I Want To Go Home

Stories from the centuries

Human beings, even back in the very beginning, have always been driven by two key factors; society and biology. They are social creatures down to the very roots of their genitive origins, always growing and expanding, always in pursuit of dominance and superiority. Always striving to be the top of the heap. Humans, as a rule, are obsessed with their own perspective pursuit of self-idolatry. This deeply-encoded impulse goes hand-in-hand with the need for companionship, possession and performance, ever aspiring to be the alpha male, and to possess or be possessed by, the alpha female. Throughout the ages, man and woman together have been bound in this cosmic dance, one reliant on the other for the species. One always needs the other. To this end, human society has been obsessed with Genetic Perfection, pushing the boundaries of science in pursuit of that alpha gene. Perfect hair, perfect eyes, perfect build, perfect smile. Perfect. Perfect. perfect. And they were so obsessed with their dreams of perfection, that they never even noticed that the world was dying around them.

The year 2510 saw the beginning of the end. Genetics had finally reached the point where it could resolve disease and abnormalities effectively, preemptively, and cost-effectively. Prospective parents could do more than predict a fetus' gender or biology, they could control it. Gene therapy could allow a parent to choose the baby's eyes, or hair, or smile. They could determine its physical or intellectual capacities, but even more, they could influence its personality. Likes and dislikes, ethnic traits, sexual preference; nothing was spared. The guesswork had been taken out parenthood, and the first generation of designer children was born. But still, the human dream of perfection eluded them; for even though the canvas was idyllic, the paint was pure and selected with the utmost care, no two parents could reach consensus on the design. Men and women could not agree on any one design, but both were needed to spark this "miracle of life". Several studies saw marked declines in what biologists referred to as "Keystone Species", members of the animal kingdom that filled vital roles in the natural cycle of life on Earth. Humanity did as it had always done with matters of the planet, and swept them under the rug so that they could focus on what was deemed more pressing matters.

2590 would be the year that saw the family dynamic forever changed. A pair of scientists rocked the scientific community when they introduced the world to Michael, a twelve year old boy unlike any other in the world. Michael was a baby grown in an artificial womb, from the genetic material of two male donors. This development stunned the greatest minds of the world; two people of the same sex could produce an offspring, nurture it to term artificially, and produce a perfect child of the same gender. No longer would same sex couples have to find surrogate mothers or sperm donors; eventually, the "pro" argument lost the veneer of equal rights for all, and became a demand for sons without their mother's irrational emotions making him weak, or daughters without the unattractive tomboyishness that only their fathers could provide. Pride and the promise of perfection became all there was, and humanity fell into a quiet civil war. Families began to fall apart; for generations, humanity had been placing emphasis on the need to achieve perfection, demanding that any obstacle be tossed aside in pursuit of this lofty goal. Now, with the perfect genome in hand and no restriction on how it could be nurtured, generations of patient compromise suddenly seemed like a price too rich to pay. It wasn't until the great earthquake of 2610, when the western shelf of North America crumbled into the rising sea, that humanity was forced to listen to the cries of a planet in pain. After centuries of polluting the skies and the oceans, destroying entire ecosystems and the creatures that resided in them, the inevitable had happened. The Earth was dying.

Pandemonium. Riots in the streets. Savage animal attacks in unprecedented numbers. New diseases and viruses ravaged man and beast alike. The world was dying and, it seemed, determined to take mankind with it. Amidst the chaos, the world's scientists came together in Geneva, and dusted off a century-old contingency plan that their forefathers had scoffed at during its inception; The Ark Project. Scientists and engineers would build a vast network of space stations for humanity to occupy, where they would devise a way to reverse the damage done to the Earth's environment, so that they could all return to the ground one day. By their best estimations, they had fifty years to build their stellar habitat, which was nowhere near enough time to create something capable of sustaining the ten-billion people on Earth. So the project was built in secret. Earth's population was left to be ravaged by disease and catastrophe, fed the empty promise that the Governments were working on a way to fix everything, while all their resources were dedicated to building their new super space station; meanwhile a new generation of super-intelligent alphas was being grown, specifically engineered to occupy New Eden, the city in the stars. They were the ultimate alpha, thinking machines made of pure innovation; who better to save the world for the human race?

Nestled in the heavens, New Eden's population buzzed with constant scientific revolution. For twenty-five years, the brain trust behind New Eden waited patiently for word from the brilliant minds above. Where would they begin? What would be the first step toward saving the dying world whose oceans had yielded the very first signs of life itself? Finally, a single coded message was received by the Geneva assembly, the last communication that humanity would ever have with their last hope.

Coded Transmission
After lengthy analysis, it is determined that no course of action to repair the Earth environment will be taken. Given the intrinsic differences between male and female members of the human species, it is impossible for them to ever reach a true consensus; without a consensus, there can be no true evolution, and any attempts to make action would only be stymied by debate.

It is for this reason that New Eden's course of action will be to divide itself; all males will take one-half of the resources, while all females will take the other half. Following equal division of supplies, the separate genders will depart Earth's orbit and seek to colonize separate new worlds. While it is unfortunate that the Earth must be left behind, ultimately, this is the only logical course of action. Rest assured, humanity will live on, among the stars.

Farewell. New Eden base, signing off.

The people of New Eden divided up the resources of the space station, then cleanly separated the structure itself. Each gender took their gains and headed out into the Milky Way, free of the one great obstacle that had always impeded humanity's search for perfection.