Bitter Lesson

Bullshit! Oh, but let’s follow the protocol of politeness, otherwise you could take me for some uncivilized bird of prey.

Those who wish to be polite call me Dra Amanda Mir Maués. Others call me “Snow Bird Lassie”, “Night Chicken Bimbo”, and less flattering names. Works equally well. If your say it looking in my direction I understand who you are talking to. My kin learns to accept any label yours choose to us, without objection. To take small things like that serious is not compatible to survival, for us.

I am a sub-human. More specifically an uplifted white owl.

Cannot fly. I am far to the humanoid side in the uplifted spectrum.

My face would feel at home in the body of a regular owl. Except for the movement of my eyes, that is similar to the way human eyes move. My non-uplifted cousins have the amazing neck we have because they need to move the entire head in the direction they want to look at. Evolution provided that unique solution, their powerful eyes do not move in their orbits, this function was delegated to neck muscles. My eyes are as effective as those provided to my cousins by blind evolution, but they move in their orbits like human eyes. So, in my case, the owl neck is redundant. Something genetic engineering gave my ancestors just for showing of.

My legs bellow the knees are very thick and scary looking versions of bird legs. Ending in powerful claws. This anatomy has little practical utility, since I don’t have the ability to fly, or the habit to fall on small animals from above to capture and kill them. The long and razor sharp claws make me slow when I try to run. But again, it was a matter of showing off. Keeping the thematic.

My back is covert on feathers, up to my waist. White, snow owl, feathers, similar to those that cover my head, neck and shoulders. Not my hip, thighs, or arms. Those are decorated by soft human skin, as white as it can be made by genetic engineering, and a couple of degrees warmer than human temperature. I am a “Hot Chicken”, I have been told kindly.

My digestive system mixes the best aspects of human and owls. My palate has exquisite power of discrimination for complex tastes, and that compensate most aspects of my design that I feel less than satisfied about. Is a wonder that I never got fatter than a turkey ready for the cleaver.

Oh, if I ever became a mother I will be putting eggs. Not delivering a fully formed baby.

Other than that, my body is very “human” in shape. Voluptuous feminine model, big boobs and large hips, included, The genetic engineers responsible for uplift my ancestors did not had in mind hunting rodents in frozen forests and night! Our males can be soldiers, most of them have smaller feet than us, or fight for human entertainment. I believe they are the afterthought in that instance. Our main purpose was, always, to share intimacy with our owners. As “birds of company”, so to speak. Recreative chicken.

Not a bad fate in life, is you ask me! I would not choose to exchange places with any genetically engineered killing machine soldier. I take the alcove rater than frontline war any day.

I do follow, neither. I follow a more intellectual path.

I as born in the year 7 of Exploration Age. In a space station orbiting Planet Neptune, in the Sollar System. One of the thousands of trillions of space stations in that orbit at the time.

It was a crowded region of space by the time, as you can imagine.

Never met my biological parents, but I am 9° generation in my uplifted lineage. Ergo, there was 8 generations of people like me, before me, in my mother’s lineage. My people puts eggs, what makes selling our newborns even more practical than it would have been otherwise.

The breasts are mostly for the looks. Our young do not drink our milk. With some supplements in my diet I do lactate, but, again, that is coherent to the main goal my creators had in mind for my specie.

Biographical references completed in full (I though was proper to make it more thorough than usual) . Under the risk of repeating myself. That “Explaining Fractions” text, is bullshit. Almost entirely.

The biographic reference about the author of “First Quarter Mark” is correct. I don’t know Mr Roosevelt, will not say anything about the information he provides about himself. The details about US are true enough, as far as I know. Which is information available to anyone.

There is very little truth in “Explaining Fractions” beyond that. Mr Roosevelt points a mistake that, according to his speculative mind, is not a mistake. I agree. Hower, his interpretation for what the author of “First Quarter Mark” intended is wrong and, I dare to say, dishonest.

Let me say this about Mr Kai Maués. I have know Kai all my life. No hyperbole implied.

My egg was a gift someone gave to a woman who as Kai’s lover at the time. She didn’t liked me due to the pitiful and ugly aspect I had when my egg hatched, so, she gave me to him.

The main reason why I grew up to be a doctor, and ultimately a scholar, instead of the sexual toy my specie was designed to be, is him. Kai decided to raise me as adoptive daughter, rater than pet.

So, when Mr Roosevelt describes him as “a lot more one of us than one of them”, implying by that a humanist, or someone inclined to agree with humanism. Mr Roosevelt is wrong. In any possible sense of the world. Too wrong for his statement to hold any derogatory adjective I could give to it. Or to it’s author, Mr Roosevelt.

Kai is an Asgardian, and by definition it makes him biologically immortal. Like the majority of sub-humans are, only exception being those intentionally designed for short lives. Like humans are designed for painfully brief existences, of 300 years. We shared dozens of thousands of years of experience, before we separate for the first time. And I call him “daddy” with absolutely no erotic inuendo involved. Kai is one of us, not a one of those who identify themselves with Theodore Roosevelt’s ideology of humanism.

About facts. Yes, 250.000 is one quarter of 1 million. Not of 2 million. The “error” is way too obvious to not be intentional. However, there is no conspiration being pointed by it. It is a joke.

One that follows a paradigm of humour that was very common 220.000 years ago.

Kai sometimes forgets his age. Not everybody today remembers things that used to be common place when Expansion Age started, 250.001 years ago. He was born about 600 years before that, mind you. And his Historical Memory of long term is even better than mine.

Neither of us needs to do any “research” to know that humanity is now close to occupy the territory originally planed to be occupied by human expansion, at this moment in time. We have long surpassed the projections of growing in the revised plan of expansion, which was made around year 2.000 of Expansion. Originally human expansion was planet to occupy the galaxy in 1 million years, then the plan was revised to 2 million years.

The reason why we have reached more ground than expected after the revision in interstellar travel speed limits was know by anyone some human generations ago. Has nothing to do with Deshiar.

It is consequence of technological advancements made by human and sub-human scientists and engineers after 10K, as we used to say at the time. Or 10.000 of Expansion, as we say nowadays. Betweeen 10K and 20K , mostly. Therefore at least 2 thousand years before the galaxy outside Lira System have the First Contact with Deshiar.

Those advancements are not “hidden” by conspiration. They just happened too slowly and too gradually for any generation of politicians to claim credit for them.

By Alexandrine Law humans (except the Asgardians) only live up to 300 years, maximum.

Current generations have forgotten what their ancestors had fresh in their minds only 5 thousand years ago. We are talking about a period more than 200 thousand years in the past.

The speed of Seeding Fleets has been what it now is for more than 210.000 years. And that is actually a bit faster than what was planed a little before I was born, by the time when the first generation of my ancestors to be uplifted was being pocked by geneticists in some lab. Not half of that speed, as it was between 2.000 and 10.000 of Expansion.

The original Seeding Fleet speed limit survived for 2.000 years. When it was revised down to half it happened in one single blow. People noticed. Was such a traumatic decision that memory of that remains fresh in human collective memory.

When, more than 10 thousand years later, the limit of velocity started raising again. This time, it happened gradually. So gradually that few people outside the business of Seeding Vessel engineering realized something was changing.

For those like me, who were alive during all this process, that is personal memory. To Kai, that is personal memory.

I do not know in detail how our relationship with Deshiar is. I have not privileged source of information about this, nothing like the “good authority” the author of “Explaining Fractions” boasts. I am, however, the author of that quotation made by Mr Theodore Roosevelt: “the only difference between human cities in human territory, protected by Angels. And human life in Deshiar territory. Is that in human territory the vampires can only hunt sub-humans. While in Deshiar territory the burden to feed them is shared equally by humans and sub-humans. Because Deshiar see no difference between humans and sub-humans. In which they are right, because there is none”. Mr Roosevelt uses my words as ram material to build his strawman to stigmatize sub-human arguments.

Yes, there are vampires living in many human ruled worlds.

That is a undisputed fact. Our press silences about the matter, but no serious public figure denies it explicitly.

As far as I know no “Nocturnal King” ever betrayed his Elder Vampire. And no Deshiar ever deserted his people. What happens is that, sometimes, Elder Vampires kill each other. For their own reasons, whatever they are. Leaving their Vampire Kings and Queens in a delicate and ultimately unsustainable position, without any benefactor. Finding themselves with no chance to survive in the long run in Nocturnal Society those Nocturnal Kings escape with as many subjects as they can, seeking any refuge they can find.

Humanistic worlds protected by Angels are, usually, the place of exile. Humanity welcomes them, but under conditions.

What bring us to that quotation of my words.

A point of honour among Deshiar is to accept no restriction to their hunting. No distinction between humans and sub-humans. That is documented fact, common knowledge for anyone who knows Lira System History, and I had the chance to see it personally.

Vampires who find shelter in human ruled worlds must accept to hunt only sub-humans. That also is a fact.

Present documents to prove that second fact would be difficult, since the very presence of vampires in human ruled worlds is classified. On the other hand, I doubt anyone would ask me to argue, in order to prove that humanity as a whole considers my people, and all other kinds of sub-humans, expendable.

Your kind makes “ephemerals”! Sub-humans who are designed to live very brief lives. Less than 60 years, usually.

Would be easy to grant any of those sub-humans biological immortality. At any time of their lives. They are designed and kept as “ephemerals” only for the purpose of serve as attraction for humans. Since being restricted to 300 years of lifespan is frustrating, have those fellows destined to even shorter lives pleases some of you. Some are put in thematic parks where they grow, have their children, and die, without ever knowing their world was designed for someone else’s entertainment.

Thematic parks, for human entertainment.

Hardly a vital necessity, to preserve human “unity”, “continuation” or even human “expansion”!

My people is no threat to yours.

Never was.

Sub-humans designed to be telepaths, highly refined specialized lineages. Serve as the link that makes possible for human stellar systems to communicate in real time during emergencies. Humanity would still be able to communicate only as fast as light speed.

We work side-by-side with humanity. For the sake of human expansion. To help you in your war for survival. Despite the fact that, it is not our war for survival, only yours.

Demons do not want to exterminate us. Vampires threat us with more respect and consideration than what we ever had any right to expect from human authorities.

Despite all that, we still side with humanity.

The same humanity that calls us “a threat” every opportunity it has. Because I mentioned universally know, self-evident, facts. Bullshit!

You are the ones responsible for the limitation of human life. The Demons whish to kill you, and your Alexandrine Law with you. Not my people! We do not have mecha warrior bodied hundreds of meters high, or inter-stellar fleets with trillions of war vessels!! If we represent a risk to humanity in any way is because our relationship with humanity provides living prove that you deserve nothing better than extinction.

Humanity can eliminate that danger anytime it pleases. Not by silencing us. By changing for the better the way you threat those who are defenceless in your hands. Those who are bellow, “sub”, humanity.