PROJECT • ZEROBASE

Project Zerobase: intro

Why are you here?

"Well, to read, of course," you might say. Maybe you've devoured all the books with the zerobaseone tag and hunger for more captivating stories. Or perhaps someone recommended this book to you, piquing your curiosity. Whatever the reason, you find yourself here, at this precise moment, reading these words.

This might seem like an odd way to begin a book, but that's because this is no ordinary book. It was not meant for consumption by normal beings.

Why?

Let me make it clear: this book is not written for you.

If you're reading this, then allow me to ask: do you truly believe you're the intended audience?

In my world, Earth lies in ruins; it no longer exists. I am not an author from your world. Or am I? Do you too hail from the year 33,028,617?

If so, from which planet do you come?

"What are you even saying?" I'm unsure if you're meant to know this, so if you don't belong to the same timeline as me, I must urge you to leave this book be. Its contents are not meant for outsiders. I could be in trouble if someone unauthorized reads it. I hope you won't proceed once this chapter is over.

Well, you have to. You must not proceed. You must stop reading this.

Please stop right here.

I hope the ones who shouldn't be here are gone now.

If you're still here, then there's little I can do. But please, don't say I didn't warn you.

The moment you chose to continue despite the warnings is the moment you sealed your fate. And so, I, the narrator, declare you, the reader, as an official part of this project.

Terms? You cannot undo anything you have done. You cannot stop reading this book. You cannot share its contents, and you must be present for every event happening within its pages.

Now, let's return to where we left off.

This is not a book. It's a government report for the scientists. For some reason, I was assigned the task to document this project. But it's not just "some" reason; nothing happens without purpose. That's precisely why I believe you stumbled across this report and are reading it now. Some may have abandoned the journey before it began—that was their fate. As for you, reading this now, it's because destiny led you here. There's a reason for your presence. Do you perhaps know that reason? If so, I'm relieved that I don't have to explain much to you. If you haven't discovered your reason yet, it's for the best—for both of us.

Allow me to tell you about my home, the planet Super Earth 999, also known as Kepler. Consider yourself fortunate that the person documenting this report is a history major with extensive knowledge of our planet's millions of years of past. Well, I may be exaggerating a bit—I don't know everything. Nevertheless, I hold the highest honors in Earthian history on Kepler, and that's something to be proud of.

In the Earthian year 5217, our old planet, known as Sol-3 Terra or Earth, was destroyed. Sadly, we have limited records of this event, except that our ancestors escaped Earth using their old, advanced science technology. I wonder how challenging it was for them, given that their technology might not have been as sophisticated as ours. That time period is now referred to as the Modern period, believed to have started in the 2000s and ended in the 5200s. It's considered the most toxic period in Earth's history. Numerous theories exist about that era, but we lack proper records to confirm them. All our scientists have found are ancient satellites floating in space, much to the dismay of our old neighboring planets' inhabitants, as they create space trash or some other nuisance.