Trained responses were an an incredible adaptation that life miraculously developed on its own. While some would say that sentient beings were the only ones that could, in effect, "be trained," any form of life that was capable of responding to a stimulus was in fact capable of learning. An animal that could sense a threat by the appearance of an unknown object or sound or smell would also learn, by trial and error, what foods were appropriate to be eaten by those of their species, could also learn to feel out different terrain and know where to walk or run to avoid injury. Even plants, despite a typical necessity to remain in place, could learn responses not only based on their genetic makeup, but also the changes in stimuli occurring around them. At some point during the evolutionary chain, a flower learned to open during the day to take in sunlight, and close at night to preserve it's most precious parts from harm. At another point, seeds were given wings or other lighter-than-wind carrying devices that enabled the species to spread its genes across areas larger than just the drop of a fruit from a tree. Those these alterations in physiology occured over longer stretches of geologic time than the trained responses of an animal, or even a sentient animal, there had to have been a first plant to have taken that step. While not particularly behavioral, this progression, in another perspective, could easily be viewed as a form of training.
The carnivorous plants of Orrazerus were no different. At one time in their genealogical ancestry, the flower of one of those ancestors was likely exposed to a new form of nutrition: the blood of an animal. The genetic material of the plant was such that this blood must have had a positive effect on the species, thus creating what sentients would consider to be a "thirst." The species would have to have been exposed to blood numerous times over, allowing for this "thirst" to develop into a necessity for the plant's sustenance. It likely had thorns or spines of sort sort, initially defense mechanisms, which had also been a learned physiological trait at one time, in order to initially draw out the blood. Eventually, the flower of the planet would have developed ways of attracting animals to it, allowing for a stationary life-form to ensure it would always have prey nearby. As the animals of the habitat learned how dangerous these plants were, they would have naturally retreated to safe distances in order to preserve their own kind. And, as a final response to this, and largely due to their immobile status, the plant reached it's final, or rather current, stage where the flower became capable of a wider array of movement while attached to its trunk, allowing for a greater chance of catching the prey moving around it.
These were the things that Mir had desired to observe and, if possible, sample while visiting Orrazerus. The detour he was forced to endure, however, demonstrated a different nature of trained responses, in this case from the Ithorian. While similar in the concept of routine, drilling, repetition, or schedule, his training as a medic was not directly geared towards evolution or self-preservation. In fact, what was seen as the selflessness of medics, doctors, and any sort of surgeon or physician were often considered among the greatest examples of what separated sentient species from the feral ones. Mir tended to believe that was a lie used to comfort other sentients from recognizing that medics were unnecessary in feral species, as the conflicts that sentients fought amongst themselves were primarily exclusive to their level of "higher understanding."
The lumbering Ithorian babbled his frustrations at the ignorance of sentient beings in regards to life under his breath in his native language, not likely to be understood by their new passengers, as his trained medical responses carried out their actions almost subconsciously. He passed out rebreathers for symptoms of oxygen deprivation and began treating some of the burn and physical wounds with bacta patches and salves. With the loading ramp closed behind the evacuees, Mir felt the ship's repulsolifts boost them away from Orrazerus gravity and back towards space.
Moments later, Kur appeared, having left the ship on autopilot. He couldn't hear what Mir was saying, but he was quite glad his Ithorian friend had decided to leave his translator off. "Just a head's up. We're making for the Nexu Tango. Should be there shortly. They'll have better medsuites; wait for the fire to burn itself out before returning."
[member="Cryax Bane"] [member="Dakita Calfur"] [member="Patricia Susan Garter"] [member="Chiasa Kritivaas"]
