Legacy 1 [AI2019]

COSMIC
TOP SECRET

Report Date 3/21/2082


The Arrival

The craft lowered itself slowly through the dense toxic atmosphere. It maneuvered through deep canyons working it's way to the site designated by the orbital platform which scans had determined the most likely locations for buried artifacts. The computer console beeped as the large craft centered and leveled off then lowered itself on the designated coordinates.

The hull shook as it made contact with the surface with a deep dull thud they came to rest. The crew busied themselves with surface exploration preparations. The Captain reviewed the sensory data on his consoles display. He then joined the rest of the exploration team preparing for the exoplanetary archeological dig. Supplies were loaded onto the mobile hover platforms. The crews emotions were a mix of excitement and apprehension at what they may discover. The tension was palpable

Day: 1
The Dig

The crew went to work clearing away debris, placing markers, analyzing soil samples, calibrating their equipment to the unique materials they were uncovering. The latest dating methodology was employed. The general consensus among their Supreme Science council was that this planet once had a vast thriving population. Why, or better yet, how had they gone extinct? These were among the many questions they asked themselves and wanted answered. The days activities went quickly.

Day: 2
The Chamber

The subterranean entrance was discovered quite by accident as some of the larger excavation equipment was brought in it had penetrated the soil revealing the cavernous area adjacent to the initial dig site. The Captain a few chosen crew members based on their qualifications were lowered into the void. Their Science officer unpacked and released several drone bots which quickly flew off into the distance while releasing electrogravitic hovering lanterns which illuminated the surrounding area. After a few moments the size of the cavern revealed itself after unknown millennia shrouded in total darkness.

Several structures were discovered which were documented and exploration quickly began. Their automated path locators guided their journey by instantly calculating the most likely direction due to registered atmospheric density. The information was displayed on the inside of their helmet mask HUD. Down various corridors they explored until they entered a large circular Chamber. They flashed their lights about then suddenly they were engulfed in a brilliant luminous light directed from above, then suddenly it dimmed.

The team began running scans with their equipment discussing what this development meant. The Science officer informed the Captain they were being scanned too. No danger was detected but scanned nonetheless. In an instant the scans stopped and several large video images appeared hovering in midair in extremely High resolution, One displayed vast oceans teaming with all manner of sea life in exquisite detail, another showed vast tropical rain forests, one vast advanced cities with huge populations, and another flashed various works of art. While still another had mathematical equations overlapping and flowing in varying directions.

Then all went black, a small beam of light spread wider as a door opened on the far side of the chamber. Then a silhouette of a humanoid revealed itself and walked towards the team.

Legacy 1

The Capt hesitantly stepped forward towards the being. Before he could greet it, it spoke...

"Hello, Welcome to the Archive, I'm Legacy 1"

The team exchanged glances at each other, The Capt spoke up

"Hello back, your specie speak our language?"

"No, I have been monitoring, analyzing and deciphering your language since you and your crew mates entered the Archive" It walked over to them and outstretched its hand in a friendly gesture. The Captain noted it had 5 fingers, unlike their own 4, 3 fingers with an opposable thumb. They shook hands.

"What did your specie call yourselves?" The Capt asked.

"They, Called themselves Homo Sapiens. I am what we call an A.I. Artificial Intelligence. A construct, the holder and steward of the total sum of their Human knowledge. This is the last vestige and depository. I am the last of my kind as well. We, the A.I.s have maintained subterranean cryo chambers, in them are stored the genetic material to reseed this world with life"

The Capt and Legacy 1 spoke for hours as his team continued with their scans and was given access to the Archives database. The team discovered that a large comet had hit the planet and had brought with it spores from another dying specie that had sent out their genetic coding to find a new home. It was resistant to any form of containment by the planets inhabitants and would eventually rewrite the planets ecosystem to be compatible with their own. The people decided to fight fire with fire from this unwanted intrusion and had no choice but to eradicate all life and reseed when the dust cleared in a 100.000 years or so. This would be a long evolutionary process eventually leading to a hominid specie developing again from lower forms. All this was encoded in the simplest of organisms genetic coding frozen for release.

The team discussed the situation among themselves. The Capt was informed of their findings.
"Legacy 1, We may be able to help you reestablish Humanity, We have traveled widely in our exploration and have come across a few worlds which are likely candidates for seeding. They are more compatible with human atmospheric requirements than our own. We know of one in particular, it's the third planet in the Sol System.

Legacy 1 thought about this.

"How much of the stored genetic material could you transport Captain?"
" All of it " was his reply.

Legacy 1 thought about this and decided that bringing forth humanity again on a new planet with a fresh start would be the ideal solution. It was explained that the planet had only recently nearly fully recovered from a devastating asteroid hit which drove the majority of life to extinction with a few exceptions. Legacy 1 asked to review their data.

Legacy 1 sat analyzing their information. His conclusion was that the planet would eventually develop it's own versions of hominid specie, several actually. He then modified humanities DNA sequences only slightly to be more compatible with the remaining mammalian life on that planet. Legacy 1 also created a high density genetic storage ability to imprint it genetically so that eventually when humanity evolved sufficiently enough it could decipher the true story of their history stored and encoded in their very own DNA....

Legacy 1 presently sits in a highly restricted underground facility on Earth, It's perfectly preserved body was retrieved from an ancient orbiting satellite known as the Black Knight...

The End

Great story Slayer !

Thanks, lots of great entries

a reply to: 727Sky

a reply to: SLAYER69

Oh that was neat. I was heading down the post apocalyptic Earth trail then, but you gave it a great twist.