Chapter 4047  Protective Public

The news of the crystal striders spread across not just the political class of Panama but also the entire world. News of newly discovered aliens spread across human civilization as the Panamic Space Organization disclosed information about the discoveries that they made regarding the planet to the world, causing a wave of excitement and amazement to ripple through human civilization.

[I want to get my hands on one as a pet!]

[Are you crazy? They'll crush you lol.]

[They clearly are evolved for another environment; they wouldn't be able to survive here on Gaia.]

[yeah, well, what about the laminar integuments that apparently came to Gaia? They're surviving just fine.]

[They're an advanced alien civilization, they're not comparable to random crystal crabs on an alien world.]

[We haven't yet gotten any confirmation on the level of sophistication of their civilization, yet. Who knows? Maybe they are technology advanced.]

[Ah man, I wish I could go to these worlds and check these cool aliens out!]

The interweb immediately surged with activity as some of the images and videos gathered by Sage Gurren were disseminated throughout human civilization, making everybody much more invested in the project than they would have otherwise been.

Of course, this was a calculated move. The more invested they were in the outcomes of such amazing operations and projects, the easier it was to get the Panamic Space Organization to go all out with such projects. It would not bode well if the public was largely antagonistic to these projects. But with the consent of the people, it became much easer to expand upon such projects and spread the reach of human civilization beyond Gaia and beyond Sol.

However, the people of Gaia weren't just excited by the discovery of indigenous alien species in the closest star system to Gaia. They also became fiercely protective of the crystal striders. Concerns about what the Panamic Space Organization would do to the crystal striders began to emerge among the people of Gaia.

[I hope they don't harm those adorable crystal crabs.]

[Yeah, humans don't exactly have a history of treating those they view as inferior well.]

[I don't care about populating planets or even the resources you could get. Just let those creatures live in peace.]

An outpouring of support emerged from the public to protect the rights of the aliens whose world they had stumbled upon. Most people weren't eager to see these creatures exterminated simply to get their hands on resources. Most people were also significantly against the harming or the interference of humans into the ecosystem of life in Serun Planera I.

In response to the rising heat from public sentiment, the Panamic Space Organization quickly released a statement to the public.

[The Panamic Space Organization recognizes the right to life and liberty of the crystal strider species discovered on Serun Planera I. From the very start, the missions to Serun Planera I were not conceived as conflicting in nature with the interests of any potential indigenous alien life. The directives of Project Interstellar are to avoid conflict wherever possible. For now, our ground surveillance team is keeping a distant, observant eye so that we can gather more information on the crystal strider species. Ideally, we seek to identify their means of communication, replicate them, and establish cooperation with their species. We do not intend to establish a permanent fixed presence in Serun Planera I and intend to maintain watch over them from a distance.

We will publish frequent updates on our observations of the crystal striders to allow the public to remain informed on everything that has transpired on Serun Planera I.]

The statement came as a relief to the many who were concerned that Pioneer I would capture and experiment on the poor crystal crabs. Not even the Panamans, who were most prone to violence and martiality, were eager to see the innocent crabs get hurt simply out of human greed. The affirmation of the rights to life and liberty came as a surprise to most people insofar as how far the Panamic Space Organization was willing to go to guarantee their well-being.

Technically speaking, there was no framework or system of law that required the Panamic Space Organization to truly respect such a right of the native alien species. But the establishment of such a precedent marked the pressure from the public to maintain the well-being of the crystal alien crabs. It also created precedent for the space organizations of the other six civilizations on their incoming space missions to the stars as well. Each of the other six civilizations had recognized the need to expand to the stars long ago, as well, having planned them years in advance after the True World War. The Panamic Space Organization managed to reach its goal the quickest thanks to the fact that the Emperor of Water controlled the supply of negatron matter. However, the other civilizations had also been rapidly building towards their own missions to space. There were questions as to how the imperialistic factions of the world, such as the Evolutionary Army, would deal with alien life if they ran into them; most civilizations would likely bend to public pressure on this particular matter.

"The Lost Continent has gained the edge on us," Mother Vyia remarked with a knowing tone of voice as she sipped some green tea, gazing at the reports from the Panamic Space Organization.

"That may be so, but the reality is that they have also saved us," Mother Maeria, seated opposite her across a living wooden table, replied knowingly.

The two sisters shared a cup of green tea under the darkening sky at twilight upon a hill.

Mother Vyia directed a pointed gaze at her older sister. "You have grown too involved with the Emperor of Water to look at this objectively."

Mother Maeria frowned at those words, but didn't deny it. Indeed, her cooperation with Rui had made her much more prone to care about their commonalities. They had collaborated for many years, even in secret when the light elves hated him, making her feel like he was a true friend to her.