Memory transcription subject: Governor Tarva of the Venlil Republic

Date [standardized aurigan time]: Braying 14, 1 AA

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Every day the political fallout from Nikonus's confession was getting worse. The public was being galvanized even more against the Federation, especially after the Kolshians released a public statement that they were going to wage war against any species allied to the Aurigans. Not only that, but they'd used Recel's sister as a mouthpiece, having her denounce him as predator diseased, declaring his anger to be born of madness, not righteous fury.

On the other hand, the more anti-predator elements on Venlil Prime, especially the exterminators, were starting to discriminate against known omnivores, leading to clashes with gojid and krakotl citizens. It wasn't all bad though, as urban exterminators were opening up to the Aurigans, and began taking a more lenient approach. But the rural areas were still very set in their ways.

Publicly, the Aurigans tried to help wane us off of Federation propaganda, disseminating more of their scientific knowledge with the help of the zurulians. Between new info on criminology, forensics, and mental health, they were slowly changing the scientific consensus, but it was still an uphill battle. Many refused to believe the science, but thankfully, the Galactic Institute of Medicine were there to defend the Aurigan's academic literature, using empirical reasoning to point out how rigorously researched the provided documents were.

Secretly, however, the Aurigans were trying to uncover what the Federation hid from us on a deeper level, a basal level. Historians from the Venlil Institute of History were working behind closed doors to study the remains of the ship dredged up from the arctic side of the ring ocean, with Aurigan scientists supervising them. The Aurigans knowledge of 'archaeology' put ours to shame. Our historians only gave very cursory examinations, but the Aurigans examined everything in the minutest detail, and were very careful in how they touched and handled objects so as to not contaminate or damage them.

I was once more invited to the Aurigan village where the ship was being studied. By now it was moved to a specialized tent full of equipment meant to meticulously study it without damaging it, using scanners normally meant for analyzing enemy spacecraft.

By the time I got down to the tent, the researchers inside were scrambling all over the place, a cacophony of voices arguing about something or another. I cleared my throat as I entered, as loudly as I could, and tapped my tail against the permafrost.

That seemed to work, as the raucous back and forth quieted down, and everyone turned to look at me.

"Oh! Governor! You caught us in the middle of... well, you'll see. Please, take a chair, there's... a lot to go over. This will change everything." One of the venlil historians in the front addressed me. I recognized him as Klenek, the curator of the Venlil Museum of History.

"What have you got for me?" I asked as I made my way over to one of the aurigan style chairs, carefully sitting down in it and slipping my tail through the backrest to make sure I would sit comfortably.

"Well, firstly, we took a scan of the ship, seeing as it's so covered in seaweed and sediment, we needed to properly map the construction some other way, without accidentally chipping at it. András, if you will." Klenek gestured for one of the mezari to take over, and he continued from there.

"Yes, we used hull-penetrating lidar to get a 3d scan of the whole thing, then used density scans to separate the lidar readings into different layers." András pulled up a holographic display of the ship fragment, seaweed and deposits still covering it, and tapped a few buttons to remove all of those, leaving just the ship behind. It looked so intricately constructed, with wood shaped to form using some unknown techniques. The rim was finely decorated with carved patterns, various diamond shapes covered in notches, and angular slats in-between.

"It's beautiful. I can't believe our ancestors spent that much effort and time on a venture so dangerous. Why would they go through all that trouble?" I asked, my eyes glued to the scan.

"Well, this is why." András answered, rotating the hologram to the other side, showing the inside of the ship. Inside the hull, under the boards of the deck, lay a dozen clay pots decorated in more angular patterns, as well as wooden coffers and a statuette of a venlil. Or at least it looked like it could be a venlil, but the legs were all wrong, and it had a bulbous snout with nostrils. Not only that, but it was covered in the same notched diamonds as the ship. What was that supposed to represent? Was it some sort of primitive god with reptilian features?

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"I don't understand. They were transporting goods? And why does that statue look like that?"

"They were merchants. ships are faster than carts ever will be, so in a world without automobiles, it makes sense to travel by ship. Whoever these venlil are, they sailed along the coasts far and wide, trading with other cultures."

"That's incredible, if frightening. Spending long periods out at sea must've been daunting. Do we know how old it is?" I asked, leaning forwards in my chair as I contemplated the idea of venlil braving the ocean to transport goods around.

"Sadly we can't date it, because the wood would be contaminated with carbon from the water. But judging by the amount of water damage, I'd say it's around a thousand years old." András answered, before looking over at Klenek.

"Tell her..." Klenek replied, nudging his mezari companion with his tail.

"Right, the statue gave everyone pause, that's why everyone was arguing when you came. Well, not exactly. The statue alone didn't cause the ruckus, this did..." András explained as he focused on a coffer's 3d scan, removing the actual coffer itself to reveal a massive treasure trove within, jewels, coins, gems. He then further zoomed in on the scan of a coin, revealing the head of a venlil with the same nasal deformity on one side, and two crossed axes on the other.

"Every coin has a ruler's image on it, and every one of them has nostrils. We counted at least six individual rulers on the coins, and each individual has a different symbol on the back: two crossed axes, a single axe, a ship, a hand, a bird, and finally, a flame."

"Eh- Hw- Excuse me?" I stammered out, unable to process the revelation for a moment. "Perhaps they're all just mutants from the same dynasty?" I offered, trying to think of some explanation.

"You can't just mutate into having an organ, nor can a whole species lose an organ in just a thousand years. Even with a genetic bottleneck, the odds are highly unlikely. Remember how the Kolshians genetically modified the omnivores? They probably did this to you. And if the nose is real... then the legs are probably too."

András once more brought the statuette into focus on the scan, and I couldn't help but stare into its eyes, dumbfounded and awestruck. Was this really what we used to look like? And why the axes? Were we fighters? The venlil are the weakest of the Federation species, or was that also a lie from the Kolshians?

"I... I need a minute." I finally spoke up, looking at the historians in the tent. "Please." I then added.

The three venlil and two mezari looked at each other and seemed to come to a silent consensus, as they quickly streamed out of the tent, leaving me to ponder what was possibly the greatest discovery in Venlil history, a discovery which turned everything on its head.

But would anyone believe it? Was this proof enough to convince the layperson that the Kolshians did genetic edits on us as well? And what else had they changed? What did they hide from us?

I stood up and got closer to the ship, examining what I could see with the naked eye. This simple wooden object represented a birthright, one I'd never known we had, one that was taken from us. We were voyagers once, braving the ocean, even going as far as the arctic coast. We used to be proud, standing tall, not hobbling about with broken knees.

The kolshians had crippled us, there was no doubt in my mind. We had to reclaim our past, whatever it took. We had to be brave. We had to stand tall.

I reached out and touched the ship, careful not to scrape it with my claws, and closed my eyes. "This is our birthright, of all the venlil people." I whispered wistfully, trying not to weep.

My introspection was broken by a rattling sound, and opening my eyes, I could see a soft, golden glow around my hand. Too terrified to remove my hand, in case something else happened, I called out to the others to get back inside.

The venlil historians were shocked, but the mezari scientists looked more excited than anything.

"What did you do?" András asked with astonishment.

"I just put my hand on it and whispered some musings. What is happening? Am I in danger?"

"I doubt there's any danger. Whatever you did, you awoke Dust inside the wood. Slowly take your hand away and come over to me, ok?"

I nodded, a knot forming in my throat from the uncertainty of it all, and I slowly pulled my hand away as instructed. As my hand left the wood, the glow persisted around my handprint, while I backed away towards the door. The glow then started to dissipate, as if nothing had happened, and the rattling noise disappeared along with it.

"What just happened? I thought Dust was something from your world, not mine." I asked András, still somewhat shaken from the experience.

"Well, the Endless empire stretched far and wide. The presence of Dust on Venlil Prime probably means it was once one of their worlds. Since you didn't know about Dust until we got here, we can safely assume that the knowledge was lost at some point. But even we used Dust in the construction of our vessels back home."

"Another kolshian manipulation?" I mused out loud, and the mezari scientist gave an uncertain shrug.

"Dust isn't so easily purged, so to hide it from you, they'd have had to devise some mind-boggling technology. But water has always been a proverbial breeding ground for Dust, so perhaps the wreck simply took on Dust while underwater."

"Perhaps you're right, but as of right now, I wouldn't put anything past them."

If this was another manipulation, it was no doubt more trickery meant to weaken us. And I wouldn't stand for this. Once the artifacts were safely studied, everything would be revealed to the venlil public.