Hominid Hour - A Tour at Truleck's

Garbanar Trulecks turned to me and gave out a sigh with a long wail. His pet Homo sapiens had once again dirtied it's habitat with it's own feces. "It's a shame. We usually see this behaviour in the older ones." He added it would sometimes "screech non-stop when it saw me" and complained it would curse at it. "I even learned their language but apparently this one speaks another tongue. It's been a rough start."

Garbanar, in all of his benevolence, was patient and outright forgiving to it. One should not be ashamed to admire such grace and fortitude in the face of such adversity. Today we will look at Garbanar's collection of pets from the Sol system from a small continental world.

His first tip is a simple one and he emphasizes it greatly. "Make sure that your Homo sapiens were bred organically, or free range. They're great when they're free range, you might not want to skimp and get the most times smaller and more prone to accidents, like mining world or ecumenopolis types. They often also have a lot of health problems as well leading to higher costs. I recommend to avoid them."

It had been discovered as recently as two cycles ago that mining world hominids suffered from breathing issues and died at higher rates than Homo sapiens from worlds such as Tzarop II or Blightful Bulge. Garbanar confirmed that the best came straight from Sol III.

"After their introduction to the galactic stage, the trade with Homo sapiens has been booming. We used to go out and harvest a few at a time but it was getting harder to go undetected. I remember in their period of spears and shields we sometimes took entire villages. No issues." He said that many colonies would offer people for currency, or technology and Garbanar confirmed that it was easier now.

"Yeah the Homo sapiens has a long history of slavery. Just recently they had a type of slavery based all around their currency debt. It was a fascinating time. They luckily still have it!" He bellowed with joy and continued "They are good for fun, but very lazy unless you give them trinkets."

We walked by a habitat of a female and male couple. They looked at us briefly and waving to Garbanar, before continuing their routine. It appeared that the male was cleaning his clothes and the female was preparing a meal. "These are great ones. They really enjoy their habitat and already bred twice. They will get to keep one as well, if they want." Asked if he lets them have so much autonomy he nodded.

"Oh yes, they stay healthier longer. I mean, yes, we sell them to miner guilds, bounty hunters, all types. Whoever pays, but while they are with me they have a good life." He put his grappling appendage to the window of the habitat longingly, it was a friendly gesture. The humans did not pay attention. "They don't know how good they have it."

Garbanar comes from a long family of Homo sapiens collectors and breeders, going back as far as three millenia. His great-grandfather, Rogoon, had been one of the first to successfully breed them outside of the Sol system. His hologram hangs proudly in Garbanar's study, next to his first Homo sapiens.

"That was my first one, back when I was still a juvenile. His name was 'Alexander' and he was tough." The image of a smooth, light skinned Homo sapiens type flickers to and fro between flexing it's muscles and smiling. "He was strong, he was proud and told me he conquered his world. Very cute!"

Garbanar now is looking to expand the Homo sapiens and hominid trade, he also has Homo erectus, Gorilla gorilla and Pongo abelii for sale. Having almost gone extinct their price is far higher than Homo sapiens and their locations are a well-guarded secret. "Humans are all over the place really, they get out. They love to travel, they originally were nomads on Sol III, or Earth. They named their planet after their ground they walk on, yet they treated it very poorly. Now their umbers are stable and they proliferate fast. I recommend to invest in them when they are younger, they are volatile and erratic sometimes at later stages of their lives."

He showed me another habitat he had prepared for the tour, it was a large room with various devices that he ensured me were for educational purposes. The little Homo sapiens waved from little desks and the bigger one waved as well with their appendages. "This is a new project I have started, they are learning our language and history and will become part of the service industry. It's subsidized by the Furgian United Planets, too!"

The Xeno Breeding Act had a new paragraph added through the latest legislation, subsidizing pro-Furgian education. Garbanar took advantage of the lack of distinction as to who is taught and his subsidy was approved. I was curious who had taken advantage of the loophole so nicely, and asked Garbanar for an interview at the time and he was glad to share.

"Anything that raises Xeno-trade awareness, and especially the awareness of these great animals, Homo sapiens." He pitched to me and there was no doubt, he had big plans for them. Business was booming and recent estimates put Xeno-trade as one of the fastest growing markets within the Furgian United Planets.

Asking if he thought this was in any was unethical, treating Xenos in such a way. He disagreed vehemently:

"Not at all. Many times I go to Sol III or Sol IV and look for those who aren't doing so well, not because they are cheaper, but because I want to help them. Of course, the price does help." He gave me a signal of knowledge and I reciprocated. It remains to be seen what will happen with the Homo sapiens, as the Pro-Xeno Party had indicated it would go forward with a motion to ban the trade of unethically harvested Xenos, which would include taking those who are taken without an explicit declaration of free will.

Garbanar assured me he had such documents always with him and offered them, but upon request to see them he declined, saying they were not readily available at this point in time. What will happen to this upcoming market is yet to be seen, we will follow up on this story.