Jessie doesn't get it

After a few hours, things calmed down. You'd delivered your discovery to the council but nobody was yet sure what to do with it. There was already two full battle groups on the way. Even if the IAA arrived first they would be required to render assistance against a threat to the colony while waiting for their opponents. The actual battle would take place after the situation was made safe. The increased security posture was maintained with the marines on constant patrol. Due to the perceived direct threat against you, however, Jessie was allowed to resume her duties as your bodyguard. The two of you were sitting on the couch in the general living area at the moment while you explained the significance of your find to her.

"So you see, the reason its strange is that we came from a unique biosphere and our species adapted to that biosphere. One of those adaptations was fur. We've discovered a number of species across worlds that developed a similar adaptation to their environments, however, what those species have just looks similar to fur and hair from Earth. They don't have the same biological and chemical components as a species from Earth. There might be one or two elements in common but a perfect match is so statistically small as to be impossible. That's how we know that whatever that thing is, it originated from outside this planet. Moreover, it was likely developed using a mammal from Earth." You explained as Jessie cleaned the rifle on her lap.

"But why would something like that be here? The previous colonists only had a single genetic engineer and he died from the Bion's virus. I doubt he was doing some kind of mad science." The word 'he' sounded strange coming from Jessie, it was a word only really used in history books. Still, it had been a biological man.

"We don't know what sh- he was doing. Or if he might have taught one of the women on the colony his craft. Information is very available, someone could have even learned about genetic engineering just by downloading it off the net. Heck, we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for some mad scientists." You pointed out. "What if this thing was another experiment to try and deal with the virus. Those were a dime a dozen back then. This colony was far out even back then. They probably went completely dark during the war and never turned themselves back on. What if they ran their own experiments into the virus? What if they found something else that worked?" You knew it sounded like a bad mystery novel but you couldn't help thinking you were on to something.

"Why the fur then?" Jessie asked, humoring you.

"The Bions specifically targeted the human Y chromosome. They only wanted to wipe us out, not entire biospheres. There was a colony established by a group of people fleeing persecution on earth called Equestria. They tried to genetically modify themselves into horse people. It didn't work and the planet had to be nuked from orbit and destroyed utterly for reasons that have been marked as classified but some of the research they did indicated that it was possible to alter the human genome to develop animalistic traits. Theirs wasn't enough to make them immune to the virus like they hoped, and after the genome change that was made to form the modern human that line of research was abandoned. This world could have continued where they left off. What if they succeeded?" You knew you were getting a bit creepy excited about this and you should probably have been more concerned about the fact that you found a whole planet purged for classified reasons but that had been before you were born when humanity had been fighting for its very survival. The record likely stayed sealed just because the only ones who could unlock it were dead.

"Wait. Are you saying that I might have gotten attacked by a cat girl? Like a full on cat girl?" She asked

"Cat girl?" You asked a bit confused. Your theory could have involved feline genes in the process but you weren't sure why Jessie was being so specific about them.

"Never mind. Just. If you meet a marine named Jennifer. Do not share this theory with her. I've seen her browser history and- just don't." She said, you mentally memorized the name. "Have you told the council this theory?"

"Not yet. I wanted to share it with you and Wendy first. She's done a bit of genetics research." You explained

"And me?"

"I needed to know if I sounded insane."

"Always. But that doesn't mean you're wrong."