Memory transcription subject: Valek, Venlil-Human Partnership Program Participant
Date [standardized human time]: August 24th, 2136, midday
As we came into the mess hall, we challenged ourselves to only try stuff from the other species’ menus; Maeve had already claimed a small table and was waving me down. Sliding my tray on the table, Maeve excitedly told me, “Ok, so I've got another one of those juicy fruits, the cook called it a sweetwater juicefruit, I also got a couple speckled starberrys, and a cup of sunbreeze juice; he said that would wake me up real good. What did you get?”
“I got the clear from the station doctor, so I told the human I had that I wanted to try some chocolate stuff, but he said most of what he had included animal products. So instead he told me about something called Fondue, and gave me this,” I gestured to a gently steaming cup of dark brown sauce, “He assured me it was vegan, so it should be fine. Besides that he gave me some strawberries, cubed a couple apples for me, and a whole banana! Told me to just dip and bite!”
“Oh good choice! I might steal one of your strawberries.”
“Careful, this mighty predator may take offense!” I jibed, snapping my teeth in her direction.
We laughed together when she playfully flinched. We were about halfway through our meal when I asked “So if humans can survive without meat, why do you still eat it? Wouldn't it be easier to eat the food around you?”
“Exactly right! Which is why we ate meat!” The contradictory revelation made my head spin, so, in her delightful giggle, Maeve clarified: “About a million years ago, our ancestors lived in the trees, our biosphere collapsed, yada yada we talked about that. With no food there, we ate things that survived on things we couldn't. Antelope, Zebra, and Water Buffalo, or more specifically their ancestors, could eat and survive on grass and other ruffage. We couldn’t. So in this famine, the most abundant thing we could eat at the time was meat. This is how we developed the ability to eat meat in the first place”
“Fast forward a few ten-thousand years, we develop agriculture. Grain is very easy to farm a lot of, very quickly, in a small space. So it quickly became our major food source, as well as soft ruffage, fruit and berries, and supplemented by meat, mostly what we could hunt from around the village. Civilization happens, bringing with it the concept of wealth. Killing your livestock meant killing your milk, wool, and egg machines, and the wealthy owned all of the land to hunt on, so only the wealthy ate meat regularly. The poor eat almost entirely grains and what they can 'steal' from the land of the kingdom.”
“It pretty much stays like that for around another eight or ten thousand years. Civilizations came and went, we dominated our world and killed each other over land, but what we had access to to eat remained fairly consistent. Then we discovered how to chemically power things, and how to effectively use that power. This launched us into our Industrial Revolution, which created new farming practices, and pressure to get food to everyone.”
“Grain was very easy to farm and extremely productive, which was why grain was such a large part of our diet. This was made even more productive under industry, so we had a massive surplus; more than all of the humans in the world could eat before it spoiled. So we used it for our livestock, and this surplus caused a massive boom in their production and processing. Suddenly, meat was cheap and getting cheaper, which allowed it to be a larger part of everyone’s diet, including the poor. Meat is good for us, but too much of it is unhealthy, so our morals flipped. Suddenly, healthy things, like meat alternatives, were expensive, and only the wealthy could reliably afford it. The poor suffered worse health, farming practices poisoned the earth and-”
“Your kind almost killed your world,” I interrupted, remembering our conversation from last night, “and yourselves. Then the Satellite Wars happened.”
“That's right.” she said, grimly. “Ever since-”
“Hey…” I muttered quietly, looking over her shoulder. The room had gone deathly silent, and the notice board began flashing:
Update: Research Outpost 1 attacked by Arxur bombing run. Station sustained no damage. Human craft were successful in destroying the invaders. Defending craft suffered massive casualties.
What followed was a list of names. Mine and Maeve’s eyes locked on the scrolling name after name after name after name. Not a single Venlil. Every one a human name that used to be a human life, given to protect a species that, not two months ago, would have burned them in their homes, if we knew they lived. I had my next question.
I looked to Maeve to ask, but she sat stiff, and I couldn't see her breathing. “Maeve? Maeve, are you alright?”
She swung around to me. “We need to go. Now.”
Her eyes were panicked and she was at my side. Wasn’t she just sitting? She pulled me to my feet and we nearly sprinted to the door. “Oh, my chocolate!” Not a moment after the words passed my lips I felt like a pup, pining for a forgotten toy, but Maeve pressed the warm cup into my paws all the same.
We made it several long strides down the hall before I could ask: “What was that? Why are we running?”
“Humans process grief unpredictably. With news like that, someone would be looking for something to fight. Stay close,” Jeers were building behind us, and I could make out threats on the Arxur carrying down the hall. Uniformed humans jogged past us in the direction of the noise.
“Why is that a problem? If they’re angry at the Arxur shouldn't we be fine?” Concern colored my voice.
“We should be. I’m sure this will end with a bunch of people signing up for the front line and nothing else. But sometimes, someone hurts more than the others. Someone needs to punish something. And it rarely matters what, or who, that is. Humans feel… so much; sometimes too much, and we can't think straight. Come on, let's get going. You mentioned something about a fitness room?”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Yeah, but I think I want to go back to the bunk. I want to ask you something.”
“Oh? What's on your mind?”
“Why are you different from the Arxur?”
Maeve stopped mid-stride, myself just in front of her. She looked at me, then behind me, as if searching for an answer. “Yeah. That’s one for the room. Ok.” We continued on in silence, my ears pressed down and my tail curled around me; had I crossed a line? A hand pressed my back. “It’s ok, I'm not mad, just thinking. How did you enjoy the chocolate?”
I was reminded of the cup in my hands, thankfully a self warming vessel, the cook called it a coffee cup; I'll have to try that sometime too! “Oh, it's delicious! I see what you mean by it tasting like the Juicefruit, but it’s much warmer, more comforting. It also tastes really… floral? Almost like medicine. And it’s so smooth! I could almost drink it as is!”
Maeve chuckled at my joy, adding, “Well you’ll love it when I show you our chocolate beverages. But they would be really strong, because most of the time chocolate is mixed with milk or cream to soften it, which I don't know if your stomach will tolerate. Pure chocolate, like what you have there, is really bitter to humans, but some people really like it. It’s interesting you noticed a floral taste! Chocolate comes from fermented, dried, then crushed Cocoa nuts; but by the time it gets to be chocolate it loses that floral flavor. I guess the Venlil are more sensitive to some flavors than us!”
“And I’m excited to try them all!” I called as I finished a draft from my cup, “By The Stars, that's good…”
“Oh my god, Valek, you're a mess! You can wash up in the sink when we get back to the room, you hedonistic catastrophe.” Maeve giggled beside me.
“That translated as ‘pleasure disaster’ and I’m ok with this.” I said with pride as I took another sip.
Maeve almost doubled over laughing, attracting some choice stares by passersby. She was still giggling to herself when we made it to the room. “Alright, you get yourself cleaned up, I’m gonna need to think about this.”
I went to the bathroom and immediately started cackling. The cup of cocoa left a giant almost black ring around my snout, and I missed a few drips down my front. Clearly, those stares were not for my breathless friend. I washed myself up as best I could, but a faded ring was still hard to ignore. It will have to do.
“Ok.” I settled into one of the chairs, Maeve sat opposite me.
Maeve started with, “How much do you know about human history?”
“Only part of what was given in the data dump. I learned a lot! The way you do art is so similar to ours, but the styles are so… many! I know you pride your individuality, while fiercely protecting and supporting your family and friends. But… I also know that humans were at war with other humans, nearly everywhere on the planet, nearly every moment of your existence. I know that you discovered nuclear fire, and used it on yourselves. I've seen your horrors, but I've also seen your virtues. I'm ready for whatever you tell me.”
“That’s because we didn't show you Factory Farming”
The translator… didn’t like those words. The translator didn’t understand them, but I was flooded with a feeling of dread. My ears flattened against my head, I picked my feet up into the chair with me and wrapped my arms and tail around them.
I regretted asking this question.
“I promised to answer every question you give me. And you've trusted me to tell you the full truth of everything, to the best of my knowledge, whether or not our governments want to share. This is not our best -- no, this is our very worst point in history. Humanity's greatest shame and hypocrisy. Are you sure you want to know this?”
I hesitated. A pall had fallen over me.
But I trusted Maeve. “Yes. no matter what this is, I know what humans are now. You are good. You are kind, and will protect us, with a ferocity the federation has not known. Why are you different from the Arxur?”
A shuddering breath, “Ok. Remember when we talked about our industrial revolution? The biggest change with that was production. We finally had machines that could do the work for us; for no food, no rest, no complaint, and no pay. We still needed humans to man them, but one human with the right machine, could do the work of a thousand without, in the same time or shorter. And these machines got better, more efficient… less human.”
“These machines changed so much of our lives, including food. Animals were no longer livestock, they were resources. They were not killed, they were processed. Their meat was not food, it was product. We divorced ourselves from the natural order in favor of the Market. We became desensitized to the cruelty, and the living conditions of these animals got to be on par with what we saw in those Arxur videos. Our people knew what was happening, and knew it was wrong, but were powerless to stop it in a meaningful way. The people these animals were killed for could not afford alternatives, a thousand other systems resulted in layers and layers of cost and debt that kept people from being able to choose something better; something more ethical, more sustainable. These same people perpetuated these systems because, if they failed, so many people would be worse off than they were. Our people had grown, and become so reliant, that the deaths of hundreds of millions would result from a shock to this system as large as was needed to make ethical progress.”
“When your governor showed us what the Arxur was doing. We chose to fight not because it was wrong. But because it was horrifyingly familiar.”
My heart felt like it stopped; or maybe I just couldn't tell one beat from the next. I felt my back pressed against the chair, my feet numb from the grip by my paws and tail.
"We see them and we see what we could have been, if we chose a darker path. We are different because we chose, and we fight, to be better."
Taking a deep breath, I forced my lungs to blow and my voice to speak, “I don’t like this question, and I’d like to stop.” - “Ok.” - “And I need a bath.” - “Ok,” Maeve said, gently and quietly, as she rose from her chair.
“I’m sorry, Maeve; alone.”
“Oh… Ok… yeah. Um. Take all the time you need. I’ll… I’ll stay here.” she trailed off, unsure what this meant for us.
I lifted myself from my chair and made toward the door, but, turning around, I hugged Maeve where she sat. “It’s ok. I just need some time.”
Maeve choked out a final “Ok.” before I made it to the hallway. The corridor was spinning, and not just for gravity. Stumbling toward the washrooms, I fell buried under an avalanche of questions: Is the line really so thin? Just a few laws, and few good people in the right places? How close had the Venlil been to this darker path? How close are we now? If humans changed for the better, can they also change for the worse? How can we keep them on the brighter path? What happens if they lose? What happens if the Federation finds out? Can our people keep our peace?
“Can I stay with Maeve?”