Hi guys. (: This is an introduction, which was meant to be a fanfic but wound up being for a novel I want to write.
(The idea doesn't fit in with the Sailor Moon world, sadly...you'll see why.)
Comments and critiques are quite welcome regarding readability and content--grammar and spelling too though I'm not as concerned.
So uh...here goes!
(A little nervous, I haven't written anything creatively in years... ;3; )
Earth Year: 2750 The planet was unrecognizable. The ground, the sky and the water were all part of a similar palette-browns, beiges, blacks and greys. Across the more populated areas were the skeletons of once-magnificent towers filled with relics of the past. Entwined among the buildings was lush plant life, which had once taken over the concrete jungles. Now, those green vines had withered to brittle tendons, turning to dust when the wind blew.
The dominant species of Earth; Homo sapien-sapien; had evolved from beings of simple aptitude to that of a philosophical race with an insatiable hunger. Knowing what is in front of them was not enough, so they carved into the flesh of the planet just as the flesh of other creatures. At the same time, their gaze was driven upward to the Heavens. Over millennia, hypothesis and theories were developed, taking over the myths and legends that had been used in the beginning, of what was out there. Why and how was left to human imagination, which relentlessly led to cycles of warfare and uneasy peace.
What was tangible by natural means was never enough. Some may say that the simpler times were better, that the technological advances and domination of the elements was too much. As a light cast a shadow, the good allowed the bad to exist. Increased use of water for human consumption drained what was left of the natural reservoirs. Building of advanced prosthetic limbs gave the basis for war machines with artificial intelligence. Human beings effectively cut themselves off from what was natural, becoming no better than bio-machines themselves. Consume, build, consume, fight remotely, consume, reproduce.
As the pattern continued, the overall health of all living beings declined greatly. Children did not have clean drinking water spilling forth from their wells, unlike centuries before. Food was synthetic, like everything else. Animals were few in numbers as their chain of survival collapsed. Even insects had fallen dead in swarms unlike anything written before. The few scholars who knew of the good times before had fought to repair the damage that had been done, their pleas falling on deaf ears. Instead, humanity sculpted the surface of the Earth to their liking, constructing a falsified topography barren of natural wonders.
Socializing had become a distant, cold experience. Many only knew their family and a few select poor souls stuck with the same assigned slave-work they had. There was no playtime for school kids, not outside. Everything had become virtual, numb.
There had been an apocalypse, a death of humans as they were, but it went unnoticed. It was a cold, gradual decline. There was no pain, as no one knew anything but pain. It was normal, for without fulfillment, they could not understand emptiness. Without happiness, they did not understand sadness.
Yet, in this wasteland void of creativity and emotion, stood skeletal remains of what had once been.
Centuries ago, the discovery of a "mega-Earth", coupled with technology and human curiosity, had led to a project to send out a high-powered transmission. At the time, the planet was known only as "Gliese 581 d", and was too far from their reach for travel. Written in English, 25,880 messages had been collected, each being no more than 160 characters, from around the world. The expected response was to be no earlier than their year 2049 A.D. When no response came, they waited further. Maintenance of the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex in Tidbinbilla, Australia, continued on in hopes of hearing from other intelligent life. As more than a century passed, interest waned and energy was focused elsewhere. Though the Complex was fully capable of receiving a transmission, even to this day, it stands forgotten, a relic of the past when times were good.
If only they had known that the transmission had been received, with an answer on its way...and the story behind why it took so long.
Subject: Prologue by Lady Lucina 
15th July 2011, 8:51 pm
