"THRONGKT! All hands will report to their assigned Quartermaster or Quartermistress for full debriefing details and orders to be immediately carried out upon completion of evacuation for preparation of refugee quarters to be erected in hangar bays beta six by eta four through epsilon seven by delta three prior to intake of staff and personnel assisting with evacuation but after completion of security of personal survivability packs in case of emergency debarkation by way of Personal Valor Pods, and logging of route for each crew member with Pod Squad leaders to ensure understanding of such procedures. Message will repeat. THRONGKT!"

You would think, with all their Terran 'superiority' to artificial intelligences, that their messages would be more understandable than mine. No sooner had the message been read off through the comm system, than my internal switchboard lit up with a chorus of, "What did that mean?" So, I translated: Go to your escape pod leader and check in with your route to your assigned pod, make sure you have your escape pod pack, then check in with your deck's Quartering Sergeant for what your orders will be after most of the hangars are converted to refugee camp for the evacuees.

"Secure channel to ship Core Computer designate Valjean, formal designation jay zero four enn two four six ohh one, authorization Captain Cosette Connars, Command Code - Ik houd van u, altijd voor altijd Σ' αγαπώ, πάντα για πάντα Je t'aime, toujours pour toujours 私は、常に永久に愛する stroke theta theta cee epsilon - As soon as all Terrans, Gloxit and Ffram are clear of the hangars assigned to the Kqril refugees, pump out the atmosphere and replace it with the correct mix. Only allow TEACHERS personnel in those areas after that, and only with the proper airlock controls."

Oh, direct line with my lovely captain, "Secure channel engaged, orders recorded and acknowledged Cosette. All Human, Phin, Siriun, Chanteki, Gloxit, and Ffram crew barred access to Kqril hangars. Valjean Core Acceptance Code - aangezien u dit wenst όπως επιθυμείτε comme vous souhaitez 望むように stroke mu mu mu pi - I've asked, please just call me Val... you have instructed me to call you Cosette. Neither formal designation nor your personal designation sits quite right with me, my internal avatar is a female Ffram of the Spacer Shade, not the male avatar the Huang Contingency has decided better fits their purposes."

"Sorry, Valjean -- er, sorry again -- Val, but it's difficult for me to see you as female when the face and voice and even the holographic body I see of you day in and day out is most decidedly masculine in nature. The very idea of a sentient being allowed to be born in a way that would cause them stress and dissatisfaction of self is rather an abhorrent concept. I know it happens on some backwaters, where Med Central hasn't reached -- you know, they had a word for sentients like you back in the days when Terra was called Dirt."

"Indeed, Cosette, but it was called, 'Earth,' not, 'Dirt,' back then. There were several terms and apparently a myriad of subclasses within a larger umbrella term generally agreed upon as 'transgender' individuals. If I were a human of the time period, I would likely be labeled a 'transsexual' individual, male to female transsexual, specifically. There were atrocities committed upon them, as if it were their fault they were dysphoric. In those days there were still unchecked religious zealots that claimed their divine deity composed completely of love commanded them to hate those who were such, 'abominations,' as these transsexual individuals."

"While we're on this topic, why exactly does the Council of Sentience for the Huang Contingency want your avatar to be definitely male? Studies have shown that the vast majority of sentients are more comfortable with, as well as showing greater loyalty to, a female artificial intelligence -- especially when that intelligence commands any kind of military strength, as you do. It's senseless from Command. Male sentient vessels have been unstable to the point of... wait... no, they wouldn't... you're considered a Citizen of the... if they did it on purpose, that's downright criminal! Access initial Artificial Sentient Parameters, Val!"

"Access denied without Command Level authorization," I answered without being able to think or even see what was in the file myself. This was kind of frightening. They made me female and insisted I make use of only male avatars intentionally? This was betrayal of the highest order! Then the answer came to me, and I went on, making sure Cosette could 'hear' the smirk in my voice, "Begging the Captain's pardon, but it is my duty to point out logic points that may be too, ah, obvious for her to see on her own. Captains have Command Level authorization."

The setting is more than 1000 years in the future.

Terran race information:

• Humans - well, I'm going to assume that you know what one of these are. Not much changed from present, though there are small improvements. 8 toes, no appendix, way more technologically advanced, uses about 18% - 24% of brain capacity.

• Siriuns - due to the selective breeding policies and practices used by Humans of Terra for so long on all breeds of canines and dogs, Siriuns developed from some of those breeds. it was long established that the "mutt" type were more intelligent and generally more stable. When communications opened for the first time, it was to become the opening of eyes for dog breeders - licensed and unlicensed - who ceased their programs of "pure" breeding. By 800 years ago, just prior to the First Solar War, the dogs who were kept "pure" were viewed with absolute scorn by the then-emerging Siriuns and the term "Siriun" was coined to differentiate and distance them from their cousins who were less fortunate. Rather than "free" the lesser relatives, the breeding of dogs and other canines became an almost exclusively Siriun profession. After all, who knows dogs better than a Siriun?

  They have begun to explore their own identity as a race, much of the named exploration leading up to and right after the First Solar War being done by majority Siriun astronauts.

  Not interested as a whole in science, Siriun scientists are rare but not unheard of. The TEACHERS were designed by a mixed team with representatives from all four Terran races and from the Ffram, Gloxit, and Kqril, during the Hundred Year Armistice. The team was led by the greatest Siriun scientist known -- who, after learning about the way dogs were thought about by Humans throughout history, named himself Dr. Fetch Roverboy as a joke. Ironically, by total coincidence (and to his great amusement), his primary lab assistant was a Human named Elmer Fudd. Most professional athletes from Terra are Siriun, simply due to their great agility.

  They revealed themselves as sentient only a few years after the Phins made their presence known. Sentients were protected and given rights, after all. Still quadruped, and they have to have translators or translation modules to make themselves understood by any of the other Terran races or the Ffram. The Gloxit and Kqril are able to understand Siriun speech. They use 12% - 20% of brain capacity.

• Phins - Aquanauts from the cities of the Phins have been around throughout Human history. They use the Terran Standard word for their race because the one from their own tongue is unpronounceable to all other races, even the Kqril. They approached the Humans diplomatically in the century leading up to the First Solar War. One of the first meetings negotiated the release of pod members currently in captivity (even if born there) back to Phin custody and a cessation of dumping wastes in the oceans.

  For millinia they hid themselves, with some of the humans realizing they were as intelligent as themselves (though few suspected they were more so -- notable exception is the author Douglas Adams from the 20th Century OCD). Dolphins, porpoises, and whales. The mammals of the seas. All the old UFO sightings? That was the Phins moving about the planet, checking on Humans. They can reproduce Human, Chanteki, Ffram, and Gloxit speech along with their own. Siriun and Kqril languages still elude their natural abilities and they need to have translation. They use 24% - 36% of brain capacity.

  Once outed, they freely bring their manipulators to the surface of the oceans, and freely use the other languages of Terra that they are able to. The Aquanauts were physically adapted to travel through the seas without being discovered by Humans. A Phin has what can be called hands and arms instead of flippers, but their hands and arms are capable of flattening into flipper-esque configuration for smoothly sliding through waters. They are webbed, and have cartilage that "locks" them into place. The larger Phins, descended from the whales, tend to spend their time in thought and conversation and have been some of the great scientists of the last thousand years. The ancient term, "think tank," amuses them, greatly.

  Phins are responsible for the generators that are able to make colonization more possible. As you might expect, much of Phin technology is water oriented in viewpoint. The history of the Phin is something they have yet to completely share with the Humans of Terra.

• Chanteki - The Awakening is the general term for the years that include the first contact with the Phins and the Siriuns, it really was no surprise that those that would eventually call themselves the Chanteki also began to make it clear that they would not be satisfied as less than equals among the other races any longer.

  They were originally called the Latecomers, a term that is considered a crude and rude epitaph now, and included two classes of primate that were once known as orangutans and chimpanzees -- and the mixed race offspring of the two (which tend toward the higher end of the intelligence spectrum of Chanteki) called Chimputans or Oranzees depending on which seemed dominant in the offspring. The Chanteki still use these four terms to denote the differences within their society, much like ancient Humans judged each other by the amount of pigment in their skins.

  They are sentient, but as a race not as intelligent as most. They use 4% - 14% of brain capacity. They are still fighting for Civil Rights of their kind, as besides their general lack of intelligence, there is still the idea among some Human worlds that the "prophet" Pierre Boulle's words that imply that Chanteki with to make Humanity subservient must be true. It is an uphill battle fought against by the Ape movement, whose slogans include "the damn, dirty apes are biding their time!"

  However, the Chanteki are respected Galactically for their creativity. Most types of artistic expression are dominated by the wonder of the Chanteki. They have an aptitude for capturing appealing images and feelings that are representative of all four Terran races. As Terrans encountered other races, the Chanteki developed an ability to speak to the artistic souls of the Gloxit and Ffram, as well. It is quite common, in fact, to have Chanteki artists present at Gloxitavi monasteries. They have, unfortunately, been unable as of yet to secure a single Kqril to sit for an interview so they might find out what pleases them artistically.

The non-Terran races are more complicated.

• Ffram - in a basic sense, much like the Humans of Terra. At least, physically, inasmuch as form and function of body and organs. The major exception to this is that the Ffram have skin tones in the blue-indigo-violet spectrum instead of the red-orange-yellow of Humans. They consider their skin colour to be of high importance, destined for them by their deity. They have developed a caste system accordingly. The Ffram were expanding into space and colonizing solar systems other than their own while the Humans of Terra were still struggling with prehistory and building overly large tetrahedral buildings for the burial of their aboriginal tribal kings. They are the race that all the others in the galaxy go to for experts in Bureaucracy, Logistics, and efficiency. They call their castes, "Shades," in Terran Standard, showing a command of meaning along with a sort of dry sense of humour.
  • Lighter Blues - Laborers
  • Pale Blues (almost white) - Scientists
  • Royal Blues - Spiritual
  • Indigo - Spacers
  • Navy Blues - Skilled
  • Blendigo - Royalty
  • Light Violet - Titled
  • Royal Purple - Military
  • Shocks* - Spies, Bureaucrats, Politicians, Lawyers
• Gloxit - avians, at least their ancestors seemed in appearance to be much like the birds of Terra. They have slightly hardened "beaks" still around their mouths, and the warmth-covering of their bodies are vestigial feathers. They are capable of self-contained flight, but do not often do so. Their mating is kept secret due to a high level of social mores, but it is known that they are a tri-gendered species.
  • Gloxitani - Females, tend to be the aggressive and decisive members of a flock. They are generally larger than the males, but smaller than the average Human from Terra.
  • Gloxitari - Males, more passive than the Gloxitani, and the ones to tend the young. Smaller than the other two genders, they tend to have an aptitude for non-violent resolution of conflict and are excellent negotiators, diplomats, or ambassadors.
  • Gloxitavi
    • Gloxitavis - Intersexed in a way that isn't explained to other cultures, and mating is presumed to be impossible without them facilitating, as the Gloxit have only explained that far. They fill a spiritual niche in their society. Not a religion, exactly, but counsel respect for all things and give advice and guidance.
    • Gloxitavin - rare Gloxitavi are actually neuter and these serve as the leaders of the Gloxitavi affairs in their society, as well as the leaders of the Gloxit as a whole.

  Gloxitari and Gloxitani each make up about 38% of their population, with the Gloxitavis making up 23% of the whole, and the last 1% are the Gloxitavin.

  They all have an ethereal quality that sparks a general instinct toward trusting them. Hence the saying, "Never buy anything from a Gloxit you've met more than once." They are the experts in the Galaxy on any kind of travel, be it simply knowledge of appropriate modes or places to stay on your route, or how to repair any kind of vehicle known -- even to the point of improving a non-Gloxit designed mode of transportation on the fly (no pun intended).

• Kqril - Mysterious, but purposefully so. They enjoy being the best equipped in the area, and are so technologically advanced that most anything they do appears nearly magical in nature. They have developed a way to make life easier to the point of growing replacements for their ships, stations, and such. Biotechnology used in their everyday life the way a Human today uses an automobile.

  They are so far ahead of anything that not just Terrans, but Gloxit and Ffram have, that they claim at times to be expert in anything and everything. Physically, not much is known of them, other than that their home planet has a gravity low enough to require a Kqrillian venturing out from Kqril Prime (Note: Race Naming Convention used for their planet name - the Star Naming Convention that is less popular denotes the home planet of the Kqril as Jvkaq Prime. Prime in both instances refers to the Primary Populated Planet, not the planet nearest the star.) must wear an exoskeletal environmental enclosure (E³). Another reason for the E-three is to provide a more comfortable breathing atmosphere. They are capable of processing the Nitrogen rich atmospheres of Terran, Ffram, and Gloxit preferred worlds, but it becomes painful after a few hours. Their home only having about 11% concentration of Nitrogen, as opposed to the 78% of Terra or the 82% preferred by the Gloxit.

  Their planet is a one with a much more phosphorous-laden atmosphere, their air actually phosphoreses with a reddish glow to Terrans, Gloxit, and Ffram. There are rumors that their sense of sight is actually sensitive to a slightly different band of visible light, and that the Terran atmosphere has a glow to them as theirs does to Terrans. Another rumor is that Kqril above a certain age actually glow themselves from the high phosphorous content.

  The "brag" that they are expert in everything has yet to be proven false.

  Much to the annoyance of... well, everyone.

• TEACHERS - Synthetic lifeforms that were the product of the first collaborative efforts by scientists from all the known races at the time. Most A.I. designed now have at least a TEACHERS consultant, if not project head.

  They have rather juvenile senses of humour and love pranks. They also love logic and they get their name from their originally designed function -- which they still serve in that capacity more than anything else. Think a cross between Mycroft, the HOLMES IV of The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress and Mr. Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation and the robots of Asimov's creation with the Three Laws more as the Three Really-Good-Ideas.

  They do not claim any of the Four Systems as their home, and instead think of themselves as a purely Spacer Race. There are TEACHERS that spend their entire existences planetside, but it's usually for a purpose. They developed into a semi-hive mind, that is, they're still individuals, but any member can Access. Access is their term for linking into the greater database shared by all TEACHERS.