Hello! Time for another Friday Special. Today we are debuting the start of a story we started a long time ago. It has gone through several iterations but this is supposed to be the beginning and give hints towards the future. This is a stand alone part of the series and is basically a prologue so enjoy.
It was dark, the only light emanated from the holographic interface that displayed the then known galaxy’s of the Universe. Two figures sat and watched from opposing sides each other untrusting but knew their duty. They had to come to a decision which would greatly affect the course of a planets life and possibly the Universe. Where would their next venture take them? Was the single question they set to answer as they did every couple of standard space years. Their job was immense but not impossible, they only had to agree. Each figure had several planets chosen as candidates for their gift. I was a sign of their good will and possibly ill intentions but with life in the universe being so spread apart they have to do anything and everything in their power to cultivate it for the Greater Good.
“Olivia search for planet Z0512.” One of the figures said and instantly the hologram zoomed through space past galaxies to land on a lone planet orbiting a small white dwarf star. “How about this one?” the figure began to speak again, “ It could use some technologic rehabilitation to stop the wars that ravage it.”
“An interesting pick,” the other figure said, its voice sounded slightly electronic, “what’s the motivation to bring a war torn civilization into our society?”
“Well as you can see from data their numbers have been dwindling for centuries and could be on the brink of extinction in several centuries.” The being paused for a moment, choosing his words carefully, “We could do some good by saving them.”
“That’s very altruistic of you, but many species follow similar trends, a good sixty percent end up blasting themselves back to the paleolithic era only to start again. I’m saying this to you since you’ve been recently promoted to directorship, not to antagonize Zeta.”
“I understand, we have been at this for some time now. We have already shot down some of our best ideas.” The first figure relented, “I figured you would not approve primitive lifeforms that would rather kill each other than work on more noble pursuits.” He sighed and said, “Olivia please mark off Z0512 from our list.” He peered across the table to his equal, “What is your next suggestion?”
“Naturally I want to suggest a Mega Corp planet, I have a few you might consider. Olivia, can you bring up M7132?” The hologram shifted and spun traveling across millions of lightyears within half a second to the adjacent arm. “M7132 now collectively called Franzia by its citizens has recently entered into a resource crisis, but instead of entering into a state of resource wars they have unified as a means to preserve and advance their energy production.”
“Hmm…” the Zeta corp representative thought for a moment as he looked through the data from the scouting scans of the world. Finally he spoke, “seems like a good choice altruistic and they seem to be fairly level headed. However there are a couple of small problems. Our gift does use a lot of resources and even with an accelerated track we would not be able to help them without exposing ourselves and bringing in outside resources and that star looks like it could implode at any moment. Which could end the project before it even begins.”
“I see…. Olivia can you bring up the projected decline of M7132?”
A series of charts and graphs aligned themselves over the hologram there was one for fossil fuels, another for hydrogen and oxygen, rate of environmental damage; a medical chart for the planet, with each and every graph declining to zero within the next one hundred and sixty-eight years.
“A shame,” the Mega director said, “I seem to have had my mind set too politically. You raise a fair point.”
“I have a concession for you if you are interested.” The being grinned at the other sitting across from him .
“You have my curiosity.”
“Your corporation can send a smaller gift to accelerate the populus to the point past scarcity fairly easily with some of your previous experiments in subliminal suggestion technology. I have no problem with your intervention but leave us out. We are here for the big project.”
“The big project? I’m afraid I wasn’t briefed in this, I thought this was a routine Gift giving ceremony.”
“Recently the Zeta corporation board has been wanting bigger returns on their Gifts. We want to concentrate our efforts on one world with great possibilities. It is a sort of experiment instead of our usual Gift.”
“I’m intrigued, a scientific endeavor on top of a scientific endeavor I take it. Do you have any particular planets in mind?”
“Glad you asked. Olivia could you please bring up the recently discovered planet?” The hologram zoomed past replicating light speed in its rendering. It slowed on a small cluster of planets orbiting a not so special star. The Mega director had taken the bait he had laid out. This was the moment of truth and what his recent directorship was riding on.
The Mega director gazed upon the planet’s projection. “Hmm, an unmarked planet. Do we have any data on it?”
“Olivia where are we on the data analysis from the probe?”
“I am sorry but I can only show partial renders of the data,” a voice emanated from the room around them. “I could show what I currently have.”
“Please do Olivia.” The raw data slowly engulfed the table. Pictures of wildlife and and societies from a distance in space started going through a slide show. Chemical compositions of the soil and geography data were put in virtual piles. The Zeta director spoke up again as the other director started looking through the data for any glimmers of hope, “I had a chance to look over some of the preliminary data just before this meeting, I had hoped I wouldn’t have to come to showing you such an unprepared subject.” He paused again to make sure the other looked at him as he spoke his next words, “Although it seems that there are a great variety of creatures on the planet the primary one seems to have divided itself in arbitrary land disputes and borders, this is a clue to them having aggressive tendencies. However It seems that they have also been able to work together for the Greater Good and could be pushed to behave in a more respectable manner with our intervention.”
“Much like the older days! Has Zeta begun establishing stations there yet?”
“No we wanted to wait and see what you thought first. Certainly jumping in before all relatable data has been analysed before starting our experiment. We would also like your consent and any ideas you have on the matter, of course. You must understand my cautiousness this will be a large endeavor that will be different from anything we have tried before.”
“I propose a joint endeavor with Mega and Zeta both establishing stations throughout the planet itself. I will initiate an orbital analysis of the planet. It will be the first MZ for the first time in over three centuries. Olivia, can you designate the planet an ID?”
“MZ15 -” Olivia began saying only to be cut off by the director.
“No, lets make this something special. Lets call it what the locals call it, do you know what it is known by Director?”
The mouth of the Zeta director widened as he spoke, “This little blue planet is called Earth.”
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