After the initial shock wore off, a heated debate broke out in the conference room as the council tried to extract every piece of data from the footage.
"Judging from the video, these reptilian natives—let’s just call them ’lizardn’ for now, are still in an incredibly early developntal stage. They haven’t even transitioned to a feudal era yet."
"We don’t know if they’ve mastered basic tallurgy, or if they’ve even reached their own Bronze or Iron Age."
The speaker was Hazel, a lead astronor and theoretical xeno-sociologist.
Xeno-sociology was still a largely hypothetical science, a bleeding-edge field. Though based entirely on theoretical models, its conjectures would naturally refine as humanity expanded its footprint across the stars.
"I believe the probability of them reaching a Bronze Age is extrely low," Hazel continued. "Their tribal populations are simply too small. They lack agricultural infrastructure, their environnt is hyper-lethal, and their accessible resources are severely limited. They couldn’t possibly support the massive manpower and logistics required for copper or bronze slting."
According to her models, this reptilian society fell strictly into the category of a "primitive social civilization."
In a primitive social civilization, individuals banded together purely to survive a harsh natural environnt. Due to differences in physical capability, they developed a basic division of labor. They sparked basic intelligence, ford a spoken language, and utilized rudintary tools.
Humanity, of course, had gone through the exact sa phase.
From hunter-gatherer tribes to early slave-owning societies, it was the most ignorant, foundational stage following the dawn of sentience!
Based on the footage, these lizardn had established a rudintary social hierarchy, likely dictated by bloodlines and physical dominance. There were clear class divisions, with lower-ranking mbers demonstrating absolute obedience to their chieftain. To ensure the tribe’s survival, the strongest hunters claid the lion’s share of the resources.
However, their technological stagnation ant they were entirely at the rcy of the subterranean ecosystem.
Consequently, the entire species was incredibly fragile. Their existence was tied directly to the whims of nature. A single major volcanic eruption or seismic shift could devastate their population, potentially wiping them out entirely.
Yet, civilizations at this stage possessed one massive advantage: they were a blank slate. Like newborn infants, they were highly malleable.
Because they were ignorant and revered nature as gods, their intellectual potential remained entirely untapped. Devoid of modern science, their future developntal paths were virtually limitless.
Of course, they could also be trapped in a prolonged period of evolutionary stagnation. Just like early humanity, which remained stagnant as hunter-gatherers for tens of thousands of years, only stumbling into agrarian and feudal stages by sheer chance.
"We won’t know for certain if they possess tal artifacts until Sergeant Will and his fireteam wake up for a full debriefing," Jason said, nodding in agreent.
The council dissected the footage, looping it over and over. However, due to the limited angles of the helt-cam, the data remained incomplete.
The eting stretched on.
The atmosphere grew increasingly vibrant, the high-definition holograms making it feel like everyone was standing in the sa room. Beyond re scientific curiosity, most of the executives were buzzing with genuine excitent. It felt like they had discovered a brand new toy!
These were actual, living extraterrestrials!
Sure, they weren’t the hyper-advanced, god-like aliens of popular fiction. In fact, they were vastly inferior to humanity.
The Federation had previously encountered the Viridians and the Martian anomalies, civilizations so advanced they could have annihilated humanity with a single thought. That kind of power gap offered zero chance of resistance; an instant kill in the truest sense of the word.
But this? This was a turning point! Humanity had finally encountered a civilization infinitely weaker than itself!
A species the Federation could wipe out with a snap of its fingers!
That realization bred intense curiosity... and fascination!
The executives found the lizardn deeply intriguing, primarily because the natives posed absolutely no threat. The council felt entirely secure, dropping their usual paranoid defenses.
If this alien civilization had possessed 20th-century technology, humanity would have been terrified, treating them as an existential threat. But primitive cave-dwellers? Nobody was afraid of caven.
If a war broke out, the Federation had a dozen different ways to glass the entire cavern system.
That overwhelming technological supremacy provided an intoxicating sense of security. It was the natural arrogance of a superior predator looking down the food chain, allowing them to relax and observe.
However, Jason and the Federation Council weren’t butchers. As long as the natives didn’t provoke them or threaten their operations, there was no reason to initiate a massacre. It was the sa reason humans didn’t actively hunt down chimpanzees just for existing.
These lizardn were only slightly more advanced than apes, so humanity could easily tolerate their presence. At least for the foreseeable future, they wouldn’t impede the colony’s expansion.
Dr. Roman, the lead biologist, had run teletry data from the footage through his physics engines. He spoke up, visibly thrilled. "The top sprinting speed of these reptilian natives is roughly 12 ters per second, and their vertical leap clears 2 to 3 ters... Keep in mind, Nyx has a gravity 1.34 tis that of Earth! Their baseline physical potential is significantly higher than a standard human’s!"
"They are bipedal, but their posture is hunched. Standing upright, they only asure between one to one-and-a-half ters tall."
Hearing this, Dr. Roman imdiately thought back to the strange extraterrestrial ’Spirit Level’ rating system they had uncovered from previous alien archives.
According to the dark, cosmic scaling of Spirit Levels, if baseline human physical potential sat below 10, these lizardn likely ranked around 15 to 20, asurably superior to humanity. It was a humbling reminder of just how physically frail the human body was.
Whether these natives possessed higher cognitive intelligence or if they were potentially smarter than humans, remained a mystery.
The footage clearly showed them expressing curiosity, fear, submission, and awe. These were complex emotional responses mirroring human psychology, heavily implying a high degree of sapience.
"We won’t be able to accurately assess their cognitive ceilings without direct, controlled testing," Dr. Roman concluded.
"We need to establish a dedicated xeno-research team to initiate formal first contact."
The council mbers nodded, offering their own tactical assessnts. They were the brightest minds of the Federation, capable of extrapolating massive amounts of data from a single video file.
"The natives displayed clear awe when confronted by the Marines’ technological superiority. It’s safe to assu their culture has developed a rudintary religious structure... worshiping gods or spirits."
"They attribute anything they can’t comprehend to divine intervention. Since gods are omnipotent, they inherently assud the armored Marines were divine ssengers, hence their absolute terror and submission," a sociologist chid in, his logic incredibly sound.
"Most importantly, they possess a structured language and independent thought, allowing for basic cross-species communication. That elevates them far beyond re animals..."
"Sergeant Will’s fireteam communicated using rudintary sketches on their digital data-pads. While the natives were initially terrified of the glowing screens, they adapted quickly and even attempted to draw back. This strongly indicates they might already possess the foundational concepts of hieroglyphics!"
This was the wealth of intel the Senior Scientists had decoded from a simple video file.
"How does alien intelligence spark? How does an extraterrestrial civilization form? Is their neurochemistry fundantally different from ours? ...Studying these natives could unlock massive breakthroughs in the biological sciences."
"Furthermore, the natives can act as local guides to collect biological specins for us. In exchange, we can offer them basic compensation... synthesized food, stable fuel sources, things like that."
"If their cognitive ability is high enough, we could even introduce them to basic scientific concepts and assimilate them into our workforce!"
"Exactly! If we utilize their local numbers, our industrial extraction rate could skyrocket..."
The boardroom buzzed with excited chatter as the executives pitched their wildest theories and exploitation strategies.
In the eyes of the Federation’s elite, the reptilian natives were essentially wet clay, ready to be molded and utilized. The excitent hit a fever pitch. Many of them were practically itching to strap on a suit of armor and march down into the caverns to et the natives themselves.
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