A Lesson in History
"Mom, I'm home!"
The sound of her son returning home from school gave Amena a much-needed wind down after cleaning up the backyard on her own. Really, how did Raizex came home 25 minutes later than usual?
"Dear son, I am not pleased to know that you're nearly half-an-hour late! What have you done? Shopping? Hanging out with your unpleasant classmates?"
Raizex waved his tail in exasperation, "Please, mom. If you want to hear it, I failed my history exam."
"Oh?"
"Oh yes. Let's face it, I never understand history lessons. My teacher is sooo unbelievably boring." Raizex said, putting off his torso plates and backpack and laid them lazily on the staircase railing before falling down on a leather sofa, clad only in grey shorts. There was a new tabloid today. With his left paws already retracting its claws, the young Indoraptor reached for the new tabloid edition and opened its gadget section, apparently looking for the latest eraphone.
His mother was displeased to see her son being slothful and irresponsible. Letting out a loud sigh, she said "Raizex, for the love of the Heavens, put your things back where they belong! This is the living room, not your bedroom. Also, I don't care if your scales are already shined of not, you WILL put on some clothes or I will dress you like when you're a whelping."
"Crap. Alright, alright, I'll handle it."
"And make sure you study your lesson correctly tonight! I can't afford being called by your homeroom teacher for a second time!"
Under his mother's angry glare, and with a possible threat of not getting his favorite dish tonight, the young lizard immediately scuttled at where his stuff was left cluttered.
He went upstairs to his bedroom, and then settled his uniform plates at where his school items were. His leather backpack went in shortly after.
Raizex then opened his drawers and quickly determine that dark blue clothing would better blend in with his black scales and icy-blue stripe. Good thing they're not overly long; Raizex never really liked long clothes.
Having done with his belongings, he went down to the living hall to find Amena being outside, perhaps talking to the neighbors. Good timing, he thought, as he quickly crept to the sofa and the tabloid he previously left behind.
Hmm, there doesn't seem to be any new eraphone being released to the public this time, the young Indoraptor thought. Most of the world's renowned scientists and experts were being offered a chance to help developing the colonists being sent to the frontier worlds, either to help establish a working wireless network or to determine what resources were mandatory to set up settlement camps before solid building could take shape. Raizex then opened up several other pages, noting that the latest trends of the public seemed to involve space engineering, space colonization, political ramifications which would surface in the wake of colony establishment, and the prospect of meeting extraterrestrial life.
At least one throwaway line indicated that the Indoraptor Union's Grand Fleet was going to expand its size and recruit more personnel, particularly those with keen interest in working on large ships.
Raizex didn't know why, but reading that one line made him grin widely.
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"So, what happened after the downfall of humanity, the 'Silence of the Earth', again?"
"Three hundred and fifty days after that, the first members of our species began to learn how to speak, read, write, and count."
"Then another three hundred days later the smartest and wisest of them made a new calendar system."
"Almost correct, son. They started to count days, weeks, and even hours, but no true calendar system was made until Year 7 of OUR calendar. But even then, they, and by extension us, still relied on human calendar customary."
Writing down all the details was easy for Raizex. Memorizing what took place when and where was the hardest part. Thankfully, dinner was still four hours later, so Raizex had some opportunity to fix all of his notes and ask his mom whenever he forgot the lesson's details. Amena kindly extended her assistance in her free time, seeing that the house was already in order, more or less.
"At Year 7, the earliest Indoraptors acknowledged an official calendar system, learn human languages as a means to convey messages and construct a functional but primitive society..."
"Incorrect." His mother alerted from across the table, clicking her claws edgily.
"Pardon?"
"Our earlier civilization could be explained as a mixture of... the Iron Age and the Medieval Age, if the terminologies are accurate, but it was indeed a functional culture. The old ones were able to replicate many kinds of metal and substances the humans once used, but they formulated new chemical substances, medicines and technology that did not exist prior as well. This trend continued for decades until Year 138, when the most intelligent Indoraptors successfully constructed their first computers after fourteen failures."
"Okay, so... not primitive at all?" Brushing sound could be heard as the young lizard belligerently erased incorrect notes before adding the correct ones. The older Indoraptor poured herself a glass of water, but hesitated to drink it.
"Not primitive, due to their knowledge being retrieved straight out of recovered human archives. The humans were definitely out of the term 'primitive'... if you look at their scientific advancement, that is. Their societal progress was... how do I put it, stunted?"
"As in refusing to welcome new ways of thinking?"
"Well, that too, but mostly due to xenophobia and greed."
Raizex widened his left eye as he looked up, "But the humans hadn't found space aliens, had they?"
His mother shook her head offhandedly. "No, xenophobia here came from the fact that the ancient primates evolved different skin colors as a response to living in diverse environments, as opposed to our uniformly black scales with brightly-colored stripes." She snorted a little and continued, "For approximately seven hundred years or so, humanity waged war and violence against each other just because of one side hating the others' ethnicity and skin color, as well as wanting to possess their opponents' wealth and resources. This irrational fear and greed eventually sparked many great wars. As the most prominent historians already pointed out, the human calendar stopped counting when it hit human Year 2035, during which World War 3 ended after fifteen years of chaos. Their most recent information archives went mysteriously missing thereafter."
"After that, some twenty years during the Silence of the Earth, the first of our elders developed sapience and self-awareness, and brought about a new civilization on Earth. And it took three hundred years or more until we succeeded in replicating human-like social order."
A grim nod from Amena, and Raizex returned his attention to his jumbled notes.
"That means..." quickly, Raizex examined his notes for any mistakes, "the so-called World Wars 1 and 2 were started in human Year 1928 and Year 1930 respectively, yeah? The first one happened because someone from one country murdered a duke or prince from another country. Then the second one happened because a mad dictator founded a racist organization that legalized genocide of those who were not them. And then in human Year 1945, a declaration of independence was issued by..."
The female Indoraptor patiently oversaw her son's progress in reviewing and fixing everything he wrote in his book. At least there was still three hours' worth of free time before she got to prepare dinner.
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"Don't forget to wash your fangs tonight."
"Yes, mom."
"Don't forget to clean your paws after dinner."
"Yes, mom."
"If you want to go hang out tonight, be at home no later than 10 p.m., alright?"
"Are you still using human time calculation, mom?"
"Well, considering that we are speaking in their tongue even after their disappearance three centuries before, what's the difference?"
"Some of my schoolmates said human expressions can be weird and stupid at times."
Amena chuckled at her son's pouting. "Yeah, well, your old lady here never liked those kinds of sketchy younglings."
Dinner time was, to put it mildly, a time that Raizex loved to hate. On one side, Amena always made sure to provide sustenance that was both delicious and healthy, exactly the type of food Raizex needed in his 'teenage' years. On the other side, his mother almost seldom skipped this occasion to 'interrogate' him on what he had done in the daytime. If it's school day, Raizex would be questioned about his activities in and out of school. If it's weekend days, Raizex would be told to go help at his neighbor's garage... and later be questioned on what assistance he provided for the old and slightly forgetful Indoraptor's work place. Really, sometimes Raizex wondered to himself if a protective but hardworking mother was also present during the time of the humans who came before.
"Oh yeah, I've been waiting to ask this; can I enroll in the Grand Fleet Academy once I graduated?"
Amena snapped her head at the question. "Why? As far as I know, neither they nor the colony planets looked for engineers; they already have many."
"You know, I wanted to see what space looks like. I wanted to know... to experience the journey between the stars, being far away from our home planet and into the void. You know what I mean, mom?"
"If you are trying to get hooked up at some space clubs or forming your own space mercenary group, I don't think you'll make it in one piece. Piracy and mercenary groups are thoroughly banned from our species, remember? So did alcohol abuse," the displeased look on Amena's narrowing eyes shut her son up from thinking too much about life on the frontier colonies. Sure, the Grand Fleet had recruitment centers opened up in many places, looking for those who desired a chance to be the first of many to travel through space, but the administrators made a damn sure that nobody was going to abuse this opportunity by forming any illegal and unregulated organizations. Sadly (or not), such decision outlawed unlawful civilian space stations as well.
"If anything, I'd be happy if you take studies on space farming or colony planning. Engineering is pretty much full of more qualified applicants, so maybe you can find strategic position on colony management."
"Space farming?" It was Raizex's turn to narrow his eyes.
"We Indoraptors may have evolved to be highly adaptive to every environment out there, but we still need to eat suitable foods. Do the colonists some favors and help them stay healthy and strong. Or maybe you can assist them in exploring potential landscapes to mine, farm and build cities on. Maybe one day, our species will finally have futuristic cities, the likes of which only existed in human fantasies."
"Why don't I be a soldier instead? That'll be cool, right?" Raizex suggested, eagerly chewing on his steak. His mother pondered about his request for a minute or so.
"What? Like a space super soldier? As long as we don't have alien invasions to worry about, the Grand Fleet doesn't require any super soldiers, or a large number of standard soldiers for that matter. Even the scientists appointed by the Chiefs of our Union already confirmed it; there is a low probability of encountering intelligent aliens out there. And if there is, it'll likely be a primitive civilization."
Raizex growled in disbelief. This idea of being a simple farmer on their colony planet instead of doing some great things to jumpstart its development might as well be...
"I know, I know, you probably think that your old lady here doesn't want you to be a soldier like your father and grandfather, but that is the truth. He and I already made it clear; none of our future family members should carry such a heavy burden if we are not strong enough, or if we feel that we can't be trusted with a big responsibility."
"Especially after the... American Scandal, am I correct? The one involving human cloning and subsequent attempts to turn them into our slaves?"
Raizex watched his mother's paw hanging in the air for a few seconds, "Yes, especially after THAT scandal. You know how our kin hates the humans so much." She drew a deep breath to calm herself before continuing, "You know the reason why we moved here, and why we did everything we could to clean our names. Your dad and grandfather were once trusted with a secret so big it could split the world through wars and distrust. But they realized the secret was harmful to the Union. That's why they let it spill to the public and alerted the Admiralty Board of the Grand Fleet of what their superiors were up to. This plot of bringing the humans back and integrate them within our society as slaves... Your dad and I spent countless days trying to prove that we were not pro-human supporters in the slightest. The Indoraptors are clearly against this idea."
Amena looked up from her fruit salad to see Raizex briefly baring his fangs in disgust before returning to finish up her mangoes.
"No wonder why the Union declared any and all surviving humans to be a 'slaughter-on-site' target."
"No wonder why we feel no remorse stealing everything from them. We all recognized what they had done to the Earth... and what they had been doing to our ancestors and by extension our kin nowadays."
"We hold no loyalty to them."
"And we hold no emotion, no pity, not even respect for them. Your primary grade teachers taught you this, yes?"
And with a nod from her son, the dinner went on in awkward silence.
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EXTRACTING SPECIES PROFILE : INDORAPTOR
Species Name : Indoraptor
Scientific Name : Indominus raptus
Classification : Reptilian / Chimeric hybrid (artificial organism)
Homeworld : Earth Prime / Terra Prime, Sol system
Preferable Habitats : Continental, Tropical, Arid, Savanna, Alpine, Tundra
Lifespan : ~150 years.
Length : 4.5 meters
Height : 2.1 meters (bipedal stance)
Weight : ~50 kilograms
Diet : Omnivore (formerly carnivore)
Locomotion : Facultative biped
General Customs : Egalitarian, militaristic, spiritualistic
Normal Attributes : Quick learners, wary of extraterrestrial encounters (borderline xenophobic), very strong, somewhat communal, adaptive to different environments.
Extraordinary Attributes : Natural weapons and armor, Nigh-invulnerability to conventional weaponry
Overview :
Originally conceived as the ultimate bioweapon by the human race (Homo sapiens), the Indoraptor was cloned using an amalgamation of animals, both extant and extinct, with the explicit intent of replacing human soldiers with terrible, robust, and unrelenting army of monsters.
In the 21st century, humanity was capable of using multiple classified methods to bring back extinct animals to be used for an array of purposes, including scientific research and entertainment. The most notable example being the establishment of an amusement/scientific park named Jurassic World. It was also the first witness of genetic engineering abuse, where a hybridized lifeform titled Indominus Rex rampaged through the park, killing dozens of visitors.
When word reached the masses worldwide that the extinct beasts (then named 'dinosaurs') could be used for warfare and terrorism purposes, genetic research and development were hindered with the declaration of a constitution titled 'Gene Guard Act' which prohibited genetic engineering from being misused. Unfortunately, such constitution only applied in the United States of America. With other nations left hanging on whether or not they followed the US, mafia organizations and bioterrorists were able to smuggle DNA samples of resurrected dinosaurs out of the defunct amusement park.
Fast forward many years later, no more than a few months after World War 3 broke out between the US and Russia, rumors spread like wildfire about how both sides were seen unleashing cloned prehistoric beasts to massacre their opponents and innocents alike. These rumors were soon proven to be true with the revelation of a frightening and powerful bioweapon referred to as 'Indoraptors'. These monsters were highly strong and adaptive, to the point of nigh-invulnerability. No known effective method had been discovered on how to safely eliminate the Indoraptors, and if there was, none managed to test it successfully.
This nightmare slowly turned back to bite the humans. At first, the bioterrorists noticed unusual behavior among the Indoraptors, predominantly being the capacity to disobey orders (both direct and indirect) and activities which appeared to be mating rituals.
This soon became the bane of their illicit business. With the Indoraptors evolving a consciousness on their own, and their habit of laying highly-guarded eggs on unspecified time and places, the humans in time lost control of the abominations. This in turn generated a snowball effect; the world war caused more and more humans to perish and lost their homes, while the cloned dinosaurs and Indoraptors were then left to breed and survive on their own, effectively taking over the planet. All evidence of human civilization was either irradiated from chemical or nuclear weaponry, or reclaimed by nature, before the first intelligent and self-aware Indoraptors rediscovered them. The name 'Silence of the Earth' was coined by Doctor Aizen Samus from the Hagalaz Institute to describe the world's condition for around twenty years without mankind or any sapient life to rule it.
In three hundred and fifty years, the artificial bioweapons managed to accomplish the impossible; founding their own society and succeeded where men did not; creating a stable, egalitarian civilization free of racism and discrimination, although they did fell into brief but chaotic civil wars (Indoraptor Years 191 and 302 respectively). Their culture primarily used English language as an 'accepted' lingua franca.
Their curiosity and creativity, that were unhampered by political upheaval or limited view of the world, allowed them to advance more in science and engineering than their makers. In only seventy years (from Year 278 to Year 348) they finished assembling their first spaceships, equipped with crude warp drive engine, and blasted off to space in an effort to go further than before. Sol system was thoroughly mapped, its resources meticulously mined, and plans were drafted to colonize potentially habitable planets in a bid to declare an interstellar empire. The scientific community, some of them volunteered to expand the species' knowledge and information archives, engrossed itself in space-related topics, including the prospect of upgrading the warp drive technology.
Despite having a government structure comparable to a 'military republic', their Grand Fleet's Admiralty Board held no responsibility over certain aspects of civilian life. Aspects such as education, beliefs, and agriculture were directed by Chiefs-approved Overseers nominated for their aptitude in particular fields of study.
As of now, Year 375, four colonies had been founded on four different planets, with drafts on building military stations on crucial star systems under evaluation.