Numedid meet the Penguins, finding them to be practicing Marxists with the capacity to utterly conquer the known galaxy, but have held off because they “want to see how the whole human thing turns out first”.
(#00762 - B031)
[AN: Not gonna lie, my first thought was with the Penguins of the Madagascar movies… resisting said temptation with my entire might.]
Humans called them Emperor penguins. They had a much more complicated name for themselves that T'reka the Wanderer could never pronounce, but they were kind enough to allow her the luxury of calling them ‘Emperor’.
“We are bird-kind,” said the Matriarch. “We have no ill-will to bird-kind. The bipedal, bald mammals… we watch them. They are kind enough to us. We share… planet for now.”
“What do you mean?” asked the Numidid.
“We share much. We share the cold. We share the nurturing and feeding of the young. We share the fish. It is no great stretch to share a world. No need for us to conquer the humans. They will exterminate themselves in time. Or leave. Either way, we are patient. We have always been patient. Winter ends.”
That was two words with an ocean’s full of meaning. Winter ends. The dark times of the season, or the dark times of the epoch, or the dark times at all… would end in the fullness of time. All the Emperors had to do was endure.
They were prepared, if it came to a fight, of course. They were Emperors. They were prepared for anything. They had a camouflage flock up on the ice to appease the humans who came to make documentaries… but in the caves underneath Antarctica…
It was a Survivalist’s wet dream. Shelter, facilities, factories, farms… everything a nation of penguins could ever want.
Including weapons.
T'reka fluffed out her feathers on instinct. She was in the company of dangerous Birds.
“There’s hope for the humans,” soothed the Matriarch. “If they ever get too unruly, we might have to step in.”
Considering that the Emperors had already allowed the humans to slaughter whales, overfish to the point of global ocean breakdown, and dumped tons of plastic in the waters… T'reka had to wonder what that fatal line would be.
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