The time is 2725.
It is the Space System Era, after
the 7th post-Industrial Revolution.
The text below -in bold- was
decoded from the microdot read-only array removed from the brainstem
of a dead cyborg-soldier of MURF (Martian Underground Resistance
Fighters). Although the Martian population database is virtually
complete, identity of the cyborg-soldier could not be uncovered.
During battle, focused sonic pulses emitted at close range from a
1-meter long floatship damaged its mekkaronic systems decisively. In
reaction, self-destruct redraw-nanobots randomly distributed throughout
every one of its chromosomes were activated, scrambling its entire
DNA.
The text was originally in an
archaic dialect of SySpeak which is no longer extant. This helped
date its origin to approximately 500 years in the past. Translation
is as follows:
Mission Statement of the Chimericus
ManiFold
The insects, a genus 200 hundred
million years older than mammals, predating even the dinosaurs who
ruled the large animal world for 160 million, have
evolved amazing adaptations, enabling them to survive cataclysmic
climate changes that have driven many other species to extinction –
dragonflies invented flight 380 million
years ago and they are still here! We humans, by contrast, are a very
young species. Our only advantage is that we have a brain-driven
culture and for this reason we may yet surpass the insects. The
greatest danger we face in the present era is the competitive
instinct for war which we have inherited from our chimpanzee
ancestors. Is it a coincidence that technological prowess is coupled
to a propensity for organized violence in the human brain? Why did
not the ability to model and manipulate objects emerge in a more
pacific species? There are many such, even among the primates. Are we
confronted by a cosmic test? Beyond the relatively thin envelope of
air and water at the surface of the earth is an indifferent, hostile
universe. It would take tremendous vision and technical power to
spread life into this inhospitable realm. We human beings may be
life’s first attempt. We may fail. DNA-based life as a whole has
billions of years, it is doubtful our species has that much time. In
thousands of years at most, human beings will have a shot at living
beyond the mother planet. To get there will be a long and arduous
climb. Mistakes will be made, lessons will have to be learned,
knowledge accumulated, new directions tried, generations unborn may
have to undergo genetic alteration, but there is a chance that human
beings will make it. This possibility was not open to those who lived
a thousand years ago; in retrospect, however, we can see that they,
or rather we, had the potential.
In every generation henceforth, there shall be those who
dedicate their lives towards this great dream. Who must play the
cards they are dealt with, of talent and circumstance, to the utmost
of their skill, not for themselves, nor for their tribe, but to keep
this possibility alive: a better humanity that can step out to the
stars!
A search carried out in System
InfoSpace and Classified Archives did not turn up any organization
called the Chimericus ManiFold in the timespan minus 500 years to the
present. This suggests, with probability of over 99%, that the text
is a fictional construct. No further resources need be expended on
it. The case is closed.
