So, I was watching a Youtube video on how Humans came to be Human. It never really clicked that the other species that died out while we survived were... well, Human too. Homo-Erectus, Neanderthal, Denicovin, all humans, but we are the survivors, Homo-Sapiens.
But what if this wasn't the case for alien species? They may have come together in mind, with the same goals, but their biology never homogenized. The multiple species that made up the intelligent life on a planet coexisted, or at least didn't outright murder one another. Would these species find our existence sad? Or maybe they'd be fascinated by that.
Credit where it's due, this is what I was watching: https://youtu.be/wzwXGD_C4P0
In any case, it inspired me to write my first entry to the Humans are Space Orcs Category. Enjoy.
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Field Medic Dana Ortigez was finishing up a report in the crew mess hall of the GFS Tortuga. Her meal had long gone cold as she considered how to write her statement in a way that would be translated favorably for other species to read. A few more agonizing minutes thinking on that sent her off to the Engineering wing. Since she still had difficulty remembering proper grammar for Rhyashaz, perhaps talking through it with one of her nonhuman crewmates could help.
The Tortuga was a human designed research vessel, made for deep space exploration and experimentation. As one of the newest races, the humans had no end of alien coworkers to help man the ship. Conversation was still spotty at times, but there was a certain harmony that overcame these obstacles. The alien Dana was looking for now was a Cryys-Tretchan, a bipedal insectoid species that had also come from a Death World.
Arriving in the center of the ship, Dana confidently strode through an automated door and bumped into a small group of Engineers she had wanted to find.
"Oh- Hi, sorry. Do you um... know where Tchyyk is?"
They were all Cryys, but each one had a tweaked morphology, beyond small changes like height or build. The clicking and chattering coming from their mandibles forced Dana's translator to take a moment, but after a few seconds, the conversation began flowing.
"Xey are... nearby. Xe can tell you, but xe have a question that must be answered." The statement had come from the smallest of the Cryys, a ladybug-adjacent creature with a vibrant, metallic purple carapace. Dana looked down at the Cryys, internally panicking, trying to remember a name. Nothing was coming. She smiled awkwardly, a tight-lipped, toothless affair as she nodded.
"Alright, I guess I have time for that. What do you want to know?"
The chittering comes through, and the translation follows close behind. "Where are the rest of you?"
Dana blinks slowly. "I don't think I understand."
"We were told much of humans, like that they were different shapes and sizes and colors. But all of you look the same. Some different color, all the same."
Dana's confusion only grew, until it dawned on her. Her Medical briefing had touched on how the Cryys were a multispecies spacefaring part of the Federation. Her heart sank.
"You mean, why aren't there more kinds of humans?"
The bug's clacking mandibles clearly signaled confirmation of her statement. "Yes. Do they have special roles in Human colonies?"
Dana shook her head. "No. We don't have them anymore. We're the only species of human."
"Anymore? What happened to them?"
Dana could feel her cheeks redden in shame as she considered the best answer.
"We don't know. There were many different kinds of humans once, before farming was ever an idea in our mind. Neanderthals are the most well known, but there were at least four other species. We have theories on how they disappeared. Everything from natural selection, to our species murdering them. We just... don't know."
The translation took a few seconds. The curious chirping and chittering gave way to cryys noises of shock and awe... as well as disgust.
"How did you come this far?"
To that, Dana smiled sadly.
"Because we're too stubborn to die. Because we overtook everything. Because war. There are so many possible factors, and there could be things that we don't know about today. What we do know is that we were close enough biologically to reproduce. We still have a large percentage of their DNA swimming around inside us. That's all that's left of our sibling species."
The chittering had long gone quiet, allowing Dana to finish to a silent hallway. Clearing her throat, she nodded to the smallest Cryys.
"So, uh, where's Taaniks?"
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When human-Dana finally walked away, Dres-Gryyk clicked Xer mandibles together slowly, indicating xer sadness.
The smallest Cryys, Roniks-Maar, looked back to Dres with a confused posture.
"What is wrong, Dres-gryyk? Biologist Dana answered your questions."
"She did. It makes me wonder if we had the kinder death world... to think they killed their sister species."
"Humans are odd. She was likely making her kind sound more ferocious, it is nothing to worry about."
In truth, though, it worried Roniks greatly. Xey would be writing a report to Xer superior about it soon.
