Free excerpt in honour of the first 50 copies sold!
This would be a good moment to examine the main character of our story. At this moment, he’s sitting on the edge of town a few hundred yards from Filshbirn’s Garage, staring ahead and letting his mind wander
a bit. This is very unusual behaviour for his particular species, which isn’t known for their deep thoughts. Or any thoughts, for that matter. The explosion was loud enough to stir his interest but far enough away to make it sound safe: despite their natural lack of inquisitiveness, Halikarnassians were able to learn. In recent years they learned that an explosion could be painful if you were standing too close to one. The Halikarnassian turned towards the source of the explosion, saw the plume of smoke rising and stood up. The name of this specific Halikarnassian is, unfortunately, B’ork.
Look at him.
He does not have any striking features or an exceptional beauty. His species has not been equipped with a colourful carapace or jewel-encrusted horns. Equipped with only one nose, two eyes, two ears and a single mouth, atop a torso containing its organs and sprouting just two arms, the whole organic contraption being carried by only two legs, it is clear that Nature ran out of inspiration when designing Halikarnassians, especially when compared to the multitude of possible sizes, shapes, forms and appendices found throughout the Universe.
His ashen hair, though slightly curly, can’t be described as anything other than ‘bland’. Although his body has been rather strengthened by the years of forced labour, there’s still a hint of couch potato that betrays his evolutionary origin. And even though he looks just like any other member of his species1, something in his stance and a sharp glint (or rather: a less-than-usually-dull glint) in his eyes tells the onlooker that this isn’t an average Halikarnassian.
And this is absolutely correct. Because, contrary to his genetic design to live his life spread-eagled like the rest of his species, B’ork is destined for something else.
It has been stated elsewhere that evolution works in leaps, rather than in a gradual way. Technological development, for example, does not so much ease in but rather happens overnight due to something in the
right brain in the right place at the right time going ‘click’.
This often results in great evolutionary leaps such as the invention of the wheel, the discovery of fire, the development of steam engines and eventually the harnessing of antimatter warp engines that gives
access to interstellar travel. Since intelligent life evolves in similar ways (although the amount of limbs, eyes or even hearts may differ) this happens all throughout the Universe. Sometimes, it takes only one individual to change the species as a whole.
So on a thousand planets the invention of the wheel set the dominant species2 on the course to interstellar space travel. On a thousand planets the dominant species mastered fire. Where the surface of a planet is covered with magma this goes somewhat faster than on planets with a liquid hydrogen/oxygen atmosphere. Although the invention of fire on those planets could safely be called an explosive development, combining
the discovery of fire with interstellar travel in one go. On a thousand planets there have been pointless wars, deeply rooted in superstition, belief, religion and the idea that there wasn’t a very good reason the neighbour should possess more than oneself had. On a thousand planets ideas flowered about the equality of the masses and the redistribution of wealth. On one peculiar planet the discovery of a way of instant communication across the planet's surface by means of small devices led to an immediate disintegration of the social fabric because of the excessive advertisements to buy “ringing tones” for the device. Thus leading to the users bankrupting themselves.
Evolution takes strange turns sometimes, and it doesn’t ask for directions.
B’ork happens to be one of those individuals who, due to a small alteration in his genetic make-up, will make an impact on the evolution of a whole species; destined to steer its course in a whole new direction, whether the species wants to or not.