<div style="text-align: center;">Their planet was dying.</div><br/><br/>The Azurians were a race of innovative, intelligent people. Their planet was an old one, tired and worn. It had been abused by many years by the ones who didn't know any better. New technology every era, escalating in power, ability, and destructive force every time. Their home had had enough. Though technology had evolved in such a way that it could have reversed the earlier stages of destruction, it was too late. The world was ready to sleep.<br/><br/>The pollution had poisoned the ground, and while survival was more than possible, the damage had been done. The wombs of Azurian women were weak, or simply unyielding to the seed of Azurian men. They had a hard time producing children, and a short time to solve the problem before their race would perish altogether.<br/><br/>With the knowledge of the universe, and mathematical comprehension that the Azurians possessed, they began to search. In an infinite universe, there would be an infinite number of sentient species... including one that was genetically compatible with them.<br/><br/>They narrowed it down to five. The first planet was desolate. The signs of a civilization that once existed remained, the rotting corpse of industry. They had either moved on, or died. The second planet was not what they expected. The people there were primitive and violent. They may have bred with this people, if they could have survived long enough to conceive or impregnate. The third simply didn't exist. It was a miscalculation that led them to an empty section of space, and the fourth didn't exist any more, because it had been swallowed up by a dying sun. The fifth and last...<br/><br/>That was a success. This planet, Deruya, was much like theirs in a very unfortunate way. It was dying.<br/><br/>But it could be saved.<br/><br/>Their ship, containing about two million cerulean people that had indigo eyes, landed just outside of the shining globe of civilization. The land outside the ecosystem-bubble, or EcoBub, as it was called, was desolate and dangerous. But within were beautiful people with a golden and shining complexion.<br/><br/>Hopes and spirits were lifted. This was it. Three Azurians exited the ship, wearing thin suits that would protect them from the harsh environment. They approached the bubble and looked within. Soon, they were met by curious looks from the amber-eyed people, who had watched the ship land.<br/><br/>Dignitaries pushed past the civilians and met the Azurian delegation. Both races were members of the Unity Space-- which was not so much an empire, as a web: a way for different worlds to communicate with each other. They both knew the common language, and this was how they negotiated.<br/><br/>The Aurians, as they were called, blocked off a section for the three Azurian diplomats to enter the EcoBub. The EcoBub contained a metropolis of 30 million people-- a meager number compared to their former number of 8 billion. Like the Azurians, these people had dwindled in number. This, as they learned, was only a problem of space. The EcoBubble could not contain more people. Their fertility was unhurt... so far.<br/><br/>And so, the famous 1st proposition was made. The Azurians offered up their technology; the technology that would turn the downward progression of this world around, in return for being allowed to coexist and mingle amongst the Aurians.<br/><br/>It was a simple proposition, in its way, but the implications were far from simple. Let an alien race live on their world? Tamper with their ecosystem? What space was there for them? The Azurians insisted that if they could create a safe passage between the city and the ship, they could live on their ship until things were solved.<br/><br/>But controversy kicked up. What would happen if the Aurians let them go through with this? There were a large number of people, who by their nature hated the idea of accepting an alien race-- and worse,<span style="font-style: italic">breeding</span>with them. Even amongst the Azurians, there were those who wished their bloodlines to remain pure.<br/><br/>And, what exactly<span style="font-style: italic">would</span>happen if they created babies together? What would the children look like? What would they be capable of? Between the Aurian's ability to manipulate metal with their natural magnetism, and the Azurian's ability to heal at an impossible speed-- what would they get? Would these children of two worlds be much too powerful? Would they have no power at all? Would the mild mix of genetics make them malformed, so that they would die? Was the genetic match<span style="font-style: italic">really</span>close enough?<br/><br/>These were questions that couldn't be answered without experimentation. The ship was brought closer to the city, a passage built between the two. For three years, the debate went on while scientists faced the factual problems facing them.<br/><br/>One team studied the effects of the Azurian terra-forming technology on small portions of land outside of the EcoBub. The sifting of poison out of the soil, and replenishing minerals that had long since sunk down into the deeper layers worked brilliantly. Small green patches appeared where there had once been gray, lifeless dirt. This team was now trying to figure out how they could do this to the entire planet, furthering their horizons.<br/><br/>Another team studied the biology. Stem cell research of the mix of Azurian and Aurian races was inconclusive. The cells seemed healthy enough. However, a few cells was not enough to know how a full baby would form. The problem lied in politics. They could not take that extra step and start growing a fetus-- even, a baby, because it hadn't been legalized. They couldn't move forward until that happened. Their science could not surpass the restraints laid upon them by the law.<br/><br/>In those three years, no natural mix-breed babies were conceived. Some Azurians and Aurians had befriended each other, and perhaps even become interested in each other... but until there was conclusive research, the union between the two races was expressly forbidden, and that law was enforced.<br/><br/>To make things worse, hostility had been kicked up by an incident with two men of different race. They had killed each other over a dispute out in the Badlands, and both races insisted that the one of the other race must have been the instigator. Neither could accept that one of their own could have acted so rashly.<br/><br/>The controversies never end.<br/><br/>***<br/><br/>The debate is still going. The Azurians fear that their race will die out before it is ever resolved. The intellectuals of both races are fed up with the delay. Deruya is on the slow path to destruction, and the Azurian people are slowly disappearing. Soon both races will be doomed to die, one way or another.<br/><br/>What will it take?