Jack's Moonlighting Pt. 01

"Did—That was—I'm changed!" TkaTken asserted excitedly.

Juju was the calmer of the two and had always been so since the two decided to travel together so long ago. Still, TkaTken was correct. Juju did feel... changed.

"To experience the perceptions of a race other than a Tik is an entirely distinct and unique treasure. I feel greatly humbled to have been granted access to this," it replied. "Yes. I feel changed as well."

It once more reviewed the metadata that came with the experience file to gain more insight into the being these perceptions came from.

TkaTken gently tapped its shell with a manipulator as it pondered its significance. "I wonder if our perception of these experiences is richer due to the longevity of our own experiences. We have more to compare this against."

Juju chuckled, surprised and pleased by their partner's theory.

"That might be the case, but the disparity between the two experience streams is so great, finding comparison points is a great challenge!" it replied.

Tito joined them and nodded politely. "You have successfully integrated the experience files?"

"Thank you, yes! Have you received them?" Juju asked.

"All but the largest one. I have a way to go before I reach that level," Tito sighed.

Juju touched the younger Tik's side in compassion. "I'm sure you will advance expeditiously as you've already demonstrated a keen sense of responsibility. We are deeply grateful you undertook Socrates' and Plato's mission to make the long journey to bring us the files."

Tito dipped forward in a bow to its seniors. "Do you know them personally?" it asked curiously.

TkaTken chuckled, experimenting with one of the behaviors from the recent experience file that seemed appropriate to this moment. "Socrates and Plato were our first teachers, but that was so long ago. They still keep an eye on us, so to speak."

Juju watched its partner cautiously. Taking on too much of the behavior received in experience files wasn't a good idea. The files contained circumstances and responses that another being underwent. The Tik were to learn from them, not emulate them. While Juju agreed that these particular experiences were intensely unique and fascinating, they were also far outside the normal Tik pattern of behavior and might lead to miscommunications.

"You've learned mannerisms and new idioms from the Humans! Most interesting!" Tito exclaimed in delight. "I truly enjoyed my time working in the Gate Terminal on Earth in Mexico City. It was my very first mission. The Human children in the local neighborhoods were so full of life and joy. We would play in the streets for hours during my personal time."

Understanding that Humans had a curious compulsion for naming Tik, Juju ventured a guess. "Is this where you received your name?"

Tito tipped forward slightly to denote agreement. "Yes. The mother of a child named Tito told me she could never find her son because I stole him every day to play. She called me Tito Bandito."

TkaTken was alarmed. "Did she report this to the authorities? Did this cause you to be banished from Earth?"

Tito focused on the distressed Tik. "No, she was not serious and only said it in front of the other children. They cheered as they loved the name, and it made Tito very popular amongst them. He was the smallest and could not run as fast as his friends because he was born with a defect in his left foot. I believe his mother gave me the name just to raise her son's social status, and it worked. We still keep in touch as we trade messages through the Tik at the same Terminal. His first child just became a parent, and Tito is very happy with his grandchild."

Juju and TkaTken shared a look as this was a wonderful experience for the younger Tik to have received.

They noted that it was almost time to meet with the Interface Team, so they left their private chamber and approached the Dannt's office.

As they entered, they saw the entire team was present and appeared to be in a heightened emotional state. One of their biological tells was a deepening blush on their lips.

While they'd discovered much about the history of the Dannt's society through comprehensive analysis when they first arrived, the Tik were slowly getting to know the tech-phobic people themselves, and there was still much to learn. They'd only set up the Gate Terminals twenty-eight years ago.

The Dannt's system was at the farthest reaches of the Gate Network. The Tik discovered them while investigating a system composed of three planets locked in a single, stable orbit around a young sun. The Tik were fascinated to study this unique planetary phenomenon. They were especially delighted to find intelligent life on all three planets!

The Tik quickly determined that these beings had originated from one world, Danat, when their civilization reached the point of achieving space flight. They'd colonized the other two planets, Danax and Danam, and cities were established with trade moving between all three worlds. Their civilization advanced, and nothing seemed impossible.

Then a virulent disease struck and decimated their populations on all three planets. Their devastated society collapsed back to a hunting and gathering stage once more.

Centuries passed before the Tik encountered them. None of the new societies had advanced very far after the collapse, and the new rulers of Danax and Danam had outlawed the pursuit of knowledge in case they were punished by the Goddess again. The people of Danat were a little more enlightened and welcomed the Tik's assistance in finding the source of the plague that killed so many. These Tik were constrained to the ruins of the abandoned cities.

It took a few years working on archeological digs, restoring computer systems in the abandoned buildings of the empty cities, places the Dannt now avoided. The Tik performed an enormous amount of analysis on all the data they gathered and tracked the distribution pattern for the disease. On Danat, they identified the first cases were citizens who worked at the starport.

The disease had come from one of the colonies.

They moved their research to the other two planets and followed the same analysis pattern. Danam also showed the disease started at the starport.

The Tik concentrated on Danax and finally managed to track the source to a bio-medical research lab in the planet's primary city. Reviewing all internal documentation, they determined that proper containment protocols were not used in their labs, probably due to cost cutbacks.

To save a little money, they damned billions to die, and their civilization collapsed.

The Tik estimated that only eight percent of their original population had survived. They discreetly studied the remaining populace to define a profile for the Dannt.

They were a physically strong race. With rust brown skin, fully grown adult females were uniformly tall, at just over seven feet, not counting their hair or gently curving horns ranging in length from ten to twenty-five inches. Only the longer horns projected beyond their mass of tight black curls they wore like a mane atop their slightly triangular-shaped heads.

They had two large, front-facing, expressive soft brown eyes with long lashes, two large, mobile, pointed ears that poked out of the sides of their lush hair, thick-lipped mouths with prominent fangs resting on their bottom lip, and gently pointed chins. Their bodies followed a generalized bipedal anatomy of two arms and two legs, with dense musculature and strong yet flexible skeletons. Their hands had three strong fingers and an opposed thumb. Their powerful leg muscles and single-toed feet made them exceptional runners, but not for long distances due to their mass.

Females had two heavy breasts for nursing their young, which were born two at a time, though occasionally, there was a third infant.

Adult males match the female's attributes, except they were typically just under six and a half feet tall with slightly less muscular builds, smaller fangs, shorter and straighter hair, and lighter skin. They were also outnumbered three to one due to natural birthrates.

The Dannt's current society was matriarchal and agrarian, though they're omnivores. Their diets were primarily vegetables and fish.

On Danat, a predator roughly resembling Earth's prehistoric saber-toothed tiger developed a taste for Dannt flesh during the collapse of their society and experienced a population boom. The Dannt had to perform periodic purges of the Rakka to control their numbers. Danam had poisonous snakes, which could be a threat, and Danax had a dangerous and large raptor-like bird, but they were hunted to extinction.

The Tik added Gates to all three planets, but none of them were situated near the abandoned cities as these are places the Dannt would not go.

The populace lived in tent cities on all three planets and maintained a low-technology lifestyle. As their society had returned to a pre-contact state, the Dannt Gates were not open to the Gate Network. They did allow the Dannt to move between their planets.

Each planet had a High Priestess and an order of Goddess Devotees, the lesser priestesses. Initial Gate travel was restricted to the three High Priestesses who conferred with their peers. Cultural drift was minimized as they ensured the people followed the Goddess' rules. Queen Mara visited next and re-established her authority over her people, confirming they were cared for properly, and none were experiencing hardships.

On each world, a tiny group of their citizens was responsible for maintaining contact with the Tik operating the Gates. While they accepted no technology, they shared the stories of their people with the Tik in exchange for information about the Gate Network worlds. However, they were restricted by their society's religious rulers, the High Priestesses, on what they were allowed to share with a race based on technology.

Juju and TkaTken had developed a trusting relationship with the Interface Team and had learned some significant details about their current culture. There was always the pressure from the Priestess' restrictions which the Tik made no overt effort to bypass. Still, they gratefully absorbed any information about how they lived their daily lives and how their new civilization functioned.

Juju examined the faces of the team and saw determination and hope. These were excellent signs for a potentially productive session.

"Greetings, Senior Researcher Warrez," Juju began. The oldest Dannt nodded to it. "Researchers Grunn, Lena, Bayly," it finished, and each nodded their greeting in response.

TkaTken noted the youngest seemed almost eager to speak. Her eyes repeatedly glanced at her superior and then back to the Tik. She seemed the most agitated of the group.

"Is something wrong?" it asked Bayly directly.

"Yes!" she gushed, then went silent as her eyes flashed back to Warrez.

Juju traded a look with TkaTken and then turned its attention to the senior researcher. "If there is anything the Tik can do to assist you with this, please know we will do our utmost to support your efforts."

Warrez seemed torn between chastising her most junior researcher and expressing her gratitude. Finally, she took a deep breath. "There has been an event that will jeopardize our society, including our ability to work with you. We are forbidden to discuss the events directly, but we may discuss their impact on the duties of the Interface Team."

Juju shared another look with its partner and their new student Tito. If they lost access to the Interface Team, there would be no lessons or experiences they could share with the new arrival.

"Please let us know how we might be of service," Juju repeated.

Warrez looked at her team. "We've put together some questions regarding topics we believe are related to possible solutions. They may help you glean some understanding."

Juju nodded to the senior researcher.

She took another breath and looked at the list in her hands. "In the Gate Network, is there any technical or medical means to revive the dead?"

Juju felt a shock go through its mind. There'd been a death and one of some significance if it could impact their access to the team.

"Depending on the severity of the cause of death and the amount of time that has passed between the death and now, there are medical treatments that may revive the deceased. The effort to revive must begin almost immediately, or the body must be put into a state of stasis until medical efforts can begin," Juju said.

The Interface Team shared glum looks.

"As the damage was severe and the event happened yesterday, I fear this solution is not viable," Warrez said sadly.

"Time Travel is not a possibility?" Grunn asked with a sad smile.

Juju nodded. "While many species in the Gate Network have shown a fascination with this concept and many have done their best to investigate it, none have been successful... to our knowledge." This caused some subdued chuckles.

Bayly looked to Warrez with wide eager eyes and received a pained expression, then a reluctant nod. She eagerly looked to the Tik. "Is there a medical process to make a perfect copy of a person? So perfect that their mate would not be able to distinguish between them. So perfect that her body would accept its seed as the original's."

Juju felt some relief as it had erroneously deduced the death had been their Queen. That would have disrupted their culture in significant ways. So now it knew the Queen's mate was the victim. How this would cause the Interface Team to no longer be able to interact with the Tik was still a question.

"Several species of beings in the Gate Network have the technology and medical knowledge for cloning sentient beings. That said, their methods work on their own species, as that's what they created it for. Using those technologies on an alien species may or may not work. Significant study and experimenting would be required. I should mention that of those races who can clone, most won't due to ethical and social constraints. Also, cloning is only possible if genetic material from the deceased can be collected while it is still viable."

"What do you mean by genetic material?" Warrez asked, curious despite her own distaste.

"Tissues from the body containing the information required to create the copy. I do not have knowledge of what tissues are most useful to this process, but I assume they would have to be collected from the body before it undergoes serious decomposition."

"This isn't a viable course for us as we can not and would not desecrate the body of the Qu—" Warrez stopped herself. "We wouldn't have access," she finished stiffly, and Bayly nodded.

"May I ask a hypothetical question?"

Everyone looked at Tito.

"A hypothetical question? Meaning?" Warrez asked cautiously.

"Call it a thought experiment. We won't discuss any particular person or people. It's just an imaginary situation involving imaginary people and our thoughts and opinions about them. That seems safe enough, yes?" Tito explained.

Juju watched the young Tik and beamed a silent caution to it. It nodded in response.

"Yes, that seems safe," Warrez agreed slowly.

"Excellent. So, for our thought experiment, let's talk about the rock people. They are happy and prospering, and everything seems great. Their leader is a crystal male, and he is loved by all. Yes?"

Warrez nodded cautiously. Bayly's eyes widened, as did her smile as she caught on to this game.

Tito continued. "Let's say the crystal male decides to get married and chooses a lovely rock female, and they want to make cute pebbles."

Bayly eagerly picked up the thread and ran with it. "Let's pretend the rock female gave the crystal male a special bowl that made him unable to make pebbles with anyone else. He can be with other females, but only what his mate adds to the bowl will help him achieve success," she said quickly, and Warrez glanced at her sharply but held her tongue as she looked for dangerous words.

Tito looked at Bayly as it realized she understood. "But what if the rock female went on a long journey and didn't come back."

"Can you imagine what might happen to the crystal male?" Juju asked.

Bayly nodded.

"What happens is the crystal male makes no pebbles," Grunn grunted.

"Are pebbles important?" TkaTken pondered.

"If the crystal male wanted a pebble to take over for it one day," Lena suggested, catching on to the rules.

Warrez's mind was screaming that they were dancing around the very stuff they weren't supposed to talk about, but they hadn't stepped on any traps yet. She had a contribution. "Let's pretend the laws in the rock world demand this succession path exists."

Tito summarized their imaginary situation. "So, the crystal male has a problem. Because it received the bowl, it needs that specific rock female to help him make pebbles, but she left. Now he is defaulting on a rock world law. He can't find the rock female, he can't make an exact copy of her that could use the bowl, and he can't go back in time to stop her from leaving. What can he do?"

Warrez saw the glum looks on her team's faces. "He'll have to step down. In one lunar cycle."

Tito dipped forward to acknowledge the response. "But the rock people love the crystal male. Who could do as good a job?"

Bayly responded. "Only the strongest can lead. Let's imagine a thorn male wants to be the leader."

"Is there any reason this thorn male wouldn't be a good leader?" Tito asked.

"Let's imagine the thorn male is very strong, and the rock people respect him out of fear. He doesn't trust anything... not from the rock world."

Ah. There it was.

The Tik exchanged glances. If the current Queen is forced to step down because she cannot produce an heir, the next in line might force the Tik to leave.

And they would. The Tik would never resist the lawful request to be left alone.

"If the thorn male becomes leader, there will be war with the other rock worlds as they won't accept his rule," Warrez said bluntly.

Juju needed to get out in front of that thought. "In such an imaginary scenario, the thorn male would not be able to access the other worlds for such purposes."

Warrez looked at Juju and nodded slowly. "But there would be a severe, if not complete, disruption of the relationships between the rock people on these worlds. Their cultures would diverge even further. Everything they'd rebuilt would be in jeopardy."

Juju nodded to the Senior Researcher. "I think we've taken this imaginary scenario as far as we should today. This was an excellent experiment. Thank you, Tito!"

The others clapped for the young Tik, but their expressions were definitely tense.

Juju addressed the gathering. "I think it might be a good idea for us to take the rest of the day to contemplate what we've learned and gather tomorrow to review. Perhaps we'll have suggestions for solutions or some ideas about mitigating the dangers the hypothetical scenario described."

Warrez nodded and gestured for her people to rise. They bowed to their hosts, who returned it, and the Tik left the office.

Juju was thrilled by what they'd achieved today but also worried about what it might mean for the Dannt-Tik relationship.

When they were securely in the privacy of their own space, Juju turned to Tito. "Where did you learn to guide a conversation like that?"

Tito extended two tentacles and made the Human shrug gesture. Juju and TkaTken immediately recognized it.

"When I was stationed on Earth, playing with the children in the neighborhoods, I heard them talk about their troubles with the local gangs. The children were terrified and couldn't speak about it, or they'd be targeted by the criminals. They could express their feelings if we discussed imaginary people in similar situations. This seemed to help them and eased their fears." Tito was silent for a moment as it recalled the pain in their eyes and how he was able to bring their smiles back.