Date: Sun, 1 Oct 1995 20:26:35 +0100 (MET)
From: Anders Sandberg <nv91-asa@nada.kth.se>


The Swimmers

"Inside the huge tank there were a slightly milky liquid, like a badly 
kept aquarium. In the weightless interior I could see several shapes 
swimming leisurely in all directions; they looked like a nest of 
white wasps without heads and wings, black fibrous legs rippling 
though the water and blind, smooth bulbs reflecting the dim light 
from the hallway. Suddenly a voice rich and melodious like an 
expensive television commercial spoke in my suit radio: "Welcome 
to Altair Energy Transformation. How can I help you?"


This enigmatic species is one of the most successful species in the 
galaxy, at least economically. The Swimmers dominate certain 
forms of trade, banking, formal inter-species communication and 
investment. Despite this, they are one of the most secretive and 
closed groups of the galaxy, apparently obsessed with their own 
privacy when not dealing with other species.

Biology:

The Swimmers have a fairly normal biochemistry, based on water 
and complex organic molecules organised in fibrous cells. They 
employ many very specialised amino acids and vitamins, which 
might be due to technological modifications. Their natural 
environment is not known, since their current bodies are the result 
of deliberate changes in the remote past. Today they exclusively 
live in special tanks filled with a saline solution held at a constant 
24 degree Celsius. 

Their bodies are roughly cylindrical, around 50 centimetres long 
and 10 centimetres in diameter. They are entirely covered with a 
white, flexible carapace. One end extends into a long stinger, while 
the other ends in a featureless bulb with no discernible sensory 
organs. Along the middle section of the body many thin black 
tendrils can be seen, these function as swimming organs and when 
braided together as manipulatory organs. Between these tendrils 
are the gill slits, which also gather nutrient particles from the 
water. The internal organs are quite simple and compact; a mouth-
sack which digests nutrients, vibrating cords driving a flow of 
circulatory fluids and a rather big brain filling much of the internal 
cavities with its various lobes.

The Swimmers procreate by laying clusters of eggs in the water. In 
time, one of the eggs will outgrow the others and absorb their 
nutrients. When it has reached this state, passing swimmers begin 
to inject nutrients using their stingers into the egg, until it develops 
a hard shell and matures into a pupa stage. Finally, a new swimmer 
emerges from the pupa and is accepted into the society of the tank.

The Swimmers actually lack most sensory modalities except touch, 
a complex chemical sense linked to the gills and a magnetic 
orientation system they use to orient themselves in the faint 
magnetic fields of the tank. However, it would be a mistake to think 
that the Swimmers live in a dull world; their minds are 
permanently linked to the virtual realities of their tank through 
very high bandwidth cybernetic implants. It is believed (but of 
course impossible to affirm) that they have access to more sensory 
modalities and experiences than most natural lifeforms, and a large 
part of their minds actually function as interfaces between their 
biology and their technology.

The consensus is that the Swimmers once were a naturally evolved 
lifeform, that for some inscrutable reason didn't like its physical 
form remade itself, possibly with the help of other beings. Exactly 
what they once were and what changes were made is unknown, 
and the Swimmers are quite negative to all attempts to find out. 
Many experts think the Swimmers of today are based on just a part 
of a larger being, possibly something along the lines of disembodied 
brains given rudimentary ability to survive on their own. Another 
theory says the Swimmers actually redesigned themselves to 
become similar to some other lifeform from their homeworld, 
perhaps for aesthetic reasons.


Psychology

Swimmer psychology is notoriously speculative, because the 
Swimmers absolutely refuse to help. They are not exactly hostile to 
the study, but it is quite clear that they will neither affirm or deny 
any speculations, and often seem to discourage the study in various 
ways (most notably through economical means). This secretiveness 
has of course fascinated or worried many beings who would 
otherwise have ignored the species, and speculations about the true 
nature of the Swimmers are a dime a dozen. 

The big problem with finding out what Swimmers think is that 
most of their thinking and communication seems to be done in the 
context of their virtual realities, which are completely inaccessible 
to other beings (there have been some occasions where other 
beings have managed to hack themselves through the elaborate 
defences of a tank, only to find an incomprehensible virtual reality 
based on wholly alien concepts and metaphors). It is known that 
the swimmers have very little contact with their physical bodies, 
which seems to be largely run by their autonomous nervous 
system. It is also probable that the Swimmers in a tank have fairly 
powerful mental links to each other through the computers, making 
them almost an group intelligence. Some experts have gone so far 
as to claim the Swimmers are just an biological part of a cybernetic 
organism, and that the *tanks* themselves are the real aliens. 
Others have pointed out that when dealing with other species, 
individual Swimmers *appear* to be responsible for 
communication.

The two main observables about Swimmer psychology is their 
unwillingness to reveal anything about themselves and their 
specialisation. Few other species have specialised themselves to 
such an extent as the swimmers, where the entire race seems to 
have become businessbeings. This extends to the tank level, where 
each tank of swimmers usually specialises further, for example into 
trade, investment, business communications or banking. Often 
different tanks have slightly different business personalities too, 
some are willing to risk more than other more cautious tanks, and a 
few can be downright ruthless. Swimmers seems to regard 
specialisation as something desirable, and some theories claim they 
actually choose their current form just to specialise themselves to 
the logical end. In the same way, success is the only thing that 
matters; if a tank does badly it will be gradually out-competed by 
the other tanks in the vicinity, and if it does well other tanks may 
imitate it.

There are very little evidence of family life or similar biological 
emotions among the swimmers. While the patterns of swimming 
often follow elaborate rules, they also seem rather arbitrary and 
serve no direct purpose most of the time. Laying eggs and 
nourishing them is done collectively, and does not seem to involve 
particularly high level behaviour. 


Society

Just as in the case of their psychology, very little is known. Each 
tank of Swimmers (usually 10-20 individuals) form a single unit 
working together (as far as an outsider can tell). These units often 
compete with each other, but form higher order units (like all tanks 
within a solar system) which work together. These higher order 
units compete with each other, but work together in the form of 
even larger super-units against other super-units (often 
encompassing large trading routes or important stellar clusters). Its 
not known how far this hierarchy extends, but it is not 
unreasonable to believe that it could span the entire galaxy, making 
it one of the most powerful empires (or corporations?) known.

The different groups take on different facades when dealing with 
aliens, probably to make themselves more understandable. To a 
human, the swimmers of a tank might present itself as a kind of 
investment firm and their higher order unit as a local corporation. 
To a Mother they might present themselves as an extended family 
and to a Gool as an individual with several active bodies. These 
presentations are usually quite well done, and the Swimmers seems 
to take pride in being able to deal with other species. 


Inter-Species Relations

Despite their extreme attitudes, the Swimmers are very interested 
in dealing with other species (actually, they are completely 
dependent on them for repair and resupply of their tanks). They 
have become a powerful economic force in the galaxy, and their 
stable (if incomprehensible) empire form the basis of much 
commerce. Many other beings are fearful of their power and 
possible ulterior motives, but so far there have been no evidence 
for any malign actions. 

Usually the Swimmers reside in orbital installations or major 
population centres, quite often linked to an extensive staff of local 
beings. They are naturally very good at using various 
telecommunication networks for their work, often distributing 
different duties between many independent groups of underlings. 
Sometimes the Swimmers move to new systems, usually as soon as 
the local economy have become viable enough; they simply hire 
other species to transport their tanks and set up their new base of 
operations. In many cases they provide the initial funding for 
colonisation or establishment of new trading routes.

The Swimmers seems to take an pragmatic approach to everything: 
if it works, its OK. They follow local rules and praxis to a large 
extent, but also bend the rules when it is profitable and there is 
little risk for negative consequences. They have established a 
reputation for being the best long-range interstellar network for 
trading and investment; locally other species may be dominant, but 
only the Swimmers cover the entire galaxy. They are so 
omnipresent that many species take them for granted; usually its 
the younger and more active species who question the motives of 
their empire.

The species is naturally quite rich; the different groups own or 
invest a sizeable percentage of the economy of the Coalition. This 
makes other species even less inclined to anger them, since the 
possible economic consequences could be dire indeed. But it does 
nothing to endear them either.


Technology

The Swimmers have very little unique technology, instead relying 
on technology they buy from other species. The only systems that 
are unique to themselves are the cybernetic implants and some 
parts of the tanks, which they pay other beings to build to 
specification. These systems are not very advanced, and most 
observers think the real complexity exists in their software.

Since nobody has every been able to study their virtual realities, 
their content are pure conjecture. It is known that the Swimmers 
are quite good at economical transactions of most kinds, and often 
hire the Orbs or Builders as consultants in their long-range 
forecasts or what-if scenarios. They also seem to be very good at 
emulating the characteristics of other species, such as voices, forms 
of address and even emotions. It is known that when they 
encounter a new species, they often hire xenoanthropologists from 
other species to give them information, which they include in their 
interfaces. 

Another area where the swimmers are somewhat helpful is giving 
economical information; they often have publicly accessible data 
banks giving information about current prices and trends, trade 
forecasts and species-personalised information about other aspects 
of the galactic economy (in most areas of the galaxy this is the most 
reliable source of this kind of information available).

