Prologue

Space is big — very big. It is so big that it boggles the imagination. Regardless of how grand someone's imagination might be, it will be boggled when trying to comprehend the size of space. No matter how big a person might imagine space to be, it is bigger than that.

Despite the fact that space is predominately empty, it holds an awful lot of stars. A small percentage of those stars have planets that orbit around them. A small percentage of those planets have life forms that crawl over their surfaces. A small percentage of those life forms possess intelligence. A small percentage of the intelligent life forms actually make it into space.

Now, one would think that a small percentage of a small percentage of a small percentage of a small percentage would lead to an incredibly small number of space faring races. That is not the case. As mentioned previously, there are an awful lot of stars and this means that there are a lot of space faring races.

Every space faring race has a theory about what is required to become a space faring race. For the most part, such theories describe the race itself and include caveats that explain why no other species on their home planet could achieve such an accomplishment. Those theories are modified as necessary once a new space faring race is encountered. Among all those theories, there are a few common rules that are universally held.

It is accepted as a fact that all space-faring races have a significant level of intelligence. Of course, this characteristic is almost too trite to deserve much mention and the need for intelligence in reaching space is just too obvious to even bear justification. It is important though when two species meet that they don't underestimate each other. One can't just assume that the other species is less intelligent even if they have a cursory similarity in appearance to a local species that is not intelligent enough to reach space.

It is also accepted beyond all doubt that every space-faring race is curious. The kinds of discoveries that are required to get into space require one to work at achieving them. The effort necessary to make those discoveries requires curiosity as a motivator. Even if a discovery of star shattering significance is presented in front of an intelligent individual, it would go unnoticed if the individual isn't curious enough to take the time to observe it.

The most widely held rule and one that is almost as obvious as curiosity and intelligence is that individuals within the species must have appendages that allow for the manipulation of tools. Without the ability to use tools, common sense dictates that it isn't possible to build spaceships. The specifics of what kind of appendage is required differ from race to race. For example, the Andicors believe that it requires pinchers while the Engels believe that it requires talons arranged in a triangular configuration.

Another universally accepted rule is that the individuals within the species must have the ability to carry things while moving. Without being able to move something from one place to another, it isn't possible to build something. The parts have to be brought together to make the whole. This is particularly true when discussing the construction of spaceships since they tend to have lots of parts.

While not immediately obvious, an environmental rule is that the species has to live on land or, at least, be able to live outside of water. An aquatic environment doesn't allow for the development of metallurgy or chemistry, both of which are essential in the construction of a spaceship. Spaceships have to be made of materials capable of resisting the vacuum of space. Most organic materials just won't deal with a hard vacuum. Only a species that is capable of living on land can discover fire and all of discoveries that follow from that.

A rather surprising rule, universally held, is that the species has to be omnivorous from the perspective of their planet of origin. Achieving a space faring status requires a delicate balance in temperament for the species. It is universally held that herbivores are too meek to pursue technology to a level that would take them to the stars. Not too surprisingly, it is widely believed that carnivores are too aggressive to survive the development of technology and would wipe out the species as a result of war. Omnivores are deemed to be sufficiently aggressive to develop technology and restrained enough not to use it in a self-destructive war.

A final rule, and one that isn't immediately obvious, is that the species has to be capable of communicating using sound. The reasons for this rule are actually quite logical. Audible communications allows individuals to work together without dropping everything to exchange information. Gestures are deemed insufficient because it requires individuals to face each other. Aromas are universally eliminated as a mechanism for communicating the concepts necessary to build a spaceship. Aromas carry across distances too slowly and can't be modulated with any kind of speed to be very useful as a medium of exchanging complicated technical information.

Since curiosity is one characteristic that leads a species to reach for the stars, it follows that each space faring race will spend a significant amount of time exploring its own little corner of space. One might think that such explorations would mean that galactic wars would be common, but this is not the case. Fortunately, as stated previously -- space is very big. Each space faring race has lots of empty space to explore. This means that space faring races seldom encounter each other, although it does happen on occasion.

In one small region of space, a number of space faring races have met. These races include the Gnord, the Omagrons, the Dactites, the Margots, the Dromats, the Andicors, the Engels, and the Quatyl. For reasons that will become apparent, these space faring races have become unified under the command of the Quatyl.

The Gnord have been in space the longest of all members of the Quatyl Space Exploration Agency. It is not that they were particularly quick in reaching space; it is that they are the oldest of the races.

The Gnord are the largest and physically strongest of the space faring races. With a head atop a trunk with two very long arms and a main body the size and shape of a Shetland pony, the Gnord could have been the origin of the centaur myth. They could have been, that is, if they had ever visited the planet Earth. Unlike the centaurs of myth, the Gnord are a uniform gray color.

The head has a nominal similarity to that of a human in the sense that it has a pair of eyes, a nose, and a mouth. The nose is actually a flap of skin that hangs over its breathing hole. The mouth most closely resembles a beak. The eyes are large and round with a muscular flap that can lower over them. The ears are actually a set of holes that run along the neck of the Gnord.

The Gnord have two very long arms which end in hands that have two fingers and an opposable thumb. In the early history of their race, they started with a ternary number system. In the midst of their scientific revolution, they switched to a binary number system. Incidentally, their scientific revolution lasted almost twenty thousand years. By the standards of most species, it wasn't much of a revolution. By the standards of the Gnord, it seemed as if it was an overnight change.

Among space faring races, the Gnord is considered to be of average intelligence and low curiosity. The Gnord are famous for their slow methodical manner of approaching problems as evidenced by their scientific revolution. While other individuals from other races can identify four different solutions to a problem in the same time that it takes a Gnord to arrive at one solution, all will agree that the Gnord's solution is the best.

It was a Gnord that came up with the suite of tests that are used by the Quatyl to assess the intelligence, emotional stability, and physical strength of other space faring species. The Gnord who came up with the scales was shunned by all other Gnord since they came out very low in all measures except for concentration and emotional stability. While having a high emotional stability might be considered good, it also makes the individual very dull. The space faring races that have met the Gnord often consider them the dullest species in the universe.

The Gnord are the least aggressive of all space faring races. With their detailed planning, they tend to avoid conflicts as much as possible. Trouble usually comes to them rather than them going to it. When threatened they tend to stand in place trying to figure out an appropriate response. Usually by the time they come up with a response, the threat has ended.

The first race that the Gnord encountered in space was the Omagron. An Omagron is a small delicate lizard-like creature that walks on its hind feet. The average height of an Omagron is about three and a half feet tall. Their backs are bright red in color and their bellies are bright yellow. They have a large head that attaches to their body by a thick neck. They have a ridge of plate-like scales that begins at the base of their neck, goes down their back, and ends at the base of their short stubby tail.

The hand of an Omagron has eight claw-like fingers arranged in two opposing rows of four digits each. The two rows of fingers curl in towards each other in a perpetual grasp. The fingers have razor sharp nails at the ends. The Omagron consider sharp nails to be rude and will dull them by rubbing their nails against an abrasive surface. Their feet have a similar arrangement of toes, but instead of four digits in each opposing row they have three digits. The toes splay outwards providing a large base on which to support their body.

An Omagron will use its tail as a support while standing. Their physiology is such that sitting is not possible. Since the tripod arrangement of two legs and a tail is very stable, an Omagron will remain standing while resting. Since the eyelids of an Omagron are the same color as the eyes, it is difficult to tell if an Omagron is asleep or awake from a distance.

The Omagrons, as a race, are considered to be among the smartest of the space faring races. They boast that they can easily visualize a six dimensional space and find the visible three dimensional view of the world provided by their eyes rather flat. Having developed an unusual counting system based on the number of fingers on their hands, they adopted a number system based on the number nine. This odd selection allowed them to count to eighty-eight in their number system by using one hand for the one's digit and the second hand for the nine's digit.

The Omagrons are territorial and will fight to protect their territory, but that is the limit of their aggression. If they see that an area is already occupied, they will not intrude. This goes for personal space as well. Approaching too closely will result in first a warning and then with aggression. The Omagrons verbally communicate using what sounds like bird calls. The sound is nearly too high of a frequency to be heard by human ears.

Before the Omagrons and the Gnords met, the Omagrons had already encountered the Dactites. The Dactites are a small monkey-like race. While they may be shaped like a monkey, they have a very different internal structure. They have orange colored fur. The fur on the female of the species changes to bright red during their mating season. It quickly turns back to orange after they lay their eggs.

The Dactites have small agile hands with tremendous eye to hand coordination. Consistent with their origin on a planet with a bright sun, their eyes are narrow slits across their face. They have no nose. Their sense of smell is integrated into their mouth as receptors in the lining of their cheeks. The mouth is a slit covered with rubbery lips. Their ears look like little radar dishes complete with a little stub in the center of the dish. The ears are located above their eyes.

They are a species of average intelligence, but have difficulties concentrating on abstract concepts for long periods of time. They are most comfortable dealing with concrete concepts and enjoy engineering types of activities.

The Dactites communicate by emitting a low frequency rumble and moderating the volume. Most space faring races consider listening to a Dactite to be extremely taxing. Unfortunately, the Dactites are very talkative. A group of Dactites will often talk at the same time using different frequencies. The resulting noise produced is irritating to most listeners.

Individually, Dactites are not aggressive at all and will flee in the face of danger. As a group, the Dactites will occasionally fight if the threat is direct and the chance of winning is high. When fleeing, Dactites tend to separate making it more difficult to catch the entire group.

The Omagrons are not the only lizard-like race in the Quatyl Space Exploration Agency. The Margot are another lizard-like race that is easily distinguished from the Omagrons. They have rugged looking bodies, stand a foot taller, have a longer tail, and are uniformly blue. Their scales are rich in Silicon which serves as a rather effective armor. There is a thick layer of a fat-like substance under their skin so they can take significant physical impact without much affect. They are not risk adverse and love to climb.