1842, Space, Outer Sol System

A small object moved through the emptiness of space. No lights showed on the hull, no radio signals or energy sources revealed its presence, it was a hole in the void it moved through. If someone had been looking in just the right place with the greatest telescopes and sensors ever made, they may have seen a black speck moving at impossible speeds. But where the object was going no one was looking for it, not that it would have mattered. Even if they had known exactly where to look and the exact second the object would appear, their simple telescopes of distorted glass and metal wouldn't reveal anything. The simplest device on the object was 20,000 years beyond the most advanced technology the small blue planet possessed.

As the object came closer to its destination for the first time in a millennia its ancient technology began to hum with power and purpose.

Iowa Territory, near the Mississippi River

The deer stopped suddenly, looking around its nostrils flared as it smelled the wind searching for the noise that had disturbed it. A sudden movement caused the animal to leap forward attempting to escape the hunter that had finally revealed himself. The arrow caught it just behind the shoulder. It ran through the bushes blinded by the pain, instincts insisting that if it ran fast enough and far enough the pain would end, and it would survive.

The deer was dead before it had run a hundred feet

Falcon patiently waited to be certain the deer was dead before he followed it. The deer would be enough for his family until the Indian Agents came with the promised food and money. He snorted in disgust, the last bags of flours had been thick with bugs. It had taken days to sift them out, and the bread his wife made with it, had still been speckled with black. The younger men had talked of violence, but the thought of attacking the soldiers was too much for most of them, and they had quieted down after stern words from the Sioux elders.

Enough time had passed, Falcon drew his knife and walked towards the fallen deer.

Space, Near Earth Orbit

The object scanned the small planet. It had approached the planet from the sun, hiding the magnificent display of light that would have revealed it to even the most primitive tools as it slowed from near light speeds.

Its creators had planned for the object to reach a planet that would most likely be at the beginning stages of scientific advances. Allowing the precious cargo to secretly assimilate into the new planet, but not suffer from the plagues and destitution that pre-science societies would consider common. There had been a mistake.

The planet radiated no radio waves, no artificial lights could be detected by the object. There appeared to be several large towns on the surface, and some areas of the continents had obviously been changed by sentient actions, but the planet was primitive.

The object reviewed its database, and came to a decision. Several pebble sized objects extruded from the hull and flew down to the planet.

New York City, U.S.A.

A young boy, no more then six years old, sat in an alleyway peering carefully at a muddy newspaper spread out on his lap. Slowly he moved his mouth trying to sound out the unfamiliar words, his finger tracing the word as he wracked his brains to make sense of the unfamiliar symbols. He didn't hear the footsteps until it was too late. A large hand grabbed his red hair and savagely pulled him into the air. The boy flailed in air trying to grab his assailant or get his feet onto something, he felt his thick red hair being pulled out of his scalp. Tears poured from his eyes as he screamed in pain.

Finally the pain stopped as he was thrown into a wall. A voice the boy knew all too well said, "Al what are you trying to do?"

Lex, for thats what he called himself away from his family, spit the blood out of his mouth and glared at the teenager standing over him.

"Reading, Edward" he said.

Edward laughed, and kicked Lex in the stomach making the young boy cry in pain. "Think ya better than me, huh, boy. Pretending ya can read. Trying to act like some lawyer? Maybe ya wanna be the mayor. Always trying to read, ain't no one can read here. Remember that. You was born in the mud, and ya gonna stay in the mud." Edward grabbed Lex by the hair again, "As your brother I'm trying to help ya. Stop pretending to read and start working. Ya ain't gonna get anywhere reading papers that the rich folk have thrown away. I don't read, Pa don't read, Ma never read, and we are doing fine. We always got just enough to eat, some extra money for tobacco, and a bit of fun, but if you keep trying to read the Times, well you'll never amount to anything," he cuffed Lex once more to make sure his words sunk in.

Lex cried to himself clutching his stomach, and waited for his brother to leave. Then he crawled back to the newspaper. 'Stupid bastard,' Lex thought to himself. He'd already read the Times earlier, he was teaching himself French with a paper from Paris.

Space, Near Earth Orbit

The object retrieved all of its small probes after 24 hours. If the object could have been troubled it would have been. The planet was primitive, and violent. But it appeared to be on the verge of becoming a scientific civilization. It had to make a decision. Should it release its precious cargo on this world, risking the primitive conditions or should it search for a new planet?

The object spent several seconds running a diagnostic of itself, and processing several thousand calculations. If it continued its search there was a 23.234% chance it would suffer a serious malfunction. There was also a 76.123% chance that the next planet would be unsuitable for the cargo.

This planet was the best planet available. Its research showed that the civilization on the Northern center of the medium size continent would be ideal. It was almost as advanced as the civilizations on the subcontinent on the largest continent, but its people appeared healthier, especially near the edges, away from the cesspools that formed the major towns. The cargo would also be most easily accepted into society from the edges of the civilization. The primitive hand written documents would not allow formal record keeping, and their appeared to be a smaller chance of suffering ailments from the lack of hygiene found in the major towns along the coast.

It began to genetically modify the cargo to better fit the species of the planet.

Iowa Territory

Falcon carried the deer draped over his shoulders. It was heavy, but he carried it easily. He sang a song thanking the deer for letting him kill it. Smiling he thought about how in a few hours he would be home in the arms of his grateful wife and children.

Fire flashed through the sky heading towards him. Falcon stared at it dumbly for several seconds. He had never seen anything like it. It wasn't lightening, although he could hear the thunder coming from it, but it moved straight at him, like a bird attacking a rabbit. He dropped the deer and fled into the bush.

Falcon stood up and rubbed his aching head. He didn't know how he had fallen. Dazed he looked around wondering what had happened. Slowly he remembered fleeing a bright light, but he couldn't remember anything after that. His head hurt and his ears rang.

A baby cried out. Falcon was instantly on his feet searching for the baby. He knew deep in his heart that he must protect the baby. The baby was just a few feet away resting beside the deer. It was wrapped in a shiny cloth that Falcon had never seen before. Around its neck was a medallion with a strange symbol on it.

Gingerly Falcon touched the medallion. It was warm despite the cool air. It didn't look like any metal he had ever seen. It was too shiny, and it had strange grains in it. From one angle it looked silvery laced with gold, but from another angle it was more like copper and granite. The symbol on it was also strange, it made his eyes water to look at it. It was on the inside of the metal. It was like the metal itself was glass with the symbol in the centre of it, but the symbol also looked like it was on the surface of the metal and the metal was opaque. Shaking his head Falcon stopped looking at it, and picked the baby up.

As his hands touched the cloth that the baby was wrapped in he wondered what it was. It was soft and light. It was better than any cotton or wool. Even the fancy jackets of the Indian Agents didn't feel like the cloth around the baby.

Looking down at the black haired child who was now sleeping soundly in his arms, Falcon whispered, "Why did the spirits send you to me fire child?" Carefully he tied the cloth holding the child into a sling around his neck. Then sure that the child would be safe he struggled to put the deer over his shoulder without disturbing the child. Awkwardly he walked home wondering what the spirits intended, and what his wife and children would say.

Space, Near Earth Orbit

The object had completed its mission and devoid of an objective, it reduced its power source and shut down its systems. Some small part of its programming remained active however. A glitch in the software allowed a minor observation program to continue its observations of the planet and the solar system even as the object moved away to be lost in the vastness of the solar system.

As the object moved away from the planet, several large asteroids headed towards blue world. They had been caught by the objects energy and followed it in the millennia long journey. Several weeks later sky gazers were amazed by the brilliant green flecked meteor shower that covered the sky all across the Northern hemisphere.