Chapter II, Cultural Autopsy I


Lifewatcher had been created a few light years from an exploding star, and had spent Its first few years observing the development of primitive life on a world far distant, where the bursts of gamma rays and other radiation from that self same star had started the process that might one day result in sentient life.

So it wasn't surprising that Lifewatcher had become interested in the course of life- and death.

Its form, a floating ball, occasionally throwing off a nanite probe, or picking something up for analysis via absorbtion, floated through a large city established on the coast amid high mountains.

Stopping, it looked at yet another statue.

Or yet another broken statue. They seemed to come in three general designs. A female of the dominant species, a male, or the two together. All built within a year, dozens, hundreds of them, on every street, in every park.

But all broken. All shattered, and as far as Lifewatcher could tell, shattered over a very short period.

There were a variety of inscriptions by them. Lifewatcher paused in surprise, and then opened a link.

AlienExpert? I have yet to receive a full download of the primary languages.

The answer swiftly came back .

I have not yet completed my analysis.

Oh? The language is that complex?

No. It appears that most of the archives on this planet have been, ah, destroyed.

Interesting. Over a short period?

The majority of the destruction appears to have started about one hundred rotations ago- but it continued for a few decades after that.

War?

No. Individual, small scale, large scale, but it was not war. It was directed, on a local basis, but I can find no similarity in methodology. Some archives have been burned, some were thrown open to the elements- not only that, but this apparently includes museums.

A moment passed and Lifewatcher could see through AlienExperts sensors. A vast building, burned and open to the elements, display cases shattered, their contents long sense destroyed by the actions of the inhabitants or by the workings of wind and weather.

Ah. A pause. I see the statues are there as well.

They are everywhere, as far as I can tell. While I cannot give you a full translation of the languages, I believe I can tell you what the names are.

Drakken, is the male's name. Shego is the females.

While they were talking, Lifewatcher left the city and rose up to the summit of one of the mountains. The remains of a great statue were there, evidently demolished by explosives. Amid it's rubble was another statue, evidently the fragments of an older structure, demolished to give way for the statue of Drakken.

This other figure. It appears to have been destroyed to make way for the Drakken. A religious conflict?

Possibly. A new 'voice' intruded. Navigator opened up its sensors and all three, and the rest of the sentiences on earth and on the fleet say a large building, bench like seating, shattered and charred, a high vaulted ceiling partially open to the elements. At the end, defaced with what looked like blows from some bladed device, there was a wooden carved statue of Shego and Drakken.

Interesting. All over the world. AlienExpert said.

More interesting is this. Navigator lifted out of the building, and floated over the small town, touching down behind the building. Do you see this carving?

It is the correct size to be placed...I see, just as here, it was discarded in favor of the newer statue. Lifewatcher said. Professionally, it continued, What is the significance of its mounting on the structure behind it?

I am uncertain. Navigator said, When I saw it, I deployed other sensors, but most examples appear to have been destroyed to make way for the statues of the two newer individuals... and most structures of this type have been destroyed so completely that it will require a far more indepth survey to reconstruct their contents.

The spikes through the palms of the hand are certainly decorative. AlienExpert commented. I cannot see how the soft tissue of a living example of this species would withstand the pressure of its weight.

Agreed. The plant matter around its head is also interesting- in reality that would cause a great deal of discomfort. Lifewatcher paused. Navigator, AlienExpert, do you have any idea what this being might have been called?

None as yet. Navigator said. I will continue my investigations.

Obviously a religious icon of some import. AlienExpert concluded, Orbital sensors, indicate that nearly all settlements on this continent have not one, but many structures of this nature. And yet all were converted over to the newer...religion? That last was tentative.

Maybe. But if so, why was it not replaced by the older religion once the new religion fell from grace? As it spoke, Navigator moved into the street, one tendril touching a shattered statue that appeared to have been destroyed by some form of chemical explosive. That is generally the case. No religion I can recall in our data bases would fall so completely so fast, and yet have no successors- or no return to the older religion.

It appears to not simply be that religion. Starwatcher stated as it contributed to the Link. An image appeared- another shattered statue of the two, this one in a great plaza. From the script I have found, this region had another religion, script, and was in many respects likely quite independent from the region you are examining. Moments passed as Starwatcher used reconstructed a simulation of what had been there before. The great statue (well one-half, everything above the waist of the pair having been destroyed), vanished but the black stone of which it had been constructed now moved into a new configuration, a large cubic structure. Analysis indicates that this stone was quite a bit older than most recent structures.

As were many of the structures holding this figure. Navigator said. Interesting. Evidently old, and world wide cultural icons were overthrown... very quickly.

Within a single rotation. AlienExpert confirmed. That appears to be the date of all the new statues.

And then they vanished. Were over thrown in what looks like a spontaneous world wide demonstration of rage. A rage that also struck museums, libraries... And yet did nothing to restore the old order. Very interesting.

Yes. AlienExpert agreed, We should focus on finding evidence of what killed them. However active they were in destroying information , it makes sense that at some point, data would be missed, and if all the inhabitants were dead...

True. Navigator agreed. I will commence to look for regions protected from the elements, though after 100 rotations, even such regions might find themselves badly degraded.

I agree.

AlienExpert, I have discovered something else of interest. Starwatcher interjected a comment.

Yes?

This city- observe the damage. The others observed a city square, the buildings shattered by chemical and kenetic weapons. A probe had excavated a trench in the time accumulated soil, revealing skeletons in some form of battledress, all injured.

A conflict?

It would appear so, at first glance, but no. Or at least not a conflict like you are thinking- a trendril extended from Starwatcher's body and indicated an armored structure. That is a set of cameras, embedded in an armored housing. The dead- a close up appeared, also had similar sensors attached to them.

A game?

Possibly. A game with deadly weapons, if so. Starwatcher said.

And no burial of the dead. That is unusual among organic species. Lifewatcher pointed out. For that matter, it appears that even minor injuries went untreated, it continued as a probe revealed a skeleton, one leg shattered. This individual may have suffered more injuries that are not detectable now, but even so, with their technology, care should have been possible.

That is unusual for this species, evidently. There is evidence of older interments of the dead, with some ritual. AlienExpert showed images from probes- large fields with what appeared to be memorial stones.

Interesting. Hold on that one. Navigator said.

Ah. A number of the stones have been destroyed, and the containers of the dead exhumed. An order was given, and the probe descended and started to clear the underbrush. The field had been torn up, another one of the statues, this one evidently destroyed before it had been completed. The Field was plowed and torn, containers laying this way and that, in some cases shattered, skeletal remains in various forms of tattered uniforms spilling out of them. The beginnings of a large structure were in the cleared area, rusted and vine covered construction machinery surrounding it.

Fascinating. The dead were interred with ceremony, then removed with a complete lack of reverence...and like the other structures, even after the fall(?) that last was qualified, of the new faith, they were not restored.

We are beginning to accumulate enough information on their language to make a place name possible. This was called... AlienExpert paused, Arlington National Cemetery. Evidently a site of some importance. They buried their war dead here.

Very unusual. Lifewatcher said, It does explain the Lowardian action though, given what a premium their culture places on the recognition of deeds.

Possibly. AlienExpert cautioned. But that is a conclusion that is not yet justified by the facts. We know some of what happened, but not why. We must continue.

Truth. Though For my part... Lifewatcher paused, Something terrible happened here. A culture, evidently in it's prime and in less than a year... Yes. Let us continue. I desire to know what could have done this.

TBC