Nova was seven years old when he found out he had cancer— acute lymphocytic leukemia. Although he
was still too young to fully realize what this meant, he knew by the faces of his mother and
father that this was indeed very bad news. Over the following years, Nova went through
the phases of chemotherapy and the processes of treatment. He was a strong and resolute child,
but understandably, he still often wondered to himself why he was so unlucky. Why was I
given cancer? Why me? He would ask himself. For years, Nova went through the physical
and emotional pains of fighting against the cells in his own blood and bone marrow. When
he was twelve years old, he won the fight—he was fully in remission. Although physically healthy,
he remained forever infected by the experience. He had made and lost so many friends with the same
or similar conditions throughout his treatment process. He witnessed children just like him
die before they saw their teenage and adult years. He witnessed their families witness
this. He experienced the traumatic uncertainty of not knowing for sure if he would be next.
When it came to deciding what he wanted to do with the rest of his life,
it was obvious. He wanted to prevent, or at least minimize and better manage,
as many cases of cancer as possible. And so, he studied biochemistry, engineering science,
and pharmacology, seeking the intersections of genome sequencing, AI and machine learning,
and their possible applications toward various medical treatments. Throughout the process,
the flame of his motivation remained lit by the hellish experience of his childhood.
In the year 2041, at age twenty-eight, Nova founded a biotechnology company that worked to
develop powerful machine learning technologies that could detect, manage, and fight genetic
disorders at an immensely accurate level. Ten years later, in 2051, using his technologies, Nova
discovered and formulated a revolutionary line of drug treatments that genetically engineered cells
to fight off disorders and conditions, like cancer. Nova would become responsible and be
credited with being the first person to create a versatile cure for various forms of cancers.
Over the following years, he would go on to save the lives of millions of people across the globe,
and Nova would go down in history as one of the most important and positively impactful
people to ever cross human humanity. In the year 2061, several years later,
a boy named Draven was born. At three years old, Draven was diagnosed with an astrocytoma—brain
cancer. Prior to Nova’s early detection technology and noninvasive drug treatment, Draven would
not have survived passed early childhood. But because of Nova’s work, Draven’s life was saved.
By age five, he was completely cured, and Draven would go on to live a healthy life.
However, as an adult, he would soon become a sort of cancer himself. After climbing the ranks
of one of the world’s largest militaries, Draven became one of the most ruthless and
powerful military generals the world had seen since the 20th century, if not ever.
In 2111, in a relatively brief but stark outbreak of war, Draven was solely responsible for unduly
executing a nuclear attack on a major enemy city. In a panic, the opposition reciprocated.
In a near instant, tens of millions of lives were lost because of Draven. Over the days, weeks,
and months following the initial explosion, more lives continued to be lost from critical injuries
and radiation exposure. For every life Nova saved, including Draven’s, a multiple of lives were now
lost because of Draven’s; because of Nova’s. Following the existential horrors of the event,
all global powers surrendered and agreed to settle. The world mourned its own
self-destruction, and Draven would become known as one of the most evil, negatively
impactful individuals to ever cross humanity. Several months later, he was assassinated.
On the long list of those directly affected by the nuclear attack was a young fourteen-year-old
girl named Alexandra. Living far enough away from the nuclear detonation and thermal pulse,
Alexandra survived, but being much older, her father and mother, who suffered sufficient
radiation exposure, passed away in the weeks following the attack. Following this, Alexandra’s
view of humanity’s future understandably soaked in cynicism. Within the debris of the explosion
were giant shards of pessimism and hopelessness. Because of the events, Alexandra became deeply
concerned about the fact that she shared a planetary home with a species armed with the
weaponry, technology, and powers of a god while also the ignorance and temperament
of a fallible, irrational animal. And yet, there were no other homes to go to if anyone
like Draven became angry again and decided to burn the whole house down. Or, if someone just
accidentally left the stove on. And so, because of Draven’s actions, Alexandra made it her
life’s mission to ensure that humanity became a multiplanetary species as soon as possible.
She would go on to study mathematical physics and quantum mechanics in pursuit of this mission.
The problem she soon realized, however, was that given the current conditions of technology and
humanity’s understanding of time and space, there was simply no way to effectively and efficiently
get beyond the moon or Mars. What was needed was a new understanding of the nature of time
and space and the universe itself in order to get out of the Earth’s solar
system and onto other earth-like planets. With the memory of that catastrophic event
and the loss of her parents hung at the hearth of Alexandra’s drive and aspiration,
in the year 2141, after a cacophony of failures and rejections and hardships,
she did it. She discovered what would become established as the theory of everything. With
this theory, Alexandra revealed and explained an oversight of the theory of general relativity
that, for the first time, now allowed for an integration of quantum mechanics
and the possibility of space travel faster than the speed of light.
With this, Alexandra had found the key to the prison that was Earth’s solar system,
and she would become that rare kind of genius who only comes once a century, if that.
Over the following many years, humanity would explore and touch realms of the universe it had
only seen through telescopes and dreamed of in science-fiction stories. New planets were
discovered. New homes were constructed. New lives and futures were established.
By 2281, humanity was a multi-planetary species with bases, communities, nations,
and social, political systems forming and growing on planets all around the milky way.
In the year 2291, a massive asteroid several hundred miles wide in diameter was suddenly
knocked in the direction of Earth. In an effort to alter its course, humanity shot nuclear devices at
it. This effort minimized the space’s object size, but a giant, several mile wide fragment
still remained on course for earth, now further accelerated by the explosion. This massive
asteroid fragment would collide with Earth’s surface, and in an instant, destroy anything
and anyone within hundreds of square miles of it. This would ultimately cause an alteration in all
of Earth’s climate as well as a destruction of most of Earth’s technological systems.
The remaining portion of the human race still on Earth either left to other planets before impact
or got sent back to the ages of their ancient ancestors. If humanity was not already elsewhere,
it would have been sent back collectively to some form of the starting line of history. Because of
Alexandra’s work, however, humanity continued on. For every life Draven had ended, a compounding
multiple of lives were no saved because of Alexandra’s; in a weird way, because of Draven’s.
Several years later, in the year 2301, while on a standard voyager mission, a medium sized crew
of explorers landed on a newly mapped earthlike planet they were set to begin development on.
While on the planet, they encountered something no explorer had encountered before. In the middle of
a patchy field of grass and sand stood a massive, pure black obelisk. It had perfect edges and
angles and was clearly placed there on purpose. Hesitantly, the voyager crew approached. As they
did, they noticed symbols displayed on the face of it. As they got closer, the symbols appeared
to change. By the time they reached up to it, the symbols had been translated into the following:
Greetings. We hope this message finds you well.
We have known of you for quite some time. Some of you have known of us.
We see you have finally left home. Congratulations. What you have now
gained in freedom and power, though, you have lost in innocence. You are now playing in the workplace
of the universe, not the sandbox of Earth. We have watched you play in your sandbox
with imaginary friends that you called gods. And now, we have watched you grow up just enough to
believe you yourself are them. But let us assure you, there are no imaginary friends out here,
and no gods believe themselves to be one. You still seem to believe you know what is
good and what is bad. You continue to think good and bad things happen to you, for you,
or because of you—a lingering sign of your youthful belief in a godlike intelligence
that cares about you or a godlike intelligence that you possess.
You see an event and all you see is the event that happened, but everything that has happened
and everything that will happen, has already happened, all connected, everywhere, all at once.
Things do not happen to you, for you, or because of you for good or bad reasons. They happen around
and through you for reasons that are only about you when you realize you are not actually you.
You believe that you are separate from everything because you define and separate things, but it is
you who does this, not reality. So it goes with all species who still think they are the only
child of the universe; everything is about them. Consider this a warm congratulations and a grave
warning. You’ve been lucky to get this far, but know that luck is just chaos that has
worked in favor of your survival up until this point. The only gods out here are the odds.
See now that the most important technology you will need will not be found in the machines
you build, but the truths and wisdoms you realize. Your greatest threats are
certainty and self-deception. Your greatest weapons are humility and thoughtfulness.
Know that we are watching, and we will, like we did with most of those before you, be forced to
imprison your entire species if you show us you are not ready. It is far too risky out here for
ignorance and ego. But if you show us that you are ready, we will welcome you in, and you will become
one of us; you will become reality. Sincerest and best of wishes.
The leader of the voyager group stared blankly at the obelisk.
With a gesture of his arm and hand, he ordered his crew to assemble and aim their weapons toward it.
Then, the commander paused while his crew awaited his order.