Captain Szzidek was sitting in the command chair of his Explorator-class saucer, listening to the quiet hum of the long-range space craft’s twin atomic generators when his reverie was broken by the quiet chiming on the communication badge pinned to the front of his silver jumpsuit. With an annoyed grimace, he raised a hand and tapped it before speaking, “Captain here. What is it?”
“The scout team has returned from the alien planet captain.” The voice of Brikka, his second in command came from the small comm badge. “They’ve completed their survey of the biosphere and its natural resources.” The discovery of a class-7 habitable world, the third orbiting its remote insignificant star, was always a significant event and careful study was needed to determine how it might be best incorporated for the benefit of the Stellar Imperium. “They’ve also brought back several specimens of the native inhabitents.” The fact this pitiful rock held at least one intelligent species, though laughably primitive by galactic standards, added extra benefits, but also extra headaches.
“I’ll be down there momentarily.” Szzidek replied. “Over and out.” He rose from his chair. “You have the bridge.” He nodded to one of the officers on watch before heading to the door which hissed open. A couple minutes later, the lift deposited him in the saucer’s small-crafts bay. Ahead of him, the away team was busy unloading samples and gear from their shuttle.
“Captain!” The head of the away team raised a foot in salute as he saw his superior coming over. “Take a look at some of the samples of local technology we’ve brought back.” He opened one of the crates and took out a sample container. Inside was a small, narrow rectangle of some black and silver material. “A communication device...primitive by our standards but quite fascinating.” He set it back in place and took out another. Inside was a cylindrical device, of the same silvery metal surface, half an Obert in length and tapered at one end. “It’s function continues to elude us...perhaps it is meant to have some sort of medical function?”
“Where did you...”acquire” these samples?” Szzidek asked. “I gave orders to limit interaction with the locals beyond the until we can determine what function they would best serve for the Imperium.”
“These are items that were being carried by the specimens, sir.” The science officer replied. “Our sensors picked them up in a primitive ground craft entering an area that was sparsely populated...perhaps on some sort of training exercise. Their baggage contained several portable dwellings and ration packs.”
“And where are these subjects?”
“We’re unloading them now, sir.” The science officer replied, turning to point to the rear of the shuttle. Another member of the away mission was backing down the boarding ramp, a magneto rod in his hand. It was controlling the grav-generators in the capture-cuffs restraining and suspending the four aliens which floated down the ramp after him. They had one each around their wrists and ankles, with a larger one across their lower heads, covering their mouth-orifices. To keep them quiet, according to one of the away team. “You wouldn’t believe the racket they put up once the stun-blasts wore off…”
Rubbing his smooth-grey scalp, the captain stepped forward to examine the aliens. They were not, in broad strokes, too dissimilar from Szzidek and the rest of his crew: two arms, two legs attached to a torso with the head atop a short neck. Their faces looked...busy, compared to his own face with its large black eyes, thin mouth slit and efficient nostril holes: they each had a large, protruding sensory organ in the center of their face, positioned between their smaller eyes and bizarre flaps on the sides of their heads.
Oddest of all was the thick hair follicles which covered the aliens. Szzidek was familiar, from studies of the local fauna of other planets, of creatures with fur and hair, but on these aliens, it seemed concentrated in places: particular the tops of their heads and in small, odd strips above their eyes. Two of the aliens also had fur on their lower faces: one all over, the other concentrated in a narrow strip on their upper lip, for what reason Szzidek couldn’t tell.
The aliens were dressed in strange garb which one of the science officers told Szzidek were woven from natural plant and animal fibers. “Quite fascinating.” He said, though the thought of having such fabrics against him made Szzidek’s skin crawl.
“Remove them.” He ordered. “Dirty things, probably infested in all manner of parasites.” The science officer dutifully took out his ray and modulated it to the atomic frequencies of the inert fibers. Turning it to the first specimen, the one with the odd strip of hair above its mouth.
It squirmed, a low grunting escaping the capture-cuff across its mouth, as the ray beam struck it, straining against the other cuffs which held in place, suspending in the air. Where the beam struck, the primitive fibers covering the alien vaporized, leaving everything else behind. As the science officer ran the beam along its body, it was in short order rendered in its natural, nude state. Its cheeks flushed a red color, perhaps a warning signal against potential predators, one of the science officers speculated.
Szzidek watched with interest. The specimen seemed muscular enough, beneath its garb. He made a note to look into this species potential as labor for the empire’s many mining and agricultural colonies. Across its, relatively hairless skin, it had several markings, brightly colored and of surprisingly sophisticated artistry. He also noted, with amusement, the set of genitals between the creatures legs, quite sizable and covered by another patch of the strange fur. Szzidek’s own species had, he recalled from science lessons as a juvie, had similar equipment, but eons ago cloning and genetic engineering had rendered such equipment obsolete and in time they had been reduced to mere vestigial organs.
The same process was repeated with the second specimen, with a full head of hair, who proved to be of similar type as the first. But things became more surprising when the third specimen was stripped. Like the other two, if’s pale cheeks flushed scarlet in response to its garb being removed. The first thing different came when the beam reached the alien’s chest. Szzidek had noted the odd bulges there, which the fourth specimen shared, unlike the first two. He had, initially, put them down to something to do with their garb but he was shocked when, as the fabrics melted away, a pair of large, round protrusions were revealed. The otherwise smooth mounds were topped by a pair of small, pink nubs.
“Sir, will you look at this!” The science officer said as the stripping had reached the specimen’s lower body. “This specimen appears to be biologically female. Our species hasn’t had females since advances in cloning made them obsolete eons ago.” He had to repeat it again to get Szzidek’s attention. The captain had been staring, in rapt focus on the twin orbs hanging over him from the moment they had been revealed. Most of the rest of the away team were giving them similar intense focus. Though science and technology had done away with the need long ago, certain evolutionary urges had lingered in Szzidek’s species, dormant until now, when presented with an example of what they had been missing for the last millennia.
The final specimen was, in short order, divested of her garb as well, for female she was as well, and Szzidek, and the rest of the away team, were delighted to find her...breasts was the word one of them dredged up from some biology terminology, were even larger and rounder then the firsts.
“Lieutenant…” Szzidek told the chief science officer. “You’ll start testing on these specimens at once.” The other members of the ship’s science team cheered, until he added, “the two males I mean. Have the females sent to my quarters. I wish to handle their initial probing personally.” He turned, ignoring the disappointed groans of the crew as he headed for the lift. A wry grin crossed his face. “I think I know what role this species will serve the Imperium…”