~[I’m afraid I shouldn’t provide you with a direct line to High Lord Araknis, emperor of the Colonus Pact, this early in or as-of-yet uncertain relations. However, I’m perfectly happy to give you the means to contact a Monitor, another type of **Hexadecimal’s** constructs, which can then connect you with him. It’s really the same thing, but it’s simply more proper. Ah, there we go!]
The Admiral sat up straighter in his chair. Around the ship, the mandi were standing a little taller, a little more in unison. The local neural net had been repaired.
~[Now that that’s up and running, we should be able to return to our space shortly. Not that our chat hasn’t been lovely, but it’s my duty to return the ship asap. We should use the time we have to answer any last questions we may have.]
~[I must ask, why genetic alteration? I suppose it’s just another type of technology, but it feels like a very conscious choice to choose it over the “traditional” line of tech.]
Eh, don't worry. As long as we can contact the higher Government, anything works.
As I mentioned before, galactyans used to be a much less friendly and xenophilic species in their past. 7600 standard years ago their hatred for others caused an incredibly deadly war, known as the First Interstellar War, with another interstellar nation they had made first contact with, known as the Melanean Federation. After the war ended, Galactyans and Melaneans slowly reconciled through cultural efforts, and when the first interspecies couple wanted to procreate properly, our scientists began to properly research the field of genetics, and developed the first method of inter-species fertilization. This caused a domino effect, that culminated in us changing ourselves fundamentally to remove our xenophobic instincts that still remained even after all that cultural influence. Things grew even further and, 7300 years ago, a true Era of incredible development in the field of Genetics started, known as the Genetic Revolution. For 1000 years, Galactyans continued to fanatically change themselves, terraform new worlds and create a true utopian society. The Revolution ended when we started to need new space for our ever- growing population. To be honest, it technically ended, but our advancements in the field of genetics never did. We can probably do things that you can barely comprehend. So yes, genetic "alteration" became our line of tech due to our history. It's actually as versatile as drytech, and is much more useful for things such as fighting disease and terraforming new worlds.
~[Ah, interesting! It’s amazing to watch how culture affects the development of a society, although I have rarely been granted that privileged though. However, I can’t help get caught up on that one part… doing things that we can “barely comprehend”. It seems a bold assumption, no? But I digress, no need to cause any tensions between us!]
~[Now, is there any last details you’d like to know about the Colonus Pact?]
Let's just say that there is an entire planet with lifeforms purely made of living multicolored glass. And many more even weirder things.
Anyways, I think we should leave further cultural exchanges to the future. It's time for us to go back to duty, and for you my friend, to go back with your compatriots to your own Empire. I'll never forget this encounter of ours, and I look forward to seeing you meet our other archailects and transapients. Farewell Hexadecimal.
~[I ensure you, Captain Larimar, that the pleasure was all mine.]
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~[I must leave you with a warning of sorts… While our conversation was pleasant, I fear that others in Colonus are not so… *friendly*, especially given recent events. I have the full confidence that we’ll live to see something wonderful rise from them, but it will not be tomorrow, nor will it be in the next 36525 tomorrows. Well, anyway, it was so nice to meet you! I hope that 1000 years from now we’ll still be able to reminisce about this day. Goodbye!]
The ship turned around, back towards the Colonus Pact. It began picking up speed, until it appeared as though the entire hull was cloaked in sparks. Then it was gone.