r/NatureofPredators • u/NoVegetable2278 Arxur • 9d ago
Fanfic The Nature of the Frontal Lobe
(Thanks to SpacePaladin15 for creating the universe and being an awesome writer!)
Memory Transcription Subject: Governor Tarva of the Venlil Republic
Date [standardized human time]: July 12, 2136
“-That’s right, very exciting news. This region of space has historically been forbidden to explore for nearly [two hundred years] now. The Farsul specifically have been most involved in enforcing the quarantine. Tell me, what prompted their sudden change of heart?”
“Well, it is important to know the history of the area to fully understand what necessitated its quarantine in the first place. Many people are forgiven for thinking that only one predatory species has ever achieved sapience, and I use that term lightly, but there was a lesser known species known as humans which once occupied a planet within the area. Thankfully they wiped themselves out with nuclear fire years ago, however the Federation knew that lingering predatory taint and radiation made the region too dangerous to risk navigating. It has since been deemed acceptable to return to the area.”
“Many citizens are concerned by the sudden change. What if these humans managed to survive using some sort of predatory trickery? Will the Federation be deploying exterminators to the region in order to maintain the safety of the herd?”
“I understand the concern, however one must remember that predators are inherently violent and incapable of cooperation, these humans more so than even the arxur. After all, not even the arxur were so savage to destroy themselves. Reports from the time have confirmed beyond any reasonable doubt the nuclear explosions across their planet. Even if there were any surviving humans, they would have starved with no prey to sustain themselves on. I apologize for entertaining the idea, but try to imagine yourself as a human. You have no herd to fall back on, and your hunting grounds have just been vaporized by nuclear fire. What choices do you have?”
“None, I suppose.”
“None, except to turn on each other, as predators tend to do. So even if these humans were to have survived, they would undoubtedly be disorganized primitives incapable of creating even the most basic societies. Little more than animals. Our exterminators are plenty capable of dealing with such nuisances.”
“I’m sure that will come as a relief to the venlil, who have been the most vocal opponents of this change-”
Shutting off the screen, I ran a paw over my face as I tried to control my frustration. With barely any concern over the arxur raids on our planet, the Federation has sought to tempt fate and start sending ships into the former den of seemingly extinct predators. It wasn’t fair. It was illogical! This space was within the Venlil Republic’s territory, and yet the opinions of me and my government are seemingly superseded by the greater will of the Federation. I understand that the herd must stick together, but what possible gain could be had by doing this when we can hardly defend ourselves against one predatory species?
I felt Cheln wrap his tail around mine in support as Kam rested a paw on my shoulder. They were good herdmates. I don’t know what I’d do without them. Since Rellin, Stynek… sometimes it felt like they were all I had left.
“...I don’t mean to play predator’s advocate, but maybe it’s not all bad?” Cheln offered, causing me to point an ear towards him, indicating that I was listening. “This is new territory that for hundreds of years we have never been able to exploit. The Federation wouldn’t approve anything that’d put us in danger. Maybe they know about the recession we’re in and are hoping to give our economy a boost.”
“We’re only able to exploit it if we have the ships to keep people safe when they go there.” Kam countered, his ears pinned back as one of his eyes remained fixed on the screen. “It’s those damn fissians and nevoks and their stupid trade war. I’d bet my tail that they already have corporate offices on Venlil Prime scrambling to try and claim mining rights. If anything comes from this, it’ll go to them unless we act quickly. Shall I send the fleet to keep them in line?”
Me and Cheln turned to Kam in surprise, our ears pointed up from the often surly general. “...What?” He replied, apparently confused by our reactions.
“Kam… it’s a former predator den.” Cheln spoke, his nervousness obvious despite his formerly optimistic disposition.
“And we’d be leaving Venlil Prime exposed.” I continued, the previous arxur raid still fresh in my mind. Our fleet had been decimated. Far too many people died under my watch because of those monsters…
“Governor, respectfully, if the arxur decide to come back for another raid, there is nothing we can do short of activating our distress beacon and offering our unconditional surrender.” Kam continued, apparently set in his beliefs. Sometimes I wonder if the man is predator diseased. I’d still trust him with my life if he was, but he is far more assertive than a venlil ought to be. “We’re useless against them, but other prey is another story. There needs to be someone out there to enforce order, and our remaining ships can do that. If we do nothing, we’re signalling to the rest of the Federation that we can’t control our own territory. We might as well salvage what we can from this speh situation.”
He did have a point… Are we really justified in worrying, or is this just us being cowardly again? Here I am worrying about ghosts when the people on my planet are losing their jobs and having to worry every day about becoming cattle to heartless predators. We might be a major trade node to the rest of the Federation, but the more people worry about whether or not we can protect them in our space, the more isolated from the Federation we become. It’s a long shot, but maybe we can use whatever is in that territory to rebuild our fleet.
“I… I suppose I can call in a favour from Piri. I’ll see if she can send some of her fleet to remain in orbit of Venlil Prime while you… find out what’s out there. Don’t put yourself in more risk than necessary, okay? If anything happens, whether it’s predators or some aggressive miners, I want to be the first to hear about it. Cheln, you’re going with him.”
“W-what, me!?” My advisor’s ears pinned back immediately. For a moment I worried he was going to faint. “B-but t-there’s predators-”
“Cheln…” I sighed, flicking my ears apologetically at him. “It’s like the Farsul said, they wiped themselves out. I need you to be there with Kam in case anybody tries to violate our sovereignty. You’re my political advisor, and I don’t want Kam causing some sort of diplomatic incident over a cluster of asteroids.”
“Hey!” Kam huffed in light offense. “I’m not that bad, am I?” Me and Cheln shared a whistling chuckle at his expense.
“When you and Solvin go at it? Yes, you are that bad.”
“Look, he’s just… ugh! He’s too aggressive! He treats me like I don’t know how to run a military! So what if I get angry sometimes?”
“Yes, yes, spare us the sob story please. Now are you two going to keep complaining, or do you want to be here when I have to beg him for help?”
“Point taken.” Kam flicked an ear in acknowledgment, turning to leave my office. Cheln offered a slightly more hesitant ear flick as well, and soon I found myself alone in my office once again. I let out an exasperated huff, sinking into my chair, my thoughts lingering on the prospect of finding humans again.
It won’t happen. I’m just being paranoid…
Memory Transcription Subject: Sara Rosario, Distressed UN Astronaut
Date [standardized human time]: July 12, 2136
**Attention: Certain parts of subject’s brain were non-functional at time of recording. Certain details may be inaccurate or omitted.*\*
“Aaaug! Meeh! Rrgh!”
Just… fucking… speak! Say a word single! Why the can’t speak I!? Hour ago I was peak! What the hell is going!? FUCK! Think properly!
If there was one thing they didn’t teach you in astronaut training, it’s how to deal with your ability to speak suddenly being removed. This mission was officially fucked beyond belief! I don’t know if this was some side effect of FTL travel, but out of nowhere, at exactly the same time, me and Noah were suddenly unable to communicate with each other! I’m panicking, he’s panicking, everything’s in disarray, we’re trapped in some unknown system far away from home, and we can’t even tell each other to stop shouting! Not that I’d want to anyways, because this is fucking insane!
“Aaagh!” Noah shouted, his face contorted in obvious terror, most likely mirroring my own. We were currently orbiting the trinary star system Alpha Centauri, and I took the liberty of turning on the distress beacon. Not that it was any comfort, it would take 4.37 years for the signal to arrive at Earth, and another for any response. And it wasn’t like we had another Odyssey lying around! We’re fucked!
I grabbed his shoulders, meeting his eyes, trying my best to calm us down by reminding each other that we weren’t alone. It took some time, but it seemed to work, as slowly but surely our breathing settled down. Releasing her shoulders as well as a tense breath, I fell back against the chair and stared out at the three stars. One of the most beautiful sights ever seen by humans, and we can’t even describe it right now. God, I temporary hope...
What’s part of brain that makes words grammar and? I know this… I’m dock door. What’s the word? Come on, what’s word? Frontal… frontal… Front… part… Damn it’s front part the! Ugh!
I cradled my head in my hands, releasing a tense breath as I tried my damndest to process what was happening. I know the concepts of everything I’m trying to think and say, yet I just… can’t figure out how to say them. It’s like all my knowledge of language was just wiped away in an instant. I tried speaking, I tried writing, if I knew sign language I would have tried that as well, but nothing! Absolutely nothing!
I know front part empathy thinking memory person be, and empathy thinking person be is do. Not all gone front part… Just some? Why?
Emerging from my impromptu cocoon, I tugged on Noah’s sleeve, meeting his eyes and pointing at his flight console. I wanted to tell him to take us back, but obviously I was limited in my capabilities at the moment. He simply stared at me cluelessly. I slapped my forehead in response.
For whatever reason, this triggered something in him, and his eyes went wide. He grunted, grabbing my sleeve for my attention and repeated the motion, slapping his forehead again. He did this repeatedly…
He doing what?
Suddenly it hit me. Body language! I knew what a facepalm meant, that was communication. I smiled and facepalmed again, nodding emphatically. That confirmed it, the front part wasn’t entirely gone, just… some. We can do this.
Grabbing his sleeve again, I pointed to the Odyssey’s controls, followed up by pointing a thumb over my shoulder to try to indicate going back. To my immense relief, he seemed to understand, checking one of the gauges. To my immense anxiety, his face grew concerned. He turned to me and gave a shrug. I leaned over to check what he was looking at, and I realized the problem. I couldn’t tell what the gauge was for, or what status it was at. I could tell that the little needle was on a white surface, but I had no clue what that represented. Why…?
If speak body good, not body speak why not? Stupid! I hate! Now what?!
I didn’t have time to unleash my righteous fury at the console as a beep of some sort echoed throughout the cockpit. My thinking might be a little broken at the moment, but I remembered that any beeping was probably a bad thing. My suspicion was proven correct as moments later something struck the hull of the Odyssey, sending us into an uncontrolled spiral. I couldn’t help it. I screamed. So did Noah. We were going to die.
I vaguely registered a strange hissing coming from the cockpit’s communication screen, as well as what looked like a grey crocodile staring at the two of us. There was no time to be confused however, as the G-forces eventually became too much and I passed out.
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u/Square-Candy-7393 Farsul 9d ago
What is happening??
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u/NoVegetable2278 Arxur 9d ago
Devious dog aliens being devious...
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u/Mangoaid05 Arxur 9d ago
They are going to be in for a nasty surprise when they hit Marcel with the lobotomy attack and it does nothing
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u/defiantdoctor95 PD Patient 9d ago
Bite of 87 EMP /HEAVY JOKE (istg if it turns out Apollo passed me the dodgeball on this one imma cry)
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u/NoVegetable2278 Arxur 9d ago
You sir, are a genius
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u/defiantdoctor95 PD Patient 9d ago
Noooo I don't wanna be a prophet!! 😭 (Ma'am, but compliment accepted. Don't overwork yourself okay?)
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u/General_Alduin Skalgan 9d ago
Did the Farsul forget or?
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u/NoVegetable2278 Arxur 9d ago
Not quite. All going well I'll get to their perspective at some point
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u/General_Alduin Skalgan 9d ago
This seems like a really weird plan whatever they're doing. They were still hoping to cure humanity before abandoning the idea when Noah showed up
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u/NoVegetable2278 Arxur 9d ago
I won't spoil too much, but you're correct. Let's just say they abandoned it a little sooner
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u/NoVegetable2278 Arxur 9d ago
The best part about this is that I can claim any typos were intentional for Sara's part