Memory transcription subject: Governor Maulo of the Venlil Republic
Date [Standardized human time]: August 19th, 2148
[Day 12]
Tomorrow was the summit. The shuttle I’d summoned was top of the line and could get to Earth within just an hour. The driver greeted me through a screen, the possibility of spreading the Skalgan Flu kept all my interactions completely sterile. I emailed Dr. Stat ahead of time, letting him know we’d be leaving for New Liberty today, and to have his bags ready.
I gave the address to the driver and we were off. We zipped quickly across the Capitol city, its pristine buildings and skyline were a marvel from the air. We traveled a little north, where the blue forests were snowy and shimmered brilliantly. Morva Falls was a quaint little town nestled in a valley, cut down the middle by its namesake river.
The shuttle touched down in a small neighborhood. A tan-skinned human, Dr. Stat, was kissing his fiancée farewell. They talked a moment before Stat stepped up to the shuttle and climbed inside.
“Dr. Daniel Stat,” I said, extending a paw, “A pleasure to meet you in person.”
“Likewise, Governor. It’s been a long time coming,” he was very professional, a man of many interviews.
“That was your fiancée, Dr. Silvon?” I asked. Stat nodded, “Yeah. She’s real one of a kind,” he sighed.
I glanced out the window, I could tell from their goodbye how much he cared about her. It was sweet. I felt almost longing for a relationship like that, but my political duties came first and foremost. No time for the turbulence of intimacy.
The shuttle rumbled as it surpassed the atmosphere. Below us, the segmented marble of Skalga shone a sandy yellow on the day side, and a deep icy blue on the night side. Dr. Stat was fully engrossed in the planet, taking in every detail.
“When’s the last time you’ve been off Skalga?” I asked to break the silence.
“When I was in college. A year ago, maybe? It’s hard to tell.” I nodded in understanding, most humans weren’t as adapted to life tidally-locked. I heard the hum of the inertia dampeners kick in as the warp drive spooled. The marble telescoped, and the center seemed to blast infinitely far away as the edges of the planet grew closer and encompassed the whole porthole, before finally melting away into a tiny speck. The stars around us merged into one another, the dark void took on a pale blue as we streaked past and ignited hydrogen molecules suspended in space.
He kept his eyes glued to the light show outside, it showed he didn’t travel interstellar very often.
“Where did you go to school, Stat?” I asked.
“San Francisco. It’s north of Los Angeles… Well, La Fénix now. I met Silvon on campus. It was ‘142 I think. Yeah, I was 19, she’s a year younger than me.”
“So you really have only been on Skalga for a cycle or so?” I asked incredulously.
“It doesn’t sound as long as it feels,” he chuckled. “We’re barely engaged, been dating close to 4 years now.”
The shuttle jostled as we continued barreling through space. The inertia dampeners began to wind up again as we exited FTL, the Kuiper belt surrounded us. We were pulling up to an orbiting space station. The screen in the cabin lit up, and a human materialized.
“Governor Maulo?” he examined me as I placed my paw on the screen. It uploaded my print, and a green light reflected in the human’s glasses as he nodded and allowed us through. One more jump, this one just a minute, and the viewport displayed the pale blue Earth. It was majestic, with massive oceans and incredibly diverse continents that ranged from sandy deserts to deep green forests.
The artificial gravity slowly began to shift. I felt light like I was descending in an elevator. Stat smiled and adjusted in his seat. We broke the atmosphere and descended through overcast clouds. Below us was New Liberty, stretching around the remains of New York. There was still a massive, perfectly circular bay where the antimatter bomb went off during the war. An artificial island in the center of the bay held a monument with the name of every single New Yorker lost during the tragedy, and built along the coast was a massive economic center. New Liberty was more a combination of Brooklyn and Queens than an entirely new city.
The Sapient Coalition’s embassy took up multiple city blocks, each species had its own building, and there was room to spare for new allies and uplifts. We landed on a platform high above ground that lowered through a skyscraper down into a subterranean parking garage. I didn’t require any luggage, so I offered to help Dr. Stat with his.
“Thanks, Governor,” he said, handing me a backpack and taking a suitcase. The parking garage was very human, almost aggressively. A massive multistory square building with cubic support beams and sharp corners everywhere you looked. We descended in an elevator, the combination of moving downward worked in tandem with the lower gravity to make me feel almost weightless. Stat staggered for a moment when we finally arrived at the lowest level, it was a subway that traveled between all the buildings. We stepped inside, joined by various personnel from all sorts of species. Krakotl, venlil, arxur, a couple of farsul even. The train swept through each stop, and every building looked different, being designed to resemble the architecture of each species. The krakotl personnel got off at a stop with decorative landing pads and a much more open-air design. They can’t fly in Earth’s gravity beyond a light flutter, but it helped make them feel at home.
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The arxur station was dimmer and bustling with people. There was some sort of big political event going down on Wriss. The arxur in the train shuffled off quickly. The farsul and venlil got off on similar-looking stations, both had dome-like architecture, but the farsul’s bore a more sterile look.
Finally, we arrived at the main building, it was an awkward mishmash of building styles, mostly human. Rounded walls, an open-air design, with big blocky support pillars, and an overreliance on technology. Humans tend to automate absolutely everything in their daily lives. The pots of decorative plants automatically sprayed themselves with water, the stairs could become an escalator or ramp at the push of a button, and janitorial robots glided along cleaning and waxing the tiled floors.
“Lodging is on the fifth floor, you’ll be escorted to the meeting tomorrow at 8 am local time,” I informed Dr. Stat, who was gazing in wonder at the interior design. “Did you hear me, Doc?” I asked. He nodded and scratched his scruffy chin.
“Am I allowed to take photos?” he asked.
“As far as I know, yes. Just don’t record anything, and try to keep it aimed away from anyone important,” I explained. He whipped out his holopad and snapped a few photos of the murals adorning the ceiling. Depicted were several of the war’s conflicts, ending in the annexation of Aafa, showcased by a human and kolshian hand in tentacle.
The closer allies to humanity had bigger parts of the mural. Skalga practically had its own section, with the likenesses of ambassadors Tarva and Noah Williams front and center. I looked up a great deal to my predecessors, I wanted to do right by them.
The Yotul Technocracy also had a huge segment in the mural. Depictions of yotul performers and hensa side by side with great mechanical innovations.
Stat and I approached yet another elevator, the rooms had been biocoded in advance for our convenience. I showed the doctor to his room, dropped off the heavy backpack, and wished him the best for tomorrow. Then I headed to my own quarters to prepare my speeches and get some much-needed shut-eye.
~~~
Memory transcription subject: Daniel Stat, human virologist
Date [Standardized human time]: August 19th, 2148
[Day 12]
The room was incredibly fancy. A huge TV set, reclining chairs that massage you, and a bed with the comfiest mattress I’d ever laid on. It also had gravity adjustment, which I immediately set to Skalga’s since I was more comfortable with it. Once I’d made myself at home, I called up Silvon.
“Danny!” she smiled.
“Hey Silvvy!”
“How’s Earth, Doctor Stat?” she enunciated the title like I was the governor.
“About as weird as I remember it,” I smiled. “I don’t know if I like the gravity or not. I’m too used to Skalga,” I said.
“It sure did your figure some good,” she replied. “Big strong muscles for my big strong man.”
I blushed, thankful I was alone. “How’re you doing?” I asked.
“I’m fine, gonna spend some time with Mom and Dad while I can. You just focus on saving the world, ‘kay?” She chirped.
“Oh I will, you can bet on it. It’ll be impossible for the Coalition to turn us down,” I beamed. I’d have to go into the city at some point and buy some souvenirs. Who knows when I’ll ever be back here?
“Oh! Tinasi wished you luck, and so did Mom and Dad. Everyone’s rooting for you!”
I smiled, “All I need is you, Silvvy,” I said. “I love you, hon.”
“I love you too, Danny.” I reached a hand out to caress her holographic fluff, my hand partially phasing through, and then she dematerialized in a puff.
Tomorrow was the moment of truth, the day I’d been working up to for ages now. I’d convince the Coalition to okay the research if it’s the last thing I do!
~~~
Memory transcription subject: Governor Maulo of the Venlil Republic
Date [Standardized human time]: August 20th, 2148
[Day 13]
The latest death toll landed in my inbox, we were down over 200,000. I choked on my morning coffee and audibly yelped. Overnight, 50,000 had died. Something wasn’t right. I emailed Servaen, he confirmed an outbreak in Qrekso and mandated quarantine in Dayside City. The 50,000 were majority made up of protestors from Ransu City and Beiton. Apparently, the exterminators were doing well enough to keep them in the borders, but they were dying off quickly. We’d resorted to burning a lot of the bodies.
I’d have to integrate the new numbers into my speech, somehow without raising alarm. 200,000 lives could cause panic among the Coalition. I could only really trust a few to keep their heads, the Yotul Technocracy was no worry, the Tilfish Sovereignty would follow along with anything humans did, and the Duertan Shield has been getting much closer to us since the war. We could for sure secure the votes of the gojid and krakotl parties.
There were a few wild cards though. The arxur cared very little for politics that weren’t their own, and the dossur tended to follow the reptile’s decision-making. I could hardly count on the farsul and kolshian’s votes, they barely hid the fact that they loathed the Coalition, despite being annexed into the UN. Frequently we hold discussions to disallow them from the floor at these meetings, but it’s always deemed unfair by our own laws.
I sighed and tapped out the new statistics into my speech notes. It had gone from informative to polarizing. I had to be sure to repeatedly affirm that no other species was in danger. I hoped Stat was awake, and forwarded him the statistics.
I made sure my cloak was well maintained, the gold highlights against the pale blue shimmered nicely. I wanted to look presentable today, I had only one chance to not screw this up majorly. It was close to 7 am, and I planned on getting there somewhat early. Once everything was set, I was off, praying for the best.