A planet is found to be a near duplicate of the nation on Earth known as Australia. Its indigenous plants and wildlife are nearly duplicate of that nation, except here, animals that humans drove into extinction still live. Convergent evolution at its finest. The N'Ozzies LOVE it! -- Anon Guest
If there were any further proof needed that Humans are "space orcs" as they put it, they usually look no further than N'Oz. A planet terraformed to be a copy of the hazardous island-continent. There was, however, extra proof beyond that.
An entire planet that was like that without outside interference. Including the ancient Australian megafauna.
Science was instantly fascinated. Immediately sending exploratory drones to see if someone hadn't been up to shenanigans at some point. No such evidence existed, the beasts there were the results of convergent evolution.
The next problem was how to properly study this amazing Deathworld without either harming it or coming to harm from it.
Enter the N'Ozzies, arguably the Deathworldiest Deathworlders.
They came with knowledge from times before writing, and technology from the bloodiest of B'Nari's edge. They also brought with them a kind of lackadaisical absence of alarm concerning any hazards on that world.
The life's motto of every N'Ozzie seemed to be, "She'll be right."
Who 'she' was and how she was correct all the time was never explained. Anyone who dared ask only got a Look that indicated something would be lost in the translation.
The science was great, of course. The chance to study extinct creatures in a pristine environment was unparalleled. The discoveries were the stuff of dreams.
Unfortunately, it also came with a very N'Ozzie attitude in all the documentation.
On a marsupial lion: "This bludger sleeps for eighty percent of the day. Best as we reckon, they detect their prey by scent in their sleep. Donno's having a go at testing that for yaz." Followed by footage of Donno in their livesuit with a pinwheel and some meat on the end of a fishing pole.
Donno fell out of the tree they were using to test the hypothesis.
"Maybe next time, Donno."
There were endless N'Ozzies willing to go out and use a "hands on" approach with the wildlife. Often whilst also talking about how dangerous those creatures words. This in tribute to the ancient N'Ozzie hero Steve Irwin. The original, so they claim, Human Steve.
Truly, all scientific endeavour bears the imprint of those performing it.
[Photo by Philippe Wuyts on Unsplash]
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