Blue skies, Red waters
(( Kind of a project I was working on, this was meant to be the intro. I don't write very often, and I'm sure it shows. >,> And when I write a story I can usually write an interesting beginning and end, but the middle. I always have trouble with the middle. Anyways! Hope you like it and critique is welcome. ))
Once upon a time, on another planet, in another galaxy there was a race of people. They were known as the 'Ru. In their tongue, which was not wholly discernable by human ears, this meant 'enlightened ones'.
The 'Ru come from a wet planet, covered mostly in water. Clever creatures, they evolved in small groups and teams of individuals they would hunt and live in, developing a complex social structure. The water, however, is a dangerous place to live. There will always be something bigger than you and it will always be hungry. Some left the water, others stayed behind.
Small skirmishes for food turned into all out wars and genocide, 'better' clans ensured their bloodlines would be the strongest and most successful while 'weaker' ones had their culture ravaged. Anything of value going to the victor. The world continued this way until a time when a shaky truce between the enlightened ones was written by the strongest clan, and the planet knew peace. An uncertain peace with a highly militaristic people with strong views on ones 'place' in the clan.
The upper societies began to form. Little groups began to form bigger groups and social and physical changes became far more drastic. Technology was being developed at an alarming rate. Tools gave way to buildings, then better tools to build their cities and change the landscape of their planet. Eventually they created robotics, other lifeforms and advanced AI to fill a rather large gap in the societal niche.
Creating such an AI was considered a great responsibility and quickly fell out of favour with all but a few people. Ethical and political ideals were brought into question. The main problem was not that they were creating a robotic lifeform, but they were creating a robotic immortal. What was to happen with these 'children' once their parents died? In theory the choice would have been left up to the robot.
Truth is, some of them did not make it past childhood, being intelligent and with strong bodies did not grant them the wisdom needed to simply make the best decisions in regards to safety. This is not so surprising if you take into consideration the amount of accidents had by 'Ru and other organisms. Death is of course a fact of 'life'. Some of these robotic children lived long and productive lives, accidents sometimes befalling even the most careful.
What surprised many though was that when the parent would die, the robot would sometimes seek out their own destruction. Thus, those intelligent enough to build a robot stopped producing them. The only 'Ru interested in obtaining one were of the lowest class and could no longer afford one or have the influence to convince someone to create one.
With current technological trends leaving the idea of such complex AI behind the 'children' became an endangered species. It was after this time that the 'Ru began to receive strange signals from the depths of space.
Some highly enthusiastic 'Ru began to look into the strange disruptions that creatures so far away put a great deal of effort into producing. Fashioning something more or less that could respond to it in a short amount of time. That was the easy part, forming actual communication with them was like pulling teeth. Not only was there the language barrier, but the aliens did not have acute enough hearing to fully understand the 'Ru language, that is to say if they could get beyond the persistent static.
They began to play games with each other. Basic shapes were shown and each race would give the written word for it. Language developed in this fashion and the aliens began to leave little puzzles for them to unlock during downtimes in communication. Mathematical problems were also used and some of it understood. Complex mathematical equations were not understood very well by either side, as both races were not blessed with the same scholars or mathematicians. Once a basis was uncovered writing gave way to verbal communication again.
Through a stroke of luck one of the aliens was inspecting a 'Ru transmission in his home, a pet began to behave strangely, and upon closer inspection realized the layers of sound with his computer. This was a major breakthrough. Older transmissions were re-analyzed and the next time they spoke with the 'Ru they were able to synthetically reproduce the language.
They called themselves humans and they lived on a planet called Earth.