[OTHR 422a]
“The year is 500 of the United Coalition Universal Time. It is hour 35 in the 100hr United Coalition Universal Time of the 83rd day of the year. This is Dr. Davlovin Of Valintres DAHX 68d. This is the status report for the Fengnau Conservation project.”
Standing at 32 feet and 10 inches tall, Davlovin was tall, even for a Dahxi. Each individual emerald green scale that covered his enormous form was 8 inches long, which he sold yearly to the Shuinau who lived in his hometown after his annual shed. Yet despite his massive size, his grip was gentle, allowing his “children” to use his talons as perches.
He didn’t have actual children, of course. He was 135 years old and didn’t really care for Dahxi dragonlings. No, his children were centimeters tall and chirped excitedly when he walked into their roost, made tiny little rings out of their golden down feathers, and were otherwise tiny little flamethrowers. The older ones had even begun speaking a bit, calling him “Taki” whenever they needed “foot” or felt “port”.
Despite the slow development of speech, the Fengnau already knew far more than Davlovin could ever know about advanced mathematics and physical sciences. He was a mere conservation biologist, but even in his own field these tiny birds seemed to know more than he did.
The extreme intelligence was a side effect of the last-ditch effort to save the species. The nanobots were meant as trackers, to make sure that they could keep track of all the birds at any time via the universal cloud web. But something happened with the first generation of hatchlings several centuries ago, where the nanobots somehow integrated into the Fengnau brain. Each generation became smarter than the last. And this current generation was the smartest yet.
“… the triplets are in good health. They continue demonstrating their vast intelligence with the lesson in complex human histories. The triplet named Nari especially expressed desire to research xenobiology in order to see if the principles of human history apply to other species.”
The enormous Dahxi set down his recording device. With a gentle smile, the large lizard held out his enormous talons, watching the tiny fengnau chicks scramble on. Shortly after, a larger fengnau flew into the room, landing right on top of the chicks. This fengnau looked right up to Davlovin with weary eyes, as if they just finished a long flight.
“Davlovin, the pirates are getting braver. They nearly caught Kokaru and I.”
“As in, they are on the planet?”
“Yes, they were.”
An awkward silence for a moment.
“… only ashes remain of them, so we are safe.”
Davlovin picked up his recording device, pressing the record button once again.
“Addendum. The Fengnau seem capable of protecting themselves as they age with their flamethrower abilities. Perhaps with that and the elected Fengnau in the senate, there is reasonable evidence to support allowing the fengnau to develop society as they wish while supporting them militaristically in response to the poaching threat.”
The larger fengnau seemed excited as Davlovin spoke into his recording device. Even the chicks seemed to perk up more, chirping out crude attempts at replicating the word “freedom” repeatedly.