King of All I Survey-Chapter 222: Don’t Monkey Around With Me

There's another interesting phenomenon with the trees as well," Rafael continued. "Right now, as you can see," he said as the view swung away from Rafael's face and out toward the depths of the Ceiba forest, "there is enough ambient light for us to see. It is green-tinted because it is filtering through the green fronds. Sometimes, however, the canopy thickens and becomes opaque. It stays green, but it doesn't allow light through and the entire understory is dark, and we need artificial light to see. It doesn't seem to follow any regular timing. When it happens, it takes about 70 seconds for the understory to go from the conditions you see now to complete darkness. We don't know why or what triggers it."

"We've only been able to observe a few of these periods of darkness since we've only been on the planet for about a week. We have cut an entrance through the frond wall that surrounds the understory and built a nanotube tunnel leading from the inside to an airlock slash decontamination chamber that we pass through before re-entering the main colony habitation buildings. We've started building individual houses inside, each one with its own decontamination chamber at the entrance. Protocol is to never let the shields down in the presence of Ri Ja's atmosphere or in the presence of any Ri Jan life form. Since some early exposures, I've tried to set up procedures that make it impossible for anyone to forget or mistakenly expose themselves, but I expect it's only a matter of time. I have a research team dedicated to understanding everything there is to know about the Ceiba and another using simulations of variants of the trees biochemistry to see if we can alter the atmosphere it maintains under its canopy. These are in addition to our efforts to catalog and scan as many life forms as we can. We believe that we could use artificial means to fill the understory with an atmospheric mix of our choosing, and within limits, it could be contained and maintained under the canopy without harming the Ceiba tree itself. The helium present here for example does not seem to be used by the tree so replacing it with nitrogen for a more Earth-like atmosphere should be possible according to our early simulation testing.

"In summary, the Ceiba tree holds tremendous economic and strategic potential, but until we fully understand the nature of its biological mechanisms and they way it interacts with both Earth-based life, as well as that of other worlds, it is too risky to release it for commercial purposes. End Report."

The view screen disappeared.

I turned to Joe's android. "That's interesting. Everything on Ri Ja wants the Ceiba tree sap, but nothing is smart enough to take a bite out fo the tree itself to get it?"

"Or maybe," Joe countered, "everything is smart enough to know that it shouldn't bite the tree."

"I suppose." I said, "but those sap slugs would look like a defenseless, slow moving opportunity for a meal. I mean once they eat, they are just like a take out meal. But nothing attacks them either?"

"No, nothing."

"So, there must be some chemical signature in both the tree and the slug that tells the Ri Ja animals not to eat them. Whatever it is, though, it isn't in the sap itself even though the sap is a living part of the tree."

"That's the way it seems."

"Interesting, but if I recall, my original question was 'how is the colony doing in terms of finances?' Are they turning a profit? Have they found any useful products?"

"There are some, but until they colonists start more in-depth interaction with the biosphere, it's likely that such opportunities will remain limited. One of the products for example, was discovered through the inadvertent exposure to a Ri Jan plant's defensive chemistry. Several exposed colonists experienced a blistering rash that gave them the physical sensation of extreme cold. This was translated into a cold-simulating food additive for a set of beings with a biochemistry that Is not otherwise adversely affected by the oil. Again, think of flavors and the complicated food processing needed to unlock them safely even on your own planet. Many of your foods are poisonous to you in their raw, uncooked or unrefined forms. Many need specific processing before they become palatable, or are only edible at a certain stage of ripeness. If you studied an apple tree when it had no fruit, you'd never suspect it was any different from any other non-fruiting tree."

"I get it. It'll take time and research to find the majority of profit drivers."

"However, Rafael is operating the colony frugally, with Maribel's assistance. He is keeping expenditures lower than budgeted, to avoid accruing excessive debt much beyond their original starting costs. The products they have released to date are covering their ongoing costs, though not yet paying down pre-existing start-up costs."

I shrugged, "I suppose that's the best that can be expected. I mean its only been a week, right?"

"Yes."

"So, let's consider Earth itself. We have tons of stuff that we haven't licensed to the Galactic Union yet. We should get all that formally listed in the UEC licensing system so we can start reaping the benefits. We've been spending like crazy and that's going to catch up with us if we don't improve our revenues."

"Yes. Earth has amassed a significant debt. However, Earth Friend is in negotiation with one of the new previously unknown inhabited worlds right now. Once these start joining the UEC and products start flowing, Earth should be in a very credit-positive position."

"Yeah. Listen, I really want to travel to these worlds and make contact with them myself. I mean, that's got to be the coolest job in the world… or in the universe, right? Meeting alien civilizations and telling them about all the cool technologies we can offer them and looking at their technologies and sciences to see a whole new perspective on things."

"You're forgetting the 'alien' species here on Earth. Remember the orangutans, dolphins, octopi and others."

I frowned. "I still want to find suitable planets for them to have a chance without living under humanity's thumb. But it's not like they have technologies that could be licensed. I figure that once we have enough excess income, we can afford to give them worlds of their own, but it won't be a profit thing."

"Are you sure? I think that there might be things that the other intelligent species on Earth eat that might appeal to certain alien populations as well."

I raised an eyebrow. "Really? I mean monkeys eat bananas and stuff, but so do humans."

"They also eat ants." Joe opined.

"Ants? Are you saying that aliens might like to eat ants?" My face wrinkled in disgust. "Yuck."

"Have you ever tried them?" Joe asked. "Actually ,humans in some parts of the world do eat ants as well. It is said that different types of ants have very different flavors, from sour for those with high formic acid content, some are described as peppery, some taste like nuts, or vinegar, and even more depending upon the predominant chemical profile. Some are even said to have different flavors as pupae or eggs."

"Really? People eat ants? Somebody actually went around and listed all the different ant flavors?"

"Yes, termites, too," Joe grinned. For a minute I thought he was joking to see if I'd fall for it, but I suppose it made sense. I recalled seeing someone on television eating ants and saying that you had to squish them in your teeth right off the bat or they start biting or stinging or something. I grimaced at the thought of a mouthful of fire ants. Let's move away from that thought, I chided myself.

"Ok, Joe. How do we get chimpanzees and such registered as recognized civilizations at the galactic level?"

"Because they are not a tier one through three intelligent species, capable of understanding and negotiating on their own behalf as a species, a guardian or trustee would assume responsibility for handling their affairs. In the case where there is another top tier species native to the same home world, that species may assume the role. In your case, as a tier three species, humans qualify, but just barely," Joe grinned at me.

"Just barely? What do you mean by that?" I knew this was a trap, but I couldn't help it.

"Sentient entities are divided into tiers according to the level of intelligence and societal advancement," Joe began explaining. "Those who fall into the top three tiers or levels of intelligence have been determined to be able to legally negotiate and participate in galactic society. It is accepted that they are smart enough and have the societal context to understand the situation and make sound decisions for themselves. Humans, just barely qualify as a tier three intelligent species."

"Really? They might have to change their rating system once we are the dominant economic engine of the universe. I'll show them who's a tier three intelligence!"

Joe's android sighed. "That's about what I'd expect from a tier three. The point, if I can keep your little mind on topic, King Tim, is that humans would be the trustee species for any sentient creatures native to planet Earth. Typically in such cases, the trustee simply takes the rights for everything on the planet, since they are native there as eell, and then sets up some sort of reserve area wholly funded by the trustee species' licensing revenue. Generally, it's a trivial amount. Setting aside a few hundred square miles and making sure it has fruits trees, ants and other things chimpanzees eat, without things that eat chimpanzees, for example."

"But I could license edible ants, say, in the name of the chimpanzees and then the revenue would accrue directly to them, right?"

"Yes, as the leader of the trustee species, that would be your decision entirely." 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"And I could use those funds to buy technological enhancements or implant training or whatever to help chimpanzees grow to become a tier three or whatever, capable of making their own choices?"

"In theory, yes, that would also be your decision. I would suggest, however, that you consider whether that is really in their best interest. Are they as a species, better off engaging in politics and economic machinations among other galactic sentients, or would they find more happiness in a well-stocked forest, without predators or human incursion. Free to live their lives and possibly evolve their own society over time? You assume they would want to be more like humans, but in truth, humans might even be happier as a species if they were more like chimpanzees…"