Last of my Kind
Feb 19, 2023 19:35:20 GMT -5
Post by Radrook Admin on Feb 19, 2023 19:35:20 GMT -5
Last of my Kind
I am the last of the extraterrestrial humanoid creatures that humans call Slarenim. I am hiding deep underground in your planetoid Ceres to avoid being slain as humans have slain all the others. No Earthling, we have not harmed anyone. Neither did we seek nor did we merit this. We Slarenim, of Alpha Centauri B, are lovers of peace. Read your own archives. When you arrived, on our world, we welcomed you hospitably. Gladly we provided your exploration teams with the needed supplies to ensure their survival. Gladly we sheltered them within our humble abodes until they could set up their own.
Yes, in our ignorance, we initially believed you were gods, for in our simple minds, only gods could descend from the heavens as you did. Only gods could perform the miracles that you were so easily performing. Yet, when we finally realized that you were mortal we did not harm you, but chose to assist you instead.
In return, you revealed many marvelous wonders to us. Things that we considered magical. Communications with each other at vast distances, even from one world to the next. Wondrous machines that enabled quicker travel. You showered us with many wonderful gifts, and in turn, we believed you to be noble of heart, and our friends.
So when more of you began descending from our skies, we gladly welcomed them as well. Soon, you had established a place of dwelling of your own on our planet. We rejoiced and celebrated those accomplishment with you, and were looking forward to many years of friendship, and you, in turn, thanked us effusively for our help.
You were as fascinating to us as we were to you. You marveled at our twelve foot stature, our purple epidermises and at our ability to breathe under water and to survive via epidermal photosynthesis. We, in turn, continued to marvel at your intellectual technological accomplishments.
But then, one day, when we chose to mimic what you humans call a smile, you began began gazing at our teeth as if mesmerized. We could not comprehend your fascination. It was as if the sight of them induced some altered state of mind or trance. We repeatedly requested and explanation. But You always looked away from us nervously, as if responding would have revealed some horrible truth.
We, spoke about it amongst ourselves. Suddenly, your communication with Earth had increased. Things continued as they had been, albeit with some tension, until suddenly, more of your ships appeared in our skies. Not the same ships as before but larger, with black gleaming hulls and long, protruding frontal beams.
They landed perilously close to our abodes scattering sand, rocks and pebbles everywhere as their engines whined down. For the first time in our entire existence, we felt menaced. It was a strange feeling that confused us. Left us in a quandary. What should we do? But trusting in your benevolence, and your assurances that all was well, we gathered to welcome our new human visitors.
We had gathered fruits other vegetation for their sustenance. We played our reed musical instruments our drummers beat their drums as the doors to the ships hulls gradually opened. But the humans who emerged were different. They were attired in black uniforms and carried what looked like weapons. Instead of the friendly smiles we were used to, these humans glared about menacingly, as if seeking something to kill. We dropped our gifts as they began marching down the ramps in formation.
Halfway down the, they halted, as if waiting for some signal. For a long while, there was only silence. Then suddenly, after a high-pitched sound, they began cutting us down. As we fled towards our abodes, we found humans, whom we had believed our friends, waiting to cut off our escape. They also were armed and firing. We attempted to get past them, but we did not try to harm them, for we are not violent creatures, but consider all life sacred.
Hundreds of us fell at the first barrage. Then, when the ship batteries opened fired, thousands of us fell and our emerald sand became littered with our dead and dying bodies.
As I fled, I glanced back and observed the human visitors kneeling over our dead and dying. They were wielding metal instruments, removing teeth, then saving them in leather pouches. Some humans were raising them and inspecting them by the light of our red dwarf star, laughing hysterically, as if envisioning some glorious future that our teeth would make possible for them.
We were helpless. Violence was alien to us. So we continued to flee until we could flee no more. Yet, still driven by some unknown urge, humans pursued us relentlessly on their machines. Some of us sought sanctuary in the distant mountains, but humans quickly followed. Others among us sought sanctuary amidst our dense jungles, but you followed there as well.
You descended on us from our skies by the thousands. Your machines were inescapable. Some of us were divested of our teeth still alive and crying out for mercy. Our sick, our elderly, our young were not spared. We had known nothing of cruelty. We had known nothing of selfishness nor hatred. We perished in ignorance pleading to know why you were treating us this way, and were brutally silenced.
Soon, under your relentless butchery, our planet had been completely overrun by your kind, and our species had been decimated, and we began dying out. But this did not seem to affect you. The fewer there were of us, the more effusively you hunted us down with a fanatical passion.
Now? Now there is just me. The last of Slarenim! Here! Hiding in fear of being discovered deep underground on this barren planetoid you call Ceres. Hoping that your kind will never find me, and that if they finally do, they will at the least kill me before harvesting my teeth which they refer to as diamonds.