One species that humans often interact with in the galaxy, particularly in their local
spiral arm sector, is the Xalaxi, a gregarious and highly active species who have been involved
in galactic affairs for only a little longer than humans have.
The Xalaxian homeworlds comprise a trio of planets in their original binary star system,
all of which orbit pretty closely and have a day lasting only half as long as that of
Earth, so from the human point of view, Xalaxi seem to split every day up into two complete
half-day cycles of waking, activity and sleeping, maintaining a frenetic pace and achieving
enormous amounts of work.
At the same time, it always seems impossible to organise and catch meetings when they have
some time off, as you will invariably see them at work or home sleeping.
Their standard greeting to humans is something like "Do you have any idea what time it is?"
this is further complicated by the fact each of their three core worlds has its own sub-species
and distinct culture with their time zones.
They refuse to conform to anything other than their planetary customs, so working out their
schedules requires intimate knowledge of the background of any particular individual or
group of Xalaxi you are dealing with and some advanced planning calculator which can convert
between their three planetary bodies, their regional cultural festivals and the individual
quirks of that particular Xalaxian.
As a result, group meetings seem like some cruel sport they inflict on the rest of the
galaxy.
Hence, the best advice is to deal with them when they show up, as one is bound to be active
at any particular time of the day or night, given a sufficient number of them being found
in any one place and of course, always keep in mind that when they say a task will take
six days, it is probably only going to take them three standard Earth days.
The Xalaxi have an appearance most humans find disconcerting at first.
Their most prominent feature is a ring of eyes that encircles their head, the number
and size of the eyes is the easist way to distinguish between their various sub-species.
Their eyes provide them with a 360-degree view of their surroundings.
Each is capable of moving and focusing independently of the other, is incredibly sensitive to light
and is able to see in the ultraviolet and infrared spectrums, allowing them to perceive
things that are invisible to humans.
Their mouth is placed centrally on the top of their stem-like heads, and they have a
very long, highly agile and tough tongue that is best suited to feeding on the abundant
flower nectar of their lush, exotic jungle habitats, they are essentially an arboreal
species that spends most of the time well above the forest floor, and they are highly
agile, with a locomotion adapted to clinging closely to tree limbs and vines and sort of
slithering, swinging and gliding through the air on thin, translucent membranes that are
more like a mucus layer than skin, able to absorb oxygen from the atmosphere even while
their tongue is fully extended and blocking their throat from their internal lung pods.
The Xalaxi physiology does allow them to walk around on their lower limbs much like humans
do, but they have no concept of having a forward or backward facing direction and find this
common trait in other species a bit weird.
They tend to make very good security agents as they always have one eye open and are impossible
to sneak up on.
Xalaxi are not mammals or reptiles or cephalopods but share many traits of all three, they have
a brain that is located in their neck and have trouble ingesting anything but a pulpy
diet as solid foods tend to give them a headache, and while they can subsist on a mostly nectar
diet, they also enjoy a wide range of herbal infusions, broths and have quite a fondness
for milkshakes and smoothies, but, by far the most quirky habit is their terrible addiction
to human chicken bouillon.
. Xenobiologists theorise that the monosodium glutamate present in the cubes of dehydrated
chicken stock all too common in starship cuisine has a euphoric effect on Xalaxian physiology
(some have gone so far as to compare it to the relationship between felines and Nepeta
cataria, more commonly known as 'catnip').
It is not uncommon for human explorers who have interacted with the Xalaxi to report
their rations pilfered of stock cubes after leaving them unattended in their presence.
It is suggested that humans should not make a big deal out of this, considering we commonly
cut and display flowers as decorative items, letting them decay in the open display; Which
to the xalaxi is a bizarre and slightly offensive extravagant waste of perfectly good food,
we also tend to eradicate any insects attracted quite naturally to the fruits and flowers
we collect in our homes and dining areas.
Xalaxi tend not to kill insects if they can avoid it and have been known to keep insects
as both pets and also as partners in symbiotic relationships with many native insects for
many reasons, such as food and package recycling, personal grooming, communications and just
simple creature comforts.
Xalaxi limbs are multi-jointed and flexible enough to wrap around objects, they don't
have a rib cage and their spinal structure is also very flexible, so they are natural
contortionists able to move very quickly through tangled and nearly impassable terrain by human
standards, they prefer a very cluttered and space efficient environment even when their
habitat is entirely artificial, which makes it much easier for them to adapt to human
habitats than the other way around.
Thankfully the Xalaxi are so used to humans visiting and even living on their homeworlds
or travelling with them on long space voyages that they have set aside human habitat areas
or can easily adapt a space to better suit limited human mobility, they are also much
less adapted to surviving in open bodies of water than humans, so they find the ability
of humans to just jump into deep water and swim to be equally amazing and at limited
times, very inconvenient.
Xalaxi injest all the liquid they need from their nectar diet and never drink water by
itself, they will provide some to humans if asked, but it's a good idea to stay to venues
clearly marked as being human friendly as there is a risk some of their more acidic
beverages can cause severe irritation to humans internally.
Xalaxi are totally immune to what humans consider to be spicy food, so do read the food packaging
carefully and never ignore any safety warnings.
Xalaxi speak human languages easily despite not having any vocal cords, their long tongue
functions in much the same way, so they don't avoid talking while eating due to politeness,
they simply can't do it and find it slightly annoying if a human tries to converse with
them as they are eating.
Xalaxi have a slightly less developed sense of hearing than humans but a much greater
appreciation of the visual spectrum and a very fine sense of colors, their visual displays
for computer interfaces are quite spectacular and they tend to listen to their music at
a higher volume than humans are comfortable with for extended periods of time, and also,
they tend to have quite loud voices, despite being only half the size and mass of your
average adult human.
The xalaxian homeworlds are incredibly rich in a wild array of different life forms, much
more diverse than earth as their planets have a higher percentage of land mass above ocean
level and most of their surface is covered in dense rainforests.
Also, it is clear that their worlds have experienced fewer mass extinctions over their history,
so there are examples of creature types Earth has not seen since the evolutionary Cambrian
explosion.
One jaded visitor from the solar system once remarked that he had never imagined such a
thing as an insectoid octopus existed and now he wished he could forget ever seeing
one in person.
The biotech side of Xalaxi technology is equalled only in the incredible medical materials developed
from samples taken from their endless rainforests.
Xalaxi skin has the ability, like an octopus, to change texture and color to match their
surroundings and their own language is as much visual as it is audible.
They claim that their whole body can feel color like it was a kind of prickly warmth
of very subtle flavours, but human language is not well suited to explaining exactly how
it feels.
Humans who have experienced it via alien mind weaving technology have said it feels quite
uncomfortable, like constant, chaotic pins and needles that the human brain struggles
to make any sense of as there is simply too much information all at once, the mind confuses
tactile for photosensitive sensations and just becomes numb to deal with it.
The Xalaxi are determined to develop some interface and sensory device to compensate
for this as they find the sensations are nothing but a benefit and wish to share this with
their human allies.
Xalaxi live for only 15 to 20 years, but reach adulthood within only five years after their
birth, female xalaxi give birth to four offspring from their own womb sacks after a 13 month
gestational period, so the offspring are well developed by the time they emerge and are
tended to constantly by their parents, staying together in close knit family networks which
form the basis of all their diverse cultures.
They are typically inquisitive people with a great sense of humor, but they don't enjoy
sports in adulthood nearly as much as humans do, and find the human competitive drive to
be disturbingly violent in nature compared their their tendancy towards more cooperative
games where the objective is overcoming challenges via teamwork.
You can always rely on a Xalaxi to pitch in and want to help, as that is just a fundamental
part of their nature.
The xalaxi have absolutely no fear of heights and although they are capable of gliding through
the air using their fine membranes, they lose this ability as they reach the venerable age
of 13 or more years, so there will always be some sort of walkway, pole of even ladders
to get around in the spectacular architecture of their jungle canopy cities.
The population density on their core home worlds is much higher than that of earth and
they have highly developed skills and technologies in the fields of biotech, sustainable life
support systems and provide a wide array of highly sought after exotic plant based foods
they produce in such abundance they can sustain a lucrative galactic trade which has resulting
in a great deal of wealth and technology exchange, and great diplomatic relationships with many
other galactic civilisations.
While Xalaxi visual arts and music can be a bit too much for many other species, their
culinary arts are quite amazing, even if the presentation of their dishes may be a bit
hit or miss, the sensory delights of their cuisine is second to none and they produce
foodstuffs in such abundance that just grabbing a quick meal anywhere in their home system
is completely free for any species that they have a free trade agreement with.
Humans maintain a very healthy trade in our own unique foodstuffs, as well as enormous
supplies of chicken stock cubes.
End of File.