New Earth City, New Earth

Most Recent New Earth Generation—511

A sharply dressed23 Abb walked out from behind the shimmering curtain projection to greet the eager audience. One of the fronds covered her identifying forehead tattoo—a staple of Abb-Uil's fashion and a luxury only afforded by Pilgrims with enough fame to need not introduce themselves. The enamored crowd comprised 10,000 Terrs and Abbs, equally represented and equally passionate about the discussion at hand.

> 23 | Sharply dressed for the Abbs of prestige in Pilgrim culture at the point in time, that is. For her speech, Abb-Uil donned a garb of colorful synthetic tree fawns wrapping around the torso and legs as if it were a full-bodied dress.

By this late stage of their development, the Pilgrims knew the signs of decay and how to prevent it—as was necessary if they were to return home. The long-form solution to this came in the form of their Yearly Symposium.

In this mass deliberation, the highest-ranking administrative Pilgrims would dedicate three straight days and nights to a general discussion of affairs. It took a few thousand years, but eventually, their problems grew past the usual panacea of creative Replicator use. Issues needed to be dissected and carefully remedied instead.

On the first and second days of the Yearly Symposium, the typically predictable issues are told to the 10,000 attendees, who then are given free rein of all of the most sensitive information in the Mirrordom. For two full rotations of New Earth, each Terr gets paired up with an Abb of a similar specialty and the two use the limitless data to come to shared solutions. The Symposium’s original designers hoped that through regimented conversation with the other variation of Pilgrim, groupthink could be mitigated.

On the third day, the Terrs and Abbs would begin conversing—each splitting into further camps to advocate for various proposals. Debates would take place at night and the resolutions that gained the most support became the Pilgrim Empire’s official stance. These resolutions would subsequently be told to the rest of the Mirrordom through the Primes-Elect.

Abb-Uil, who had been sent up by a group pushing for an intense increase in the rigor of youth education, was revered for the work she’d done for Pilgrim education as a whole.

Over her nearly seventy years of life, most audience members had in one way or another been taught by Uil. Not only was she a great teacher, but she was also the Empire’s leading educational administrator. In her tenure, she was the catalyst for multiple major structural revolutions.

The crowd was silent as they waited for her to begin.

“Hello, all,” she said, looking around the room.

“I have been sent up here by my constituents to argue for the introduction of electromagnetism into the year ten curriculum, among many other educational changes—but this is not what I hope to discuss with you tonight. My preferred topic had not been assigned as an issue, as I assume nobody wishes to address it, but this problem must be discussed.”

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Murmurs could be heard throughout the auditorium—tangents like this were rare, especially from someone of her stature.

“Prepare yourselves, for you will not enjoy the words I have to say. Quite simply, we, the Pilgrims, are doomed. Terrence Martin and Abigail Melfi's genes balance on a thinner wire with every passing generation. We are centralized—far too centralized. Every generation is just another product of the Cube’s Replicator—just as it has always been. Thousands of years of expansion, with the only source of our growth being from a machine that we still do not understand in the slightest.

“Even despite all of our prowess in genetic technology and incubation techniques, we cannot seem to avoid the Mirror Maker’s sterilizing radiation. Even if we could reproduce, we would be dooming ourselves to an empire comprised solely of grotesquely inbred siblings! No matter what we do, Pilgrim culture will always live on the precipice of collapse. It truly is a miracle that we have made it this far.”

Abb-Uil walked across the stage, taking in the uncomfortable silence for a moment before continuing.

“You may think it is impossible, but someday, more likely than not, we are bound to lose our species’ singular womb. Maybe someone will steal it, or it’ll get lost, or hell, it might even break. It is too dangerous to know so little about how our life comes to be. . . . As I said, it’s a miracle that we have made it this far. Now, this isn’t the uncomfortable statement I warned you about—this is a problem we are all too aware of. What I fear is the established solution to this problem.”

Some attendees squirmed in their seats.

“‘We plan to give our great empire to the people of Earth, who are so patiently waiting for our return in their eternal bliss! They would love to inhabit the great oasis we have built for them!’ This is the standard narrative, the same old selfless story—one of a perfect Earth and a holy mission granted unto us by the universe’s creator. But what if we are wrong? What if Earth is not as we expected it? What if the humans don’t want to join us?”

Gasps were heard throughout, murmurs grew into a rumble of increasing emotion. A lone Terr from the crowd spoke out.

“Heretic!”

“I understand the importance of our legends, believe me. They have driven us so well for millennia, and likely will until Uco is complete. But we must think of the implications that would arise from them being proven false! How would we, as a society, react if the humans of Earth saw us as invaders? It would result in hysteria! We could wind up not seeing them as human at all.”

“You appease the Great Distraction! Get off the stage!”

“I will speak my piece. I believe I have earned it. So often, even now, I see my fellow Terrs and Abbs regard those who ‘indulge in the Great Distraction’ as being below that of the common Pilgrim, subhuman even. I know that we are all too aware of the Defective Replication Hypothesis and its damage to society. What will we devolve to thinking of humanity if our distant cousins are not as we expect them? Would we dare to forcefully subjugate them, solely so they can naturally populate our empire and free us from our Cube dependency?”

By this point, Abb-Uil had to shout over the roar of accusations and insults from the crowd. They had not prepared themselves well for her uncomfortable words. Again, an Abb towards the front attempted to answer Abb-Uil's question.

“They won’t be! You speak of madness; your words are treason against the Pilgrim Mirrordom!”

“Maybe they won’t come unwillingly. Who knows? I certainly don’t. But by my estimations, Uco should come to be within the next hundred generations. If we begin our discussion now, perhaps we can avoid a worst-case scenario. Maybe if we—”

Suddenly, the auditorium lights cut out. The shouting was more audible than ever, removing comprehensibility from any sole voice. Some Pilgrims clamored to the stage and moved Abb-Uil out of the room.

Another century passed before the topic was brought up again, and was put down with a similar fanaticism. Until the moment of Uco's creation, the Pilgrims never again considered reevaluating their tale of genesis.