"Humans took a long time to fully develop methods of preserving history, and so much of their past is only remembered by what methods of war were currently being waged and what ores were in use for weapons."
"The fact that Humans expose themselves to sunlight in order to damage their skin and make it assume a darker hue just adds weight to the theory that this species is in love with death."
"Of the mighty armada that had left Imperial space to claim the blue planet there was no word. The transmissions had ceased abruptly, but long range communication was prone to mishaps, and no one was overly concerned."
""When the transit pod dropped from hyperspace it was assumed to be space junk at first, but a very weak transponder signal caused enough interest that the Governor-General ordered an investigation. The pod's sole occupant, a technician from the Armada's flagship had been driven to insanity by what he had witnessed, but he still managed to push a box into the Governor-General's grasp before collapsing."
"None of us were quite expecting what we found inside, if we knew to expect anything at this point. Staring back from the box were the lifeless eyes of the Lord Admiral, well two of his lifeless eyes at least, the third had been destroyed by a projectile which had left a gaping exit wound amongst his antennae. Accompanying the head was a small piece of paper on which was drawn a crude representation of a four-limbed biped, raising the middle digit of his forelimb in some sort of gesture."
"A translation of the short accompanying text proved to be a suggestion to do something physically impossible.""
"The Road Not Taken is a short story by Harry Turtledove, set in 2039, in which he presents a fictitious account of a first encounter between humanity and an alien race, the Roxolani. The story is told through limited third person point of view, with most of the story concerning a single Roxolani captain. During a routine journey of conquest, they happen upon Earth. The Roxolani anticipate a simple and rewarding campaign, as they can detect no use of gravity manipulation, the cornerstone of their civilization. Humanity is awed by the invaders, as the maneuverability granted by that technology suggests the rest of their civilization is equally impressive. But as they begin their assault, things take a turn for the absurd - the Roxolani attack with flintlock weapons and black powder explosives. Humans retaliate with automatic weapons and missiles. The battle is short, and most of the invaders are captured alive."
"Jungle world. Absolute nightmare, and to this day the Collective refuses to say why we were fighting there. I saw ONE of the humans during my entire stay on the planet. He jumped up from behind me with a gun- powder-based ballistic weapon, and the only thing that worked on that rock, since the damp shorted out our energy rifles. Anyhow, he was lathered in mud and leaves as a sort of camoflauge, and as long as I live I will never forget the look in his eyes. That was a look better attributed to a yx-hound gone mad. Sat vids would later show that he had been lying there for nearly 4 cycles, barely moving at all, waiting for someone to come by. And then he jumps up and doesn't even USE his weapon, but rather the sharp blade on the end of it. *long sip*
So he stabs me through the [lower torso], and I fall down, unable to move my lower appendages. He severed my spinal column with that one blow, and yet he continued stabbing me- FOUR MORE TIMES- until my squad opened fire. He turns around, not even bothering to dive for cover, and kills two more of them, injuring five, with that archaic rifle of his before he gets torn in half by an energy beam."
"One of the greatest ironies of the universe is that, despite their inherent military superiority to all other species, a vast section of human literature, particularly a genre they call "sci-fi" includes the theme of humans being vastly outmatched by older and more technologically advanced species. This is a trope that is repeated in practically all forms of human media, particularly in what humans call "video games".
...There is something terrifying about a people that have to make-up a species tougher than themselves just for the sake of challenging entertainment."
