Twingo, and Doc ... you’re coming with us,” Jason said after a second’s thought. “Kage and Lucky, keep in com contact and keep the ship ready to fly.”
Once they were all kitted up with concealed weaponry and casual, civilian-style clothing , Jason led them through the cargo bay and down the ramp onto the surface of Solamea. As they emerged from the ship a few kelpens looked at them disinterestedly before going back to whatever they were doing. The kelpens were typical bipedal primes with skin that was a beautiful shade of sea foam green and a wide, rugged build that looked suited to the manual labor tasks Jason observed going on around him.
The town, such as it was, looked like it could have been out of eighteenth century Earth rather than a planet that was home to a space-faring culture. As they walked along the main street he could see little bits of mismatched technology here and there, but mostly he saw kelpens moving busily about doing tasks by hand that were done by machine in every other culture Jason had observed.
“ OK,” Crusher said as they walked, “this is getting strange. Is the whole planet like this?”
“ Yes,” Kellea said with a smile. “There’s something about the kelpen nature that they have an almost aggressive indifference to technological advancement. All these machines you see around you were likely traded to them by people like us, and when it breaks they’ll toss it aside and go back to doing the task the old fashioned way.”
“ So are they less advanced or is it a cultural peculiarity?” Doc asked.
“ Studies have shown them to have an equal aptitude to learning and using technology as most other species, they just have no interest in it. They don’t explore, they don’t research; they are perfectly content to live as they always have. Many mistake these traits for lower intelligence, but they’re shrewd traders and they’ve profited handsomely from their mineral mining rights,” Kellea explained as they walked slowly into what appeared to be the town square.
“ What makes them all the more unique is that they don’t actually shun advancement, they just don’t pursue it.”
“ That’s bizarre,” Twingo said as he looked around at the squat, rustic buildings.
“ Perhaps,” Jason agreed, “but it does make it all the more unusual that these people would have taken up arms. There doesn’t even seem to be a central government to rebel against.”
They walked in silence for a bit longer before coming to a short, elderly kelpen who was struggling to put bags of seed into an open-air wheeled vehicle. The bags looked like they outweighed the little alien by at least two to one.
“ Let me help you,” Crusher said in stilted Jenovian Standard and walked over to take the bag from him. The kelpen went from startled at the voice to nearly panicked as Crusher bore down on him. He flinched away as the big warrior reached out his clawed hands and easily lifted the bag up and set it into the back of the vehicle.
When he saw this , the kelpen smiled widely (at least it looked like a smile) and gestured at the other twelve bags laying on the ground. Nodding, Crusher moved over and tossed the seed bags like they weighed nothing until all thirteen were neatly stacked. The elderly kelpen put his right hand over his chest and bowed his head to Crusher in an apparent sign of gratitude before moving to get into the vehicle. Doc reached out and stopped him, pointing at the alien’s ear questioningly.
After a short game of one-sided charades , a look of understanding crossed the kelpen’s face and he fished around in his pocket for a moment before pulling out a translator earpiece that looked to be at least three generations behind the type they had on the Phoenix . He fiddled with it for another minute or so before slipping it over his ear and looking over at Doc.
“ Can you understand me?” Doc asked in flawless Jenovian Standard. He doubted his native language
Once they were all kitted up with concealed weaponry and casual, civilian-style clothing , Jason led them through the cargo bay and down the ramp onto the surface of Solamea. As they emerged from the ship a few kelpens looked at them disinterestedly before going back to whatever they were doing. The kelpens were typical bipedal primes with skin that was a beautiful shade of sea foam green and a wide, rugged build that looked suited to the manual labor tasks Jason observed going on around him.
The town, such as it was, looked like it could have been out of eighteenth century Earth rather than a planet that was home to a space-faring culture. As they walked along the main street he could see little bits of mismatched technology here and there, but mostly he saw kelpens moving busily about doing tasks by hand that were done by machine in every other culture Jason had observed.
“ OK,” Crusher said as they walked, “this is getting strange. Is the whole planet like this?”
“ Yes,” Kellea said with a smile. “There’s something about the kelpen nature that they have an almost aggressive indifference to technological advancement. All these machines you see around you were likely traded to them by people like us, and when it breaks they’ll toss it aside and go back to doing the task the old fashioned way.”
“ So are they less advanced or is it a cultural peculiarity?” Doc asked.
“ Studies have shown them to have an equal aptitude to learning and using technology as most other species, they just have no interest in it. They don’t explore, they don’t research; they are perfectly content to live as they always have. Many mistake these traits for lower intelligence, but they’re shrewd traders and they’ve profited handsomely from their mineral mining rights,” Kellea explained as they walked slowly into what appeared to be the town square.
“ What makes them all the more unique is that they don’t actually shun advancement, they just don’t pursue it.”
“ That’s bizarre,” Twingo said as he looked around at the squat, rustic buildings.
“ Perhaps,” Jason agreed, “but it does make it all the more unusual that these people would have taken up arms. There doesn’t even seem to be a central government to rebel against.”
They walked in silence for a bit longer before coming to a short, elderly kelpen who was struggling to put bags of seed into an open-air wheeled vehicle. The bags looked like they outweighed the little alien by at least two to one.
“ Let me help you,” Crusher said in stilted Jenovian Standard and walked over to take the bag from him. The kelpen went from startled at the voice to nearly panicked as Crusher bore down on him. He flinched away as the big warrior reached out his clawed hands and easily lifted the bag up and set it into the back of the vehicle.
When he saw this , the kelpen smiled widely (at least it looked like a smile) and gestured at the other twelve bags laying on the ground. Nodding, Crusher moved over and tossed the seed bags like they weighed nothing until all thirteen were neatly stacked. The elderly kelpen put his right hand over his chest and bowed his head to Crusher in an apparent sign of gratitude before moving to get into the vehicle. Doc reached out and stopped him, pointing at the alien’s ear questioningly.
After a short game of one-sided charades , a look of understanding crossed the kelpen’s face and he fished around in his pocket for a moment before pulling out a translator earpiece that looked to be at least three generations behind the type they had on the Phoenix . He fiddled with it for another minute or so before slipping it over his ear and looking over at Doc.
“ Can you understand me?” Doc asked in flawless Jenovian Standard. He doubted his native language
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