The Signal Ch. 01: The Museum

Chapter 1: The Museum

Galaoua State University, United Federation of Unohua. 11:35. One week before contact.

The college campus has a pleasant air to it as a series of rustic buildings arranged between green open parks with shady trees.

There, intelligent creatures resembling a cross between a chicken and an ostrich commute and stride to and fro as they went about their business. Some sat beneath the shade and gossiped, while others hurried to their classrooms, and others sat on "benches" reading books, or less appropriate stuff.

Overall, the day was uneventful and cheery.

Boom!

"Hey, what's the rush!"

"Sorry! Can't be late!"

...except for that. What is he is up to?

A lone member dashed down the sidewalk as thick muscular legs propelled him through the crowd with surprising agility. It was a male rooster with ruffled green, glistening feathers. He was holding something in his neo-saurian fingers.

He proceeded to leap over a librarian's book trolly, gliding through the air a few seconds before landing perfectly on his clawed feet.

"Gallo? What on-?!"

"Sorryma'amnotimetowaste!"

Wasting no time he resumed his sprint, darting between the school's sports team, the big chunky flock alarmed by the bolt of green lightning. He slid on the floor, like aiming for one of those touchdowns at a ball game. The surrounding students clasped their earholes as the sound of screeching brakes erupted throughout the halls as Gallo burst into the door of a building and then slid perfectly into an empty lecture hall.

"Touchdown! Woohoo!"

His obnoxious proclamation of victory echoed throughout the acoustic walls of the lecture hall, lined perfectly in order with stools with firm, saddle-shaped cushions.

He looked around, only to find nobody was here but himself.

At first, he gave a disheartened, devastated frown. But then a voice emerged. A female voice.

"Gallo, you're such a silly goose sometimes! I can hear you all the way out here!"

Out from behind a state exit came a slender and dignified figure with stylish, wide-rimmed glasses situated on her beak.

Gallo's yellow eyes beam with joy as he walked to the female, someone whom he has known for a long time.

When the figure emerged she had on her smooth, glossy feathers that feature curved, almost carved tribal patterns of black and white. She was only a tad shorter than Gallo in terms of height, but her fit and graceful stature more than made up for it. Her comb was smaller and featured no wattles like Gallo, but it was colored a blue-black along with her beak, forearms and lower legs. Her eyes were an ice blue in contrast to Gallo's yellow-orange, each shone with brilliance. Her feet, wrapped in leather and nylon shoes, hid strong talons coupled with retractable webbing. And finally, she had on her a great round bulge at the base of her thin swan neck that was her crop.

Gallo blinked and tucked at his collar, clearing his throat.

"Tika! I thought for a moment that you've gone and left."

He walked down the stairs to approach her.

"Me?" She said nonchalantly, "you were five minutes late."

She pointed to her watch, which indeed showed that he was five minutes late to their designated time.

"Yeah, I know. But you were even prettier than before, it's insane. I think it was worth the wait."

Tika sighed happily as she kneeled down beside Gallo on the stairs. The two looked at one another in the eyes, and the surroundings have faded away for just that little moment.

"By the way," Tika continued, "do you have the ticket?"

"Right here!"

Gallo slickly pulls out two slips of thin metallic paper with writing resembling strokes and ticks.

GALAOUA STATE MUSEUM

FULL-TOUR TICKET

Expires: 13/7/6582

Tika let of an excited squawk as she hugged-shook Gallo by his shoulders, her soft crop pushing against his body.

"Yesyesyes! Oh yes! Yesss!"

She was quite a bit stronger than she looked, practically choking him.

"Gak! G-g-gak! Too tight!"

Realizing what was happening Tika quickly released him, giggling and blushing apologetically at what happened. He huffed and groaned exhaustively from the experience, but it somehow only seemed to turn him on more, even giving him a hard-on beneath his pants.

"That's one of the things that I like about you," he complimented after straightening himself. "One of the things."

Tika chuckled softly as she proceeded to look at the tickets again, smiling. "I'm just excited. We have in our hands the key to an archive of species that precede us. Imagine the implications!"

"Yeah, it's always so tempting to think that we are the first. Boy were we wrong."

"We really were, that happens a lot. I heard we are walking in the footsteps of the First Primates themselves - mammals at that!"

She held back a small snicker at the thought.

"Yeah. Anyways," Gallo continued, "do you have class all afternoon? The ticket's gonna expire any day now."

"Nope, I should be good to go today. I only take afternoon classes every Garosday and Wingsday."

"And today's Talusday, right?"

"It's Talusday, yes."

"Alright! The museum is a little ways away, but we can grab something to eat along the way."

As the two of them started planning, the two of them walked upstairs of the lecture hall and exited the building.

Soon enough they were seen downtown munching on seeds, trotting over to the museum casually among the crowd.

As they walked passersby, another male stopped and watched as he looked enviously at Gallo with Tika. He let out an impressed whistle when he did.

"Lucky bastard."

Then his own girlfriend jealously slapped him from behind.

"Ow! What did I do?"

Things were uneventful, but then Gallo felt something warm and a tad wet touch and dabble at his foot.

"Huh? Hey!"

"Oh, sorry about 'dat!" An older woman apologized to them. She had an almost stereotypical "heartland" accent. "That's why I call him Sniffles, the little stinker!"

It was a small primate-like creature that was clearly bred for looks with fluffy, curly grey-white fur and a long, comically-fluffy tail that looks more like a living feather duster with soft black ring patterns around it. Its enormous yellow eyes, small ears and snubbed wet nose also add to the appeal. It was tied in the neck with a pink leash.

"Oh, hey there!" Tika greeted the elder before turning to the little furball. "I see you have a distant relative of the First Primates there."

"Oh, do ya?" She looked at the young one.

Tika smiled as she kneeled down gently, scratching the pet underneath the neck lightly. The little creature crooned and chirped and then rubbed against her face with its tiny paws.

Then Gallo spoke. "We were gonna finish our meal before we go into the museum. How has your day been?"

"Oh, it was just insane today! My husband got his head stuck again. I had to pull him out of the sand, donchya know?"

"Oh... okay..." He stared at the woman a bit puzzled. Not wanting to be rude he asked, "is he alright now?"

And who in this world buries their head in the sand? He thought privately to himself.

"Oh ya ya, he is," the woman confirmed. "He was out catching these buck-tooth rat-rabbits that were eating from the garden. It happens every time!"

"I'm glad your husband is alright in the end," said Tika. "He must be so hard working to maintain such a garden."

"Ya, am I right? He's so dreamy and strong."

"Good for you, at least." He grinned as he turned to his partner. "My girlfriend here is the strong and pretty one, in my opinion. And crazy smart, too! Isn't that right?"

"Oh you cute boy yes you are!" She then rubbed her head against him affectionately. He returned the gesture.

"Ohh! That just takes me back." The old woman clasped her hands joyfully. "Youth, it's what makes you two lovers so cute. Oh those were the good old days. Be glad that you didn't have any men fighting over you right now."

"Me?" Tika gestured to herself. "I'd take them on no problem. Oummu'ua genes, you know? Gallo is no slouch either."

"Hmm?" He looked confused for a split second before realizing what was going on. "Oh uhh, that's right! I'd show those goons not to mess with my lady!"

Then he does a silly TV Kung-fu kickboxing impression, doing punches and then a sort of spin-kick before accidentally punching a hole at a nearby poster with it.

"Oh! Oops, I... meant to do that." He put his foot back down and looked at the damage with a rather embarrassed look, now dreading at him having to pay a fine for damaging city property.

"Seriously though," he continued. "She'd launch people to outer space with those legs and tear their heart out!"

"Stop!" She looked flattered at this.

"What, it's true!"

Tika lightly slapped Gallo in his behind, looking a bit flustered with embarrassment.

Gallo finished the conversation with this. "But anyways, ma'am. It's been a nice chat with you, your pet is real cute and we gotta get going along here. See you later!"

"Take care!"

The two then continue onto the museum only a block away, where they would finish their seeds at the bench before entering.

Galaoua State Museum. 13:00.

After giving the full-time ticket to a bored-out-of-her-mind receptionist, Gallo and Tika arrived at the scene amidst a nameless crowd, with a few small children still in their fluffy down feathers. There was even a stoner-looking guy in a tie-die shirt with a photo camera on him. After clearing his throat the tour guide makes his rehearsed introduction.

"Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Galaoua State Museum, Home to the Visions of the Past!"

Tika squealed quietly, rapidly pacing on the spot in excitement of the tour. Gallo dared not tell her to quiet down.

"Oh my gods oh my gods, were going to see the ancestors of our planet! Imagine their almighty nature as they tread down those ancient jungles!"

The tour guide continued. "Now, the guidelines."

He clears his throat again and then lays down the rules,

"Rule number one: Any and all questions are to be reserved at the end of the tour. Rule number two (and this should be rule number one): Please, please, PLEASE do not touch any of the items displayed in the exhibit. These are very old artifacts that could be damaged by..."

As Gallo listened to the rules of the tour his thoughts dwindled on those primate precursors from before. The First Apes, sometimes called the First Primates or the Pre-Simians, were the first sapient species to have existed. Yet they became extinct, never really leaving any direct descendants. That lemur-monkey the old lady owned was just a distant relative to these beings. Then he came to a morbid question: could the same thing happen to the Gaka species, what with another World War looming over everyone's heads?

"Alrighty then!" The tour guide clapped his hands. "Off we go! This way, everyone!"

With a pondering Gallo and an excited Tika joining the group the tour proceeded to move down the hall, entering the first exhibit.

As they did, they systemically moved across the exhibits, each characterized by theme and their brilliant colorful designs. They started with the different archaeological finds of bygone Gakanu empires from different time periods, from Tkakta the Bloodclawed to King Lowu'ulwa the Great.

"...and here is a replica of the plumed sea-shell helmet of King Lowu'ulwa the Great, an Oummu'ua king who united the Eastern Archipelago under one roof, uniting every tribe by diplomacy and force, even defending against the dreaded Makrakka Hordes from the north."

Then a flash of light and a brief clicking and whirring noise appeared from amidst the crowd.

"Uhh, sir. No flash photography, please?"

"Aww, no fair..." The man holding the camera set down his camera and slumps down disappointed.

In front, encased in a glass pedestal, was a painstakingly-made replica of the great sea-shell helmet of an ancient ruler of the Oummu'ua kingdom from 12 centuries ago, from which his subspecies would be named after. It sported a plume of tall tail-feathers from the colorful exotic birds that existed in that part of the planet. To think that his blood would be inherited in Tika, pumping in her veins by a mighty heart.

Speaking of whom, Tika stared at it impressed for a while in deep thought. Surely she may be thinking the same thing?

"Wow, the king's helmet. It was said that each feather was taken from the great Qa'ulu'a bird."

"Now then," the tour guide continued. "Let's move on to the Exploration Age exhibit."

The tour guide turns a corner, instantly greeted with a replication of what seems to be an archeological dig.

The tour goes on for a while, covering topics from the native tribes of North America to the East Asian grassland Nakanu and European arctic Torkashkanu explorers who would colonize much of the world.

After that bit was finished, the tour guide finally moves on to...

"And this is the Hall of Stone and Bones, where we cover all the history of our planet Oluna and exhibits of our fossil record, from the formation of our planet to the modern day. Please don't touch."

Well, Tika." Gallo said looking satisfied, "looks like we're finally at the good part."

In the center of the exhibit a perfect replica of a human skeleton stood, towering over all....though in reality it was the same height. It being atop a raised platform gave it that illusion.

Its form was bipedal and completely upright. Not merely bipedal like the Gaka but upright in the most literal sense imaginable with its vertical body, legs taking up half its height, s-curved spinal column and arms that are attached far to the sides of its upper body. Its two oval-shaped eye sockets lacked the telltale orbit and beak that all avian species have, clearly marking its mammalian nature.

"Wow..." Tika took a few steps forward as she stared in awe at this skeleton, seemingly not creeped out by it at all. "A First Primate skeleton right in front of us. Those beings have walked the earth over 50 million years ago."

Also standing next to the mock skeleton was a reconstructed, fully-fleshed out First Primate in paraffin wax with a design based on both extant and extinct relatives. The proportions were natural and realistic unlike in most museums and movies, but the sclera of the eyes were coal-black with burnished yellow-orange irises. It also sported what looks like a long wispy moustache and a long, bushy beard of matted black hair. Its face, pectorals, abdomen, hands and feet were all bare with thin curled strands of hair that seemed oddly wet with some sweat. The skin that was exposed very thick and even cracked, especially around the face, and the nose is in two simian slits where the nose-holes were on the skeleton.

Gallo did not look enthused in the slightest. "Eugh, those guys are kinda... off."

"Yeah, I agree. Let's move on."

Also throughout the First Primate exhibit, there exist rows of arrowheads, flint tools and impressions of beads, followed by figures slightly different from (and better-looking than) the wax figure running with stone spears and throwing them at what was meant to be an enormous prehistoric bull with forward-curving horns.

On the side, there seemed to be the excavated chassis of some ancient vehicle, barely recognizable from it being buried for so long, but still having the outer frame of a four-wheeled locomotive. This betrays the First Primates having gained much more advanced technology than initially thought. Furthermore, along the side were small glass windows that were barely held together by its frail exterior.

Gallo then turned around to there. "Hey, what's that over there?"

Hmm?" Tika looked in that direction. "Hey, that was one of those vehicles they rode! Or what's left of it, anyway."

The two of them then walk towards that particular exhibit to get a closer look at the vehicle. The plaque in front of it reads,

First Primate Aluminum Motor Vehicle: the aluminum chassis of this motor vehicle was excavated in surprisingly good condition from a coal field in southeastern Unohua in 6552, alongside separated parts. When scientists discovered the material to possess aluminum, steel and glass, the First Simians were revealed to have had a technology level comparable to our modern era!

Gallo gawked at the information as he looked at the chassis once more, noting the recreated parts laying around.

"Sitting in this thing must be so cramped."

"Yeah, and look at that diagram here."

Tika pointed to a schematic diagram of a combustion engine and how it works, revealing that from the residue inside that a sort of gaseous or liquid hydrocarbon was used for fuel. Though burning these hydrocarbons provided more energy than the hydroelectric engines widely used in Gakanu vehicles, they also released carbon dioxide and water vapor as byproducts, explaining the coincidental and dangerous spike in carbon dioxide levels in that era as shown in an adjacent graph. There was a huge sharp spike in CO² levels at 50,370,000 years before present, with a margin of error of 5,000 years.

"Dang," Gallo thought. "They must have practically choked themselves to death. That's terrible."

"And that could have been us, too," Tika commented. "We actually used coal and oil in our engines last century in competition with hydroelectric ones, but the oil companies went bankrupt when they couldn't find enough to meet demand. So maybe back then there was a lot more of that stuff than we thought, enough of it to cause that huge spike in CO² levels?"

"That would explain it, but I think they also dropped back down just as quickly? It's a spike, after all, which just makes this even weirder."

"The world is weird that way. Sometimes it's hot, sometimes it's cold. We feel like at times we are at control but in reality we aren't."

"I dunno... Such a huge change in climate over such a short timespan could not have been a joke."

"Which is why we need to be more careful, otherwise we end up with what probably killed them off, and a good percentage of all land life there."

"Yeah. Like you said, we almost went that direction but we caught the problem early and went for hydroelectric. And for that I am very grateful. Still, it's incredible that they were as advanced as we are. But let's see what else is around?"

The group began to move to down the hall, taking further notice at the different artifacts of the previous race, including what looked like a replication of their daily diet, at least around the area they lived in: fried tuber slices and a sweet, extremely sugary carbonated water.

"Huh, apparently they had sugar water, too?" Gallo observed. "But what are those finger-looking things?"

"According to this plaque, they're made from the bulbs of tubers. Some parts of the worlds cook and eat them but we don't have a lot of those here."

"Well, they look alright I guess. I wouldn't mind having one if we can make it."

Then he looked at the mannequins of the First Primates and a speculative take on what their clothing could have been like. Indeed, the clothes would definitely not fit the Gaka form by conventional means, especially what they wear on the lower region. With their more horizontal bodies the Gaka typically wear shawls draped down from their backs and then fixed to their bodies with a chest-strap. They also cover their talons with three-pronged shoes made from synthetic leather and rubber, with it being thickest at the front where their claws would have been.

Nonetheless, it is intriguing to see how clothing would work for a different body plan. The females' clothing looked especially different. Why did they need two strips of thin wired cloth?

Perhaps they serve a similar function to "crop supports" used in certain individuals? But those were reserved for those with swollen or distended, diseased crops.