The cheap little toys we brought home from Betelgeuse showed us that the Thunderbirds had the same tech base as the Peloran.  That brought up all kinds of interesting questions.  “How did they get it?” was one of the big ones.  We had to study the Thunderbirds themselves before we got a clue to that.  You see, the things they don’t teach in “Alien Lifeforms 101” is that they are gengineered, just like the Peloran.  The Albion were real busy little beavers.