When Humans made first contact with life outside their solar system a new trend of people hungry for adventure and exploration appeared, who yearned for the vast unknown that lay before them.
And they weren't the only species on earth who wanted a slice of that action...
But would the problems their kind had since the beginning hamper them from continuing into the future?
Could Werewolves travel beyond there moon without getting into a 'Hairy' situation? (Or any other moon for that matter?) Could Vampires withstand the boundless infinity of space, where it was both dark and full of solar radiation?
And could Fish People deal with the pressures of surviving without any Water Pressure? -- AmberFox
The biggest shock to the Human race when they broke the code to travelling relatively quickly between the stars was the fact that they were not the only intelligent life to want off their miserable little rock in the middle of nowhere. Humanity always imagined that they were being observed by intelligences far greater than their own, but they never imagined that those intelligences were waiting for the balding land apes to do something interesting.
You know. For a change.
Until the sub-telepathic signal of a hyper-jump initiation rang the world like a gong, the non-human entities on Earth kept themselves and their presence guarded. Now? Now they were coming out of the woodwork.
The vampyr were already doing well in a submarine enclosure below the level where light could possibly reach, but the lure of going somewhere that was only us was a mutual trait of everything currently occupying the globe. There were thousands of groups willing to create a world in their own image.
Those who were a little bit strange were almost overlooked in the rush. Those who were a lot strange...
They met with the Mission Planners at a rocky beach, where a woman in a full wetsuit stood up to her navel in the water, next to three dolphins. All four of them were wearing some interesting technology that had, by necessity, been waterproofed.
"I'm sorry, you want to what?"
"We represent the Cetacean Preservation Alliance," said the speaker that translated the dolphin pod leader's squeaks and clicks into English, and a display showed the words for the hard of hearing. "We want to build paradise worlds for each cetacean species and the humans who want to travel and live with them."
"Dolphins on Beach, Whales on Deep Blue, and Orcas on Wide-hunt," said the human representative. "The dolphins don't want to live with the Orcas and this seemed like the best alternative."
"Orcas are assholes," said the dolphin. Well, of course they would say that about a species that routinely hunted them. "But the pod recognises they share a need for safety in an environment that is pleasant for them."
Another dolphin muttered, "Birther-of-oceans knows what they did to deserve it." The display helpfully translated Birther-of-oceans as God. Why the vocal one did not was a mystery the Mission Planners did not wish to investigate.
"The first probes should have found some suitable water-worlds by now," said the human representative. "We can seed them with Terran-compatible life forms... corals and tasty fish, kelp. We're planning to bring completely green energy technology for the land-walkers like me."
The handouts were laminated, well-organised, and very well thought-out. These people -and creatures- had done more than the minimum paperwork. They had been thorough. Up to and including a second scanner probe to be certain the world they had seeded had evolved according to plan. They had even detailed how to build cryogenic sleeper pods so the cetaceans involved could survive both launch and landing.
"Well," said the Second Opinion. "This looks exceedingly in order."
There was a tug on the lead Mission Planner's leg. Looking down, there was an octopus glaring up at them and making an unmistakable wrap-it-up gesture with one tentacle. Further along the beach, another human in a full-body wetsuit rushed to meet them. They had a string of laminated pages dangling over one arm.
"Ah," said the Second Opinion. "That's our one o'clock..."
Strangely enough, this particular pack of planetary colonists were also remarkably sane.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / aviron]
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