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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/A_normal_storyteller on 2026-04-02 00:15:33+00:00.
A not so serious short tale... any criticism is welcome, specially since i haven't wrote something long in years.
It all began when humanity first met other species, it was… boring, to say the least. There were no major incidents, instead, there were only constant calls demanding to know if we were being contacted, or if we were dealing with yet another false encounter, with trolls running rampant, it was hard to distinguish what was happening and what was a mere lie.
Turns out, they were right, we were being contacted. And by some, rather pretty good-looking aliens indeed… Feathered ones, they looked like out of a Chinese tale or an anime like phoenix-like birds, when they first began sending envoys most were surprised that the birds were the ambassadors and not the pets of said ambassadors.
Apparently, they were our neighbors born in Alpha Centauri and were tempted to establish a colony on Mars, they found out about us thanks to the Voyager I, the very same Voyager that gave its life to save us from a rogue planet buster.
The Centaurians informed us about this, that was their first action, they wanted to tell us about how lucky we were that, that a piece of our history, gave its own life to protect us from an imminent death. And the sheer power of the planet buster exploding in the middle of the void was what made the centaurians turn and notice just how developed we had become.
Turns out, that space is huge, and while we both had noticed each other, the signals were easy to confuse for others, or just tuck underneath the metaphorical blanket and ignore, but, unlike us who were yet to unify, the centaurians had already unified, mostly due to the sheer pressure of having to fight off alien pirates a hundred years ago.
Recently, recently unified, and yet to build a colony, they felt weaker than even the weakest power nearby, and so went for us, not wanting to demand submission or tribute, but instead to offer us an alliance.
Both of our species were, “deathworlders” if we employ the closest translation that our language has to the word that the centaurians employed. Bigger, stronger, faster, even sometimes a bit smarter, than the average galactic citizen, our only weakness was our youth, for we were but newborns in comparison to even the weakest galactic power that was near us.
However, they didn’t think of us as something… “low”, they saw us and saw a younger brother to their kin, being matriarchal in nature, and being more powerful than us, meant that their media was rather… interested in us to say the least.
“Like a hatchling our brothers have called, and we shall answer!”
They saw us as a race with high potential but with some evident weaknesses, and they were mostly right, our species was yet to unify, and we had barely came out alive after a comet almost struck our homeworld.
They came like angels from the heavens, quickly sharing their technology, in exchange they demanded only one thing.
“Let you be our allies, and not our subjects”
For ten years it was all fun and catching up to the aliens, a “great step for mankind” as some called it, a great era of peace and prosperity had began when that happened.
My father, a youth during those days, constantly told me when I was a kid that the aliens had given us a space station, around the size of a country called Lichestein, said space station became the place were alien professionals and academics took human students, they didn’t took any human, instead they were allowed to handpick their disciple, like a knight picking a squire.
The most popular subjects were:
Mathematics
Languages
Philosophy
Engineering
Organic studies
Panzer Warfare
And… funny enough, my father was an ace in languages, so much he made sure my sisters and I, were among the first people in our town to speak the alien language as a second tongue, but not even he was worth becoming a student under an alien teacher, since those were rather picky.
Obviously, our best academics were allowed to take students too, so aliens did have their own version, with human teachers taking only the best students… and that is why, right now I must look like an idiot to the bird that is standing right before me in the middle of the academy I study at.
“Human… Are you perhaps interested in studying abroad?”
The alien, spoke in a feminine voice, ever heard the generic “mature woman voice” that is used in anime? That was how her voice sounded, plus her massive height at seven feet… meant that I was, for obvious reason, scared shitless of her.
“Well… I did consider it… but, you know, I always considered studying on a place like Japan”
“I understand, my dear human, however, you hold a greater potential than the one you might develop in this planet, specially since, based on your search history, you might be in trouble if you keep building that toy of yours”
“W…what?!, HOW DID YOU GET ACCESS TO MY SEARCH HISTORY?!”
The bird giggled as I shook, victim of the fear of privacy breech… maybe I could appeal? If not… then I might as well spend a few nights in jail…
“I’m part of the Liora program, I can access to any kind of data for the sake of picking a pupil, and you, you happen to be exactly the kind of student I would like to have”
The bird, lifted her right claw and took a step, folding her wings and walking like a bird of prey… or better said a dinosaur, lowering her neck to the same level of my face, letting out a small stream of cold air that felt like both, a breeze and a brick thrown straight at my face.
“You… are a fresh twenty-year-old man… a perfect male of your species… with a liking for warfare, and a homemade workshop where the main focus is creating homemade magnetic guns, some would say you could be a danger, considering the kind of things you like buying”
“It… is… something private… I… I would rather not discuss about it”
“Don’t discuss then, young man, but which way you prefer things to be? To keep building things behind the backs of your parents? Or perhaps get a chance to learn how to do what you love the most?”
“Miss…”
“Pha, you can call me Pha”
“Miss Pha… I think that, while tempting… I’m not a engineer, I’m not even a math’s mayor, I’m studying to become a translator…”
The massive bird let out the equivalent of a small laugh, folding her right wing around my shoulder and dragging me closer, her chest tuft being straight against my face, it felt soft and warm, just like a motherly hug, just as her voice softened.
“An honorable profession, but you can aspire higher… Say my dear student to be, do you know how much money a translator actually makes?”
“I have a few ideas, some contacts I might be able to work with… specially since I know the language of your people”
“Avoiding the question?, It isn’t a matter of making a living, but of reaching greater heights, living as a translator might help you reach a peak, but, not your own peak, weird as it may sound, you secondary talent, might be the key to greatness, the very same greatness your father wanted, but never got the chance to achieve”
“Allright, I’m calling bullshit miss, there is no way you are speaking like that! You sound like you are out of a bad anime, where is the camera? I think the prank should be over by now because things are getting awkward really fast”
Breaking free from the hug, I tried to take some distance, but the alien spread her wings and let out a loud screech that made my skin crawl, a primal fear coming from deep inside as I felt what my ancestors should have felt whenever they saw a angry predator.
“Tks, how insolent! I am not talking like out of an ‘anime’ those things are porn after all! And I’m really serious about offering you the seeds of greatness! You have the talent, you already have built your very own gauss musket inside your parent’s basement, and I know that because you shot my ship by mistake!”
“Wh…what! How do you mean that I shot your ship?!”
“Two months ago, you shot your rifle to the sky, didn’t you?”
“…”
“Exactly… by sheer luck, my ship was in the perfect place to be hit by your musket, the tungsten projectile hit it with enough strength for the system to identify it as an attack, and track from where it came, that’s how I found out about you… and being in possession of a weapon without the legal permission allowed me to seize any data… and to be fair, I think you might be perfect for the academy, specially when we consider your search history…”
“PLEASE DON’T BRING THAT AGAIN!”
“Oh, come on, you have the chance to live exactly the kind of thing you love reading about, a mature mentor, a promising student, a brand-new world… a whole… Isekai. If you want to call it that way, for you to explore, especially since… I’m not recruiting you to study at the space station…”
“What… then what do you even want?”
“It’s simple, I want a pupil I can take and show to the galaxy as a whole, to prove that our species, human and centaurians alike can be considered respectables members of the galactic community! With nothing to envy the other species!”
“Other species… do you mean that…”
The bird nodded as she took a step lowering her beak close enough to my face to make me take a step back and fall on my ass with a loud and rather painful hit.
“Yes… we have been contacted… by a galactic federation… they offered us the chance to send some representatives… and lucky you, I was picked as one.”
“But why me? I mean, I understand that you feel interested, but, why not ...
Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1sa233z/guess_i_got_fooled_again/