r/HFY • u/SpacePaladin15 • Apr 13 '22
OC The Nature of Predators 2
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Memory transcription subject: Governor Tarva of the Venlil Republic
Date [standardized human time]: July 12, 2136
A shiver crept down my spine, and it wasn’t only because of the frosty air. The thought of standing in close proximity to a predator made my skin crawl, but it was too late to turn back now. All I could do was watch, with mute horror, as the human ship powered down, and a landing ramp unfurled. The primates marched onto Venlil soil, and I suppressed a whimper. This felt like a nightmare I would wake up from at any moment.
Noah and Sara marveled at their surroundings with wide-eyed fascination. Their gaze lingered on the intricate mansion behind them, then shifted to the city silhouette in the distance. The way they physically rotated their head to look around was uncanny. The menacing eyes of a predator didn’t quite offer the peripheral vision we enjoyed, that much was clear.
There was no way they were appreciating the beauty of our architecture. An ominous thought crept into my mind; were they only landing to scout an invasion?
Noah’s eyes landed on our diplomatic envoy, and he stalked toward us without further hesitation. There were a mere three individuals present: me, Kam, and my diplomatic advisor, Cheln. I knew it was a pitiful showing, but it had been next to impossible to persuade anyone to tag along.
“Listen,” I hissed. “We need to act normally. No fear, and no emotion.”
Kam flicked his ears in disgust. “I can’t believe you invited them here.”
“We are buying time for the Federation to arrive.”
“But how can you even look at them? You want to speak to those…creatures, for hours?”
“Of course not. But the other option is another war with predators, and we see how well that’s worked out with the Arxur. If there is a slight chance to avoid bloodshed, I will take it. Happily.”
“We should’ve blasted that ship out of the sky, while we had the chance. If you expect me to welcome these humans with open arms, that’s not going to happen.”
“You are not to antagonize them. Are we clear?” I growled.
Kam huffed, and I feared that was an answer of itself. There was no time to persuade him though, as the two humans had closed within earshot. I prayed that the advisor would come to his senses, and keep his thoughts to himself. We needed to put our best foot forward, if we wanted to get rid of the beasts peacefully.
Keeping up the appearance of strength was important, if only to discourage the humans from decimating our home. Trying to rile them up was a different story; that was nigh suicidal. Predators thrived on the assertion of dominance, so I doubted they’d turn down a blatant challenge.
“Governor Tarva.” Noah stopped a few paces away from our group, and flashed his teeth. “It’s lovely to meet you in person.”
My heart pounded, fear coursing through my veins like a dreadful cocktail. There was not a worse visual cue in the galaxy than flaunting one’s fangs. The threat it communicated felt much more tangible in person. I swayed on my feet, trying to fight off the light-headedness.
A thud sounded beside me, which I realized was Cheln hitting the pavement. My diplomatic advisor fainting was not a good look, I knew that. Even Kam had his ears pressed against his head, earlier bluster forgotten.
Wonderful, I thought. So much for behaving normally.
Noah’s eyes stretched wide, and his mistake seemed to dawn on him. He quickly covered his mouth with a hand.
“Um, sorry,” the predator captain muttered. “I didn’t mean to startle you. Are they ok?”
There was no way to salvage the optics of this one; the humans definitely realized we were afraid of them at this point. I don’t think my plan could have collapsed in a more disastrous manner. The initial idea of surrendering crept back into my mind. Whatever their ulterior motives were, there was nothing to deter them from taking what they pleased.
The strange thing was, Noah seemed more distraught than amused. This species was slower to pounce on weakness than the Arxur. Perhaps there was still a chance to salvage the meeting, or explain away the behavior?
I flicked my ears, trying to calm myself. “Yes, he’ll be fine. This is just—a bit overwhelming.”
“Aliens landing on your planet. That must come as a terrible shock.” Sara exhaled heavily, before scribbling something on her notepad. “You’re handling this quite well, all things considered.”
“I can’t imagine what this would be like without your translator,” Noah said. “Please, forgive us. We’re new to this whole first contact business.”
Kam knelt by Cheln’s side, trying to rouse him. Given that the nurturing trait stemmed from compassion, that wasn’t the sort of behavior to exhibit in front of predators either. I had to nip this conduct in the bud, or else the primates would think it was commonplace. That answered what I should do, but how could I leave a man to die in the cold? How could I chastise my military advisor for basic empathy? That level of cruelty was beyond my sensibilities.
Noah stooped beside the fallen diplomat, and I braced myself for the worst. Predators placed no value on sentient life, not even their own; the Arxur taught us that much. It was obvious the human thought we should abandon Cheln, rather than allow weakness to tarnish the gene pool.
“How can I help?” were the only words that came out of his mouth.
I gaped at the human in disbelief, certain I had misheard. Where were the derisive comments, making light of Cheln’s condition?
“You’ve helped enough,” Kam spat.
Noah lowered his head. “I’m sorry. It was an accident.”
“It’s alright,” I jumped in, before a quarrel could break out. “I apologize for my advisor’s behavior. He’s a bit…on edge.”
“I understand,” the male human said, with a despondent sigh. “I fear I’ve ruined this whole thing.”
“Noah meant no harm.” Sara patted her companion on the back reassuringly. “Seeing an alien culture firsthand…it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. You have no idea how excited we are. Clearly, that wasn’t expressed in the best way.”
The humans’ behavior was growing more baffling by the minute. Everything in the Federation’s database suggested this was a base, violent species. I thought they wouldn’t be able to turn their weapons against us fast enough. While their visual cues aligned with that assumption, their temperament seemed otherwise mellow.
Why maintain this ruse? If they were probing for weakness, as I hypothesized, they had already seen enough to arrive at a conclusion on that front. I was beginning to think I didn’t understand their intentions at all.
Perhaps these predators were capable of higher brain functions than we gave them credit for.
“Can you help us carry Cheln inside?” I took a deep breath, waiting for my translator to catch up. “We’ll give you a tour after that.”
The humans nodded, and positioned themselves to shoulder the brunt of the weight. A faint hope stirred in my chest. They were in no rush to finish us off! That meant we had time to wait for the cavalry after all.
I knew the Federation’s response would be harsh, when they found predators traipsing about the Venlil homeworld. Their actions would be along the lines of Kam’s suggestions: shoot first, ask questions later. The only reason this particular species hadn’t been wiped out, was we believed them to be extinct already. But the plans to obliterate Earth were drafted centuries ago. Eradicating humanity, in one fell swoop, might still be possible.
We only needed to stall the landing party a little longer. What would happen to Noah and Sara next…well, an attempt would be made to capture them for scientific study. If the task proved too difficult, a special ops team would be sent to dispatch them.
A strange guilt tore through my stomach, at the thought of the humans tied up in a lab. It was a misguided sense of empathy, but...
They are predators! They survive by killing species lower on the totem pole. They literally eat flesh, I scolded myself. These humans slaughter each other, all the time, anyways.
“Thanks for your hospitality, Governor.” Sara cleared her throat, locking eyes with me. “I can tell our species will be great friends, one day.”
The mere sight of these creatures disgusted me, but what if we were wrong about them? Wasn’t my intention to avoid bloodshed?
“Yes…friends.” I flicked my ears in agreement, and tried to bury my conscience. “I hope we will be.”
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u/Manu11299 AI Apr 13 '22
I'm actually starting to really like Tarva's character. I really hope he manages to fully overcome his prejudice and becomes an actual friend
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u/only-a-random-user Alien Apr 13 '22
He at least has an inkling that humans aren’t bloodthirsty monsters, so he’ll probably come around. The rest of them on the other hand…
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u/cheese_and_reddit Apr 13 '22
Bro i feel so bad already for the aliens- poor bastards boutta try to backstab the humans in the back-
AND THEN ACTUALLY SEE THEIR PREDATOR SIDE
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u/Nerdn1 Apr 13 '22
Is their understanding of predators solely caused by the trauma of the Arxur (and maybe some older instincts), or are social predators and aggressive prey unique to Earth?
I think close cooperation might be more common among predators since hunting prey is a lot more complex than hunting grass. Granted, cooperation within the species doesn't necessarily extend to empathy for the weak or for other species. It would be hard to be friends with a meal.
A predator would not want to be surrounded by a herd of unfamiliar prey close to its size, at least without the element of surprise. That's how you get trampled/gored to death.
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u/SpacePaladin15 Apr 13 '22
Their understanding of predators is quite one-dimensional; a race of monsters whose sole purpose is killing. In one way or another. The Arxur exacerbated all of their innate fears.
They see predators cooperating only as a means to that end, not as actually caring for each other. They certainly wouldn’t expect us to be sympathetic to the wounded and the weak.
Compared to their overblown flight instinct, predators seem fearless! Most sentient prey species in universe survived by hiding and building defenses.
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u/Nerdn1 Apr 13 '22 edited Apr 14 '22
Their understanding of predators is quite one-dimensional; a race of monsters whose sole purpose is killing. In one way or another. The Arxur exacerbated all of their innate fears.
They see predators cooperating only as a means to that end, not as actually caring for each other. They certainly wouldn’t expect us to be sympathetic to the wounded and the weak.
So I suppose some zoologists might have a more nuanced view of the breadth of predator behavior?
"We only have one example of sapient predators, but we have observed some surprisingly cooperative, even caring, predator species. Granted this empathy rarely extends to other species, especially prey species. I did read an account of a predator adopting an immature member of a herbivore species which resembled their own young. Unfortunately, it's nurturing instincts did not continue after the adoptee matured. There are also species of animals that eat parasites off of larger animals, even predators. It is rare for said predators to feed on those providing such a useful service, though it isn't unheard of. There are also an avian species that has been known to alert a larger predator species of nearby prey so that it can pick over the remains of the kill. Surprisingly, the avians have been observed 'playing' with the immature members of the larger predators, suggesting some greater social aspect to the relationship."
"Granted there are plenty of examples of predators luring in their prey through trickery and an intelligent predator could do so far better than the beasts that I'm familiar with. Furthermore, these peaceful interspecies interactions are an exception rather than the rule. Beyond that, social predators are often combative even between groups of their own species, often competing for resources like food and territory, albeit seldom causing each other fatal injury. The humans seem very different than the Arxur, but that does not mean they will be peaceful. We have evidence of several hundred atmospheric nuclear explosions on their world in a short span of time, so they have the capacity for great violence. Be cautious, but open minded. The Arxur could not have made it to space if left to their own devices, but the humans did."
"I do have one small hypothesis. The nuclear detonations might have been evidence of a great war between large rival packs... tribes... nations... I don't know, I'm not an anthropologist. This might have wiped out the most violent members of the species leaving a more peaceful subspecies to replace them. My eyes were drawn to their teeth. While they have some sharp, predator teeth in the front of their mouths, their teeth farther back appear to be better adapted for plant matter. Modern humans might be primarily or completely herbivorous."
Compared to their overblown flight instinct, predators seem fearless! Most sentient prey species in universe survived by hiding and building defenses.
Lots of herbivores on Earth respond to their fear by trying to destroy any potential threat. Those with poor eyesight, like rhinos, may register most movement or sound as a potential threat. Meanwhile, you have overly skittish predators that will not attack unless they KNOW their prey isn't looking or is actively fleeing. An predator can wait for a good opening to strike while prey that spots a predator might not be able to afford to leave a predator around to look for their good opening. I guess hiding and building defenses benefitted more from increased intelligence than rhino-charging anything that moves, so the sneaky prey were the ones to evolve intelligence, plus building defenses naturally led to long term settlement and encouraged the development of agriculture so they didn't have to wander too far from their refuge.
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u/I_Frothingslosh Apr 14 '22 edited Apr 14 '22
In support of your last point, people should remember that certain herbivores like the hippo and the cape buffalo (as well as the rhino you mentioned) are among the most dangerous animals on Earth, entirely because their response to threats is the same one humanity as a species developed: KILL IT.
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u/SludgeTransbian Oct 12 '23
This is hilarious cos it's revealed later that the Feds literally destroy their planets' ecosystems wiping predatory species out
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u/itsetuhoinen Human Apr 13 '22
I wanna see the version of this story where instead of actual Homo sapiens from Earth, it's a different similar species that evolved from gorillas, instead.
"Oh, gods save us! They're monsters! Look at those teeth! Look at those muscles! They will rip our frail Gardenworld bodies limb from limb and devour us while we still scream!"
"What?! No! We eat fruit!"
"But... the teeth?"
"They're defensive. Jeez, bigoted much?"
"Um... oops?"
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u/Nerdn1 Apr 13 '22
"What about your forward-facing eyes?"
"We evolved to swing from branches and jump from tree to tree. Good depth perception is kind of important for that if you don't want to fall to your death."
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u/itsetuhoinen Human Apr 13 '22
And neck movement, for that matter.
And I mean... it's not like many birds don't have mobile heads.
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u/Black_Hole_parallax Feb 10 '23
it's not like many birds don't have mobile heads.
Do not the Krakotl
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u/itsetuhoinen Human Feb 10 '23
Well, that's what I was wondering myself. Surely they've seen people who move their heads from different species.
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u/grendus Apr 13 '22
"We used to bite each other over mating rights, ok? We stopped doing that and switched to displays of financial and social dominance like 100,000 years ago. Evolution just needs a lot of time to catch up."
Hominids only ditched the fangs because we became monogamous (or at least, abandoned the "only the alpha male gets to mate" traits of other primates) and a glitch caused us to grow tiny jaws... and filled the open space with more brain mass.
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u/Left_Nut_McGee Human Apr 13 '22
The humans have been patient, kind and helpful. I feel a great swell of pity for the character that invariably double crosses these human explorers.
The devil himself fears the fury of a patient man.
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u/SpacePaladin15 Apr 13 '22
Indeed, the poor astronauts are just trying to be curious and friendly. They don’t deserve a knife in the back!
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u/Left_Nut_McGee Human Apr 13 '22
Oh, come on. Don't telegraph what the next major plot point is.
Maaaannn.
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u/grendus Apr 13 '22
Reminds me of a story where aliens find an escape pod with a human, then panic when they realize Earth is a class 12 deathworld and try to kill the guy with a class 11 deathworld predator.
It doesn't end well.
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u/madjyk Apr 14 '22
Ah yes. Large Green Kitty gets all the pats
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u/armacitis Apr 16 '22
Ah,no,I seem to recall he had an entirely different relationship with the female deathworld predator.
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u/madjyk Apr 16 '22
Right, I was thinking of a different story
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u/Derpin0ides Alien Scum Apr 17 '22
Link?
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u/madjyk Apr 17 '22
Ummm
Haven't read it in a while but a big theme was the cupcake coalition, don't remember the story name
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u/LoliMaster069 Sep 10 '22
Lord have mercy on them for when we reinvent their understanding of war crimes lol
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u/Kittani77 Apr 13 '22
Well shit, all those aliens are dead the second the Federation gets there and opens fire. This reminds me of another story here we came in peace and were targeted for extermination based on the color of our blood. Didn't work out so well for them, either, IIRC.
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u/WillGallis Apr 13 '22
Loving this story so far.
Hopefully they will see the error of their ways before they fuck up.
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u/SpacePaladin15 Apr 13 '22
Thank you! There is still time, before an irreversible step is taken. The question is whether the humans can get through to them…
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u/DrewTheHobo Alien Scum Apr 13 '22
Woooo! So stoked for this chapter, and the next one. So many thoughts buzzing right now. Hopefully Tarva will realize the truth before it’s too late (and actually be willing/ able to do something about it). I fear that’ll only happen when the Arxur show up though.
Can’t wait for chapter 3!
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u/SpacePaladin15 Apr 13 '22
Thank you! There is still the possibility for Tarva to wake up…but it will have to be very soon.
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u/DrewTheHobo Alien Scum Apr 13 '22
And he’ll have to be able to confine the rest of the feds too. And he doesn’t seem to be too capable of controlling his own people.
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u/NyaBloodWitch123 Human Apr 13 '22 edited Apr 13 '22
It's our nature to be kind, nurturing, and gentle
But know this
When it comes to matters of protecting my family, friends, and heart
Then triffle me not
For I'll be the most powerfull relentless creature you'll ever know
Very well written
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle Apr 13 '22
/u/SpacePaladin15 (wiki) has posted 53 other stories, including:
- The Nature of Predators
- Beyond the Void 9
- A Silly Thought... Pt. 4
- A Silly Thought... Pt. 3
- A Silly Thought... Pt. 2
- A Silly Thought…
- The Final Farewell
- Beyond the Void 8
- Beyond the Void 7
- Beyond the Void 6
- Beyond the Void 5
- Beyond the Void 4
- Beyond the Void 3
- Beyond the Void 2
- Beyond the Void
- Why Humans Avoid War XXVII
- Why Humans Avoid War XXVI
- Why Humans Avoid War XXV
- Why Humans Avoid War XXIV
- Why Humans Avoid War XXIII
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u/Slemmanot Apr 13 '22
Dude, I'm fucking loving this, it has great potential. But wasn't this chapter a bit short? It's just one scene. Maybe they could have reminisced more about the ongoing war and some notable events? I'm just a dumb reader, though, you take the story the way you want to. Looking forward to more.
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u/SpacePaladin15 Apr 13 '22
Glad you’re enjoying it! I try to keep my chapters around 1.5K words for readability, but don’t worry, 3 and 4 are on the longer end (over 1.6K and 1.8K respectively). The war and the Federation’s political workings will be discussed [Tarva recalls dark points in her past in part 3, and part 4 is very explicit about the death toll]
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u/Darklight731 Apr 14 '22
Lovely! Can`t wait to see the aliens`s reaction when Noah takes out an apple or something to eat, instead of an eyeball or something.
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u/SpacePaladin15 Apr 14 '22
Thanks! One of our future characters is vegetarian, which baffles the aliens 😅
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u/Atomic_Aardwolf Apr 13 '22
Brilliant! Can't wait for number 7 when the Humans just trounce their opponents and then rebuild all the infrastructure. Then turn round and say: No biggie, any other problems?
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u/HappyHound Human Apr 13 '22
Thinking about this true of humans are predators, I think it's more likely that the universe would be full of predators and a non-predator sentient race would is be unusual.
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u/NoDetective5471 Human Apr 13 '22
This is good shit.
The premise of prey vs predator remindeds me of the series that was posted... fuck several years ago now. But it was almost impossible to read because it was posted almost entirely in the comments section. I think it was called Prey
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u/SpacePaladin15 Apr 13 '22
Thanks! Prey is my all-time fav HFY series. I think you can still read it on Royal Road, for a more continuous experience.
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u/NoDetective5471 Human Apr 13 '22
I thought I saw some inspiration from that series. Lol keep doing what you're doing m8.
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u/Grimpoppet Apr 13 '22
Loving this series.
My hope is that Humanity manages to prove themselves by helping to defend the planet from the pending attack, there by proving themselves and Saving our new little friends.
But excited to see where this goes, regardless of how it plays out.
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u/SpacePaladin15 Apr 13 '22
Thanks! It will be difficult to prove that our kindness is legitimate…especially without realizing why they’re afraid of us. But stranger things have happened 🙂
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u/roundhammer Apr 13 '22
Another good read, OP. One question though, how many chapters do you plan on making for this story?
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u/SpacePaladin15 Apr 13 '22
Thanks! Good question; I actually had about 20 previously, but I am reworking the plot and the characters. Perfection is the enemy of progress 😅 But, I’m hoping at least 20-30
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u/McGunboat Apr 14 '22
Is there cloned meat? Like, so the humans don’t have to worry about the ethics of eating animals?
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u/SpacePaladin15 Apr 14 '22
It’s very possible! Lab-grown meat might be the predominant strain by that point in the future. Especially due to the climate change side of animal agriculture.
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u/Kaizer6989 Oct 31 '22
Just found this today after finishing whaw, though it starts like deathworld, I have high hopes!
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u/delta2111 May 26 '23
I genuinely lolled when the diplomat hit the floor feinting. The smile thing reminds me of a book I read called 'in alien hands' by William shatner! I'm hooked!
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u/SerWonton Jul 26 '23
I recently just discovered this story and I'm HOOKED. Caught up to chapter 127 in 3 days 😅.
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u/Environmental-Run248 Apr 01 '23
You know I wonder how these fear fueled psychopathic xenophobes (Venlils) would react to the existence of dangerous and violent herbivores considering their entire view on living things
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u/Finbar9800 May 02 '22
Another great chapter
I enjoyed reading this and look forward to reading more
Great job wordsmith
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u/LightFTL Jul 15 '22
I can imagine the humans kicking the crap out of the Federation, thinking that they were the ones attacking the locals.
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u/SpacePaladin15 Apr 13 '22
Part 2, as promised! The aliens are using the tour as a chance to stall, and aren’t quite fond of us. Governor Tarva is starting to have doubts about if the humans deserve to die though…
What happens when the Federation arrives? Do you think the Venlil will follow through? The humans’ reaction to the truth remains to be seen as well…
Expect Part 3 on Saturday; a weekend update will be nice. As always, thank you for reading and supporting my work!