Minding Eternity pt. 10

10 - a head in the clouds

 Humanity, fact or fiction?   Have we always possessed the tools to separate us from all other life forms, or have we limped along, with technology as our crutch.  Using modified forms of enslavement under the guise of civilization we have justified our course of action to relentlessly chase our goal of progress.  Yet what happens when we are left to start over again?  The bridges of the past burn at our heels, only to chase us further, into the dark abyss, the future.  Humanity, or the faint semblance of what it once recognized itself as, had been deconstructed nanite by nanite.

The line had been drawn.  Humanity had been separated completely from where it had stood, save for one.  My return to Earth was beyond all experience and knowledge.  Fueled by extrapolation and the consideration of every predictable factor, I planned my trajectory.  The knowledge I had accumulated from Earth told me that the least technologically developed area was a small colony of people who inhabited the south pole.  Despite the harsh climate and the need to depend on technology to keep their facilities running, the people who lived there carried a more purist philosophy to living.  Nanotechnology had mostly only gone so far as to create a more viable environment. This was to be my destination, if I were to 
find anybody who had not been affected as badly, and whom I could work with to begin restoring order.

Finalizing my calculations, I began the countdown to launch into space.  There was no need for a shuttle, I was to be my own transport back to Earth.  The bionite shielding supported all my life functions and with newly developed ion thrusters I began my silent trip home. I bid a last farewell to the scientists who had initiated my whole resurrection and who unknowingly gave me the power to save what was left of our species.  I promised them a safe return home once I had completed my task on Earth, however none wanted to leave.  So afraid of what they would find, so afraid of the possible changes to their culture, they decided to stay on the moon facility to continue their work free from the technological prejudices of a scarred society.

Despite the enormous undertaking I had begun, what I was least prepared for was the new senses the bionite technology had given me.  In space, without all the subtle distractions of the confines of the lab, I could not imagine the range of anomalies and energy that I was able to detect.  The spectrum of the universe lay before me.  As dark and alienating as space had once seemed, it now was illuminated with the dialogue of the stars.  This was the moment that I truly pitied the rest of my species, and as soon as my journey had begun, so it had ended.  The Earth loomed before me as I began my descent into destiny.

As I began my approach vector, I scanned the south-pole for a possible settlement.  I detected a small grouping of buildings consisting of a low-technological output and programmed the ion thrusters to guide me within a few kilometers.  As much as I wanted to make contact with the settlement's inhabitants I knew that I was no longer just another human and as much as I would be alien to them, so they would be to me.