My first Wraith
Yesterday Dr. Carson Beckett, who is head of medicine on the expedition, presented me with my first ever wraith skeleton. The flesh had been boiled off, unfortunately before I came to Atlantis, as I think I may have had a little more success – there was some degradation to the bones. However they were in a perfectly adequate condition for me able to perform the task I was given, which was basically an anthropological examination of the bones in order to glean as much information as I could.
I found the skeleton to be remarkably similar to that of the human primates, with a few key differences. Bones appeared to be much denser and thicker than those of humans, ribs almost fused together to look more like a breast plate than a set of ribs. I should imagine that this also makes them harder to kill in addition to their ability to kill. The bones, apart from growth, also showed no signs of ageing or even normal ware – as if the individual had spent their lifetime completely in stasis rather than plundering the galaxy.
Based on these observations in my report I suggested that the Wraith be classified taxonomically as Homo wraith. However I was asked to remove this from my report. I did think that this was due to a form of speciesism – we Homo sapiens not wishing to associate ourselves in anyway with a species that is so destructive (and at the same time showing how we refuse to acknowledge our own somewhat destructive nature). I felt that this was ridiculous as biologically the Wraith are related to our species, all the taxonomic markers are there whether we actually classify them as belonging to the same genus as us or not.
As I felt so strongly about the matter I went to see the head of the expedition, Dr. Elizabeth Weir. I shall take this opportunity to comment on how admirably she does her job, and despite her obvious busyness, will still find time to see any member of her expedition. When I explained my feelings to Dr. Weir she told me that she agreed with me completely, but speciesism had not been the reason for refraining from linelean classification of the Wraith. Apparently she felt the immaturity of some of the members of the expedition would mean they would never stop giggling at Homo wraith. I told her I didn't know what that meant, but assured the decision had been made for logical reasons went on my way.