Challenge #02116-E293: Lest Ye Be Judged...
we poisoned our air and water to weed out the weak.
we set off fission weapons in our own biosphere.
we nailed our GOD to a stick.
humans are the monsters that monsters fear.
the demons lurking in the void. -- Anon Guest
Offensensitivity warning: Deathworlder studies, Human content.
Planet Terra, aka Earth. Origin point of the species who call themselves Human. Though a class 4.5 Death World, the intelligent life from there rates a 5. Here, we will examine the behaviour that earned them the rating.
Artifact: a small art object of a cross bearing a small human effigy on its surface. Measuring five centidu[1] long and made of gold. There is a hole at one end to affix to a pendant chain. Recovered from a dig on a graveworld associated with Human remains. See appendix # Graveworld 523O5, remains set # 239-YX1-094 for full details.
This is a figure of one of the Human Gods. This figure is of a Human-like being in the middle of a torturous death. Recovered texts from the area identify them as a God who was sacrificed to the will of the public. Given the Human tendency to mix myth and fact, there is no way to verify that Humans nailed a god-like being to a stick.
Artifact: Plans and instructions for making a fission weapon, designed to explode and scatter toxic rads over a wide area of their own landscape. This artifact is a partial reconstruction of the original, which was found torn and burned in the ruins of Graveworld 523O5.
The goal of this weapon was not to kill, but to lethally and torturously poison the biosphere. Opposing sides would detonate such devices some miles above their target and allow the radioactive fallout to poison every living thing below and downwind. This tactic was evidently used by both sides to poison the entire planet and eliminate the total population. Current estimates state that this process took five generations.
Artifact: Image of a core sample from a tree on Graveworld 523O5. The pointers on certain rings indicate near-lethal levels of toxins in the environment before the final war. Other pointers indicate when certain toxins were finally decayed into non-toxic compounds. That process took two thousand years.
Here, we see that Humans had no concept of their pollution harming themselves. Preserved corpses have been found with microparticles of long-chain hydrocarbons, known amongst them as plastics, within their bodies[2]. As long as they don't suffer the consequences immediately, a Human is most likely to continue fouling their own environment until such time as recovery is impossible and self-extinction is inevitable.
Artifact: Glossy pamphlet with Human writing on it. Translation supplied reads: We Must Act Now! Further translation of the smaller text is supplied in the course material.
Though some Humans were aware of their impending plight, the text within clearly states that Humans prefer economic profit over mass survival. These Humans destroyed themselves in a war caused by greed and there is some evidence that egotism had a major factor in the final conflict.
Humans can destroy themselves without a thought. If anyone doubts their hazard potential, we can discuss other artefacts from other wreckage sites. For a further investigation into Human Studies, we will be analysing captured Human transmissions, both from Terra and some broadcasting Terran colonies...
[1] One one-hundredth of a Standard Distance Unit, or roughly equivalent to a centimeter.
[2] Actual news article here
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / volodyar]
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