45 minutes of standing while metal bars circled around him, Finlay was finally set free. Now to get to his gate... Which he can't do yet apparently. Looking at the large screen, it turns out he wasn't even at Orbital. Orbital is at the edge of the solar system, it would take a few DAYS to get there safely. That would only happen after every passenger was on board, which in itself will take about an estimated 7 hours.

"...Well, this is... some bullshit." Checking with his holo-display just what he could do until departure. there's a rec center, library/ net cafe, food court, duty free shopping area. Looking back up he noticed a key detail about the beings surrounding him.

"... Am I the first one up here? seriously?" Looking more closely... Kre'tee, Gallher, the spider people, that's just a full blown minotaur. "Right... yeah.. the common history thingy. Spec?"

* "Yes?"

"Mind leading me to the Net cafe? I have some research to do."

* "You? willingly doing research? who are you, What have you done with the real Finlay?"Sarcasm dripped off the artificial voice, thankfully a minimap was pulled up on his display so he was already walking to his destination. Waving at the occasional friendly alien... or was he the alien now?

"Look... Even I can admit, that I need to learn some of this. I'll be serving these people food and it'll do me some good to know my target demographic... that and while I'm pretty sure that pink slime ball, isn't a water-bean bag chair thing. The fact that I'm not 100 percent certain of that... probably bad."

* "That is a fair and logical assessment... I'll ask once more, You are Finlay, yes?"

"Yes, I am the human male your data chip is installed in." His own sarcasm met with Spec's equivalent of a wet willy. Sticking their beak in Finlay's ear. "GHACK! Stop! Jeez! I'm Sorry! It's me!"

It was a longer walk than he would've thought... then again this ship was supposed to support over 1000 individuals. Once he had found the net cafe he was further surprised by just how odd it was. Hanging cocoons to sit in and nothing more, though... with the Holo-companions all you really need is a place to sit anyway, so he went and swung gently in the pod thing and pulled up the info he wanted.

"I.U. Allied species? ...Not sure I like the implications there but here we go."

Starting with the first species he formally met... The Kre'tee! of BohQa

The Kre'tee are a Psuedo-Monarchy built around not blood but by... style? A beauty pageant of all things, every 5 years. It was pure confusion to him but their leader seems to be selected by who they find the most visually appealing. That visual appeal in itself led to their own Culinary development. During their younger years their chitin/exoskeletons' color changes around their diet, like Flamingo and shrimp... It did make sense in one fashion. If the royal family ate well to keep their own buggy bodies colorful, then the common people must eat as well. If not then they could incite riots, claims that they were improperly managing the people on purpose, to stop anyone else claiming the seat. If the throne often shifted families every few years, then they were doing amazingly well keeping the people fed. Looking at their History... It tracked pretty well, long reigns were often met with beheadings of the royal family. The current Queen was swirling pinks with sky blue accents she just started her reign... she was pretty, in an objective sense.

Also of the Planet BohQa, were the AraH'tee "Is that just their Naming system?" Taking note of the little 'Tee'.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

This was the race of the Spider-Woman he met at the 3rd Preliminary. They developed on their own little island on the planet. Combat and Good food went hand in hand with them. Using their webbing to fish off the shores, competing for the best fishing spots often led to friendly sparring. they were one tribal unit, their leaders being the eldest amongst them, just to share their knowledge. The two races had a rocky meeting centuries ago... but they developed together and eventually gained the I.U's attention.

"...May as well look at the Big 3 then. Sliit-Ker...Which are just Lizard people... okay."

The religious nerds of the galaxies, they were a peaceful people that had an interest into what force brought the universe to life. Living along with the Ouzonn both developed a keen hunger for knowledge and a fascination as to the greater mysteries of the life. whether or not they had a purpose for being what they were. Both races went through a Technological leap When a Hibiyad Seedling Ship crashed on their planet.

"Well you can't just reference Ouzonn and Hibiyad, then not show me what they are..." Pulling up the Ouzonn first, seeing as they had a deeper connection to the Sliit-ker.

Ouzonn, are fucking weird. From what he read, it's rare that a single Ouzonn was a single Ouzonn. A sentient blob living off mostly liquid diets. A mating pair congeal into a single lifeform, generating a New Ouzonn after a few years of casually collecting nutrients which will then stay with the Parental Ouzonn until fully grown... So one Ouzonn could either be a single Slime looking for a mate or an entire family that moves as a unit. Thanks to their lack of Vocal cords they communicate by mimicking a lifeform and gesturing, though thanks to the Holo-Coms they now can have their Holos speak for them... Lovely, Soup loving jello mimes.

"And now for the Hibiyad." Opening the page only to quickly close it when he saw the reference image of the typical Hibiyad.

"...Spec?"

* "yes?"

"You said they looked like what Humans called dryads, yes?"

* "Correct. A plant life-form with Human like features."

"Ah... I was probably thinking of Ents or something... Tell me... why was she naked in that image?"

* "They were not, but I can understand your-"

"I'd hardly call some carefully placed leaves clothing, Spec... just tell me what you know about them."

* "The Hibiyad may be one of the Oldest living space faring species known to the I.U. Evidence of Hibiyad life has been found on many forested planets, not even living Hibiyad know what Original planet they are from or why they were sent from it so long ago. They survive mostly through Photosynthesis, and become sluggish when covering their skin with non-fluorescent garments. This can be mitigated through consumption of most other foods."

"Ah... okay, I get it. Still pretty dangerous to see without warning."

* "Dangerous how?"

"Don't worry about it... show me the Minotaurs!"

* "... do you mean the Ur'Quanth?"

"...Probably?"

Greeted by an image of the cow people, and a quick skim of the text. Finlay threw his hands up and closed the tab. They were almost exactly what he was expecting. Albeit the one he saw earlier was apparently on the short side. Horns, muscles and nose rings. Their version of a wedding band apparently, mostly Vegetarian diet... White meat occasionally, He can work with that...

"...This is getting kinda spooky...What were those shared history theories again?"

* "There are many theories, though 2 are the most popular. The progenitor theory and the High-mental connection theory."

* "Progenitor theory states that an ancient race selected viable planets that could support life or already were... and bombed them."

"Ex-fuckin-cuse me?"

* "Many scientifically developed species can track their existence to a certain planetary event, an apocalypse class meteor struck the planet... twice is a coincidence, thrice is pattern, four times-"

"-Some sneaky bitch was up to something...Interesting."

* "Very much so! It's part of the Mission of the I.U. to uncover as much about the mysteries of life across the stars as possible. Now... the High-Mental Connection is a bit more archaic in it's approach. In simple terms, species consumed something that affected their mental states roughly at the same time and during these episodes they would meet in shared hallucinations."

Finlay had to stop Spec right there, he was keeling over with laughter. It was a ridiculous proposal, of course. But the mere image of ancient stoners in basements across the Universe, getting high and hallucinating each other? "What mann'r of creature is yond ov'r th're? half sir half h'rse? these mushrumps art wild!"