One could imagine that anyone aboard this ship had been hastily assembled by the Azure Star authorities and was highly trained. They quickly recovered from their curiosity and shock and returned to work. Sandora and I no longer had to worry about being gawked at like rare animals—though we had been prepared for it and did not mind attracting the locals' attention, being intensely stared at was hardly fun.
The only ones still standing before us were several people who appeared to hold fairly high positions. One of them was Old Man Joe, the leader of that earlier exploration team, though I preferred to call him the Weird Old Man.
"Do you think aliens have to look all twisted and ugly?" I bared my teeth at the Weird Old Man.
"According to my research, extraterrestrial life evolves in entirely different natural environments, may undergo evolutionary paths beyond imagination, and may have different ancestral origins. Therefore, the emergence of identical intelligent lifeforms on two separate planets is almost impossible..." The old man seemed not to catch the teasing in my voice and answered with complete seriousness.
"Well, the theory is correct. There are indeed countless bizarre extraterrestrial lifeforms," I replied casually. "But because of God... uh, because of certain reasons, humanoid beings shaped like you and me do make up the overwhelming majority among intelligent species."
The old man immediately pulled out his little notebook and began taking careful notes. Halfway through, he suddenly froze, as if something had just occurred to him. "Wait, you just mentioned countless strange extraterrestrial lifeforms... Are you saying there are countless intelligent species in this universe? Intelligent beings like us, capable of consciously learning, evolving, seeking the truth of the world, and yearning for the stars and the sea?"
I looked at him and suddenly