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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/micktalian on 2025-12-10 21:44:09+00:00.
Part 153 Good Times (Part 1) (Part 152)
Almost every single person who joined in on the tour of the yet-to-be-named new school-ship had decided to stay for dinner. Only War Chief Msko, Old Man River, and a couple of professors with families at home took the Nishnabe shuttle when it left on schedule. Everyone else was now mingling in a small courtyard featuring several seating areas, a large banquet table covered in diverse foods, and a fully stocked self-service bar with a dozen brews on tap. Though many had initially clustered into groups based on subject expertise and personal familiarity, that didn't last too long. Strangers were joking with each other just an hour after the food was brought out by drones. Even Morning Dew wandered away from Zika and Chu to make new friends.
Things were going so well that NAN couldn't help but observe the various interactions. Their original mission when it came to humanity was to perform ethnographic research. They had learned that people watching at a party is the best way to understand the human species. These kinds of situations where food and drink are in abundance seem to bring out a primal desire to make friends. Most social species, especially those from deathworlds where food may have historically been scarce, are the same way. Even many forms of life that tend to prefer solitude will happily partake in this kind of festivity. However, it isn't particularly common for complete strangers to mingle together so casually regardless of how social the species is. Though Qui’ztars are more willing to mingle with members of other species than most, they still tend to be fairly reserved around strangers. The four present at this party, however, perfectly matched the candor of the humans.
Tensebwse has always been the perfect example of this phenomenon. NAN had observed him making friends with literally anyone who would talk to him. Three-quarters of his twenty closest childhood friends were other species, including a couple Penidons. Perhaps that innate skill had been slowly training these particular Qui’ztars how to fit in perfectly with humans. Maybe other humans present had been granted the same gift that Tens had. When NAN turned their gaze towards the group Tens was a part of, they realized Tens's near-supernatural abilities were on full display. A Qui’ztar Fleet Admiral, someone who would usually publicly present herself in a prim and proper manner no matter the occasion, was relaxed enough to get tipsy, show a real smile, and laugh like she didn't have a care in the world.
“Oh, no, no, don't get me wrong. It’s not necessarily the physical size and scope of your university that I was fascinated by.” Admiral Atxika found the conversation she was having with a couple Martian professors to be quite enjoyable despite the occasional mistake made by their translation devices. “It actually is fairly common for Ascended species to consolidate their higher educational institutions in a manner similar to ChaosU. The university I attended has similar enrollment numbers, the same diversity in courses, and also stretches across several dozen square kilometers. No, I was referring to its size in the context of the Aram colony itself. A fully self-sufficient and autonomously expanding habitat capable of housing hundreds of millions of people on an otherwise barren planet is practically unheard of in galactic history. The fact it's centered around a university makes the whole thing that much more interesting.”
“Really?” Professor Maria O'Hare-Tseib, an older and quite prominent member of the Ethnography division of ChaosU's History Department, found this large woman to be fascinating for far more than just her appearance and knowledge. Though she wasn't sure at first, and still didn't want to say anything about it, a few of the click-sounds Atxika used felt incredibly similar to the Khoekhoe language passed on to her by her mother. “That is… Not what I expected to hear but fascinating nonetheless. Many of my colleagues operate under the assumption that any sufficiently advanced species would inevitably create more living space for an ever-increasing population. Para-terraforming is what they argue will be the most efficient way to do that. But they also believe all intelligent species will inevitably grow and spread across every planet they possibly can, including barren planets like Mars.”
“They just don't understand.” Bjorn Sebro, a biology professor specializing in speculative xenobiology and who has a nearly identical accent to Skol Eitri but also a nearly opposite appearance, raised his frosty beer mug while interjecting. “Too many people on Earth and Mars make too many silly assumptions about population growth dynamics. They always assume anything capable of unimpeded growth will then grow exponentially. But from what I have read on the Nishnabe Web, most species tend to settle at between ten and thirty billion people. But I couldn't really find a reason why.”
“I can't say I'm well versed in population totals or growth dynamics, especially across all Ascended species.” Atxika paused for just a moment to take a sip from her fourth perfectly brewed amber ale. “But I do believe I remember something about biomass, metabolism, and inherent matter-energy limits acting as counterforces to exponentially growth.”
“Exactly!” Despite being a fairly large man capable of holding his liquor, the way Bjorn waved his mug around and his occasional use of Norwegian words gave away just how much he had indulged in the self-service bar. “You wouldn't happen to know of any academic sources I could cite about this would you, Atxika?”
“Sadly, I do not.” Atxika may not have been as drunk as Bjorn but she was likewise starting to slip in more and more of her own native language instead of galactic common. “It's been decades since I attended university. I barely even remember my military administration courses, let alone anything else.”
“I'm sure you could find what you're looking for on the Nishnabe Web, Bjorn.” Maria placed a gentle hand on the tall, black haired man's shoulder then pointed towards the table covered in food. “But first you should eat some more and maybe drink some water. That's what? Your tenth beer in the past two hours?”
“Ha! It's good beer! Ha-hahaha!” The Norwegian biologist let out a bellowing laugh before that quickly turned to a short bout of coughing. “Kuh… Ehhh… You're right, Maria. Excuse me, Atxika, Tens.”
“That guy likes to drink.” Though Tens had mostly been silent as to not accidentally embarrass his beloved, he was starting to lose control of his inner gremlin. “Is that a common thing on Mars?”
“Many Martian men often drink too much. Especially the Europeans.” The half-Namibian ethnographer spoke in her mother's native tongue and just so happened to use certain click-sounds that instantly grabbed Atxika's attention. “My father was the same way.”
“Can you say that again?” Atxika asked while pressing a button on her in-ear translator.
“My father was the same way?” Maria knew exactly the exact sound Atxika was curious about but decided it would be funnier to play dumb and reply in perfect English.
“No, no, in that language you just used!” As tipsy as Atxika may be, she caught on to the joke immediately and laughed with the dark skinned woman with a naturally-red afro. “It sounded very familiar.”
“Oh… You mean the…” Though Maria was often annoyed when people asked her to use the clicks common in her mother's traditional language, she demonstrated several for the alien and her semi-alien human lover. “...Sounds?”
“Wow!” Tens showed the same reaction that most other humans did when hearing a Khoekhoe dialect spoken so fluently. Atxika, on the other hand, was momentarily shocked into silence as her smile grew even wider. “I didn't know humans could make sounds like that so naturally.”
“See Tens!” Atx quickly regained her wits and proceeded to playfully smack her Nishnabe lover in the chest. “If she can use all of those distinct clicks, you can learn Qui'txotlovkem without cheating!”
“Nama and other Khoekhoe dialects are relatively difficult to learn and pronounce for most people.” Maria giggled at the overly aggressive manner with which Atxika teased Tens. “And I believe I also heard you make the affricate ‘tl’ sound used in the Nahuatl language, Atxika. That one can also be confusing for many people. I know it was for me.”
“How many languages do you know?” Tens wanted to skirt past the topic of him learning to use clicks but didn't want to be too obvious about it.
“Not including dialects of the same language, twenty four.” An unmistakable twinkle of pride appeared in Maria’s eyes as she took a sip of the cocktail she had been nursing for the past half hour. “Nama, English, Mandarin, Spanish, German, Russian, Zulu, and !Kun are the ones I am most proficient in. But I am conversational in several North American traditional languages. Just none of the Algic ones, so no Anishinaabemowin.”
“Eee! That's the old, old pronunciation!” The Nishnabe warrior gave his exaggerated frown and subtle nod of approval. “We just s...
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