Presenter Uana Gemme quickly smoothed the tentacles on her head to give them a neater appearance, like hair. It made her look more... normal. There were many species within the Universal Administration, but it was clear that a certain standard existed.
In the same spirit of presenting a pleasant appearance, the Glapouine used an opacifying cream that gave her skin a bluish sheen: many species found it repulsive to be able to observe someone's entrails. If a great tolerance reigned in the administered universe, “forced to the point of excess by coercion” as some members of the opposition said, one could not force people to watch a holographic show if they did not like it, so it was necessary to adapt appearances to be pleasing to the greatest number.
Comfortably seated on a gel chair whose color, a bright orange, matched perfectly with the blueish appearance of her skin and clothes, the presenter crossed her movement tentacles, taking advantage of this moment when she could remove the exoskeletons that assisted her in walking. Although capable of living both in the open air and underwater, her people would never really appreciate moving on land, even with mechanical assistance.
She turned her two peduncled eyes towards the guest who was bouncing on another seat, a neon blue color that did not match very well with clothes whose general tone was light brown.
“We will start the show soon. If you have anything to ask before, dear doctor, now is the time.”
Her interlocutor had skin a little darker than his clothes, but in the same brown shade. His vest fastened with buttons rather than an automated system, a fashion that had swept through academia during the previous standard decade.
The man had a very flat head, wearing a wide-brimmed felt hat that kept his three eyes in the shadows. Three was also the number of fingers he had on each of his three hands.
“I don't need anything, thank you. This isn't the first time I've been interviewed, don’t you know?”
“Uh, yes, of course, doctor. Ah, I'm being signaled: we're about to begin.”
The wide mouth that split the Glapouine's face twisted into an arc, forming a smiling expression according to standard administrative body language. She waited a moment for the show's theme music to die down, then spoke. She fixed her gaze on a single red camera, while her smaller sisters whirled in the air in order to capture the 3D ensemble for the adapted media.
“Welcome to our show ‘Understanding the Universe’! I am Uana Gemme and here is our guest today: Doctor Ged Glo, doctor of the Universal University and specialist in xeno-anthropology. I would like to point out that this show has been validated by the Network Institution, Sub-Institution of Communications as well as by the Institution of Sciences, Sub-Institution of the Conservation of Knowledge... Hello Doctor Ged Glo, it’s an honor to have you on our holovision set.”
“The honor is shared.”
“You will find attached the links to the official biography of the doctor and the list of his many and impressive accomplishments for science. Without further ado, I would like to start questioning you.”
“Do so.”
“The Zcarbbs. Their name alone is enough to spread terror through the Universe, but what do we really know about this threat? The first rumors about the existence of the Zcarbbs appeared during our sixth Tanae, during Lonae nineteen thousand approximately. Considered at first as false information propagated by the Imperial Universal Federation, it was mainly during the twenty-thousandth Lonae, when the Administration was weakened by the war against the Titans of the Secret Center, that the Zcarbbs launched a wave of massive colonization that made people aware of the reality of this danger. Today, they are the number 1 threat against the whole of civilization... Doctor, my first question will be: where do the Zcarbbs come from? How far does their domination extend?”
“This is a difficult question to answer. You see, the Administrative territory is theoretically infinite, due to its considerable size and its constant growth, at every moment. Nowadays, thanks to technical progress, in particular Walker-type engines, we are able to travel instantly to any point in the universe... well, as long as we have the authorizations to pass the various protective measures: that goes without saying. So, many expeditions and probes were launched in the direction where the Zcarbb territories extend. If some returned, no device having gone far enough in this direction... none returned. We can therefore deduce that the Zcarbbs have a territory as vast as ours and therefore, in theory, infinite. They could also have advanced disruptors in their most distant colonies, unless it’s some unknown natural phenomena. The Zcarbbs are very aggressive in their expansion, and nowadays we cannot establish a colony in this part of the universe without eventually encountering a new Zcarbb colony on the same planet, born of their insatiable thirst for territory.”
“Brrr… that’s chilling. But we have long believed the same thing about the Hogloo territories. However, today, the Administration extends all around the Hogloo enclave and we are able to measure its size.”
“Of course… It is very likely that the Zcarbbs have a very limited territory compared to ours: a single species certainly cannot have a territory as vast as the greatest civilization ever created, bringing together an infinite number of species within it. Our current data allows us to assume that their territory is at least equivalent to that of the Hogloos. Probably even larger. In addition, the majority of Hogloos territories are deserted, serving as no-man’s-land for their military patrols. On the contrary, the Zcarbbs exploit the slightest place that can accommodate a viable colony: so, if they had the same space as the Hogloos, they would however be more numerous. If they had more…”
“Uh… yes… But, are these threats comparable? The Hogloos are dangerous because of their advanced science, especially in the field of biological weapons. The Zcarbbs can't be that powerful? Is their only advantage their numbers?”
“Well… that’s already a considerable asset. Remember when the Hogloos were trying to add this one to their arsenal… Before their religious civil war, caused by the appearance of the Titans, the Hogloos were the first universal threat and promised to annihilate us as soon as they were numerous enough… However, the Zcarbb threat is indeed not limited to their considerable numbers. They are also brilliant electronics engineers and their robotic armies are among the best in the universe, further reinforcing their digital threat. It is true however that they are inferior to us in many other areas, including unfortunately diplomacy.”
“But what are exactly these Zcarbbs? We hear the word a lot in the news, but for most of us, all we know is that they are a menace and that they are insectoid type.”
“I would define… Yes, we can say that the Zcarbbs are insectoids, of the communal type. Their colonies are born from a single mother, the queen, who manages all aspects of them with absolute power. However, it should be noted that there are other species within the Administration that fit these criteria but are quite acceptable. The main problem with the Zcarbbs is that they present a single, aggressive front, systematically sweeping aside all our attempts at peace.”
“Oh, so there were diplomatic attempts?”
“Absolutely. And systematic failures. You see, the Zcarbbs have a totally expansionist ideology. Anything that puts an end to their expansion is automatically considered an enemy to be defeated. With this in mind, they refused to join the Administration, disapproving of our regulations for a harmonious expansion of our different components. There are, at present, many ceasefires, but all of them will be or have already been violated by the Zcarbbs. Even when the agreements were signed, they always made it clear to us that they would no longer respect them as soon as it suited them. We therefore find ourselves in a constant state of confrontation, interspersed with brief periods of peace during which the enemy takes advantage of the situation to strengthen itself.”
“You told us that the Zcarbbs were ruled by queens. Are they under a single authority? If not, wouldn't it be possible to negotiate a more lasting peace with some of them, or even establish them on our borders as buffer states?”
“This is where it gets complicated: each queen is indeed independent. There are also vassal queens, generally daughters of their suzerain who remain dependent on her for a few years or even her entire life. We don't know their exact life expectancy, because it varies from one genetic strain to another, but we estimate that a queen lives on average two hundred years. On such a large population, we can therefore estimate that we are dealing with an infinite number of small independent kingdoms.”
“Independent? They don't have... a single authority, or a representative council?”
“Not officially. In fact, there are a multitude of informal alliances. It seems that the queens choose representatives among themselves, either by age or to represent a sector. These representatives gather in ‘alliances’ whose purpose is to attack us. It seems that this is one of the only reasons for such meetings.”
“You mean that what threatens our worlds so much is only a horde of small, warlike and disunited nations?”
“Ah, no, no: you misunderstood me. It is not because they do not have a unified representation that the Zcarbb queens are disunited. On the contrary, ALL Zcarbbs are united, consider themselves as a single species and consider the survival and expansion of their species as fundamental values... their only values even. Besides, ‘Zcarbb’ is not really the name of their species, which does not seem to have one, but a word meaning ‘United’ in their language. So far, we've been lucky: the majority of queens far from our borders are not interested in wasting resources to fight us... But as time goes on, the Zcarbbs activists convince more queens to join their ranks...”
“It's... downright terrifying. Let's get back to a less... less political subject for the moment. How do the Zcarbbs live? What do they look like? What are their laws, their internal organizations?”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“So, we've already mentioned that the Zcarbbs look like insects. From one colony to another, appearances diverge greatly, and even within the same colony. Each individual is produced for a specific purpose and belongs to a specific caste. For the sake of simplicity, we're talking about the castes of workers, soldiers and nobles, but the first two, constituting what we translate as ‘commoners’, are divided into an infinite number of castes. We differentiate these two categories by the fact that workers don't fight but soldiers are designed for this sole purpose. However, we have noted the existence of intermediate castes, such as the genius workers of their armies, who can build infrastructures as well as cut one of our soldiers in two with a blow of their mandible.”
“So, the real distinction would be between commoners and nobles?”
“That's right. Commoners are creatures of varying intelligence, but overall are little more than biological automatons. Scientists are unanimous in classifying them apart from, and even below, animals. They are soulless drones, tied to the will of their queen and incapable of living without her. That is why it’s in no way a crime to eliminate them massively: they are not real people.”
“And nobles are different?”
“Unfortunately, yes. They are the true brains of the hive and they also have intellectual capacities well above the universal average. Unlike commoners who are asexual... Except, there is a very rare type of worker who is not: the layer[1]. This is a worker programmed to regularly lay eggs of a specific model of commoner. There have been a few occasions where this type of drone has been spotted and it has been proven that it has reproductive organs. However, the colonies using it had a weak industry, unable to produce enough robots. It can therefore be assumed that it’s a palliative device. Zcarbb queens have the ability to program the genetics of their eggs and thus choose which models to produce for the development of their hive.”
“Apart from this exception, which cannot therefore be considered a person, there are therefore other creatures, called nobles, who would really be people?”
“Yes. They can be divided between males and females: princes and princesses. Their role in the hive is different, guided mainly by physiological and pragmatic questions. The question of their psychological development is still under debate, due to a lack of experimental subjects. Males are often assigned to managing defense or exploring new territories. Although more important than commoners, they are considered expendable compared to females. For the Zcarbbs, in fact, a princess is a future colony and therefore billions, or even an infinity if they project themselves further, of their peers. The death of a princess is a tragic event for the Zcarbbs. If it was provoked, it can have serious consequences. Martial law in effect on our borders prohibits the killing of Zcarbb princesses without specific alpha-level authorization! There have already been cases of entire planets whose populations have been massacred by the Zcarbbs in retaliation for the death of princesses. Their retaliation policy is generally: one planet for one princess.”
“Um... it must not be easy to face them in these conditions.”
“Indeed. The current strategy, during the confrontation phases, is attrition: fight the invaders with all our strength until they consider that they are losing too many resources for little or no gain, leading them to agree to sign a provisional peace.”
“Back to the princesses: what can you tell us about them?”
“So, the Zcarbb princesses... Like the males, and the queens, of course, have a rather particular physical appearance. If they are still very insectoid, they have a very humanoid torso, close to that of mammals. It should be noted, however, that the specific attributes of mammals that seem to appear on their chests are in reality solid plates of chitin that form an armor. Their face is also vaguely human, if you will allow me this outdated expression, and seems to activate positive responses from most humanoids.”
“It’s rather strange.”
“Indeed, why would an insectoid people have such proximity to humanoids? There are many theories but... precisely: in the absence of proof, they remain theories. Some believe that the Zcarbbs would have come from genetic manipulations dating back to the first or second Tanaé. Others suppose that the ability of the queens to genetically adapt their descendants would have allowed them to transform them in order to better interact with the humanoid populations which form, let us remember, the majority of the universal population. There are even some rumors, based on valid documents, but subject to caution, claiming that the Zcarbbs would be genetically compatible with standard humanoids... In short, this is a field belonging for the moment more to science fiction than to science.”
“Can you describe the life of these princesses? What is their status, their place in the colony? Are they free, or on the contrary restricted?”
“Well, I would say that they have pretty much all the powers as long as the queen does not put any limits on them. The princesses, when they come out of the egg, live for three years in larval stage, under the tutelage of ‘nurse’ type workers. They then undergo a first molt which allows them to fully access their status as princess. They are then sexually mature, but they will normally wait ten to thirty years before choosing to found a colony, except in the case of a major disaster destroying all the layers in their colony network.”
“You say that they are mature from three years old?”
“No, only able to reproduce. Knowing that they only do it once in their life, you can deduce that they generally wait until an age closer to the galactic standard for species in the alpha intelligence category. From three to thirteen years old, I remind you that I use the standard years, Zcarbb princesses generally have camouflage abilities bordering on invisibility for the classic visible spectrum. Pampered and provided with everything they ask for the princesses live in comfort amidst the protection of their hive. The Zcarbbs believe that a beamed princess will make a good queen. Like some queens, princesses are often unaware of the realities of war, kept in a certain ignorance by males and commoners, for their protection…”
“What do you mean by ignorance and protection?”
“Well, princesses… and queens, tend to be very curious and rather reckless. They may wish, for example, to go and see the war up close. There have been reports of Zcarbb soldiers and princes vigorously pacifying a specific location and then staging a fake fight there to prevent their queen from being in a dangerous place.”
“So, they can lie to their queen?”
“Apparently. The Zcarbbs' primal instinct, very strong even among the nobles, pushes them to do everything to protect those who are superior to them in the hierarchy. Even if it means sacrificing themselves or deceiving them, if necessary... You can also note that the sense of sacrifice is very strong among the Zcarbbs. Among the nobles, it’s mainly the males whose entire ideology is based on sacrifice to protect the females. It must be said that they do not survive mating for genetic reasons, so we can say that this sense of sacrifice is more instinctive than the fruit of real reflection by an intelligent species.”
“They... Ah... They die after...”
“Yes. The different colonies have their own organizations, but most will prepare the ground for the new colony in advance, or even provide workers from the mother colony for the construction of the new colony. We have often seen couples form, where the prince and princess spend years working together on the organization of their future colony before the... founding sacrifice, which will allow the colony to really exist through a new generation. We have also seen couples parachuted onto barely viable planets and left to their own devices, contrasting sharply with the general idea of overprotectiveness of the nobility.”
“Are there several forms of... society within the Zcarbbs?”
“There is no way to say for sure. The customs of each colony seem unique, although often very linked to those from which they originate. The intelligence services have detected some highly atypical colonies, very far behind the Zcarbb lines, but I cannot tell you about them for reasons of confidentiality and security. All I can tell you is that these colonies are much more aggressive, even if they don't threaten us: don't even think about trying to negotiate with Zcarbbs on your own. Not only would it be highly illegal and considered treason, with possible alpha-level penalties, but you would also be almost guaranteed to be killed by the Zcarbbs.”
“Back to the life cycle of princesses.”
“Okay. From the age of thirteen, princesses undergo a new molt that destroys their camouflage abilities. From this point on, their abdomen will slowly swell, facilitating their future transformation into queens. It is considered... And the Zcarbbs consider this to be the real moment of their passage into adulthood. They develop the ability to fly, their wings finally becoming large enough, unless they belong to a hive where all the members already have wings, in which case they have known how to fly for a long time. Their resistance to the acids generated by the Zcarbbs increases and they obtain a… partial metamorphosis capacity, still poorly understood. Many males and some princesses use this capacity to… remodel their chitin? In order to spy on our territories…”
“On this subject, this is a message from the Security Institution, Sub-Institution of Order, Department of Law Enforcement, if you encounter suspicious individuals, do not confront them: report them to the local Law Enforcement station or to the local Administrative Center and follow their instructions. Remember: Zcarbbs are dangerous and must not be approached without the proper authorizations without risking the security of your entire planet!”
“Yes, yes, of course… So, I was saying, that this period continues until about thirty years old… Besides, they stop playing spies well before, if they play it, because their abdomen grows so much that it doubles… no: triples the size of their body. They even become capable of laying eggs, without having been fertilized, of extremely primitive warriors with a lifespan that can be counted in days, and on the fingers of one hand, or even in hours! They are then real little queens with an increasingly insatiable desire to finally produce their own colony.”
“Thank you very much. As time is running out, we will move on to the last question. Can you summarize the reasons for the current conflict and our prospects for the future? Is civilization on the brink of destruction, as some claim, or are these just minor border incidents that have been greatly exaggerated, as others believe?”
“The problem is not to be neglected. We are currently facing a proto-civilization with a military power close to ours... And still: the majority of their queens have not yet joined the conflict. Several of the galaxy-fleets[2] are mobilized to stop the advance of these ruthless invaders who do not accept any compromise. However, the many threats in the universe prevent us from deploying more troops. We must maintain fleets on the borders, particularly against the Hogloos, but also fight the many terrorist groups that seek to spread death and terror. Nowadays, these include the so-called ‘Nomads’, which are basically just groups of pirates who attack innocent citizens, or the ‘Azar clan’ that is known for its many attacks and assassinations. In fact, the problem with the Universal Administration is the lack of unity. We took a big step forward when we decided to elect a universal president who would have supremacy over the different nations that make up the Administration, but that is not enough: we must present a united front against all threats and, for that, we would need better unification of legislation. On this subject, I would say that we are on the right track, despite the many oppositions that this progress arouses, protests that are only the work of backward marginals, incapable of living with the times.”
“Thank you very much, Doctor Ged Glo. So, the Zcarbbs, an unspeakable threat or a passing crisis? Feel free to debate it in the comments. I am legally required to inform you, according to the Transparency Act, that you will be held legally responsible for the content of your exchanges and that these may be collected by the various Institutions in order to guarantee the safety of all of us. This was Uana Gemme, on the show ‘Understanding the Universe’ with our special guest, Doctor Ged Glo…”
The cameras pan to give the illusion of distance as the show's end credits music plays.
----------------------------------------
[1] I haven't found a better translation for "Pondeuse", that is to say an individual who lays eggs. If you have a better translation idea, I'm interested.
[2] Understand a fleet the size of a galaxy if assembled in one place.