Simius, the third planet from the yellow dwarf star, Soleilnus, yielded an infinite amount of life forms. The animal kingdom was a competitive world, eating or being eaten was the principle. Formidable, two-legged, upright, hairless primates known as Simians, was a species that caused the planet's unfortunate past. Corrupted and egotistical, they viewed themselves as the smartest and the greatest but were obtuse and pompous. This paradoxical arrogance led to the planet facing doom one thousand seven hundred years ago.
Pollution hung like a fog of death across Simius, the poles thawed, severe weather abounded, droughts, scarcity of freshwater, and food with modified genetics stocked grocery store shelves. Poverty spiraled out of control with the introduction of robots and androids that performed tasks with faster precision than their Simian competitors. Robotics engineers, the government, and food manufacturers became richer, but the citizens became poorer. That was when The Survivors War began. The war started in the year 6015 and ended in 6115 with environmental and governmental reform.
After the war, Simians instated global unity and Simius became united under one rule. A prime minister was elected and empowered to appoint others to rule on continent, parish, and city levels. People took steps toward cleaner energy, but total environmental reform came upon contact from outer space. Contact with an alien species from the planet, Draigonn Prime, happened in 7544.
The Draigonnians desired to expand their commerce and technology. Simians welcomed them with open arms. They introduced Simius to the world-changing xyloium, a mineral that was mined on Draigonn Four. Draigonn Four had an abundant supply of xyloium, and with Simius providing the demand, trade flourished between the two species.
Similar to quartz, xyloium was a crystal but had a gold pearlized color giving it the colloquial name of Draigonnian gold. Xyloium conducted a voltage higher than quartz which made it ideal for piezoelectricity. Simian scientists lined fault lines with xyloium pressure generators and flooded the planet's power grid. Clean energy surged across Simius, the technology being used to power houses, businesses, and vehicles. Space travel was another knowledge that Draigonnians brought to the planet.
Through a mode of travel referred to as distortion drive, spaceships traveled between Simius and Draigonn Prime within a few weeks. Using xyloium in a spaceship's distortion chamber, a reaction generated high-energy plasma that distorted space-time and propelled the spaceship through space in a distortion field.
Simians imported xyloium, and knowledge of space travel, and clean energy. Their exports were medical technology which advanced Draigonnian medical practices, and narcotics, legal on Simius since the sixty-first century.
Draigonnians took interest in Simius' narcotics as their environment lacked in producing them. Draigonnians were strong-willed and had an incredible tolerance for narcotics. This helped their civilization to avoid the drug epidemic that some Simian nations faced in the past. Draigonnians used narcotics the same as Simians, but they knew when to stop, whereas Simians used them until they lost all inhibitions.
The Simian government sent troops to Draigonn Prime, leading some people to assume that they knew of other alien species. The troops lived on Draigonn Prime, while citizens visited for vacations. Some Draigonnians settled on Simius to make it their new home. Simian spaceships orbited Simius. Some suspected that their duties extended beyond protecting the planet and patrolling the solar system's borders.
Although Simians had been saved, the animal kingdom was still hungry. Billions of tiny, black ants swarmed the delicacy that was a ladybug. She tried to fight and survive, but like a shark sensing blood, the army sensed her disability and nipped and bit at her with their venomous pincers. The ants carried her limbs to their hill, she was dying, exhausted, and at the mercy of the menacing army that swarmed her. A fallen giant among ravenous dwarves.
"Excuse me," a light male voice pierced the air, calling Thomas Ullian's attention from the besieged ladybug.
The young man who spoke had a face the shade of alabaster with an uncanny smoothness to suggest it was sculpted from the substance. His matching hair was straight and thick like strands spun from mohair, and long with the ends dusting his shoulders. Purple eyes regarded Thomas, sparkling like amethyst. Eyes, in his opinion, that might have been appealing set in the face of a darling female. The young man had a proud, exotic face with smooth lips and high cheekbones of feminine nature, and a sloping nose that was full at the tip. His countenance held an arrogance that annoyed Thomas.
The jewel-like eyes revealed the youth as an Anoslian from the Anosa area of Draigonn Prime. Draigonnian eyes, nails, blood, and inside of their mouths, except the teeth, were the same in color; ranging through red, yellow, orange, pink, blue, green, and purple. These colors were referred to as points, specific to the area of the planet where the Draigonnian's bloodline originated. Draigonnians had four genders: males, females, she-males, and he-females.
Draigonnian males and females were the same as Simian males and females. She-males were women with functioning penises, scrota, and breasts. He-females were males with functioning vaginas, ovaries, and uteri. She-males and he-females had spots matching the color of their points, extending from their temples to the front of their ears. The youth's face was absent of the gender markings signaling he was male.
The male’s pretentious physical appearance was irritating, and his clothing choice added to Thomas' dislike of him. He wore the traditional colors linked to his planet and their ludicrous polytheistic religion. Though the religion was followed by the majority of Draigonnians, it was the devout who wore the colors. Except for his black, tall, and laced-up combat boots, he wore blue, purple, and white. The pants and vest were midnight blue, made of what appeared to be an imported Draigonnian fabric, thin with a subtle sheen. Beneath the vest, the young man wore a white three-button Henley. Over everything, he wore a lightweight, dark purple cargo-style coat. Across the young man's chest was slung the strap of a leather messenger bag that hung at his side. Dangling from his neck on a golden chain was an orb of hymiclyte surrounded by a ring of xyloium, carved with an elaborate scrolling pattern.
Hymiclyte was a black stone mined on Draigonn Prime. The stone resembled marble but had bright blue and purple veins. Devout Draigonnians wore the orb as respect for their god, Hymiclyo, who they worshipped as space and void. They believed he was the creator of all things.
Each color the young man wore represented the Draigonnian environment. The blue for the water, the purple for the sky, and the white for the snow. According to the Draigonnian religion, these were sacred. Thomas found worship of any kind to be childlike and impractical, as Simian scientists had debunked religions millennia ago.
Thomas gave an internal shiver at the young man’s thin fabrics. He was draped in a long wool coat to block the chill of the late fall weather. Draigonnians enjoyed freezing weather as Draigonn Prime was frigid. On several occasions, the south pole of their planet dropped to one hundred fifty-two degrees below zero. The average Draigonnian on Simius lived in cold, northern suburbs.
According to Thomas, the male's attire was a pompous show in line with the other dunderheads he taught. His choice of attire was fit for the cover of 'My Generation Now,' referred to as 'MGN,' a periodical consumed by teen girls (Thomas' oldest daughter was one of them). The periodical had plenty of pages splashed with pale-faced androgynous Draigonnian males. Those males were the typical long-bodied, leggy aliens while this youth was runty, a misfit among his kind.
Resting back on the stone bench, Thomas pursed his lips in vexation and asked in a solid, flat tone, "Yes, how may I help you?"
"I'm looking for the Liberal Arts building. Is it down this way?" The young man pointed a pale finger down the walkway that stretched across the courtyard. His voice was honeyed to Thomas' ears which, to him, meant they covered a mountain of dung.
"Yes, it is," Thomas replied. "Just keep straight and make a turn to the left where the paths intersect."
"All right, thanks." The young man smeared on a charming smile, prompting the side of Thomas' upper lip to rise and twitch. The amiable display gnawed at him. "Sorry to bother you again," the youth offered without reacting to Thomas' lip twitch as he readied to leave the area.
"It's all right," Thomas assured him as his irritation began to subside because the youth was leaving. "I know how it is being a freshman at a university, and Guhillachula is quite a large campus."
"Oh, I'm not a student." The young man shook his head. "I'm a new professor."
Thomas parted his lips to ask how he became a professor at his age, but the young man had moved from his range. Examining the state of the ladybug, he found that she and her devourers had been smashed beneath the young Draigonnian's foot. A few crippled ants scampered in a circle and others were frantic as they tried to understand what had transpired. His annoyance intensified to a subtle dislike of the young man. Anyone with a lack of respect for animals was unworthy of his respect.
Releasing a doleful noise of gloom, Thomas mourned the ants that died on their mission. Retrieving his briefcase beside his foot, he stood. Reading his watch, the numbers showed that his class was going to begin in a mere fifteen minutes.
As Thomas started toward the direction of the Liberal Arts building a pitter-patter of small feet against the pavement followed him, and a muffled and frantic voice called, "Wwaaiitt!"
Frowning in puzzlement, Thomas addressed the glorious beast racing toward him with a brown paper bag held in her delicate mouth. The wind lifted the dog's white and light tan hair making it whip in the air. She resembled a small fluffy cloud that had fallen to the ground.
The answer to why Simian animals talked baffled Draigonnians. They had been talking since the invention of language. Some animals liked being guides to people while others kept their distance. As animal guides, they offered their wisdom and assisted people in making choices throughout their lives.
Reaching Thomas, the bouncy fluff ball dropped the bag at his feet, pressed her front paws against his legs, and stretched. Grinning at him, Dana showed her crooked top teeth and bottom teeth missing four in the front.
"You forgot your lunch! You made me run all the way here to give it to you! You know how much work that is?" the dog complained and huffed as she lifted one paw and swiped it over her short muzzle to display her annoyance.
"Dana, you did not run all the way here," Thomas said with disbelief as he knelt to her level and scratched behind her floppy ears. "Thank you, but I really didn't need a bag lunch today."
"I'll eat it!" The Shih Tzu yelped with excitement and bounced with her front paws patting his knee.
"I bet you will," he agreed with a thin smile. Taking the bag, he stood and queried, "Tanya sent you all the way here with the lunch?"
"Yes, she did," Dana’s huge, brown eyes gleamed at him, and a grin plastered her face. "I caught three buses to get here. One driver made a fuss about me getting on with food, then I threatened to bite him on the ass, and he let me pass."
Thomas shook his head in subtle amusement and dictated, "Well, go on, go back home, Dana. Thanks for the lunch."
"Humph!" the dog snuffled. "I'm not going all the way back home on a bus. Tanya packed my lunch in there too."
Thomas peered into the bag. Inside was an apple, peanut butter crackers, a carton of orange juice, a turkey sandwich, and a bag filled with long, beef jerky sticks.
"You call that a lunch?" the amusement was obvious in Thomas’ voice as he referred to the jerky, which was for the dog.
"Well, of course, you will share with me by default," the dog assumed with an encouraging smile.
"Very well," he relented and started toward class with the gleeful Shih Tzu trotting behind him.
Entering the Liberal Arts building Thomas waded through the sea of bodies and their personalities strolling at their sides. Though he tried to avoid contact with others, it was futile as he attempted to dodge one person and crashed into another. He shuffled around one girl handing a stack of books to one of her personalities. The personality handed them to the other who handed them back and they continued to repeat the behavior. Thomas was thankful he was born without personalities as they took a large amount of space, but the downfall to that was the disorders that developed in people without them, and that included him.
All Simian women were born with two personalities in them represented by two people while some men were born without them. Some of these men became priest-physicians or went insane. Priest-physicians knew at birth if a male child had personalities. They possessed the ability to put in, take out, or remove personalities when needed. Some crooked priest-physicians did this for payment.
Personalities represented the dynamics of the individual's personality. Some Simians with mental disorders had personalities with the same disorders and some were psychotic. Though they were capable of harming a person, they were unable to harm each other. Adult in appearance, their image changed with a thought. Their energy was constant without the need for food. They spoke in the plural and stayed in the same structure as their owner. Some scientists hypothesized there was a connection between personalities and animal guides.
A person's personalities came out, meaning they manifested, when they reached their young adult years, between sixteen and twenty-five¹. People possessed the ability to take their personalities in, meaning they disappeared, instead of having them out, meaning world interaction. The way a person took out and put in their personalities was inherited and taught by families. Keeping personalities locked inside was harmful to a person and caused insanity. Some cruel people paid crooked priest-physicians to let others' personalities out without their permission while they slept, and made it hard to put them back in, which caused stress.
Priest-physicians were shrouded in mystery and disallowed others to observe their work. During an operation, they placed the patient in a sleep state. At times, they found it hard to take out, put in, or remove personalities. The hardship was intensified if the person was a child. At times it was impossible. Some angry Simians were the result of having their personalities released in childhood by a crooked priest-physician. Several incidents existed, where mentally ill children, shocked by their personalities’ actions, fell into comas.
Personalities that committed crimes were excised forever by a priest-physician. Removing a person's personalities left them empty of emotions, except when it happened in infancy and childhood. Women who had their personalities stripped from them either attempted suicide or succeeded. Personalities were unable to hurt priest-physicians.
Men who were born without personalities were like other men, they had innate personalities but were odd in disposition, their personalities locked inside. Some, like Thomas, visited temples to seek guidance and treatment from priest-physicians. Rare occasions existed where men developed personalities after their young adult stage.
Thrusting from the abyss of doltish students and their manifested puppets, Thomas reached his class in a disgruntled state. Stepping into the classroom, he passed the personalities' seats and one female personality whistled, saying, "Sexy."
Dana growled and barked at the being bearing her teeth. Grumbling in annoyance, Thomas continued to the front of the class and set his briefcase on the tabletop. He was accustomed to unbridled and vivacious college girls tossing their wiles at him. Some attempts were fueled by want of a passing grade while others desired him as a handsome and successful man.
Having a trim, muscular, and strapping form with a head full of lush, dark, coffee brown hair that fell in loose curls past his shoulders, a pair of silvery gray-blue eyes intensified by the glass of his spectacles, Thomas was coveted by plenty of women. All advances were rejected with a direct 'no, thank you,' and all students attempting to trade favors for grades were reported. This gave him the reputation of being a prudish snob though all he wanted was to be single.
Thomas's eyes moved over the students, their personalities, and animal guides. Some animal guides were beneath their owner's seats, and others were perched on tables or their owner's heads.
Such a nuisance, he thought to himself. How many buffoons are among you?
"Good morning," Thomas greeted the class in his ever-unemotional level tone as he pushed his mane over his shoulders and adjusted his glasses. "I am Prof. Ullian, and this is Anthropology 3715. The roster will now be read. Please answer when your name is called."
Removing an electronic tablet from his briefcase, Thomas scrolled through the documents until he came to the roster. Setting the tablet on the table, he removed a chair. Dana hopped onto the chair and to the table. Walking to the tablet she began to call the students' names while Thomas passed out the semester’s syllabus.
"We will be covering early N'Sombatan culture, before Winburdish influence," Thomas announced when he returned to the front of the class. "In the syllabus, you will find the books that you will need for the class, please have them by Wednesday."
"Are we going to cover the early N'Sombatan personalities as well?" one hopeful student inquired.
"You very well can't study the culture of a people without studying how their personalities affected them," he gave a matter-of-fact answer.
"Personalities are not conducive to the development of Simian culture," another student interjected in a condescending tone.
Addressing the student who commented, Thomas' form chilled like an icicle had pierced his soul. The young man had a large python winding its way around him, his dark eyes cut through Thomas like a knife through butter. The young man filled him with a foreboding sensation, sure to haunt him after class adjourned.
"Would it be wrong of me to assume that you are without personalities?" Thomas voiced his assumption.
"You guessed right," the young man answered, a devious smirk on his face as he thrust his chest out with pride. His animal guide appeared to be grinning at Thomas. "And I don't need them. They're all stupid and get in the way!" the young man seethed with venom in his words as he shot a contemptuous expression to the personalities' seats. The occupants began to mutter amongst themselves. "Who needs two freaks following them around and wiping their ass all day long? I can't even take a leak without the guy next to me having his personalities hold it for him."
"Shut up!" a personality shouted from the back row.
"All right! All right! Settle down please." Thomas ordered, waving his hands at the class attempting to maintain order. "No-one knows for certain why personalities developed. There are some who believe that Simians evolved to a higher level of consciousness so to say, but you will have to take Personality Studies to find out more about that. This is Anthropology. So, shall we begin?"
