Blac Empire

The blue and green water world I behold was once the home of humanity. And it's also the most troublesome spot in the universe. As far as I know anyway. The human species evolved there, and that's part of the problem. Human beings are the most dangerous, ruthless and wicked creatures in all of creation. No other animal can hold a candle to them when it comes to sheer cruelty. Still, no species lasts forever. That's one of the few things about nature which cannot be changed.

The human species is a complicated organism. Yet nature chose to make them the ancestors of my kind, the Autu Brethren. Lately, my people have been changing. Males a and females are being born with strange mindsets and even stranger physiological features. This is causing many problems among my people. To understand our present, we must understand our past. That's part of the reason why humans are my obsession. My name is Elbron. A six-foot-three, lean and wiry male with dark brown skin, pale gray eyes and long black hair. As I walk through the sixty-thousand-year-old ruins of a human city, and behold the remnants of an ancient civilization, I can't help but wonder. What kind of creatures made gigantic rusted steel structures like these? We've found so many ruins like these all over the world. Yet the Ancients of my Clan tell me that these beings were wiped out by their own folly ages ago.

I've always been curious. Adele, beloved Matriarch of the Clan, tells me that this is my defining characteristic. It's what led me to take my flyer and soar from the red world of Havril-Kan to the ruins found on this barren blue and green planet every month ever since I acquired my license to pilot a spaceship. I can't help being curious. It's probably genetic. My father Arbor tells me that my mother Elsa was one of the most curious females he ever knew. Apparently she passed it onto me.

As I fly through the skies above the ruins of an ancient, nameless human city, I realize that my days of carefree flying are coming to an end. I am twenty years old, and soon my Clan Matriarch will choose a wife for me. With the approval of my father, of course. My brother Jeneb married the love of his life, a gorgeous, brown-skinned woman named Kaliva last year. He distinguished himself during the conflict against the Tal Clan and became one of the most coveted males in our family. The females were practically throwing themselves at him. Yet he was chosen to become husband and father by the maiden he had known his entire life. His lifelong friend. How fortunate for the both of them.

My brother Jeneb has always been a rather vigorous, adventurous yet simple soul. A six-foot-six, broad-shouldered and muscular male with light brown skin and pale green eyes. One of the strongest our Clan has ever produced. He's one of the best pilots in the United Interplanetary Fleet. Also one of the best student-athletes ever to compete for the Academy. He excelled at the sport of hunting the Growlers, a breed of gigantic, genetically engineered, armored monsters descended from mutated tigers. It takes a particularly daring person to take down a Growler. My brother took down five. In a single hunt. And all he had with him was an energy spear. That earned him fame throughout all the Clans. My father couldn't be prouder. And my brother's head has gotten bigger since.

Sometimes, I find myself at odds with my people. There is much that we take for granted. For untold thousands of years, the Autu people flourished on the red planet we call our own. Our scientists have determined that this world was once colonized by our human ancestors, and that they transformed it to become somewhat similar to the nearby blue and green, watery world which is now devoid of sentient life. According to them, there were many varieties of humans. Some had brown skin like the Autu people, others had bronze skin, pale pink skin and possibly even other stranger colors of skin. Tens of thousands of years ago, the humans were wiped out by some unimaginable disaster. The ancestors of the Autu people came to the red world and stayed there. The other humans perished.

I wonder what kind of creatures they were. The Ancients tell us that humans were barbaric monsters who destroyed everything in sight. They also mistreated members of their own species. They were like a plague upon the universe. I take a look at the remnants of the gigantic metallic cities once inhabited by the human ancestors and I refuse to believe that the builders of these structures were nothing but barbarians. Surely some of them had to have been enlightened beings capable of benevolence rather than rampant destruction. I mean, to think an entire species is made up of nothing but destroyers and monsters is the height of xenophobia. I believe that beings should be given a chance before being judged. Prejudice is a common flaw among my kind. One I strive to overcome.

My Clan numbers three million plus nine hundred thousand members. All of whom are united by genetic compatibility, philosophy and history. We are among the most numerous of all Clans. Our cities are among the largest. And we have the largest military units in the United Interplanetary Fleet. Which is why I was deeply saddened when the Queen of the Clan declared war against the Tal Clan. The males and females of the Tal Clan number close to five million members, spread over the planet Kogar, which they hold as their dominion. They were growing in number faster than anticipated. Long ago, these tall and slender, brown-skinned and purple-eyed beings were nothing more than the Autu people's staunchest allies. Until their Queen developed imperial ambitions and sought to partake of our resources.

War seemed inevitable. My grandmother Hasilia sought to negotiate peace with the Tal Clan in her capacity as diplomat. Unfortunately, the Queen of the Tal Clan would not listen to reason. She unleashed her fleet in our space. They nearly invaded our planet. They bombed one of our mining moons, though it was only inhabited by worker droids at the time. We fought against them and crushed them. The Royal Family of the Tal Clan was executed, as is the custom among the conquered. The new leader of the Tal Clan was chosen by our people, and she knows better than to follow in the footsteps of her rebellious predecessor. The Tal Clan now pays tribute to us. They give us sixty percent of their precious minerals. Anything less is considered an act of sedition and met with swift military action.

Sometimes, I wonder if my people will ever learn another way. The Autu people number in the billions. Our Clans are quite diverse. Ranging in skin tones from light brown to dark brown, golden brown and black. We speak thousands of languages, though Imperial Autu is the official language of all member worlds. The United Interplanetary Fleet maintains order throughout the United Interplanetary Alliance. Able-bodied males and females serve the people as dedicated soldiers. These days, the United Interplanetary Fleet's membership is over forty percent male, a sure sign of how far males have come in our society. In the old days, the tyrannical matriarchy treated males as second class citizens. Today's Autu males and Autu females have come a long way. The Imperial Queen rules us all. Different Clans rule different worlds. The Clans are ruled by the Holy Queens and the Prince Consort. Among our kind, males in wealthy families have rights and dignity but ultimately females rule. That's just the way it is.

Sometimes I wonder if things were that way among our human ancestors. Did females rule among them as well? Now that's an interesting question. I'm not the most dominant male of my Clan but I am much stronger than most of the others, whether male or female. An Autu male who can lift three times his body weight is considered an Alpha. A prime candidate for marriage to a wealthy and powerful female. I can lift five times my body weight. Strength among our males seems to be a valued commodity, though it's a rare male that can match the females mental powers. Among us, females with psychic powers are common. Over sixteen percent of the females are born with some level of telepathy. Males with telepathic abilities are rarer. Around six percent of the male population, give or take. I should know. I'm one of the unlucky few. I was born with superior strength and exceptional psychic powers. This means my Clan Matriarch will try to marry me off to some rich shrew as soon as possible. I don't want the life of a married male. I'm sure there are worse things but I can't think of any right now. I'm not getting married no matter what the Matriarch says.

I feel that there is much that a male life myself can contribute to the Autu people. I'm considered one of the experts on Humanology among the Peers of the Airkhan Academy. The Headmaster claims he's never seen a student like me. When I enrolled four years ago, the school became coed for the first time since the Male Equality Act signed by Queen Nakima ordered all academies and universities receiving funding from the Imperial government to accept male students. There are eighteen thousand universities and eleven thousand academies on the red world I call home. Only forty percent of these accept male students, even though it's a matter of law. We have a long way to go toward reaching gender equality. Autu females are the most demanding and rigid females in the universe.

The Kulaba Academy of Genetic Research is the place where I aspire to study. I want to understand why so many of the Autu males and females are being born as genetic anomalies. I myself am an anomaly. There are many males being born with psychic powers and many females being born with extreme physical prowess. Our species is changing at the genetic level. Rather than react with fear and hatred toward those who are different, I feel that the Autu people should try to understand them. Unfortunately, mine is decidedly a minority viewpoint. Someday I will change things, and fight for the rights of mutants as well as the rights of my fellow males.