ANALYZING… FILE TYPE: Personal Log PERIOD: Colony Era SPEAKERS: Orem, S. [ID:SORE] TOPIC: A Deeper Consideration of the Unknown SUMMARY: A colony scientist continues to express concern/disbelief in response to knowledge gained after the contact event. =================================================================== [SORE]: We… Humans… We are not perfection. We are meat and frivolous biology. [SORE]: They… At first, I— We all… thought they were machines— advanced clone-types built for… for— I can't begin to guess. We can't know… But built— They seemed—appeared—built, not born. [SORE]: Then we took a closer look… [SORE]: […] [SORE]: Under scalpel you see, they are organic… Augmented with cybernetics, but… but to a lesser degree than one would assume. [SORE]: It's— It's hard to comprehend the intricacy of their biology… purpose-built and defined… inside and out… to function in… They function in ways we can't begin to map. Their organs… Their nervous system… Systems! Their entire biological make-up is akin to a complex— a network of connections and… and drivers, servers, operating mechanics… it's all so technical and precise… [SORE]: We see, clearly, upon examination that it is all organic… The "cloak," the "orbus"… it's all… But how…? [SORE]: The product of bioengineering we can't grasp? Surely. But what if it's more? [SORE]: The current ruling theory is bioengineering— forced, disciplined, and directed evolution. But then, again… By whose hand? Or even… Is "who" a lazy assumption? Maybe we should be asking, "by what?" The mind reels at the thought. Mine, anyway. [SORE]: Or… Are they simply the byproduct of evolution in their wholly unique ecosystem, and, if so, would we— over time… millennia… equal even a fraction of their complexity? [SORE]: I fear, in these early moments, we may never know. [SORE]: I fear… my own ability to understand… Not just mine, ours as a whole… as a species… Will lead to… I don't know. Doubt. Surely. Madness? Here, now… I'd say likely. [SORE]: We came to alien worlds expecting wonder. We simply never imagined this. [SORE]: And why did they come? Over the totality of human history… Why here? Why now? Tau Ceti is removed from Sol, but not so much that such advanced beings wouldn't have stumbled upon the white noise of humanity's ambitions. [SORE]: Is it because we have transgressed? Is our… Is our presence here a sin? [SORE]: Are they just like us… explorers? Was our meeting an accident? Or something more? [SORE]: Did they come here… [REDACTED]… out of curiosity? [SORE]: Or have we been judged? Are we being judged? [SORE]: […] [SORE]: If so, for what crimes? And what is their verdict? [SORE]: […] [SORE]: In death, maybe, they cannot say. But what guarantee do we have that the dead will stay silent? […] […] […] [END TRANSCRIPT] =================================================================== TYPE: TEXT [X]; AUDIO [ ]