Captain Lin stared at Kip in astonishment. “Just two?” she asked.
“Yes Captain,” he replied, looking as uncertain as she felt. She stared at the holo of the sentient species on the planet below them. Its torso was fairly average, with a head and a pair of arms. Common enough, though the number of heads, arms, and facial features varied from species to species, ranging from the one each of the Tiraks, to the dozen each of the Re’nals. It was the lower portion of the creature that was impossible.
“How is this even possible? How could such a creature have come about?”
“They have superb adaptations, as I’m sure you can imagine. It appears that this configuration is fairly common on their planet, though not as extreme. Most animals require support or a counter-balance of some kind. Their closest relatives, as well as their ancestors, lived in the trees.” Kip manipulated some controls, changing the display to an animal. “They have the four limbs you see here, though they have much longer arms, and often have tails. These are used for walking and balance, respectively. However, it appears that at some point, these “apes” as they call them, transitioned from the trees to the ground, and that caused the strange configuration they have now.”
“Fascinating.” Lin switched the display to an image of the being walking. “I would never have imagined something like that could be possible! They look like they would fall over if you blew on them!”
“They have astounding balance,” Kip replied, “You should see some of the videos we found! They even have competitions where the main component is keeping their balance on a narrow beam while doing amazing acrobatics. Speaking of which,” he glanced at the pad he held in his lower hand, “they are supremely flexible. Some of them can almost tie themselves into knots! They even have some limited control of their body while in midair, despite not having flying abilities at all.”
“Amazing! You scientists are going to be studying them for years!”
“I hope so. Fortunately, they also seem to be good candidates for contact. They’re about average on the hostility index, and pretty good with diplomacy and trade. Their minds seem to be even more flexible than their bodies. I think that they will be open for contact, especially since it looks like they’ve been searching for outside life for a long time. With the right negotiations, I think they will make good allies, and might be qualified to join the Galactic Senate within a decade or two.”
“That sounds promising.” Lin moved over to the main viewport to stare out at the world the were orbiting at a great distance. She closed all six eyes to think for a minute, then nodded her head. “Finish the report. I’ll send it off to the admiral as soon as you do. Make sure to mark them as contactable.”
“Yes Captain!” Kip saluted with all four arms.
“As soon as we get confirmation, we shall contact these-”
“Humans.”
“-these humans, and find out if they are as interesting as they seem from here.”
Lin turned back to the holo, where the human was still running along, impossibly balanced on its two legs. She looked down at her six, then at the planet itself. “Just two,” she murmured to herself.