Here is the scenario: - The boss is the usual fucknut who has been promoted to her (in this case) level of incompetence, and is quite the pain in the arse, and less capable than her underlings. One such underling is half-alien, half-human. The alien part is a complete unknown, just a set of instructions transmitted to earth. She seems human enough, she says and does all the right things, but who knows what ulterior motive/ loyalties she has? Alien is not next in line; the next in line is a soldier- loyal, effective, but with no interest in a command position. Soldier would refuse orders he found unconscionable and assume temporary command if the situation required it, by force, whether from incompetent human or questionable alien. So, would you vote for the incompetent boss or the human/ alien hybrid with unknowable motives? Remember you have quite an effective person who will act as arbiter of decisions.
What's the job? And do we know she's half-alien? How to we feel about aliens in this context? Are they friendly aliens or not-so-friendly aliens? How incompetent is the boss? Just generally douche-baggy or is she like burn-a-bowl-of-cereal useless? And what's at stake with the job-thingy? Are we working at Walmart or trying to save the world?
Good questions, allow me to enlighten you: - What's the job? Essentially a military commander. And do we know she's half-alien? This is known by everyone, part of a splicing programme based on alien instructions transmitted to Earth. How to we feel about aliens in this context? Assumed friendly, no reason to believe otherwise, and every reason to believe they are. In the words of the soldier "No-one would have gone to so much trouble to bring us here if they meant us harm. You have to wonder what they do want, though." Are they friendly aliens or not-so-friendly aliens? As above. How incompetent is the boss? She is not a people-person and it is a confined space over a protracted period. She annoys everyone. Taking commands from her will increasingly rub people the wrong way. Just generally douche-baggy or is she like burn-a-bowl-of-cereal useless? douche-baggy- but given the circumstances this is potentially serious. And what's at stake with the job-thingy? Unsure. Survival maybe, but people are trained for that sort of scenario. You have a few very capable people who are likely to lose respect for someone without authority. Incompetent boss has little, but alien hybrid has a lot.
Well then I'd have no problem voting for the alien. Though following alien instructions transmitted to Earth does sound a bit imprudent depending on the context. Engineering hybrids would seem to serve their purposes more than our own. I'm assuming this has been vetted by somebody in the know?
Remember the alien part of her is just a bundle of DNA. She has no clue what the alien planet is after... but she does have the (unknown) alien morality (the evolved or selected part of it). Also, they aren't on earth, they are travelling to the alien planet, very slowly.
Suspension time- transmissions to earth told how to alter sequencing. Also how to build a laser array to compel a sail craft to their solar system.
While your solar-sail propelled by lasers is a realistic thing and makes sense. You do realize that cross-species hybrids are almost impossible to the point of being a millionth the size of an electron in terms of percents (and would be sterile). This whole thing is surprising using real and fantasy science all at the same time, and they are a ways out of the spectrum in terms of being close. So if this is taking place from present back to the mid-50's, we would not have the tech to even splice something that does not exist for them to splice to DNA. Unless of course we happen to have a Roswell type incident, so the sample can be used to attempt playing god with splicing two different DNAs together. (My apologies, I spend a lot of time learning about science and it's relations to Sci-fi. The only one that doesn't seem to bother me is FTL, because 10% C is pretty damn slow when you have to travel a few trillion miles.)
Cheers @Cave Troll It is set in the future (in fact Earth time is irrelevant and unstated.) It may be 100 years, it may be 1,000. Whatever time period, it has the ability to take dead Bart Simpson and turn him into a monkey on a dog. In this future nonsense, a method is transmitted to us to enable us to reconfigure DNA into the alien variety using human DNA as a basis. This is not realistic, but I am loosely basing it on convergent evolution theories. I am also kinda up to speed on this subject and know that several suspensions are required. There is no FTL, that does bother me, because that IS absurd.
@Pinkymcfiddle I got ya. Anywho, it depends on how you want things to turn out. Incompetence or Dodgy Unless the ones doing the promoting are a lax on the merits of who does and does not get promoted, then the guy would be damn lucky to be in such a position. Then again at a base level we tend to shy away from the 'different' person because we don't know them, or something is just off about them. For reasons of survive-ability, I would go with the hybrid. Based on the facts that no one has any real answers about this gift that has been bestowed. And it would be a bit too out of the blue that the aliens have a sinister intent, if they are willing to share tech with a lesser species. Although we don't know a whole lot about this person. Were they a hybrid from birth or at a point in their service? There has to be some notable effects in the process that would make others feel ill at ease with her motives. Surly the aliens would have made mention of it having some ill effect, or are they the givers of information without a thought to consequence to the recipient? Overall they are both bad choices, in their own right. One is prone to doing a piss poor job, and the other could basically be a spy for the aliens. Still the hybrid seems the better option, if only for the fact that it would seem a bit convoluted to have aliens have a ship come to them along with some of their advanced tech, to simply want to harm the humans by inviting them to their planet. IDK, this is turning into a Catch 22 scenario. Not enough info to be sure on a decision.