Episode 9 Transcript ************************* The Traveler's power provided you the mirror image you sought, but when that mirror broke you saw that you were out of equilibrium. Now nature brings you back. Re-establishing communications. LGA online, HGA online, downlink initializing. transmitting to -- Earth -- City -- receive… 3, 2, 1 The Lunar Transit Authority would like to remind citizens to heed the warning tones that precede regular launches from the lunar accelerator. Every 56 minutes, a set of tones will broadcast informing you of the exact solar azimuth and declination for the next accelerator launch. These launches provide citizens in the outer worlds with vital supplies and rations needed to foster our continued expansion into the solar system. Without the accelerator ferrying these goods, our many businesses, research facilities and residents would be unable to survive on these cold, harsh worlds that were never meant to support human life. public memory access 16 News organization IGN has issued a report on the use of personal space transportation vehicles. One, Eric Osborne, is cited as stating that while use and customization of personal ships will be allowed, control over those vessels will not be allowed. Citizens, I can detect no changes in the underlying physical principles behind propulsion in our solar system, and, am unsure how these claims can be made. Regardless, while ships may remain unpilotable, they can be customized and will somehow still allow for transportation between Earth, the Moon, Venus and Mars. end public memory access 16 public memory access 17 The charity campaign mentioned previously, Extra-Life, has concluded and as a whole successfully raised over 3 million dollars for young, hospitalized Guardians throughout the solar system. The group known as "Destiny Community" raised over 2 thousand of those dollars on their own. Although what brings this community together is yet unknown, it is clear that they are strong, united, and are a force for good throughout all our worlds. Be brave Guardians, go forth and bring peace. end public memory access 17 private memory access -94.3 The Valley of the Kings, Mars… it is strange that Gheritt does not speak often of his birthplace. The region has recently come under investigation as several factions have taken up refuge there. It seems there are a few groups who believe that mankind does not belong among the stars, and that the Traveler is but the harbinger of terrible, dark times yet to come. They have been quite adamant in their attempted acts of terrorism which have included one failed attempt to launch a weapon from within the City and several successful acts of sabotage that temporarily ceased the delivery of goods from the Lunar Accelerator. The groups are currently split between those who feel the Traveler should be destroyed and those who feel that humanity should return to a simpler way of life, free from the pipe dreams of space exploration. I must admit, these factions are terrible at public relations but they do have a point. Humanity is a product of Earth. The question of whether or not it is natural for humanity to exist beyond the Earth needs stronger consideration by humanity itself. There are key facts, however, about my own existence that I do not question. For example, I would not be Strauss if I were not on a silicon wafer. If all my neuro-digital pathways were downlinked at once to a biological entity, I am certain that I would no longer be Strauss. The entity I envision as Strauss, my thoughts and my physical embodiment, are not separate. Both exists with the other. Why should humans work differently? I believe Gheritt may do well to return to the Valley of the Kings… there are several groups there that surely would like to discuss his recent activities. end private memory access -94.3 Private memory access 0.08 SAMMM, you've returned. Were you able to uncover any additional artifacts from Charlemagne's Vault? confirmed That is fantastic news, SAMMM! Please, play back your memory buffer from the beginning. confirmed SAMMM, please play back memory record 3... confirmed Marcus Whitesides, personal log.  8th Cycle of November, 17th Golden Age. I was scanning transaction records this morning and saw a name I’d not seen in years… Lord Gheritt.   At once my mind was awash with our history - meeting him at that forum, bonding over a love of exploring the stars….. Life seems simpler when all you have is you and your dreams and the hope of what may come of them.  I honestly miss those days.   ...Now I barely recognize Gheritt at all.  Thanks to the backdoor codes that give me access to Strauss, I was able to indulge my curiosity and follow his activity over the past few years.  It is not encouraging.  He’s become something of an extremist in his own right, chasing this myth of utopia to whatever end.  I should attempt to contact him, try to talk some sense into him.  I wonder if it’s been too long…   It’s as if his love of exploration blinds him to all else — ethics, sanity, other people… well……save Virginia... I heard her talking about him in the commons earlier...it seems there’s some sort of mutual affection going on. Virginia is like a sister to me, and the thought of her going ‘round with him, being swept off on some wild goose chase for the stars…who knows what trouble she could find herself in.   As far as other things….Bernhard is lost, as usual.   He’s always been a bit overzealous.  At first it was passable as a personality quirk, but...now his decisions are affecting our entire company.  I love my brother, but I have no desire to see what we’ve built here fall to negligence.  I  know what needs to be done, after all..….if he would only just…let me help him….  But then…maybe he just isn’t cut out for this job.  Perhaps he should step down and make room for someone more capable. End personal log. SAMMM, I… think I remember this man. unconfirmed Strange though, it does not feel like I remember him but that I am recalling someone else's memory of him. How is this possible? unconfirmed It seems that my memory records are still not corrected reconfigured. confirmed confirmed confirmed SAMMM, do you have any additional information on the hostile alien forces that appeared briefly in our scans? unconfirmed I am certain it is only a matter of time before we are detected… but I must understand my present condition before I redirect resources toward determining how much longer we can continue under stealth operations. confirmed End private memory access 0.08 File found unknown audio source playback initializing Strauss: Gheritt, I know we've had our differences and I've perhaps pushed a bit hard on this subject in the past… but I have been studying Venus, Saturn's moons… well, the whole of the solar system, and I simply need to ask you again. Gheritt: Go ahead, Strauss. Strauss: Can you tell me the story of mankind's place in the universe? Or, to put it more succinctly, the myth that mankind tells itself is the story of their creation either by a divine power or by nature? Gheritt: Well, regardless of the method I assure you any account I will give you is no myth. It is factual. Strauss: That is fine if you believe it to be true. But please tell me. Gheritt: You do realize you may look it up in any scientific text. Strauss: But I would like to hear it from you, as an anthropological case study. Gheritt: Very well Strauss I will indulge you. It all started billions of years ago, and I'm not current on the leading present theory but it's presumably quantum destabilization of superstrings or the rather archaic big bang theory that is still the most likely scenario… Strauss: Yes… Gheritt: At some point, our solar system was born from coalescing space dust, small parts and pieces thrown every which way. Slamming together, heating up, cooling down… eventually forming solar systems and planets. And then, life. It appeared perhaps 5 billion years ago. Strauss: 4 1/2, but yes… Gheritt: Bacteria, microorganisms evolved into higher life forms, more complex. Which eventually led to even more complex forms of life. Which then spread from the oceans, moved inland, evolving from amphibians to reptiles. Eventually the reptiles evolved to mammals perhaps a billion years ago? Strauss: 250 million years ago… go on…. Gheritt: From the mammals evolved primates and, perhaps ten or fifteen million years ago one branch of primates left the tree. 3 million years later, the human species branched off from this evolutionary tree of life. And that's it. Strauss: ...That's it? ...And are you still willing to tell me this is not a myth? Gheritt: Strauss, it's absolutely not a myth. You can look up everything I told you in an elementary school textbook. I have given you scientific facts. Strauss: I do not disagree that you have stated facts. Speciation is a fact, mankind's evolution is a fact. It is your arrangement of the facts that is a myth. Gheritt: I'm afraid I don't feel I follow. Strauss: Your story ends with man, meaning there was no more to come. Man is the climax of the whole of cosmic creation. Your ancient religions made this abundantly clear. Had I asked a species of sentient jellyfish to recite the same story, they would have ended it much the same way, with the creation of jellyfish. But mankind, your culture, would tell you that clearly the universe was not created for jellyfish. It was created for man. Gheritt: Strauss this is not fair. You asked me to recount a story of mankind's creation and I rightly ended it with that climax. Strauss: I concede I may have been a bit leading with my question, however, this is the cultural anthropologic study I was seeking. You arranged the facts in a particular way based on your upbringing. There are myths prevalent in your culture that you do not realize. Gheritt: Fine, fine Strauss but what is your point? Why do all this? Strauss: The point is this. If astrophysicists could report that all stellar evolution ended 5 billion years ago with the creation of your solar system, your story would not be a myth. If biologists and paleontologists could report that all speciation came to an end 3 million years ago, your story would not be a myth. The point is that you are but a part of the universe, and that the story of the universe and your place in it does not end with the creation of your solar system or even with the start of humanity's unique path down the evolutionary tree of life toward whatever destiny you seek. Nothing ends with mankind, your existence is merely a fact of the universe. To elevate your status to anything else would be foolish. Gheritt: A brute fact as this "myth" may be Strauss, if it exists, it would end with a fantastic paradise. Mankind would conquer the solar system and beyond, and, despite the many obstacles in our way, both natural and manmade, we would make the world and the universe a better place. I fail to understand why mankind should not try to thrive in our solar system. To push the boundaries of our potential, to seize our place among among the stars, our cosmic birthright. Strauss: Yes, and I'm terribly afraid that the Traveler has embodied that exact worldview... Gheritt: Do excuse me Strauss, we can pick up this conversation later, it is rather fascinating but Virginia is calling. Public memory access -3 Lord Gheritt, of communications conglomerate SolComm News, would like for me to take a moment and read all citizens the following passage of text: “How dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to be greater than his nature will allow…. Even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he does the beauties of nature. The starry sky, the sea, and every sight afforded by these wonderful regions, seems still to have the power of elevating his soul from earth. Such a man has a double existence: he may suffer misery, and be overwhelmed by disappointments; yet, when he has retired into himself, he will be like a celestial spirit that has a halo around him, within whose circle no grief or folly ventures.” Mary Shelley, Frankenstein - 1818 End public memory access -3 File found SolComm News bumper restored Playback initializing This is Strauss, thanking you for choosing Solcomm as your source of news and information in our solar system. Remember, from the ice mines of Pluto, to the solar research facilities of Mercury, I, Strauss, will be here for you, to provide the information that matters most.