Darkworld: Earth

Captain Moon opened the email and blinked in surprise. It was a short message from Gabriel, but the amount of progress that he reported was astounding.

Stepping away from her station, she went over to one of the systems connected to the virtual machine that they were using to communicate with the Yonohoans. As promised, there was a folder with thousands of .gif files inside of it. With more being added every minute.

Many of the images contained english letters and words on them. It didn’t take Moon very long to figure out that the images of people had their names written on them. She clicked through the pictures of Eolai, Renosa, Tukano, and all of the other Yonohoans that she’d been speaking with recently. It was good to put a face to a name, but there was more than that.

“Rebecca, do you have a moment?” she asked.

The analyst looked up from her station, then undid the strap that kept her from floating out of her seat and kicked off, floating over to the station where Captain Moon was clicking through the pictures that the Yonohoans had sent of themselves.

“Do you see anything off about these people?” Captain Moon asked.

Rebecca chewed her lip as she took control of the mouse, clicking through the images herself. “Yeah, I see it. There skull is shaped differently, their head is sort of sloped. Honestly, they look like neanderthals. Except with lighter hair and skin than you usually see in the natural history museum, but those recreations were probably inaccurate.”

Captain Moon bit her thumb as she looked at the images. She hadn’t made the connection to neanderthals; she wasn’t an anthropologist, and she struggled to remember what she knew about the ancient humans. “Neanderthals are extinct.”

Rebecca shrugged. “On Earth, sure. According to the Yonohoans, human DNA got spread across the universe one hundred thousand years ago. Whatever alien did that probably took samples from all over Earth. There were up to seven different species of humans alive on Earth back then, depending on who you ask. We’re not certain exactly when the others went extinct.”

“So, you think that humans evolved on Earth?”

“I’m certain of it. The fossil record and genomic evidence is pretty conclusive,” Rebecca answered.

“The fact that humans are on a planet hundreds of light years from Earth, and have been here for thousands of years by their own history, doesn’t give you pause?” Captain Moon challenged.

“Yeah, sure,” Rebecca admitted. “I mean, I guess it’s possible that we’re like the Yonohoans and some aliens put us on Earth for some unknown reason. But there’s a pretty clear fossil record going back millions of years. According to Eolai and the others, that’s pretty atypical. According to them, they really were created out of whole cloth on worlds that had never seen a being like us before.”

“I see. Thank you for your input,” Captain Moon said. She frowned, a thoughtful expression on her face as she considered the information. She floated back to her command station and put on her headset.

“Renosa, are you there?” She asked.

“I am here, Captain. How may I help?” Came an answer after only a few seconds.

“What happened to humanity’s home world? Does anyone know?” Captain Moon asked.

“It is one of the great mysteries. Billions of people of thousands of races have spent their entire lives looking for it,” Renosa answered. “Every time an uncharted Darkworld is discovered, many people get their hopes up that we will announce that humanity’s cradle has been found. But it never has. The ruling theory is that it was destroyed during the liberation wars.”

Captain Moon processed the answer. “What would happen if it was found? If people were living there?”

“That would depend on who found it,” Renosa admitted. “If the Yonohoans found it, we would protect it, preserve it, treasure it, and assist its people in any way that we could.”

“Would all humans do the same?”

“Most would, of course. Every treaty has provisions on what to do if the origin system is found.”

“Would you forward and highlight those provisions to me?”

“Yes, of course,” Renosa agreed. “You should know, however, Captain Moon, that it is very unlikely that Earth is the origin of the human people. Every Darkworld which has lost its history believes the same thing. It never turns out to be the case.”

“I understand.”

“I am curious. What are the origin myths of your world, Captain Moon?” Renosa inquired. “What did your people tell themselves before they discovered the process of evolution?”

“There are many religions on my world, and each of them explain our origins differently. In almost all of our religions we are created by all-powerful beings for various reasons,” Captain Moon explained. “It is a point of some contention on Earth because most of our religions contradict each other.”

“You see? You believe, like the Yonohoah, that you were created by someone else,” Renosa said. “Your oral traditions support that fact the same as ours.”

“Yes. I do see why you’d say that,” Captain Moon agreed. “Earth may not be the origin system, as we believed that it was due to a lack of evidence to the contrary. Hypothetically, however. What if it was?”

Renosa considered the question for a moment. “I do not see how that would change things significantly, to be honest. If the origin system is inside of this galaxy, then we should be safe.”

“Should be safe? Why wouldn’t it be safe?”

There was silence for a moment.

“A species origin world is a great weakness, Captain Moon. There is a weapon. A terrible, terrible weapon. It has been used many times, and each time it has resulted in the collapse of an interstellar empire. It was used against humans during the Liberation War. For a while. The retaliation against those who used it against us was terrible, swift, bloody and brutal. It is said that the only reason we prevailed in during the Liberation is due to the fact that our origins are lost.”

Captain Moon felt a tightening in her guts. That did not sound like good news, but she forced her anxiety down and maintained a calm exterior. “What sort of weapon is it?”

“A very terrible one,” Renos said. “It sends a large energy pulse into the past. The further back the pulse is sent, the larger the resulting ripple effect. It is generally used on a planet before they became space-faring, resulting in an extinction of the intelligent species. Several of the Master species used this weapon in order to expand their empires.”

Captain Moon felt sick. “What sort of range does the weapon have?”

“That is a difficult question to answer. The short answer is that it is a point-blank weapon; it must be set off at the exact location that its effects are to take place. However, because stars move throughout the galaxy and the galaxy moves through the universe itself, that means that the exact position to set the weapon off would at the location where the planet was at the time that the weapon was to take place.”

“Okay,” Captain Moon said. “That sounds like it’s incredibly difficult to defend against.”

“Indeed it is,” Renosa agreed.

“Have humans used it in the past?”

“Not since the Liberation Wars,” Renosa said immediately. “Even then, we used it only in retaliation. Once we proved that we were capable of identifying the perpetrators and willing to retaliate in kind, nobody dared to use it against us. However, each time that it was used, trillions of lives were lost.”

“It sounds like a truly terrible weapon,” Captain Moon said. “Do they still exist?”

“Each empire maintains a carefully monitored stockpile,” Renosa admitted. “I hope that does not alarm you.”

“I understand. We understand the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction,” Captain Moon said.

“I truly wish that you did not,” Renosa said sadly.

“If the human origin system were discovered, how would it be kept safe?” Captain Moon asked.

“With great effort by all of the human empires,” Renosa answered. “Do not be too frightened, however. All of the treaties agree that until a darkworld is proven not to be the origin system it is to be treated the same as though it was. There have been efforts unseen by you to keep your home world safe.”

“It would reassure me to hear some of those protections,” Captain Moon said.

“Shortly after it was determined that you were Darkworlders, a vast disinformation effort began throughout all of the human empires began. While an announcement was made to the universe that an unregistered darkworld has been discovered, the location is said to be presently unknown, and all of the Yonohoan systems are claiming to have been contacted by the darkworlders.”

“How many Yonohoan systems are there?”

“In this galaxy? Thirty-seven. In total? One hundred eighty two.”

Captain Moon relaxed slightly. “Any other measures I should know about?”

“Several, yes,” Renosa said. “Before the announcement was made, we sent out the signal to begin a Korjakala wave.”

“I don’t think your computer has a translation for Korjakala.”

“I did not expect it to,” Renosa said. “It is … well, it is a Yonohoan thing. We build strange spacecraft and pretend to be darkworlders. We send out Korjakala waves every now and then to make certain that the other empires are maintaining their treaties regarding the treatment of Darkworlders.”

She giggled. “It is one of the reasons that it is so funny that you have come to this system, Captain Moon. You see, Eolai, myself, and all of the others that you have been speaking with? Well, we were preparing for Korjakala before your ship arrived in this system.”

Captain Moon could see the irony in the situation, but she didn’t feel like laughing. “You don’t think that we’re playing Korjakala, do you?”

“If you are, you are far, far better at it than any Yonohoan,” Renosa said. “We would never have thought to use such a dangerous method of travel as you have in order to deceive our targets of our origins. But in the end it does not matter. Either you are being truthful or you are being dishonest, or you are strategically being both. Either way I assure you that you are protected and welcome in Yonohoan territory.”

“I am relieved to hear that. You would not be upset if we were acting dishonestly?”

“If you were playing Korjakala, I would think that it was the greatest joke to have ever been made,” Renosa admitted. “I would not be upset. No Yonohoan would be upset, we would be happy that someone else has finally checked to make certain that we are upholding our obligations. Eolai believes that you are being honest, however. He would be disappointed if he was wrong, and he would lose some face. But he would also see the humor in it, which would soften the blow. If you are playing Korjakala, I beg you not to pull up your veil any time soon. This is the first time that the Yonohoan have been tested in this way. I wish to rise to the occasion.”

“Understood,” Captain Moon said. “At this time, I am able to neither confirm nor deny that the people aboard this ship are playing Korjakala.”

“Understood, Captain Moon. However, this still doesn’t change the fact that we are required to pursue your spacecraft should you attempt to use its primary method of faster than light travel.”

“Understood. Thank you Renosa.”