Original Design

by William Latoria

  Blackshade saw Tremendous stand up and braced himself to be knocked across the ship, or flattened by a massive foot. Neither of those things happened. Instead, Tremendous sighed and looked resigned, “While I stand by Artificer’s position that we have done nothing wrong and that we did follow the terms of our agreement with your leader… I will concede that we are indirectly responsible for the ceasings caused by the environmental hazards.”

  Blackshade was momentarily shocked. He had expected to be killed for his impertinence, and instead, he had won the debate, or at least, a part of it. His anger vanished as his attention shifted to Tremendous.

  “In order to right this wrong, I make this offer. Bring as many of the ceased units to the area where we first made landfall. Roswell… is the name of the location, I believe. We will reactivate all the units brought there, provided their cerebrals are not too severely damaged. Will that make amends for our perceived mistake?” Tremendous asked.

  For a long moment, Blackshade was at a complete loss. He could not accept what he was hearing. Finally, he found his voice, “Are… are you saying you can bring them back from death?” he asked from a mouth that was suddenly very dry.

  Tremendous looked at him incredulously, “As long as their cerebrals are not too badly damaged, then of course we can.” Tremendous answered before correcting himself, “What I meant to say was, as long as their… brains” the Omega Leader still spoke the word with some difficulty, “are not too badly damaged.”

  Blackshade could think of nothing to say to this. He knew he was in shock at this revelation, and even with his heightened cognitive ability, he was rendered speechless. The idea that death could be cured by the Omegas was too extraordinary for him to comprehend. It was too good to be true, but why would the Omega lie to him? Deep inside he knew that Tremendous was telling him the truth, and he knew that humanity was just a machine to their race, but the idea that death wasn’t permanent was difficult for him to accept.

  Seeing that he wasn’t going to respond, or maybe after reading whatever was being displayed on his forehead, Tremendous continued, “Gather as many of the ceased units as you can and place them in our landing zone. We will give you a week to do this, as we understand your means of transportation are much slower than ours. At that time, we will reactivate as many of the ceased units that you have gathered to that location as possible. This should make adequate amends between our people.” the Omega leader said definitively.

  Blackshade felt devastated and overjoyed at the same time. To know that death could be cured, and that it would happen before his very eyes in a week’s time, was the most extraordinary miracle he would ever be a part of. It delighted him to the point of making him giddy. Yet, in order for him to accept this information as fact meant that he also had to accept that humanity was nothing more than obsolete alien technology. A fact that devastated him to his core.

  It was all too much, and Blackshade couldn’t form the words to express his elation nor his depreciation. There didn’t seem to be words accurate enough to articulate what he was feeling. So instead of replying, Blackshade stood there dumbly, his mouth hanging open, and his eyes down cast. He knew Tremendous was waiting for his answer. He knew he needed to answer, but he couldn’t. He had no idea how one responded to the individual that told you death was not final.

  In the end, he didn’t need to answer. Blackshade saw Tremendous look at his forehead, consider what it saw there for a moment, and then sigh irritably, “How many times do I have to repeat myself? You are just machines! You are not alive like true living things are. You are self-aware and cognizant of your surroundings, but you are NOT living beings.” the Omega leader began, its patience fraying, “My race created you to be self-sufficient, adaptable, clever, and intuitive, and yes, you have vastly exceeded your original design, but you are still just machines! We can cease you, or rebuild you provided that your cerebral is not severely damaged. We can improve and optimize your bodies in order to enhance your functionality. We can even add and remove parts from you if we desire it. For Fuin’s sake, Blackshade!! I disassembled one of your leaders in front of you, and then reassembled it again. What more do I need to do to prove myself!?” Tremendous asked, exasperated.

  Blackshade found his voice, “I know you’re right, and I know you’ve proven it numerous times, but it’s still a very difficult truth to accept.” Blackshade began, desperate to make this right, “For millions of years, humanity has operated under the belief that we are alive. We believed that, as a species, we are special, made in the image of our Gods, and that we were made for something great. Death was permanent, space travel was pointless, aliens either didn’t exist or avoided us, and that sleeping and eating were normal functions all living things performed.” He looked up and met Tremendous’ gaze. The Omega was listening to him, the look on its face was a mix of pity and pride.

  “Now your people come here and tell us that we’re nothing more than machines you threw away once we were no longer useful. That you left us here to rot and deteriorate in a solar system known for being a cesspool, on a planet designed to destroy us. Death isn’t permanent. Humans can be disassembled and reassembled at your whims. Nipples can be removed, sleep is an emergency procedure, food is only required because the planet is barren of subatomic energy, and everything we thought we understood about life is fundamentally wrong. You’ve turned our whole existence upside down… so, while I believe you’ve been truthful with everything you’ve told us, you’ll have to forgive me if I take a while to fully accept your truths; it’s not an easy pill to swallow.” he finished dejectedly.

  Tremendous nodded its head in empathetically, “I understand, Blackshade, I do, but the universe waits for no one. Your own planet does not wait for you to understand it or figure it out. It attacks, and you either fight back and survive, or get caught flatfooted and cease to function. We are not going to cease your functions, but if you do not get over your own egos and accept the information we are bringing you, your race will cease to exist in a few dozen generations.”

  This caught Blackshade’s attention, “What do you mean? I thought you said you wouldn’t harm us?” he asked, suddenly worried again.

  Tremendous held up a large hand as if to placate him, “I did say that and I meant it. What I mean is our preliminary research of your species has found that your race’s biological code is deteriorating.” Tremendous told him regretfully, “Your version of reproduction is not an efficient one, and the pair bonding your race participates in is not natural, nor was it ever intended. In honesty, your original design was never meant to reproduce, we simply built more of you as we required it.”

  Blackshade didn’t want to believe what he was hearing, “You mean, we won’t be able to have children soon?”

  Tremendous shook its head, “No, not exactly, you will still be capable of reproduction, but the offspring you will produce will be critically defective.” the Omega leader explained, “To put it in a way you might better understand, when two humans mate, a copy of both participants is made, each copy is then mashed together, and the strongest genes in each pairing become dominant in the offspring. The genetic code that does not become dominant in the new human is carried in the offspring, but is never utilized in that unit. This makes those genetic codes weaker and weaker throughout the generations, until eventually, when the weakened pair bond does make it into future offspring, its information is corrupted, leading to errors in the unit. Many of the errors are vestigial in nature. Opposing eye color, ears that are two different shapes, an underdeveloped sense of smell, or a flesh coating abnormality. Due to the staggering amount of reproductions that have occurred throughout your species’ existence, all of your genes are showing major deterioration levels, even the most common codes. Because of this, more severe anomalies are beginning to present in your off spring, and much more often. The anomalies are also becoming much more pronounced. Many of your genes are so corrupt from millennia of inefficient reproduction that they have be
gun to corrupt your core programs, and have even caused your cerebrals to develop incorrectly.” Tremendous explained, almost apologetically.

  “You have already seen this in your offspring, Blackshade, you cannot deny it.” Artificer added, although not ungently.

  Blackshade was silent for a long time before he was able to respond, “How long until we can’t have healthy children?” Blackshade asked numbly.

  Artificer took a moment before answering, “Our predictions show that in ten to twelve generations, the survival rate of your offspring will be thirty percent.” The engineer lowered its head sadly, “After that, future generations will have a zero to five percent survivability rate, and those that do survive will have severely impaired functions. Most will not survive to maturity.”

  Blackshade was silent for a moment more as he processed all of this. “So, what you’re saying is that humanity is going to breed itself out of existence in the next hundred years or so?” he asked rhetorically, “Is there anything we can do? Is there anything you can do?”

  Tremendous shrugged, “Our researchers believe we can correct the degeneration, but will require far more research into your species before they know exactly how to go about it.” Tremendous stood and began walking around him as he explained, “Your species has changed a great deal since we left you here. You have become much smaller in both stature and girth, yet you have retained much of your resiliency. The pigmentation of your flesh has been altered by the sun’s radiation, changing your original colorings from black, to white, and every hue in-between. Your systems are expending amazing amounts of energy in order to replace the hundreds of thousands of cells that are killed off by the toxins on this planet every day. The vast amount of dead cells overwhelm your systems so much, that your bodies now ooze dead cells from the pores in your flesh. You refer to these growths as… hair… but according to our research, humanity is well aware of what it is composed of.”

  Suddenly very self-conscious of his hair, Blackshade ran his hand over his head. “So, hair is just our bodies being overwhelmed with dead cells?” he asked more to himself than anyone else. “I mean, we know hair is nothing more than dead cells, but we always just assumed it naturally occurred. I don’t know a lot about biology personally, but is it a big deal?”

  Artificer snickered, “Your dead cell growth is not a function ceasing issue, it is just a rather… unappealing new trait that your species has developed during your adaption to this planet.” The engineer explained. Blackshade wasn’t sure, but he thought the Engineer might be amused at his discomfort. “Try to think of it as mucus on a slug and you will better understand our aversion.”

  Blackshade found that the comparison actually did put it into perspective for him, “So, do you want us to shave or something?” Blackshade asked a little annoyed, “It’s not like we have any control over the growth of our hair.”

  “Not at all, Blackshade.” Tremendous said with a chuckle, “I bring it up to further prove my deterioration point. As humans age, they grow more and more hair. Usually it is on your head, legs, arms, and around your reproductive regions. As you age past thirty cycles however, your protocols seem to detect the anomalies in your body and begin attempting to correct the errors by killing off more and more cells. The hair then begins to thin out on your heads, arms, and legs, but then increases exponentially inside your orifices; such as your ears, nose, and back. It is fascinating how your systems attempt to cope with the corrupt processes, but unfortunately it is reaching a critical point, and if outside intervention does not come soon, your race will cease to exist as your major systems begin to fail due to the lack of sufficient stable coding.” Tremendous finished somberly.

  Blackshade considered everything and just couldn’t accept it, “I don’t understand how something like this could have been overlooked by our own scientists. What you say is true, there are reports of birth defects and mental disorders on the rise over the past fifty or so years, but these defects have always occurred in our history, we’re just better at tracking them now. There are still plenty of healthy and fully functioning people being born every day. If this situation was as critical as you claim it is, we would have been told about it by now.”

  Tremendous looked at him, disappointed, “Blackshade, I will concede that we have only been studying your race for a short time now, but I do not believe that to be true. Does your own government not keep vital information from its non-governmental citizens? Did you not keep our arrival a secret from the general populace until our presence in orbit made that impossible? Do you not enjoy access to privileged information most humans are not allowed to see?”

  Blackshade stubbornly refused to accept this, “No!” he almost shouted at Tremendous, “There’s no way that the government would keep something like this a secret from society. There would be public service announcements; there would be studies; entire committees would be formed to better understand and correct the situation. They wouldn’t keep something like this a secret. Not with the species at risk! It doesn’t make any sense.”

  The look Blackshade saw on Tremendous’ face made him run cold, “Jesus Christ… they do know. They are keeping it secret.” he could read the truth on Tremendous’ face as easily as if it was written on the Omega’s forehead, “Jesus… you have proof.”

  Tremendous nodded and motioned toward Artificer. Artificer approached him, the look on its face grim. Without a word, the engineer pointed its finger at him, and the increasingly familiar feeling of programming washed over him. His mind was flooded with reports, some classified at levels he had never heard of, all of which were discussions, debates, research notes, and conclusions that proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the upper echelons of all the world’s governments had known about humanity’s plight since 2020. He even saw orders to eliminate researchers and scientists that showed warning signs they may leak the information to the broader public. The information he was given on this subject was so complete, he even knew where to find the documents and how to access them. The sudden influx of knowledge, and the weight of it, took the strength out of him. He fell to his hands and knees, struggling with the range of emotions flowing through him, fear being the most prevalent. The idea that humanity’s days were numbered sent cold terror coursing through him. When the terror subsided, it was replaced by waves of anger, as the realization that the government kept all of this a secret from society hit him again. Keeping something like this secret, a problem that required a solution so desperately that it could have united humanity in order to solve it, made him furious unlike he had ever been.

  “I don’t understand.” he raged through clenched teeth, “Why would they hide this?! Why would they keep this from the world when it’s so important!?”

  It was Artificer that answered him, “From what we can tell, it has been kept a secret from the greater population in order to stop a potential panic. Your leaders are concerned that if this knowledge came out, law and order would cease, and chaos would ensue.”

  Blackshade shook his head, “This could unite humanity. This could be used to finally unite us all in a single purpose. This is for our survival, and the government buries it? I can’t accept this.” he said to the floor. He was beginning to get control of himself, but his mind was still racing. “Something has to be done!”

  Tremendous spoke up, “For now, there is nothing that can be done.” it told him matter-of-factly, “Your understanding of biology is not advanced enough to rewrite your programming without serious errors, and our own research into your species is far from complete. So until then, neither of our species are ready to address or correct this corruption of your genetics.”

  Artificer smiled reassuringly down at him, “You can be assured that we are working on it though, Blackshade, and it will not take us a hundred cycles to correct this. We do not plan to let your species cease to exist.”

  Blackshade did feel a moderate amount of relief from this, but he was concerned about what else his government was hiding
from him. “Is there anything else I should know?” he asked gravely, as he regained his feet.

  Tremendous smiled, “Of course there is, but that is not why we brought you here.” The Omega said, its morose tone replaced by one of cheerful excitement, “We brought you here, because we thought you may enjoy watching our first structures take form on your planet. As our Ambassador, it seemed only fitting that you be in attendance.”

  The sudden shift in topics and mood made his head spin even more, “You’re ready to begin construction?” he asked.

  Artificer nodded, “Correct! In fact, we are ready now, if you are prepared to initiate the procedure.” the Engineer said amicably.

  This made Blackshade wary, “What do you mean? What do you want me to do?”

  Artificer waved his hand, and a square grey post materialized from the floor. On top of the simple grey post was a circular red button, a yellow light flashed inside it.

  “What’s this?” Blackshade asked cautiously. He approached the post slowly, inspecting every inch of it for any sign of danger or betrayal. There was nothing about the post that made it stand out, other than the fact the Omegas had summoned it out of the floor in front of him and wanted him to interact with it in some way. It rose up about four and a half feet from the floor, was about a foot thick and a foot wide. It appeared to be made from the same drab grey material the rest of the ship was, and just like the other structures that protruded from the walls and floor, there were no lights on its surface other than the large circular button with the yellow flashing light inside it.

  “A symbolic gesture.” Tremendous answered proudly, “We noticed during our research that there is usually what you call a ‘ground breaking’ event prior to any major construction project. Since we cannot bring you to the ground to dig a few scoops of dirt, Artificer designed this execute device to start the construction process. We decided that as our Ambassador, you were the most logical choice to press it and begin the building of our outpost.”