17 A Day of Interviews (1/2)
”Mr. Ivan, It is a pleasure for you to join us today. I believe there isn't a single person in this empire who isn't curious about you, a visitor from outer space,” A handsome Vulpes man with short brown hair, the host of this morning talk show, smiled at Ivan.
”I'm honored to be present, Cen” Ivan smiled and gave a cordial response.
Several high definition cameras moved around the front of the under the control of the crewmembers, ensuring they captured every important angle. Several armed soldiers guarded the outside of the studio outside of camera shot and the entire facility was under military surveillance, but none of the Vulpes watching this show at home would know that.
Valeria was also here, but Ivan had agreed to have her remain off camera as a Kivsharr was detested by society and wouldn't make a good response from the public. Ivan would have done this anyway, but he took this as an opportunity to demonstrate his cooperation.
”You are too humble. I want to ask several questions that everyone wants answers to, the main one being your purpose in coming here to this planet. Our sources tell us that you are starting a company, but why come to our planet for that? Surely there are more capable people in the rest of the universe.”
Ivan shook his head despondently and reluctantly replied, ”I had given consideration to that, but unfortunately it simply wasn't a feasible option. Most people in the universe have gone through genetic adjustments. This makes them faster, stronger and smarter, but unfortunately, makes them unqualified to work in the company I am starting.”
”Surely that would make them more qualified, right?” Cen was unsure if pressing this question was against the Empire's interests, but he couldn't just drop the topic without a conclusion or the viewers would be disbelieving.
”The problem actually lies in what is lost through genetic enhancements, mainly in the subconscious processes of the brain that we identify as instinct or intuition. I can't speak a great deal of the issue due to confidentially, but anyone to successfully join my company must go through a rigorous training session, and this natural instinct plays a key role in adaptability to a new life.”
The host was satisfied with this answer and started to lead onto different topics.
”I'm sure anyone who joined your company would benefit greatly from your teachings. But the people want to know much more than just that. They also want to know about the universe. What is it like in space, are there many other planets with alien life?”
”Actually, humans have occupied the three major galaxies and are reaching out to others within our cluster. Each galaxy has its own federation in charge of thousands of worlds. Humans are actually very common in the universe that we know, and separated into their own specie depending on genetic traits. Technically, even your race is also a specie of humanity.”
”As for alien life, there are endless amounts of planets capable of supporting life, many of which have developed native creature of countless variations, some more intelligent while others merely instinctual.”
”I'm sure there are many people greatly stunned by this, but none so more than me,” Cen chuckled brightly. ”So many horror films and other with existences of aliens depicted as fur covered monstrosities. We put a terrifying image on what we believed aliens to be, little did we expect they were people just like us.”
”This is nothing abnormal, In the ancient times of the planet I came from, when we were just as advanced as you are now, we often depicted them as little green men. There were also several others like terrifying creatures whose blood and spit were an acid that would melt through even steel.”
Both Cen and Ivan chuckled at this will the support crew played a sound of an audience laughing in the background.
”This is more of a personal question of mine,” Cen joyously asked, feeding off the smooth atmosphere, ”But do other kinds of human specie also have eyes like this. I have heard that your head researcher, albeit a slightly surprising appearance, has the same kind of eyes.”
Ivan turned to face the camera to answer this question with a smile, displaying his '+' shaped eyes that were like a blue ocean to the audience.
”No, this is something unique to the two of us. It is an alteration to enhance perception, but it's not a medical operation or genetic tampering, more of a forced evolution.”
”So, what can you see?”
”The same as you can mostly. The rest is difficult to explain in words, you could describe it as a wider range of perception. The same goes for our voice and hearing, they are basically what you know, just a little bit different.”
The interview continued for another hour as the host, Cen, asked various questions with Ivan responding. One section even included Ivan asking several predetermined questions about the Vulpes culture and history in order to learn more about them.
After the interview, Cen was still interested and asked Ivan several off-air questions, leaving things on a high note. Valeria joined him and quietly walked behind him. The crew members didn't like her due to her status, but didn't dare say anything as she was under Ivan's protection.
Iris waited outside with a smile and congratulated Ivan on such a successful interview before briefing him on the next interview at lunch. They left the station under a small military convoy and went straight to the next venue.
The second interview was with a female host in her midyears who was only slightly less popular than Cen. Valeria suffered some discriminatory remarks from people when passing by, but managed to remain passive with her chin raised as Ivan had told her to. Nobody could openly attack or insult her due to Ivan, so she made sure to remain by his side as much as possible.
Iris had accepted her submissiveness this morning and followed any of Ivan's directions. Ivan had whispered to her several times to make sure she walked very close to him, almost arm in arm, as it would give the higher ups the impression that she was doing her job properly. She did this, and even bumped into him several times accidentally out of nervousness, but it only gave the impression that her aim to be intimate with him was more real.
After the second interview, Ivan, Valeria, and Iris under the military convoy travelled to a state-of-the-art research facility where Mazur was leading several top-class talents to understand the new technology. Ivan was genuinely amazed as Mazur demonstrated his super-intellect in grasping the written language shortly after understanding how to speak it.
”How much have you gotten through,” Ivan asked curiously upon seeing the whiteboard of complicated calculations and graphs.
Mazur looked toward the scientists diligently copying down the knowledge from the whiteboard, each more excited than the one before.
”They are surprisingly adept at taking in new knowledge. In terms of being able to replicate the technologies, they could manage with half of them. They are still a long way from truly understanding them though, but that is because there is a massive technological gap between what they were at and what this is.”
”I will be interviewing potential employees after this, so you stay here and keep working with these scientists and answering these questions. How long will it take you to devise a standardised course in learning the galactic language.”
Mazur pondered over this briefly. ”There are many learning modules in the galactic web, but we are off the grid here and can't access them, so I'll have to design one from scratch. It should take me approximately a week. I've also been getting hungry, so go hunt some more food.”
”Aren't the remains of the last fish I brought up still here?”