Part 14: Emergency Session 4: Chiron

Arright, settle down, settle down! With all the planets we've been colonizin' up ta now, we knew somethin' like this would happen eventually.


Allow me to explain: After we managed to convince our…friends among the Korath to share the planet-scale toxic atmosphere reducers, we decided to send some of the Hermes colony ships to newly available planets. Among them was Mann I, renamed by the colonists to "Chiron."


I like it. It seems…fitting, somehow.


Yes…regardless, something unexpected happened. It seems that while our first sensor sweeps didn't pick up any organized life forms, the planet is not exactly uninhabited.



I must admit, an entire population who lives underwater on a non-aquatic planet did not occur to me. They seem better adapted to the nitrogen-rich atmosphere than most other alien species, but evidently industrialization changed the balance enough that they were forced to retreat underwater. There aren't too many of them left, but I must say how much their domes would advance our overall research. I believe we would make much better use of them than they could.


Well I say we leave 'em be. It's not like we'd get much outa exterminatin' the lot, and this senate's been doin' far too much a' that lately.


The research would be good, but it's not like they're using prime real estate. They use more space than they technically require already; let's move them around some and use the remaining domes.


I am sometimes amazed at what is considered by this council. This is their planet, where they evolved; they may not be using the surface, fine, but they should be respected as any native sophont should.


Senator Skye is right, once again. How would our friends among the space-faring races react if they knew how we treated aliens in their own homes?


The planets of the galaxy are our destiny manifested, the lands promised to us by God Himself. They are ours, to make as full use of as we may.


I don't like the idea of sharing a planet with non-humans.


The Chinese to this day live in far more cramped conditions than what these Chironians presently enjoy. They will not suffer for being closer together, in my opinion.