"That shouldn't be an issue. Those sorts of things for students are fair game in every agreement we have made. If you develop new technology yourselves, it isn't against our rules to provide you with basic knowledge of the universe." Nena agreed.
"In that case, I might need a map as well. Between what we have managed so far, and the portal generator that we captured from the Narsians, it might not be more than a generation before the Reavers are capable of visiting other Galaxies, and it would be awfully rude for us to show up unannounced." Max suggested, making the aliens laugh.
"Our history is full of that. Very few species think of asking what is in a Galaxy before they leave their own for the first time. It is only because your species has taken such an odd evolutionary path that you had the opportunity to gain such knowledge in advance." Nena agreed.
Max could see in her thoughts that they didn't tell the Mercenaries where they were from, as it wasn't knowledge that they thought such a low-tech species needed. But Max and the Reavers had exceeded the Warp 10 boundary and attracted the attention of the more evolved, who monitored for such developments as a sign that a species would either soon reach enlightenment or become an intergalactic threat.
Going by the thoughts of the resident aliens about the species they had met in the past, Max put humanity closer to the intergalactic threat side of the equation, but with just a few more tweaks they could eliminate most of the reasons for violent expansion.
That left pure and simple greed, but that wasn't something that could be just eliminated from a species.
"Sure it can. The Valkia were once viewed as harbingers of death everywhere that we went, as the need for a challenge was ingrained into our very genetic structure, but we managed to evolve past it and turn our need for challenge toward less violent pastimes.
So it wasn't a lack of potential for violence that they measured, but a species' capability to keep it under control and not let it turn into planet-wide wars.
Perhaps this Galaxy wasn't as incapable as he thought. They just needed unity and a few centuries to get their acts in order once the politicians were reigned in.
Walking past the section that was mostly items from Terminus, Nena led them down a side path, which was an eclectic mix of items vaguely like the last section, and biomechanical technology samples. It was all holographic, for obvious reasons, but the living power packs, filled with a form of slime that could store incredible amounts of energy, were the real attraction.
Forget massive capacitors, and powering up the main engines, a single one of these packs the size of a ration pack could store enough energy to power a hovercar for years.
Using a version of that tech alongside the Replicators would be a huge benefit to their systems, reducing the draw on the main power when they were underway. The replicators were great at making food, but like the Materials Printers, they were huge energy hogs.
"I thought that you might appreciate this particular section. It was the development path where the Innu met with the Giants and started mixing their technology. They were the ones that started the development of portals, as their species never developed space travel at all and simply went for higher quality telescopes and portals until they could reliably place themselves on other planets.
That introduced them to a few nearby species, and since the Innu didn't have any natural predators on their planet, things went much more smoothly than expected." Nena explained.
The Innu were the hot pink aliens with tentacles for hair, which seemed much more laid back than the others, as well as tech-focused, something that it seems they weren't always.
"On the contrary, they were too tech-focused. They learned to send probes into space, but their focus on technology meant that they never deciphered how to make space travel safe for a biological organism, so they were trapped on their planet, with their bio-engineered technology. They once had a version of nanobots that were similar to your own, but without the artificial intelligence, and controlled by the users to perform tasks for them and enhance their natural bodies."
That had Nico's full attention now, and she was carefully inspecting one of the technicians in a way that was clearly making the alien uncomfortable.
"Nico, we can get you data from a hologram. I think you're scaring our host." Max called as Nico lifted the woman's hair tentacles to examine them.
"Oh, sorry. Theta mentioned that they had a collection of the same sort of biomechanical upgrades that I'm working on, and I forgot that there was a person attached." Nico replied, giving the woman a polite bow and her best pleading face.
The Innu didn't seem to mind though and had already started asking Nico rapid-fire questions about her own modifications, and the technology that she had incorporated, so Max decided to ignore the weirdos and continue the tour.
He was recording as much as he could, and he could sense that Nico was as well, between conversations with the people around her, so they shouldn't come away empty-handed.
They looped through the organic technology of the Innu, and then over toward the section that represented the Valkia. It made up most of the museum, as they were the largest group on the ship, and according to the signs had been an interstellar species for twenty thousand years or more.
Twenty thousand years ago was the event they called "The Blessing" which seemed to be the point when they gave up killing things for entertainment.
That section was so far beyond anything that Max could understand that he could only identify most of it by the written descriptions, and there was no hope of him reproducing it on Terminus, even if they were given decades to try.
No wonder the Valkia wasn't worried about letting him into the museum, there wasn't anything in here that wasn't thousands of years out of date, and most of it was utterly incomprehensible with his level of scientific knowledge.
It was a very enlightening experience.
