Stargazer - Prologue

P R O L O G U E

A N D   S O   T H E   S K I E S   S H A L L   B U R N

At the time of writing this – and I disregard whatever it is to you, whether technology has advanced from the setting in this tale or not – much has changed in the past three hundred years. After discovering a vault on Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, containing information essential for faster-than-light travel, terraforming, off-world colonisation, and even weapons and medicine technology far advanced beyond our own. Several samples of other-worldly lifeforms were also collected in there; some humanoid, some resembling animals, and some which were just… well, I'd say 'out of this world', and it'd be completely true.

But… one thing… hasn't changed. One thing… never changes. Contrary to popular belief, it's not conflict, love, hate, material value, war, loyalty, or anything remotely near to any of those, it's something totally different. Something which lies within each of us, something hard to explain, something of which can be entirely the same between two people, or vastly different.

Human nature.

Human nature leads us to take the short-term benefits nine times out of ten. Human nature escalates violence until someone commits a crime so horrific that human nature forces them to regret. Human nature made mankind war between itself for centuries, perhaps even millenia. Human nature links all of us together; it makes all of us similar, but varies us too. Human nature is our rise, and human nature is our fall.

It is single-handedly responsible for all the things the human race has achieved in life, bad, or good. It is the most powerful force belonging to man-kind, and it is manipulative and you will bend to its will. Human nature shapes our personalities. Human nature is in our blood. Human nature creates, defines, and destroys us.

Human nature is the reason I have a shotgun barrel prodding into my spine at this moment in time.