Quoted By:
“The parcel is too cold to touch. The RAIN’s manipulator arms burn through layers of ablative cladding and makeshift armor, exposing the dull-grey surface of a cryogenic containment chamber to stark white lighting. Liquid nitrogen boils, draping a thick layer of fog-vapor across the surface of the cargo bay.
I peer inside.
I see tubes arranged in concentric circles, slivers of glass bearing tiny shreds of translucent tissue. Gold-plated wires feed into a cryogenic control unit the size of my torso, inventorying genetic information harvested from two thousand and thirty-six individual sources.
The containment chamber clamshells shut to preserve its supply of internal coolant. As the fog dissipates, I consider the alien’s final decision. Perhaps this was a show of faith – a sign that the alien had chosen to accept my answer before it had destroyed its own ship. But a more practical analysis tells me that it is merely an extension of risk-benefit reasoning – the only type of reasoning their species seems to respect. It is simply more rational to gamble on survival than to accept certain death.”
- [UNSIGNED], EXECUTIVE AUDITOR, TRS NOVEMBER RAIN, AD. 2242, DECEMBER 6th, PERSONAL JOURNAL
