought his fist down on the computer console.
Me’Ree’s ridge fur lay back in submission, “But I was only wanting to examine one up close. I put it right back where I took it from. I was very careful to make sure and take one of their more intelligent examples, so it could understand that I wasn’t planning to harm it.”
Cryell turned back to the front view ports and let out a long sigh. “I have been coming to this planet for the last hundred and twenty cycles. For over eight thousand cycles my family has been tasked with monitoring this section of the galaxy. Do you know what a type seven species is son?”
“Of course father You have explained to me many times. When a species is discovered or rises to the point that they are likely to achieve space travel within the next thousand cycles they are designated as type seven.”
“Do you know what type Humans are?”
Me’Ree looked down at the computer console as though he was confirming what he already knew. “Humans are type nine.”
“What does type nine mean?”
“Type nine is a species that has managed to place themselves on another celestial body. But are unable to leave their own solar system.”
“Do you know how many cycles it normally takes for a species to move from type seven to type nine?”
Me’Ree paused as though he was trying to remember the answer, before he could Cryell continued, “One thousand five hundred cycles. Normally it takes an average of a thousand cycles from the time a species is designated type seven until it first manages space travel, and becomes type eight. Almost always it is at least another five hundred cycles until they manage to actually reach another celestial body, making them type nine.
“Do you know how many cycles it took the humans to go from type seven to type nine?”
Me’Ree just stood looking blankly at Cryell. “less than one hundred cycles,” added Cryell. “Three rounds ago my father and I arrived in this system. Forty cycles earlier when my father last visited this system he was surprised to find that the Human species had moved from a type three, meaning that they were working and using iron, to a type four meaning that they were becoming an industrial society. The next round it was my turn. Forty cycles had passed between the time my father and I last visited. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered that they had flying machines. They were no longer a type four, they were already a type five. In less than eighty of their cycles they progressed from a type three species to a type five species. Do you know how long the average is in the galaxy?”
Once again Me’Ree just stood staring blankly.
“Two thousand cycles, the galactic average to progress from type three to five is two thousand cycles. These Humans did it in only eighty.
“Wow father, I didn’t know that.”
Cryell motioned for his son to sit down. “About six hundred cycles ago one of our ancestors decided that it would be a good idea to meet these humans. So he landed in an area of what is now called Mexico. He met a people called the Inca. At first they worshiped him as a god. Of course this was totally against regulations. So he explained to them in the best way he could that he was not a god, and then left before doing any more damage. Do you know what he discovered when he returned forty cycles later?”
“No father, I don’t”
“Flying machines! Somehow these type two natives had managed to sneak on board his ship and understand it enough to steal some information pads. Using this data, in only forty cycles, they had managed to refine metal and make rudimentary flying machines. Do you have any idea what kind of havoc could be caused by a type two species with flying machines?”
“Don’t guess it would be very good.”
“Not very good, they could have conquered the world. It would have completely upset the balance of power on the planet. A interference mitigation team was called in. All evidence of the flying machines were removed, and the humans that understood the flying machines were resettled on a colony world.”
“So the damage was repaired?”
“Not completely, the number of people we were forced to resettle was higher than we anticipated. The Incan society never recovered from the loss of its smartest people. A few cycles later when the first humans from the eastern hemisphere arrived the remaining Inca were easily overwhelmed and completely destroyed as a people.”
“We caused the downfall of a civilization?”
“One of our ancestors did, we are lucky that our whole family didn’t get assigned to waste extraction for the next thousand cycles. Listen son these humans are not like any other species in the galaxy. They make leaps of logic that others can’t, they take risks that no other sane species in the galaxy would even consider. Unlike every other species in the galaxy they seem to advance exponentially. It seems to defy logic, but once a Human makes a discovery or new invention you can bet it will be fully integrated in their society by your next visit. It took them less than a hundred cycles to go from heavier than air flight to landing on another celestial body.”
“That’s impossible.”
“That’s impossible for every other species in the galaxy but not humans. That’s why we don’t interact with them. That’s why we observe them from a distance. With the speed of their advancement it is sure to be only a few hundred more cycles until they discover faster than light travel. At that point we will have to make contact with them. I hope it doesn’t happen in my lifetime, because believe me, once these humans spread out into the galaxy I fear that everyone else’s days are numbered.”
“Why father?”
“They have used nuclear weapons on their own people.”
“They have nuclear weapons? That’s impossible, no species under a type ten has nuclear weapons.”
“They developed fusion weapons when they were type five.”
“Fusion?” Me’Ree’s ridge fur stood up, “Most species that develop fusion weapons at type twelve. How is it even possible for a type five to initiate a fusion reaction?”
“They use a fission bomb as an initiator.”
“Oh my gods! That’s madness. What type of insanity does it take for a species to even consider using a fission bomb to detonate a fusion bomb.”
“Now do you see? We don’t directly interact with these Humans. We watch from a distance, we don’t let them have any proof that there is life beyond their world. With their speed of advancement, if they had proof aliens from other worlds were visiting and that faster than light travel was possible they would throw everything into developing it. They have an insatiable thirst for knowledge. But this thirst for knowledge is equaled by their destructiveness. The galaxy is not ready for them. I fear it will never be.”
“I understand father, it won’t happen again.”
“By the way son, where did you take this human from?”
“I wanted to make sure I got a smart one, so I grabbed it from a place called Cal-Tech.”
Cryell lowered his face into his hands, “You took a student from one of the most advanced universities on the planet. You must have scared it to death.”
“Oh no father, it wasn’t afraid at all, in fact it was very communicative, it was as interested in me as I was of it. It had so many questions I had a hard time getting it to answer my questions. I finally had to release it from the restraints to get it to talk. And then it would only answer one question for each I answered.”
Cryell let out a groan, “You answered it’s questions?”
“Yes father, it was the only way I could get it to talk to me.”
“What did it ask you?”
“Oh nothing important, just where are we from, how fast we can travel, what powers our ships, just basic common knowledge stuff.”
“Please, at least tell me you sedated it and put it back in its bed so maybe it will think it was all a dream.”
“Oh I didn’t take it from its bed, I didn’t want to scare it. So I took it out of a small group of people in a park like area.”
Cryell stood up, “You took it in broad daylight in front of others?”
“Yes father, like I said I didn’t want to scare it. When I returned it to the same place there were others of its kind there to calm it down.”
“Oh my gods what have you done? You grabbed a human in broad daylight in front of a group of the smartest humans on the planet. And then when you brought it back you did in front of another group of humans.”
“Yes father, I didn’t want to traumatize it.”
Cryell’s fur bristled, “Go to your compartment while I figure out what I’m gonna write in my report. You may have just given them proof of extraterrestrial life. This could have immense ramifications.”
Me’Ree sulked from the room in silence. Cryell picked up a data pad and began typing, all the time he was mumbling under his breath. “Inconsiderate child, more paperwork. Not only that, there is now several very intelligent humans that have absolute proof of our existence. How this could affect their development a few years down the road is impossible to guess. “
While Cryell was typing he heard a sound, looking up he could see that Me’Ree was standing in the doorway in submission, “What do you want now?”
Me’Ree’s ridge fur seemed to lay back even further in submission, “I’m sorry father, I know you sent me to my compartment for punishment, but there is one more thing I think you should know.”
“What is it?”
“Well when I got back from returning the human I discovered that a class one data pad was missing. I have searched everywhere, but I am sure of where it was, the only explanation is the human stole it.”
Cryell hands began to shake so severely that the data pad he was holding clattered to the console. He slowly lowered himself into a chair, he tried to speak, but only half words and stammering noises issued from his mouth.”
“Father what’s wrong, I’m sorry I lost the pad, but they are replaceable.”
“Me’Ree, oh dear gods, oh dear gods, he just kept repeating.”
“Father, please it was just a data pad.
Finally his father managed to compose himself, “What have you done son, my gods what have you done.
“I don’t understand father, it was just a data pad.”
“A class one data pad is normally for the ships engineer. A class one pad has the full engineering and design schematics for all of our ships. With the data on a class one pad you can build a ship. You just gave the humans access to the rest of the galaxy.”
Suddenly Cryell stood up and walked out of the compartment without a word.
“Where are you going father?”
“I think it’s time for me to retire.”