Defenders of Humanity: Chapter 1: The Judger; Act 1: The Tour

A room contained an alien person. They sat in front of a TV, and the room lights dimmed. A jingle rang, vibrating the alien's ears, bringing it to attention.

"Welcome, welcome to our cause. You may know what we are and what we do now, but to bring the point, we are the Defenders of Humanity! The Defenders of humanity is a great organization that defends the human species from the Plague. A common cold for us and other species, the Plague attacks and shut down vital organs and the likes in the human body, ending them almost immediately. It is to be known that if a case of a surviving human ever arises- and that is impossible due to the 100% death rate of a human carrier- their body would be damaged to no end. That being a possibility of death after a successful defense of the Plague. We have to stress the fact that this Plague is almost invisible in non-human bodies including animals, and showing either the common cold symptoms of their species or no symptoms at all. Combine that with the fact that it is incurable, and you got the recipe for disaster. That being said, we have to explain why we disallow the human species to go extinct. For my species, the Daglire, we were saved from our ancestor's mistakes, poisoning the planet we lived in. They then mention that it was truly nothing, that they themselves poisoned their own planet once upon a time. Any history of your species and humanity's empathy is greatly appreciated, as we need to appreciate the humans. Currently, we are dealing with a population of 1 million humans across our worlds, including the one you're on right now, of course. For reference, across the known Milky Way, pre-plague numbers were about 1 trillion. This should equate to about 99% of human deaths in the duration of the beginning of the disease till now. You will be working as a border checkpoint guard, specifically one who'll dictate whether a person will come into these sanctuary cities we've set up for humans, rejected due to suspicious IDs and passports, and call the execution of an alien if they have the Plague. Thank you, and congratulations on getting your position here, as a Defender of Humanity!"

Chapter 1+- Judger

The room lights brightened up again, and hinges behind the alien squeaked. Another alien, different from the one in the room, spoke, "Hey Jenna. Congratulations, again. My name is Edwin, I'll show you around the facility?" Edwin slithered beside the door frame, and courteously extended his arm with a clipboard in hand in a gesture of 'you first.'

"Yes. I would love to know the place, very confusing, innit," Jenna cooed her words out. She was part of a species of avian herbivores. The species, the Vixsa, their original planet was faced with a cold age-like time period that started to kill off most plant and animal life that were unprepared for the cold- the Vixsas included. Their civilizations were in the bronze-ages, so to compare. So when the humans appeared, the Vixsas, never having had a need for clothing, went out in the cold all the way to just about 6,010 breeding individuals. Due to humanity experiencing an ice age for themselves, they knew how to deal with it. They landed in zones where the Vixsas were populous and started building infrastructure, giving cold weather gear, and setting temporary structures for bedding. Food was scarce, but the amount of Humans that supported this movement gave the Human governments the go-ahead. Because of this great kindness, the Vixsa species live on today. Jenna stood up from the chair and waddled to Edwin.

“It’s nice to have people for our cause. Across our worlds around here, there have never been a great species like the humans. Of course, I don’t mean to demean other species, but Humans have true empathy, and they decide to share it with the rest of the galaxy,” Edwin’s scales begin raising, a sign of contentedness and happiness. Edwin’s species, The Flifther, is a snake-like quite mammalian-categorized species that coincidentally looks like a cobra with many distinct differences. Those differences being larger than the average Earthen Cobra (don’t worry, the Mars cobras went extinct a while ago) being about 3.2 feet on average (if they’re hanging) with an almost predatory gaze that seemed to avoid Edwin’s frame altogether, they have arms with three fingered hands, their scales are constantly fluttering, and the scales adapt to the changes in light, but in a way that in this modern place, the Flifthers cannot camouflage well. “We shall begin the tour,” Edwin started slithering down the hallway, making sure to watch his speed as Jenna waddled right beside him.

“I’m pretty sure you have seen the offices around here, but there are also some places you need to know real quick,” Edwin took a left turn, Jenna followed. “You need to know the dorm spaces, and your specified zone, and the nurses. After that, we’ll show you the border checkpoint. That place is where you’ll be working,” Edwin rattled off, scanning the clipboard for any more information. “And the lab! It’s not finished yet, but it’s something I have to show you. It’s actually close by,” Edwin took a right turn, and Jenna too, only to find some construction workers behind a glass door with a sign that said, “Laboratory.”

“I wonder how we haven’t found the cure yet. Seems counter-intuitive, right,” Jenna chirped as the construction before her was being done.

“Nobody wants to catch it too. Even though it doesn’t hurt us, it kills them, and nobody wants to be the cause of a man’s death. Plus, with the government executing all those that have the Plague, nobody wants to get close and see the effects for themselves. I’d say this is the only laboratory determined to find an actual cure. I wonder if it’ll work, or fail like the others,” Edwin’s scales start to lower. A sign of negativity.

“Yeah. It’s a bloody shame,” Jenna crowed. 

Some time passes by, and Edwin begins, “So, Jenna, these are the dormitories. I’ll show you your zone and room.”

“Yes, that’d be appreciated,” Jenna waddles up to the door in front of her. The door begins to retreat to the floor, a hissing signalling it’s not done retreating until it sighs. Edwin slithers in, Jenna waddles forward.

“The signs above the separating hallways tell us what habitat you’re entering. For example, the Daglire habitat zone is hot, and slightly dry like a savanna, while yours across here,” Edwin points forward towards a sign that says, “Vixsa Compatible Habitat Zone.” “It’s a humid, forested climate that also has a much higher roof for aerial recreation in the plaza as you’ll see soon,” Edwin slithered right to the door of the Vixsa Zone, with Jenna waddling up to him. 

Edwin interacts with a screen beside the door, and cranks it up to Jenna. The screen captures Jenna’s face and a seemingly positive ding sounded. The door cracks open, and slides beside the wall, allowing Jenna to see the Plaza. With what seems to be 50 yards in length and width with the height being about 120 yards high. A big Yarnel Tree stands in the middle with fellow Vixsas sitting on the branches and flying around the tree.

“For your species, we have made specialized dorms inside the tree itself, as you can see it goes all the way to the top of the roof, there,” Edwin leads Jenna in to show the tree’s majesty. “Also, since I cannot fly, of course, I’ll give you a piece of paper to lead you to your dormitory,” Edwin rips a bit of paper off, intently writing the floor and number of the dorm and hands it to Jenna who slips the paper under her wings.

The both of them look at the tree again, before walking out the door.

The pair go out in the hallway, with Edwin beginning, “We’ll be going to the nurses too. It’s close to where you’ll be working for various reasons.”

“Alright, let’s go then,” Jenna quacked, and that was the signal to go forth. The door separating the main hallways with the dorm hallways hiss and retreat, and allows the two to exit the dorm spaces. A silence between the two begins to form, visibly uncomforting Jenna. “So… What do the nurses do anyway? They’re certainly not curing anybody,” Jenna chirped.

Edwin looks up to her, “Oh, they’re just the nurses. The only difference is that they eliminate those with the plague. Workers that show symptoms of the plague are supposed to go in there for testing.” Just as Edwin finished his sentence, a stretcher containing a Vixsa profusely coughing into a mask was led into a door. Jenna and Edwin stare at the hasmatted looking personnel rush into the room and dims the blinds. The both of them stood for a second before a gunshot rang out of the room. It takes a good minute for the both of them to fully process what just happened, before Edwin tries to distract from the situation saying, “Well those are the nurses, hahah.. Hey, let’s get to your post. It’s about time we do that.”

Jenna ripped her attention away from the closed nurse’s door. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

With the nurses being close to the checkpoint, it took a bit of walking to be faced with a door. Beyond it, Jenna could see the outside, and a prominent white line coming from the entrance from the left to a booth to the right. When the both of them walked outside, they saw two guards talking to a Vixsa in a lab coat and a Daglire that seemed very familiar. “Hey Flowr,” Edwin extended his form to wave, but collapsed to the floor instead.

The Daglire, presumably Flowr, turned his head to the two chuckling at Edwin’s embarrassing moment. “Hey Edwin, and Jenna I presume. I heard many good things about you. A college graduate who got straight-A’s on Applied Linguistics in Greach Millow college. Although that might not be of use here, sadly,” Flowr bowed, a cultural aspect of his species to show respect to an intelligent person.

The Daglires are big, like 6’ 10” big. Their bulky and stony frame is dwarfed in comparison to their culture which is the exact opposite of what Daglires could be. They evolved in a world where you had to be strong in order to survive the multiple climates that usually had explosions, falling rocks, and boiling waters. The species filled an opportunistic carnivore niche, but also ate the various fruit types of plants that survived the climate. They didn’t only eat organic things, they had to consume various materials to form their protective shells. They also have the best ‘air filtration’ system of any sapients due to the intense gasses in the atmosphere on that planet. Also, it was known that the humans stabilized their worsening climate due to the crazy emissions that the Daglires caused to the atmosphere. With that said, Daglires have a protective shell formed around almost most of their body, save for the stomach and chest area where you can see their true black skin. For Flowr Volcani, he has a vest to cover his chest and stomach, as well as a skirt for the shell around his legs.

“Ah yes, the new hire,” The Vixsa in the lab coat exclaimed. His wings splayed out to greet Jenna.

Jenna splayed her wings out too, her suit being modified for such a procedure. “Nice to meet you too, err,” Jenna bowed her head down, only looking up slightly for an answer.

“I’m the doctor,” The uhh- Doctor answered. Jenna straightened up and detracted her wings, and so did The Doctor.

“I should just call you that,” Jenna asked, and The Doctor nodded.

“Vell zhen. Kou readzy to vork,” one of the guards said, a Foxen, unsurprisingly.

“Stop it you idiot. We don’t speak like that,” the other guard, also a Foxen, spoke.

“What, it’s funny,” the funny guard said.

“Oh my gawd,” the angry guard croaked.

After that display of unprofessionalism, Jenna was led to the booth to be shown her workspace.

 

End of Act 1: The Tour