The Fermi Paradox

A question posed by physicists and philosophers alike.

In the supposedly infinite universe, there is infinite potential for life. So, where is all of it? Why are we so unreasonably alone in the observable scope of our universe?

This question had been answered nearly 60 years ago when the Great Filter attempted to wipe us out.

It began with what we now know as Filter Crystals, small medallion-like gemstones that appeared and formed around civilizations seemingly overnight. While initially collected and distributed among humans for fashion and decor, studies soon found two major factors about them.

The first is that though they resemble gems native to Earth, Filter Crystals are extraterrestrial in origin. Secondly, these crystals bring with them a terrible curse:

Filtrate poisoning.


"I've had this for over five years now, ma'am."

A young man was seated in one of the offices within the primary headquarters of the OTF. He wore the personnel uniform: a long-sleeved black top with navy trim, with a matching pair of trousers and brown boots. Somewhat messy, black hair framed his face, hazel eyes glancing down before he raised a blue Filter Crystal over the desk. Though he spoke clearly, he was doing his best to ease his nerves as he watched his much calmer superior.

Said superior sat across the desk from him, her emerald gaze watching the candidate. The officer, a woman in her 30s, was dressed in a long, navy coat with cuffs folded at the wrists, orange trim along the seams with additional gold accents completing the piece. A white collar from her undershirt peaked out of the neck, with an orange scarf hanging down her chest, and her hair was tied up in a ponytail, large blue bangs left out to hang before her face.

"Five years, you say?" she repeated with a tone of curiosity as she reached over to take the crystal, looking it over. The timeframe wasn't too surprising to her when considering what they're up against, and yet because the Task Force was still in its early days…

The candidate sits back, his gaze shifting to the desk. "It happened while I was working at my grandpa's pawn shop. He uh…" He hesitates, debating whether to come clean about what happened before continuing. "Well, he used to accept Filter Crystals at his shop, and I'd gotten the poison as a result."

"Pawning off these crystals, huh…?" the officer mutters with narrowed eyes, setting the crystal back down. "Buying and selling of Filter Crystals wasn't regulated back then like it is now, so unless you're still doing so-"

"N-No ma'am," he quickly interjects, sitting straight up in a panic. "We stopped when it was outlawed, I swear."

"Uh-huh." She seems content with this response, though continues on the topic. "And your grandfather, he was fine working with these… things?"

The candidate hesitantly nodded. "He was already marked by then, for a while at that, so he didn't think he had to worry about the filtrate poison until I got it as well. Needless to say, he wasn't exactly happy with himself… but I sort of see it as a good thing."

"Oh?"

"I mean-" He stammered a bit with his explanation. "B-Because I can't get filtrate poisoning again, and well, I'd heard about the task force and I really want to help out in fighting back the Filter."

"I see." The officer wrote down these last few comments onto her notepad before setting her pen down and hardening her gaze towards the recruit. "Now, I'm sure you understand that this is a dangerous task. No doubt you've been told as much in the trainee camp. So, since this is the last step before you become an official member of Oracle, are you absolutely willing to risk your life for humanity's sake?"

The candidate stared back, glancing down to his crystal sitting between them on the desk, then turned his gaze back to the officer. "… Yes. I am ready, Officer Atikos."

Atikos stared at him for a moment longer, seeing if there was any further hesitation in his affirmation only to find none. "In that case." She stood up now, prompting her new subordinate to do so as well. "Welcome, properly, to the Oracle Task Force, Faidra Hakuri. You will be assigned to Squad Beta and undergo a one-week probationary period prior to being given your very own SharDriver, customary for all marked recruits to go through."

"Thank you, ma'am." Faidra saluted his new C.O. "I won't let you down." And with a nod from her, he dropped his arm and turned to exit the office.

As the door closed behind the recruit, the officer began to finalize the paperwork for a successful interview. She stamped the stack with one of approval, then reached over to her phone to message her assistant. "Send in the next candidate, please."


Prolonged exposure to Filter Crystals would poison humans with the essence of the Great Filter, manifesting as a crystalline growth centered among black scars on their body. "Marked for death" some would call the unfortunate victims, as within a day should the growth not be extracted, they would mutate into monstrous beings known as Filtroids, mere shells of their former selves.

The already growing spread of Filtrate poisoning was multiplied by the rise of the Filtroids, who could directly infect more humans like a plague and heralded the Great Filter's invasion. Humans, however, are tenacious and stubborn, eventually developing countermeasures to combat and even quell the seemingly unstoppable eldritch force despite suffering such catastrophic losses.

And though we survived the Filter's onslaught as a species, our societies soon collapsed.

"Hm? This? Happened when my partner and I responded to a 10-33 at a local research institute."

The next candidate, a woman in her late-20s, resided in the office of her commanding officer. She had long, brown hair tied into a ponytail, with short bangs side swept over amber eyes, and was likewise dressed in the personnel uniform for OTF.

"One of the researchers had… Well, there was a breach in protocol, and he didn't take too kindly to our showing up." The potential recruit looked over a shifting Filter Crystal sealed in a see-through case. It flitted between green and purple depending on what light hit it, and how it hit it. "Not that there was much of a person left in him."

"Mm. Fortunate that you survived such a direct encounter," Atikos responded with some degree of intrigue as she wrote, eyeing the encased crystal. "And your partner?"

"Alive and unscathed, thankfully. He's not too happy about how I made sure that happened, but we're both still breathing, and most in the facility that day managed to evac." The candidate put on a bittersweet smile at this, pocketing the case. "You can probably guess how."

"Right." The officer's brow furrowed as she continued to scribble. "And did the incident affect your work, Yonemura?"

"… Well, I'm here now, aren't I?" the candidate, Yonemura, replied cryptically, her smile fading a bit. "Truth be told, it didn't affect my work any. I had the makings of a detective, even. It did affect the work of others in the department, though. Those who… didn't trust the Marked, if you will. I put up with it, but once I heard of Oracle, I requested a transfer."

"Uh-huh." The officer finished writing, setting her pen aside and interlacing her fingers on the desk. "Now, I would think you more than others understand the gravity of this task. But just in case your prior experiences and your transfer hasn't reinforced that… Are you certain you're absolutely willing to risk your life for humanity's sake?"

"With all due respect, I've done so for years, ma'am." The candidate nodded as she responded, not missing a beat. "I have no intent on stopping now."

"Very well." Atikos stood up, motioning for Yonemura to do so as well. "Welcome, officially, to the Oracle Task Force, Rini Yonemura. You will be assigned to Squad Beta and undergo a one-week probationary period prior to being given your own SharDriver, as is customary for all Marked recruits."

"Yes ma'am, thank you." Rini offered a formal salute to her new C.O. "I look forward to getting started." And with a nod from the officer, she dropped the salute and moved to leave.

Once the door closed, Atikos finished up the paperwork with a stamp of approval, then placed the covers for both candidates into a folder. She let out a sigh as she knew this next part wasn't going to be easy, and she reached for her phone once more. "Find out where Captain Hisashi is."


We knew that the Great Filter wasn't likely to stay away, so over the following years, our previous cultures blended together, with the last of humanity banding together to form one nation that aimed to rebuild civilization and prevent future attacks. We developed stronger weapons to fight off the straggler Filtroids, and methods to save the so-called "Marked" before the poison could claim them.

What we also knew, though, was the existence of a mysterious armored warrior. A warrior who took the fight to the Filter firsthand, and could harness its poison as power to use against it.

Thus was formed the Oracle Task Force. An elite military regiment focused on predicting any future attacks and suppressing the small scale outbreaks of the remaining effects, with fighters of our own based on that warrior of old.


Atikos walked into the training hall where her assistant had reported Hisashi was currently, the personnel folder clasped tightly in her hand as she entered. "Captain Hisashi? I have new recruit paperwork I need you to…" The officer trailed off as she laid her eyes on the man in question. "What are you doing?"

"It's not important at the moment," Hisashi said plainly. What she found was the captain hanging upside down from a pull-up bar by his legs. No reps to be seen, he was simply hanging there. "You said you have papers for me to look at?" He crossed his arms and looked at her intensely, apparently not coming down any time soon.

"Y-Yeah, here." She handed the folder to him with no further comment. Though she hadn't known the man for long, his eccentricities always had a habit of calling into question his reliability. His performance records may be stellar, but was he really as dangerous as the Director claimed?

The captain gingerly grabbed the folder, not bothering to turn the files over and just proceeded to read them from the wrong perspective. He nodded occasionally and flipped through them fairly quickly before slapping the folder closed. "I'll get them up to speed in no time!" Hisashi did a half-layout off the bar and turned to salute his C.O.

Atikos could only pinch the bridge of her nose in response. "And for the love of god, please don't scare these ones off." Such a warning fell on deaf ears as the captain had already moved toward the door, and the officer glanced at her watch. "Hopefully he'll have calmed down by the time I finish interviewing his last squad member…"


The year is 20XX. The reformation of society as it once was is at its peak. However, it is this peak that also serves as the perfect opportunity for the Filter to finish what it started all those decades ago…


Author's Note:

Yeah, so... this is a pretty big departure from my last attempt at writing something to put here. And unlike said attempt that took place on the patchwork planet of Cradle, this one takes place on a post-post-apocalyptic Earth. Not to mention this will also be a collaborative effort between me and a group of friends to put together. I can't confirm whether things will get a move on beyond this opening as we all have lives and our own priorities, so updates will be sporadic. There are also other stories I'd like to tell in other 'verses, so I may also drop a few one-shots here and there between updates.

Aside from all that, I thank you all for reading, and we'll see y'all next time.