Earth's Ambassador to Sanne [AAM2017]

The Egani, as a species, were still quite a mystery. We knew they were space faring, and that their technology blurred the lines between conventional tech and biology.

Physiologically, most Egani were very similar to humans but some Egani possessed different limbic structures, polydactyly and exoskeletons, having been bio-engineered into them for specific roles. They all carried multipurpose computational devices, like us, but due to their advanced biotechnology, these interfaced directly into their nervous system.

They inhabited mainly the polar regions of their home planet, Sanne, due to its closeness to their star. Their planet was larger in diameter than Earth but did not contain an Iron core, or seem to be abundant in the heavier elements, so gravitation was similar to Earth’s and Sannean polar temperatures were similar to equatorial Earth.

The Egani society was highly ordered into “Crelii” or ‘care cells’ of five adults. These adults were frequently genetically related and one of the five was the ‘Mat’ or leader, elected by majority. The Mat was also the member of another group of five and this pattern repeated up until a pinnacle “Temat Crelii” who governed the planet. The communications between all Egani was a collaborative and complex social networking system that all could access through their many communications devices.

Despite the cohesion of Egani society, they had often experienced division and warfare in their past. Though they had no discernible national divisions, at times of limited resources groups would arise and challenge others. They had also warred over other things but these philosophical divisions made little sense to translators and so the briefing papers usually had a row of question marks where “Causes” were supposed to be.

Robert Fitch ensured that his tie was straight and looked at his watch.

After final briefings, he was here on Sanne and would soon be inducted into the Temat Crelii in place of a retiring member, as their first human ambassador. There was to be an introductory meeting in five minutes.

The doors whispered open and four Egani stepped forward. These were obviously special members of the society, their skins glowed coffee golden. Their satiny clothing, trimmed in some type of flexible and very shiny metal, hung perfectly and moved gracefully with them.

Robert drew a sharp breath at the face of one of the Egani. She was beautiful beyond expectation and he felt he had met her before. Her eyes looked large, bright and were an unusual hazel-golden. She smiled at Robert’s attention and tilted her head slightly to one side causing a lock of golden hair to fall across her face.

His eyes flicked down along her body as he tore his gaze away, and he thought she was the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen.

“Hello Mr Fitch, my name is Stin Arlosh and I am the mat of our little group”. Stin’s diction was perfect and very relaxed. He raised his palms toward Robert and stepped forward.

Robert echoed the movement and replied “Pelosh nar chee Stin ell Arlosh fee Crelii”. He wondered briefly if he had said it right but Stin reached out and touched his wrists with a slight bow. Robert also bowed, careful to bow just a little lower than Stin.

Stin steepled his long fingers then spread his hands to indicate the formal greeting was over. He turned slightly and indicated the other members. “This is Jad Arlosh he is my reth, my grandson.” Jad and Robert bowed. “and this is Marr Tellet, partner of Jad", again they bowed. "This is Lar Qoth, my cousin and finally this is Noot Favre, who is to be your partner.”

Robert stood stunned; the beauty was to be his partner? “My, my partner, I don’t…?”

Stin grinned widely, “As you have seen, many within each Crelii are related. It is our tradition when an outside member is ‘bonded in’; they are to be partner with an existing member. What you Earthlings would call a marriage. It is to be a close emotional bond. I see that this is unexpected to you and I expect there are many of our customs that you do not understand. Because such is the case, we wish you to take time to consider. For now, we should just get to know each other. We have drinks and a meal prepared, if you have need of food and later, we have recreational activities we may all attend together.”

All the time Robert and Noot’s eyes were full of each other. Robert’s heart was racing and he was both confused and elated.

Stin touched Robert’s elbow to get his attention, “We specially selected Noot to be pleasing to you, based upon what we could find out about you. As near as we can tell, Noot is almost the perfect partner for you. We hope this is acceptable and that you will accept our conditions of membership, which are mandatory.” He proffered a champagne flute of a slightly blue effervescent liquid to Robert.

“Thank you Stin. I have to admit that human pairings are not usually as formal and pre-arranged. We have a thing called courtship where people see if they are compatible before such a commitment. We don’t even know if our biology is compatible.” Robert regretted saying that even as he said it. He took the glass and quickly gulped down a mouthful. To his surprise, the taste was delightful, subtle and very refreshing. “I don’t mean to denigrate your customs. I will just need some time to get my head around this as our cultures are so different.”

Stin nodded slowly but kept a smile on his face, “You do not need to concern yourself about issues of biological incompatibility. We have considered that in our selection of Noot. There should be no issue because Noot is a male like yourself and you two will be unable to concieve.”

Robert’s eyes went wide with panic and his glass bounced with a ‘clack’ off the polished marble-like floor.

THE END

a reply to: chr0naut

Beaut mate!





kind regards,

bally

a reply to: chr0naut

Surprise!
Good job.

a reply to: chr0naut

Ha ha! I love the ending twist in your short story. Thank you for sharing.

originally posted by: CynConcepts
a reply to: chr0naut

Ha ha! I love the ending twist in your short story. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you. I'm pleased that you liked it.

a reply to: chr0naut

Love this bit especially

The communications between all Egani was a collaborative and complex social networking system that all could access through their many communications devices. 

Though I enjoyed your whole story. It was very pleasant.

I include the following because I would like someone to point it out to me: I don't feel like this sentence:

Their planet was larger in diameter than Earth but did not contain an Iron core, or seem to be abundant in the heavier elements, so gravitation was similar to Earth’s and Sannean polar temperatures were similar to equatorial Earth. 

Correlates with itself, wouldn't those difcerences make it, well different?

Also to truly be effective the groups of five would have to be randomized each time. But that's just a nitpick you can ignore, that's me side busting haha

originally posted by: LucidWarrior
a reply to: chr0naut

Love this bit especially

The communications between all Egani was a collaborative and complex social networking system that all could access through their many communications devices. 

Though I enjoyed your whole story. It was very pleasant.

I include the following because I would like someone to point it out to me: I don't feel like this sentence:

Their planet was larger in diameter than Earth but did not contain an Iron core, or seem to be abundant in the heavier elements, so gravitation was similar to Earth’s and Sannean polar temperatures were similar to equatorial Earth. 

Correlates with itself, wouldn't those difcerences make it, well different?

Also to truly be effective the groups of five would have to be randomized each time. But that's just a nitpick you can ignore, that's me side busting haha

Absence of an Iron core means that the electrodynamics that gives the Earth its Ionosphere and Van Allen belts would be absent, meaning a higher surface radiation load from its adjacent star.

The planet Sanne could still have the same mass as Earth, so it could have similar average orbital radius and gravitation, but it would have to have more of the lighter elements to make up that mass, hence the larger diameter.

Even with significant precession and eliptical orbit, there would be a higher temperature variation and higher (potentially unliveable) temperatures at the equator. This would lead to vast equatorial deserts and smaller size habitable zones at the poles of the planet.

With the low abundances of heavier elements, it indicates that the stars in the vicinity of Sanne were likely older stars, from closer to the Big Bang than our Sun and were probably further out from their galactic core than our Sun, so that there had been fewer nearby supernova events to distribute the heavier elements to them at the time their solar disk was forming.

With a scarcity if Iron, a key component in our metabolisation of oxygen, it would most likely mean that Sanneans used a similar but lighter metallic element (which I imagined as magnesium) and would mean that their blood is probably white.