Per 
Irā saxiyaŋiŋis yaŋ ilyatirā hātkisīlxa zaŋča łiřačānīin
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An anthropological and biological study of the Iṛiḷañasa.
Compiled from the following reports:
| - 4556th Admiralty board report, sections 1.5.55 to 1.5.76
| - Captain Ařini of the PSV-Xlīčā's log /351-9871/0677/
| - Ordanance survey of the Ākanāsa escarpment /351-9418/3151/
| - Medical reports on the iṛiḷañasa recovered from the Kahara ascendency, full text of the reports below
| - Exploratory report from Zkāri-xaztaŋ /352-0213/1677
Introduction - Preamble:
All navigator's know of the great oddity that is the Ākanāsa escarpment, a tangled knot of spacetime that has been a hazard to all starfarers for several millennia now. Within the escarpment contains a class 40 zkali-nzasāri star categorised as ʢ-NZA-40 with a number of large bodies in orbit, one of the most notable being ʢ-NZA-40/3.
ʢ-NZA-40/3 is the only planet within 20 light years of the escarpment to contain liquidized Ari'āsri-zkali, covering up to 70% of its surface. Complex knāxsi allotropes cover the non Ari'āsri-zkali surface, many forming complex lifeforms, some sedentary, others mobile. Researchers have categorised these knāxsi-based lifeforms into three main categories: Category-1, lifeforms that depend on the internal heat of ʢ-NZA-40/3 to survive, Category-2:, lifeforms that gain sustenance from exposure to radiation from ʢ-NZA-40, these two categories are mostly sessile. Category-3 lifeforms gain sustenance from the consumption of the previous two, and at times their own category.
The most prevalent Category-3 lifeform, and most prevalent of all categories, is the Iṛiḷañasa. Further outlined below:
Part 1 - the biology and behavior of the Iṛiḷañasa:
The Iṛiḷañasa appear to be the dominant Category-3 lifeform inhabiting ʢ-NZA-40/3, with their constructs cover a significant portion of ʢ-NZA-40/3's surface
The Iṛiḷañasa have four main limbs, two of which are used almost exclusively for locomotion, the other two used for carrying and holding items, each limb splits into five smaller limbs, used for fine manipulation. Several other category-3 lifeforms that posses 4 limbs used all exclusively for locomotion. This can cause a restriction of several passages used for the intake of vital gases, limiting the period of rapid locomotion possible at a time. The Iṛiḷañasa are not hindered by this and have been observed exhausting other 4 limbed category -3 lifeforms through continued rapid locomotion, to the point of expiration.
The Iṛiḷañasa organize themselves into fractalizing groups and subgroups, the criteria of entry into said groups is arbitrary and depends heavily on the group's purpose, this behavior has been noted to have originated in their early history to protect and support other Iṛiḷañasa in their group. Iṛiḷañasa have been observed to eat anything and to endure extended periods deprived of any sustenance. Iṛiḷañasa require constant consumption of Ari'āsri-zkali to continue, deprivation of Ari'āsri-zkali causes lethargy and pestilence within those deprived.
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…culture stratified, violent disagreements are commonplace…
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… have shown a great capacity for emotional relation to others of their kind and cold brutality to those perceived as the ou…
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Section 5 - the effects of the Ākanāsa escarpment upon the ecosystem of ʢ-NZA-40/3 and surrounding territory:
The convoluted space-time topology of The Ākanāsa escarpment is theorized to cause several, temporal, biological, and spatial anomalies, the danger and usefulness of such anomalies varies and many are sought to be controlled by various in-out groups. Some exploiting the anomalies for material gain, self-expression or for the safety of the rest of the Iṛiḷañasa. As the is an unspoken moratorium on the interaction between the Iṛiḷañasa and many anomalies.
The Ākanāsa escarpment is believed to have been created by several higher dimensional beings for unknown purposes, some of which still reside in the ʢ-NZA-40 system. Due to the danger of traversing The Ākanāsa escarpment, the Iṛiḷañasa have relatively low contact with other spacefaring species.
Because of this, almost all encounters with the Iṛiḷañasa have been hostile. Such incidents include.
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A shot rang out as the thing scuttled across the open country. The bullet narrowly missed, hitting some rock in the dust. The rifleman lowered his gun and swore to himself. He broke into a run down the scree leaning back as he went. He knew that that thing would begin to blend back into the landscape soon. His legs rang in pain and his arms sagged but he pressed on. He stopped at a large boulder and laid across it and took aim. He held his breath while fixing the scope on the thing, still scuttling across the open prairie.
A second shot rang out. The thing turned left perpendicularly, then right, then left, then right. then it was gone.
Davis dropped his gun and fell to his knees. He wasn't one for crying but he sure felt like it now. He sat on his knees on the side of a hill for too long to know, till the sky began turning pink. He stood up a bit too quickly he was lightheaded and his knees cracked, shakey footed he began his trek back across the open prairie, following the places where he'd fallen, tripped, stumbled or ran hard that day. Each one was a reminder still painful and sore.
When Davis got back to the house he put the rifle away and put on cleaner clothes. He went out to the shed and got a shovel and began to dig someways in the field. six feet long, two feet wide and three deep. The soil was loose and dusty which made the digging faster, easier. Davis wrapped his wife in a white sheet and placed her in the hole. He shoveled the dirt back in.
Davis did anything. He didn't say anything for the next few weeks. He didn't do anything for the next few weeks. Days began to blur a bit like the lines on the road, He cleaned the house a bit and sat in the chair by the TV and did nothing, he ate the food left in the pantry and did nothing. When the food was out he took the truck up to town.
The drive gave him time to think, time which he didn't use for that. He looked at the rough landscape empty minded
Davis put things in the trolley without paying much notice. A sudden clack sook him alert. He saw Paul Robinson from the farm up the road pushing his own trolly, slabs of cold meat and bags of potatoes covered six-packs at the bottom of it.
Well how you been Davis, Paul exclaimed loudly, I hant seen you in months, hows everything been? Fine, Davis replied, quietly. Yeah good hey I was just planning to have a barbeque tonight maybe you could bring Darla along? Paul said. Davis paused for a moment before speaking: Darla… uh left me, a few weeks ago. She left you? For who? Paul responded. Don't know, just got a note on the pillow saying she was fed up, just left. Davis said quietly. Oh, that's, that's just awful, when did this happen? Few weeks ago, Davis replied. My god.. was there any indication of anything? No, nothing, Davis answered, she was being a bit… withdrawn you know, just wasn't paying her enough attention.
Excuse me, a short middle-aged woman said to the two, could you just pass me that box of pasta there? This one? Paul replied, No the fusilli over there she said. Yeah, here you go, Paul said passing the box to her. Thank you kindly the woman said smiling, two small children in tow.
Anyway, Davis do you wanna come to the barbeque anyway, just to get out of the house? See a different face that isn't just in the mirror?
Yeah, sure. Davis replied. Great, I'm firing up the grill at around 7 see ya there.
Davis sat in the chair by the TV and looked at the clock till quarter to six, where he got in his truck and drove to Paul Robinson's house. The setting sun was in his eyes on the drive up. The sky in front of him was a bright white reflecting off clouds. He scanned the visible horizon nervously. The desert beside him stretched out flat to the hills in the distance. A black column rose against the bright white sky. A wreck appeared in the distance, a car turned over and smoking, long scrapes up and down the bodywork. That image stuck in Davis' mind much longer than he hoped, burned there. He missed the turn to Paul's ranch, Davis made a sharp U-turn. He stopped and paused and thought. Then drove into Paul's ranch.
