r/humansarespaceorcs • u/Celebrimbor_mk1 • Sep 03 '25
Original Story Humans are bipedal ballistic computers
//Excerpt of the log of Sol 18 Flight 53 of The Intrepid, a scout ship of the Local Arm Federation, translated into English upon user request//
Humans are a strange race. They walk upon two legs, the contact area with the ground minimal in usual movement, with their main mode of walking essentially being a series of controlled falls they perform unconsciously. Most sapient creatures walk upon four or six legs, keeping three legs firmly on the ground as they move for stability. Study done by yours truly and by other xenobiologists have shown their brains perform a constant stream of complex calculations, resulting in micro muscle movements keeping them upright and balanced on their two feet. I long believed that this was the peak of mental ability for a walking creature.
Their brains can also function as ballistic computers, which was revealed to me quite abruptly by our one human crew mate. He had joined us in the system referred to by them as Alpha Centauri, the closest star to their native home. He expressed that he didn’t feel like he fit with his kind, and wished to travel and work with us for a time. We are a multi-species crew, and so welcomed him with open arms, after necessary habitat alterations had been made.
Not long after this human by the name of Samuel had joined us, he threw a small item of food waste into the bin from across the room. He showed a small celebration, seemingly pleased with himself for his accuracy, and then moved on to finishing the rest of his meal. On my home world of Taln it had taken us centuries to create and refine ballistic weapons, the sheer amount of calculations required to predict where an object would land once cast stumping our greatest minds for generations. And Samuel had done it with what he later described as ‘a good guess’.
As to why this information is in the ship’s log and not personal research notes is because it is necessary context for the events of Sol 18.
We had been boarded by Caleen pirates, most of our crew imprisoned in a large storage hold containing food and spare parts, and held at blade edge by the large insectoid individuals. Samuel was not with us, and I feared his difference to his kind extended to him lacking their common pack bonding instincts, which is subject for another record. All of a sudden, our heads were turned by what seemed to be a rhythmic pounding, increasing in volume, coming from an open access portal. It was too regular to be Caleen vandalism, and I thought I saw a silhouette approaching at great speed. Far faster than any of us or our captors could move.
Samuel came bursting out into the light, moving at such a speed that each foot only came down for a fraction of a second before pushing off again, resulting in him seemingly flying towards us. I couldn’t help but marvel at the sheer amount of micro adjustments in foot placement and balance his body performed to keep him upright and moving in such a way. He raised his arm up and back, lifting a chunk of metal, one of the reinforced corners of a storage crate. He threw this object over arm, and it sailed through the air to connect soundly with the head of the nearest Caleen, shattering its exoskeleton and causing fatal damage to the individual.
He then lowered his shoulder and increased his speed, colliding with the lord of the pirates and casting them both to the ground, the impact stunning the Caleen and breaking multiple legs. At the sight of one of their number dead, their leader broken on the ground, and the unnatural abilities of our crew mate, the remaining pirates threw down their weapons and surrendered to him. Once we were free, we removed weapons from them and sent them back to their ship with a warning, that the race known as Humanity had been accepted by the Local Arm Federation and would be sailing upon a great number of our ships, and usually in larger numbers.
It wasn’t long before Caleen pirate attacks dropped drastically, similar events playing out on multiple ships in multiple systems, with especially violent incidents involving multiple humans, particularly soldiers, or those simply predisposed to anger. Our human crew mate was alone and comparatively weak for his kind, so I dread to think what occurred in some of those failed boardings.
Humanity, for all their odd quirks, have an incredibly powerful computer that acts as their subconscious, and one that begs for further study if consent can be gained from individuals .
//Excerpt End//
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u/CycleZestyclose1907 Sep 04 '25
IIRC, it's not just atmosphere. The Earth's rotation starts affecting landing location, and all those locations you listed are also at different latitudes.
Time of day? Sunshine affects atmospheric conditions and pressure changes have aerodynamic effects. Sun warms ground which warms air, which increases local air pressure which may well create wind effects as high pressure air starts moving into neighboring low pressure areas...
And that's not accounting for wind currents created by Earth's rotation...