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[Blade Master Model 42]

"Sounds like we have time. Let's hear it. Oh, can I take notes? My folks would be interested in this stuff."

[Powder Miner]

:"Yes! By all means yes! As many as you can provide!"

[Haspen]

"Right then."

"Our race is called Humans, or, after the planet we grew on, Earthlings, or Terrans. We, just like you, have lived in organized society, slowly mastering the skills needed to conquer and expand our civilization. We moved from hunting and foraging to agriculture and living in large cities. Centuries passed as we grew and learned. We mastered the seas, then the skies and depths under the seas, and then we have ventured further. We have ventured into the darkness filled with numerous stars. We have called it Cosmos."

"By the year 1969 of one of our calendar systems, we have set foot on the moon of our own planet, Luna. Our technology and style of living began to expand further. We lived in cities of glass and steel houses, we talked and exchanged information across the planet in less than hundreth of a second. Fifty years later we were already constructing cities on Luna and first expeditions were made to a cold, red planet called Mars. We were proud race, united under the Terran Council, where each little nation had its voice amongst the council of wise and just. But we had just one, one singular desire beyond that. We wanted to leave our solar system and expand beyond, to other stars, to settle on other planets."

"In the year 2760 of our calendar, we have had cities on Luna, Mars, and few moons of huge gaseous planets, Saturn and Jupiter. In that very year, an usual, annual geological expedition stumbled upon remnants of ancient civilization on the distant dwarf planet of our solar system. We were thrilled; never before we have encountered signs of intelligent life, not to mention ruins of an advanced city. The Ancients, as we called them, seemingly mastered the art of moving through space at instant. We too tried that technology, alas, we lacked intellect to properly accomplish the task. It took us two centuries to even decipher the language and the concept of their technology. We could finally attempt to move across space in an instant."

"I remember reading about this on a cyberdisc... In the year 3137, we have built a device we called Stargate, on surface of Luna. It would allow us to travel across planets in an instant. Of course, we were conservative; we decided to try out this technology at a short distance between Luna and Mars. It was a huge celebration and everyone was able to see it in the SubNet. The date was set on 19th October, 3137, Earth standard time. The device have been activated and the disaster struck at instant."

"Mars have been shatted into pieces. Luna was obliterated to dust. All present there died, over eleven billion people. We did not know what went wrong, but we felt the consequences immediately. Earth, once in an stable orbit around our Sun, was knocked off its usual path. It began to spiral toward the Sun, although it would take centuries to destroy the planet. But the delicate life that flourished on Earth for eons, would perish in mere decades."

"We had to work fast if we were to survive. The small cities on the far moons of the gas giants, and the large drifting Space Cities simply had no enough place to contain the surviving population of Earth. Therefore, Terran Council came up with two distinct ideas. One was to send out small exploratory crafts to distant planets, where cryogenically frozen scientists would attempt to find the best possible habitat for the survivors. In the meanwhile, large dome-ships, carrying hundreds of thousands of people would slowly travel through space. Once the scientists would find a suitable world, they would - hopefully - find the dome-ship and guide it to our new home. However, there was something else..."

"After the strange explosion, children began to be born with strange powers. Pyro-and-telekinesis, ability to project visions, walking on water and even through air... our scientists were baffled, but these children began to grow in numbers; more and more were born possesing this gift. Scientists called it 'subspatial disaster fallout mutation'. The less scientifically inclined began to call this... Magic."

"Magic wasn't the only residue of the disaster. The dark caves and thick jungles of Earth began to fill with hideous beasts. Reptilean or furry in kind, they began to prey on humans, especially the magically-inclined ones, even if magic was best way to repel or destroy the beasts, as our standard laser weaponry had little effect. Not only our world was doomed to be reduced to a scorched rock, but now beasts were after us as well. Worse, these beasts even managed to somehow reach the moon bases and the star cities."

"Our initial plan for the dome-ships was scrapped. Hastily, we loaded these ships with young adults and children, all cryogenically asleep and with their memories wiped. Once away from Sol System, they would be awaken and, instead of being told of their ancestry, they would be allowed to develop their own cultures, with low technology but highly magically, in hopes of overcoming potential threat of beast infestations. The exploratory scientific ships would scatter across the stellar neighbourhood, in search for new homes as well."

"I, together with sixteen other highly-esteemed scientists of North European Academic Alliance, have set out on Hope 19, the last scientific vessel to leave Sol System. By then we already heard reports of beast infestations occuring on the dome-ships. But we had no options left. It was 3131 when my ship left Earth orbit; by then, it was cloudy, ravaged by thunderstorms and drought. Our goal was Mu Arae, and its planets, especially yours, but the journey, at the speed we could attain, would take over sixty years...."

"So, we programmed our cryo-beds, laid down, and went into a deep, deep sleep... Margaret, what year is it? By Earth standards." There was a beep, then another, coming from Boss v2.04.

"Adjusting for relativity lag, and for this planet rotational differences... I believe it is year 4002, Professor."

"Earth is long gone, then."

"I should be getting on with the story... soon you will learn about our first contact, and some events that I deeply regret to have taken part of..." Ethan kept his eyes fixed at DeMurray as if he was some mesmerizing artifact.

[Powder Miner]

Fer had already filled up five pages of his notebook with jittery writing.
:"I..."

[Solymr]

: ... I'm impressed. If I heard right, what took more than a thousand years to build, ye destroyed it in a second.

[GiglameshDespair]

"..."
"E-entire w-worlds destroyed? H-how h-horrible..."

[Blade Master Model 42]

Aiesha hadn't had paper to hand, and was stucj with mental note taking.

[Haspen]

Professor looked down at Baurus.

"Yes, yes we did. We were too greedy and we paid for it."

"Like I said earlier, our journey here took us about sixty years. When we have arrived, the ship's system and its android personas began to thaw us out. It took us several days to get back to form. And then we saw it. Your planet, with lovely white clouds, with blue seas, with thickly-forested landscapes and fertile meadows. What a joy it was, to see such a sight. Many have cried. We have found our new home, one that was almost perfectly matching our old Earth."

"Of course, we instantly began to gather data and perform trips to the surface to check the flora and fauna. It was, of course, nothing like our planet but there were certain similarities in types of plants and animals. After all, similar environments, similar types of life. However, we found the planet suitable for colonization. There would be need for work, we were aware of that, but we had the technology to tweak the atmosphere, oxygen levels, even terraform the land or introduce some types of plants we had on board."

"During one of the expeditions however, we have discovered you. Or to be more specific, beings that were your distant ancestors. They have picqued our interest, as they were hairy, bipedal humanoids with large skulls and they were using simple tools. They were resembling the primates of our planets, a family of species that we Terrans come from too. We have captured one specimen and decided to perform some tests on it, especially to see its DNA... ah."

"Allow me to explain simplest terms. Your bodies are made of tissues and organs. These tissues and organs are made of tiny little bricks called cells, and within those cells, there is, amongst other things, DNA; a tiny molecule containing biological patterns and information."

"So, we have performed a DNA testing of the captured specimen... and, much to our terror, disbelief and confusion, it was matching ours. There was just 0.3% difference between us and you. For comparison, the Earth primates called 'chimpanzees', closest cousins to us Terrans, had the DNA difference of 1.6%. This should not be happening, we thought. While of course possible, chances were astronomically small. We were basically looking down upon a planet full of our half-brothers, so to speak. Nobody taught us or told us what to do in such a situation, so we, in spirit of Terran Council, decided to vote."

"There were some, that wanted to embark immediately to find closest dome-ship and bring it here. Once the planet would be colonized, our species would make first contact with you, and slowly, we would in-breed, creating a hybrid that would live on this planet in peace, but the risk of terrible mutant plague or inability to procreate was too high. I, myself, wanted to live the planet alone and not interfere at all. And there was Doctor Elizabeth Hopkins who wanted to simply eradicate you, lesser beings, forcibly terraform the planet to our standards and make space for our own people. Neither of these three options won, however."

"The majority of my colleagues decided for a little different approach. We have exposed ourselves to you, claiming to have spared you from a meteor impact, and began to influence you both less and more directly. We begun to change the DNA of the fetuses of your pregnant ancestors and began to artificially impregnate others. We begun to teach you basics of technology, how to sow and harvest grain, how to make complex tools. This was a tedious process, during which you have, unfortunately, developed a cult toward us, higher beings. For next fifty years we have worked upon you, irreversibly changing you, taking away any possibility of independent growth. Instead, you were slowly and slowly becoming as close to us as possible. And after those fifty years have passed, we were rewarded with the children of the second generation of the Changed; offspring that finally resembled us, Terrans, more than it did their native grandparents. Truly a marvel of biology and genetics... but our time was growing short. Not for a single day we have used our cryostasis pods, and we paid for it. From the sixteen that came here, only nine remained; five have died of old age and two of accidents. We were growing old and I myself celebrated my hundreth birthday with your ancestors. But we had to go to sleep if we were to continue our grand scheme, not to mention we had to embark on a journey to find a dome-ship, too."

"By the time we began preparations for sleep, you have already begun to construct large cities and use wood and metal for weapons, tools and vessels. You domesticated many animals of this planet, and we supplied you with dogs and cats and horses, artificially produced in bio-vats of the laboratory complex we have built on the southern pole. We saw your civilization and we knew that it was matter of maybe a millenium before you would be advanced enough to merge with those carried by a dome-ship. We went to sleep, setting our cryo-beds to wake us after three hundred years."

"We have underestimated your potential. While we were asleep, you did not simply follow our instructions. You began to tinker, experiment, expand and grow on your own. You began to use steam technology, then fossil fuels, and then you began to dabble in electronics and physics and biochemistry. A certain event woke us earlier than we wanted; a large metal object have struck our ship, high in the orbit around your moon. It was a satellite, one of the first attempts of yours to master the Cosmos."

"We tried to establish ourselves as your Gods and mentors once again, alas, there were some of you that rejected our 'godhood'. There were some that believed we were enemies, and there were some who didn't care. You began to fully utilize the free will of intelligent species. In fact, you began to view as a threat. And then, when we once again tried to be your mentors, you struck down three of us. We have retreated to our ship in terror and despair, and we knew that you would not welcome the remnants of our population amongst you. We decided to vote again."

"Despite my protests, you were to be destroyed. On the ruins of your civilization, with the sparse remnants of your population as slaves and breeding venues, we would prepare a true paradise for Terrans of the dome-ship. Our exploratory craft had little weapons, so others have improvised, after imprisoning me in a brig. As I watched through the window, small chunks of your moon were fitted with engines and hurled toward your planet. As they went through the atmosphere, they began to heat up and burn. And then they begun to strike your world, leveling cities, mountains, forests, destroying anything that got within the radius of the shockwaves..."

"That was the event you call 'The Shattering'."

[SeriousConcentrate]

Beryn had been leaning against the wall and listening quietly, letting the leader and the religious and the knowledge seekers speak, but now he was compelled to speak up.

"All right. I suppose I owe being me to you and yours, so thanks for that."

Then he stepped forward and made a few attempts to grab him by the collar before giving up in disgust.

"But I wanna know what gives y'all the right to just fuck with us like this?! I get it, nobody wants to die, and I'll bet it sucks even more to see that happen to your people, but y'all need to give it up! You Earthlings had your chance, this is OUR world, OUR time! I don't care if nobody here comes with, but I ain't letting some ship of Earthlings destroy this world!"

Beryn sighed and took a step back, deflating.

"That ain't right, y'know? We deserve our own shot at the stars."

[Haspen]

As Demura was currently (and forever) immaterial, collar grab was unsuccessful. He didn't stop Beryn from venting, though, and neither did Margaret.

"I know that. That was the line of argument I presented to others... they did not listen. 'Survival of ours', they said, 'is more important than that of others. Besides, they would be intergrated into our society', and so on..."

[SeriousConcentrate]

"Yeah, I know it ain't your fault. I'm sorry, man, but look."

"I'll admit, I joined this crew thinking maybe we would meet old Demura and fight alongside him to defeat the evil old Gods, right? But it didn't feel like it was going to play out that way. Y'know, travel, make friends, have a few laughs and a few fights, maybe explore some ruins and that would be it. But this is some real heavy shit, y'know? Actual end of the world, possibly. That's what we're getting at, ain't it? These friends of yours readying up for another run?"

[Haspen]

"Well, yes and no... allow me to continue."

"After some time, when the meteors were en route, I have managed to escape my holding cell, board an escape pod and flee to your planet in hopes of having a chance to save you from total destruction. I have landed in a city which was mostly filled with those still somewhat believing in our, or rather mine, godhood. I have asked them to provide me with machines and tools and an access to computer terminal. And so they did. But I was too late; meteors began to impact the planet. I knew I couldn't stop the first wave, but this first wave wasn't enough to destroy your civilization fully. So I had to stop the second wave. Using the communications link from the Quo Station, I have managed to take control of the android personas aboard the ship that carried me and my colleagues to your planet in the first place. I had the androids sedate the remaining scientists and put them into cryostasis pods. I have remotely set the timers for thousand of years and then had the androids start the engines and direct the ship out of the system, toward Sol System on impulse speed. By the time they would wake up, they wouldn't have enough fuel to travel at sub-light speeds and therefore would be unable to come here without resupply. Even if they, somehow, did return, it would be thousand years into the future; by that time, you would possibly already spread to the stars yourselves and you would be under no threat of possible invasion or anything of that sort."

"I was a bit tad optimistic with my prognosis for your species... the meteor impacts have heightened the temperature, and therefore icecaps at the southern and northern poles of your planet shrunk considerably. Sea levels grew quite high; tsunamis and storms ravaged the coastlines before water would claim the lower regions. The entire continent on which you lived begun to get separated by new channels and seas. Mountaintous regions now became islands; lowlands became sea floor. The damage was so extensive that Alva, the largest and greatest city of your civilization, now gained direct access to the sea, that once was days of travel away by automated vehicle."

"It's by then when I have decided to limit your exposure to the technology of our species. I had the faithful destroy the technology centers and with an eletromagnetic pulse from Discordia satellite, I've rendered all currently operational systems irrepairable. Only few, shielded by specific chambers, were spared. And I have made sure they wouldn't be used either."

"The damage have been done. I have declared that you, indeed, should have a chance at creating your civilization and conquer the stars, but at your own pace, without technology from us. Therefore, you were to begin at the metal age level. There were about sixty thousands of you left, anyways... I knew you will take some time to re-establish the civilization. That was the beginnings of the New Alvada, but alas, in a twist of irony, most of the survivors of The Shattering were in fact those still believing in the 'Old Gods' as you called them. They began to revere the ancient bits of technology as artifacts and so, by protecting them from others, they also protected themselves."

"Shortly afterwards, I have decided to meddle with your DNA for one last time. My colleagues have tweaked your DNA but left out one significant mutation - that is, usage of magic. I thought that, by introducing a concept of mystical energies, this would help you develop into truly unique society. Also, considering how powerful magic can be, help you survive the harsh environment you had to live in now."

"However, I had little time left. The eldest of my species were able to live to two hundred years but I knew I wouldn't be that lucky. So I have decided to imprint my counsciousness into a machine and put my body into sleep. Only once my body was awakened and my counsciousness put back into it. That was the time when a young woman called Undine have decided to seek the truth behind the reverence of our technology.."

"Undine was a beautiful young woman, and she had strong will and was very intelligent. She asked me to lend a hand to help her people, those not believing in Old Gods, to find a land for themselves. And so, I have directed them to the place you call Western Continent; the settlements there were in ruins since The Shattering and some curious beasts lived there, including some giant lizards. These were mutants, no doubt exposed to some chemistry or biology laboratory ruins. Reluctantly, I have granted Undine the usage of some weaponry; equipped in power armor and energy blade, she wiped out the lizards and destroyed some other beastly species to ensure that Western Continent would be suitable for... for your species again."

"Fifteen or so years later Undine began to create her own kingdom, and I knew my time was coming to a finish. I had my body frozen once again and since that time, only my counsciousness was awakened, so I could provide insgiht or advice to the very few who have asked. With help of some android personas that were left on your planet, I had constructed this special outpost to monitor the growth of your civilization while not directly interfering with it. Discordia, Stella and Asmael, three satellites, were still coursing around your planet, at stable orbits in the Cosmos, so transfering my data or counsiousness to holographic projectors was easy. I have, in this way, taught you various types of Magic, too, having understood it finally after lengthy periods of observations."

"But I had this tiny, nagging feeling inside myself... I was worried that one day or another, my people could be back; either to claim revenge or pursue the old plan, or for some other reason. I wanted to be prepared for that occurence, if only to be able to warn you, no matter how developed or underdeveloped you would be. I had Stella, one of the satellites, monitor for the type of, well, disturbance created by sublight travelling vessels. Only my species are able to create such disturbance, as far as I am aware, so anything of that kind would mean that they're coming back. Once a disturbance would be recorded by Stella, it would send a signal to the computer mainframe located in a vault, where I had stored two orbs; Orb of Communication, allowing your peoples to access this place freely, and Orb of Recording, which contained both the warning and the means to wake me up. Margaret and other android personas were to do maintenance on the communications, computers and the satellite links between here and outside..."

"Speaking of androids - where are others, Margaret?"

"Apologies, Professor. All others have sustained irrepairable damage at one time or another. Currently I am the only remaining functional persona in this compound."

"Which is in state of ruin." Professor DeMurray turned toward Ethan and his crew.

"I have told you the history of our species, and you're aware that we are in danger. However, we currently have no means to accomplish what I have in mind. Can I enlist your help in searching for spare technology? We could make this place functional again, and I would have resources that would allow us to contain and eliminate the threat... by any means possible."

Ethan was silent for a moment, before letting out a weary breath.

"I do not know if I should trust you. You are one of the guys that came here and screwed with us so badly I dunno what word to use for it."

"I understand..."

"Buuut, I will be honest, we're still traveling by boats and horses and I don't think we have anything capable of flying to that Cosmos place, or, heck, stopping your friends. Basically the only 'technology' I saw was in the House of Scholars and this place. If I were to say something - either we help you, or we wait patiently for your friends to come blast us up to nothingness properly this time."

[Powder Miner]

:"I know I'm going to help on principle-- you probably won't agree with this, Professor, but the chance to regain some of our pre-Shattering knowledge is too incredible an opportunity to pass up."

[SeriousConcentrate]

"I guess we ain't got any choice but to trust you. And doing something is better than just sitting down and waiting for an end to come. Yeah, I'll help you look. I got a wyvern, so I can do aerial searches. But look man, this island... we don't have any clue where we're at, really. Are you sure we'll be able to find anything here, or even get back to a place where we can look? Our ship got busted up pretty good by a storm, so I don't know if we even have a way to get elsewhere."

[Blade Master Model 42]

Aiesha had managed to become totally lost when they'd reached the subject of DNA. Oh well. "Yeah, I think we're going to need some serious repair on the Blackbones before we go anywhere."