Zurg tapped at the display screen before him. His four arms worked vigorously to ensure that the ship would come to a stop at the correct position. He double-checked the ship's cloak as he got closer to the objects orbiting outside the planet's atmosphere—a common trait of sentient species practiced in.
The planet had already been scanned and surveyed for some time, but Zurg hadn’t gotten to do his part until he was given the signal. He’d been eager to get to work and see what he’d learned. After researching the schematics of the satellites, he’d learned the best way to intersect it and slice right into it. They knew that the sentient species on the planet used a cyber web through airwaves to communicate and store information. It was his job to pry in and learn as much as he could.
His ship carefully approached his target, matching its speed to the silver canister with panel wings and wires connecting several components. When he was lined up, he activated the ship to latch onto the device, which then pushed a small metal arm into the belly of the machine. The ship connected with the wires inside, and one of Zurg’s display panels turned on.
A white screen appeared with a little bit of text at the top and a small box with a flashing point inside. A simple design that made it straightforward. The sentient species’ language had already been interpreted by the machines they’d used to probe the blue and green planet. He looked at the list of words he’d written down that he wanted to investigate further.
He clicked on the small box under the text, and a keyboard display appeared showing multiple variations of the letters found on the planet. Typing in the first word from his list, ‘human,’ the screen changed and displayed huge lists of texts. Zurg stretched all four arms and prepared himself for his long-awaited job.
Though he’d been practicing the multiple languages on his voyage to the planet, it still took him time to decipher through the information. Zurg read through thousands of lines of texts as his ship and the satellite hurtled quietly through space. He came across recordings of the people living on the planet and spent time watching them.
He was fascinated by what he was witnessing. Never had he seen a sentient species with so much diversity in both appearances but behavior as well. The whole time, he took his notes on another screen. He used diligence to ensure that he was gathering the proper amount of information.
He noted it all. The good things and the wrong things, he wanted to ensure that the entirety of the checklist was combed through multiple times. It was only fair. Beyond that, he had a fascination with learning how new species interacted. He stopped one of the recordings when it turned to show another species on the planet.
The humans interacted with, talked, and played, and the other species responded and returned affection. Zurg’s eyes lit up as he learned the word ‘dog’ and began investigating more on the creature. His ship revolved around the planet time and time again as his list of notes exploded with more information.
He’d grown excited as he’d never done before when learning about a new sentient species. Zurg took his time to rejuvenate and rest his body but spent every other second diving into the world of humans.
The planet moved a good portion around the circle of its star when Zurg finally received the signal. His ship seamlessly sealed the satellite back together and ventured away from it. As his ship returned to the central command, he began preparing the materials he’d gathered. Though he was impartial to a decision, Zurg considered what it would be like to bring the humans into the intergalactic community.
When his ship arrived at the command center, a crafted planet, he knew exactly how to sway the council into letting the humans join. He knew that two others had been tasked with the same job as himself and that they would be presenting the information alongside him, just as usual.
He walked the grand halls of the council, a theater built for giants rather than a species his size, and carried around a device in one of his palms that carried his information. He stopped at a door that faded before him, allowing him to walk into the large circular chamber.
The council members sat in a half-circle, looking at him and the two others who'd arrived before him. Each council member was a different species of the sentient worlds. His own eyes met with the leader of his kind; he sensed the confidence that she shared through her gaze.
“Welcome surveyors,” one of the council members said in the universal language. “Today, you’re presenting us with information on the sentient species from system 23X, planet 3. Please present your information, surveyor 1.”
Another one of the surveyors stepped closer to the council, then turned and used her round device with her tentacle to cast images onto the curved ceiling. The images ranged from humans building cities to cutting forests down.
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“I have found many incidences where the humans, as they call themselves, drastically evolved their technologies and advanced their kind in unprecedented ways,” the surveyor said with a squelching accent. “These technologies tend to be driven by a need to harm on another or take advantage of each other. Competition is high among this species."
The pictures began changing to recordings of sports and clips that were taken during acts of large-scale violence against one another. Explosions leveled entire cities and islands, and then several pictures flashed of the hundreds of weapons that humans have crafted. A point Zurg knew was going to be focused on as it was a big part of the checklist.
“The humans create large groups of people that go kill other areas of humans,” the 1st surveyor said. “They also have to create groups that comb their cities to stop other humans from harming one another or taking each other's things. There are high levels of violence between mating couples and towards their offspring.”
The pictures began to change to show more pleasant images of the humans: weddings, concerts, and cooperation in building large-scale projects.
“They do have a compassionate side through the violence, and they have the highest adoption rate of mid-level technologies.” She continued.
She continued to show more pictures, then another council member spoke, “Next surveyor.”
The second surveyor was of a species that couldn't speak, but nonetheless, it began showing the pictures and videos to create patterns. Its presentation was well-founded, showing human accomplishments and achievements as well as their violent tendencies. The final video showed how quickly humans were advancing into their space venturing era.
"Final surveyor," it was the council member of his kind that spoke. Zurg stood up straighter and loosened all four shoulders.
“My research also showed a high level of violence,” Zurg said. “But I found something far more curious.” Zurg showed the image of a dog, then several more images of dogs. “Humans have an unnatural way of changing the environment around them. Though they did it to several other species on their planet, this one is far more interesting. For tens of thousands of years before the advancement of technology, humans changed species in their environment to adapt to them. I remind you, this was done with sheer will alone, not with the help of technology.”
“The wolf was an aggressive predator to the human environment,” Zurg continued. “But they culled the animal, and the animal evolved to them. They didn’t just use the creatures as tools, and they made them parts of their family units.”
“A symbiotic relationship,” one of the council members said.
“But the surveyor is right; the scale of this without technology is astounding,” another argued.
Zurg felt good as he went on with changing the images, “Once they learned how to do it through will and environment, they began molding everything around them organically, not physically.”
“Thank you, surveyor,” a council member stopped him. “These humans are truly an anomaly in comparison to other sentients. From what I’ve seen, I believe this might be another incident like the Wrothgrals. The species with histories of high violence throughout their evolution always carry their violence with them into the future.”
“The technology adoption could be great for the community,” a slow-talking member said. “This species understanding and quick-adaptation of physics could prove valuable.”
“Their minds are bent are destruction,” another protested through an automated voice. “They would only take the knowledge we share with them, turn it into a weapon, then use it against the community itself.”
“They do have empathy,” said the councilor on one of the farthest seats.
“Yet it’s not isolated to certain populations within the humans. That means even their greatest empathetic could go rabid like a subspecies. The aggressive tendencies go against the sentient nature.”
Zurg wanted to start compelling for the humans. Perhaps their ideas of sentients weren't correct? What if humans evolved to be an excellent species among the stars? He considered bringing up the concept of discrimination, but it was wrong to oppose the council. When any of them viewed a species as sub-sentient, the decision usually opposed bringing them in.
"Let us make a decision," the council member in the center of the half-circle proclaimed.
The seats began to light up with colors. The green seats meant they approved, while the red meant that they disapproved. Most were red.
"Then it is decided," the central figure said as he rose from his seat. He stood taller than any of the other species in the room. “The humans are not to be introduced into the intergalactic society. As all war-like species, they too will fade from the stars when they cause their self-destruction.” He had voted against it.
Zurg felt a defeat but tried not to show it with any mannerisms or remarks. The council member of his kind sat upon a green chair and looked at him with her motherly eyes. He was the first of the surveyors to leave. With the footsteps behind him, he’d assumed another surveyor followed him, but he turned to see his council member.
“You did well, Surveyor Zurg,” she said as she made the customary gesture to pat both his upper shoulders.
“I sort of like what the humans accomplished,” he replied, letting his defense down. His comments would not insult the superior of his kind. “I thought they would bring something new to the table for our community.”
“As did I,” she said and urged for them to keep walking the halls before any others followed. "They are violent, which is frightening, but we limit ourselves by barricading certain ideas out."
“Do you really think they would turn towards violence against other communities?” Zurg said.
“The community has only tried once. It failed, and the violent species had to be caged away.” She glanced over her shoulders.
“But if they can co-exist with the subspecies of their world,” Zurg said, “then they must be able to coexist with us.”
“Only time will tell now,” she explained. “For now, I believe that we will keep an eye on these humans. Perhaps, the day you become one of the council members, you can bring up their case. You’re one of the brightest, which is why I choose you to become a surveyor.”
“And if I don’t,” Zurg said, “then we’ll continue to leave species behind.”
“We can’t discredit the humans,” she said with gleeful eyes. “They may yet make their way to the community on their own.”