Random stories

The sun rises lazily on Neo Dakar, where Musa Mbaye sips his morning attaya. The tableau of shining glass and glittering gold structures makes the city shimmer in the early mornings. He regards the massive dry-docks off the coastline that prepare interstellar generation ships. It may have been cheaper to construct the ships in space, but the Dakarois preferred to keep their future close to home. His metallic knees ached quietly, reminding him of old injuries and dead friends. Closing his eyes he could still hear the waves, still smell the ocean and remember what life was like before The Archivist arrived. The son of a fisherman, he remembered helping to repair his father's net as a child, his little fingers rapidly repairing tears from the day’s catch. He misses the sea, the crashing of the waves. He opens his eyes, sips the attaya and watches the city glow.

Fifty years before, a spaceship entered the atmosphere, bringing a global promise of new technology for a new planet. Representative of a united galaxy of civilizations, The Archivist sought to unite humanity and bring them into the galactic fold, in exchange for their children. So much knowledge from so many civilizations was impossible to accurately describe in terms that humans could scientifically express, except to young brains. Suddenly a young population of volunteers was an immense national resource, turning the world order on its head. Developing countries had a distinct advantage with their younger populations, and the older and more demographically stagnant populations lagged behind in volunteers.

In time, these formerly impoverished countries were disproportionately more technologically advanced, and ended up quickly expanding their sphere of influence. Due to its history of democratic transitions of power, relative ethnic harmony, and mix of varied cultural groups, Senegal quickly grew to be a bastion of technical innovation. As a permanent member of the West African Coalition’s Security Council, Senegal was considered one of the most influential countries for energy development in the world. A vital commodity on a planet that was finally ending its conflicts and stretching to other stars.

A communicator chirped.

“President Mbaye, I'm sorry to interrupt your breakfast, but we're receiving strange reports from our space command. You're needed in the Action Room.”

Musa set his attaya down, banishing his thoughts of the past. As his Fulani mother was fond of saying, the world is yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Yesterday he fixed fishnets, today he fixed Senegal’s problems, tomorrow he would fix the world.

“So, it's another representative from the Galactic Federation? Why is that a problem?”

“Sir, it says that it’s the only representative that's been sent. It says that The Archivist stole highly restricted technology.”

“The knowledge transference?”

“Yes sir. Our analysts believe that we reproduce extremely quickly by galactic standards. It could be assumed that species like ours very often grow exponentially with this technology, and become extremely powerful in a few generations.”

“Have we contacted The Archivist?”

“Our contacts in the Ubangi-Shari Collective have reported that The Archivist confirms our hypothesis. Normally, a species like ours conquers their neighbors, but The Archivist believes we may be the exception.”

Musa exhaled, wondering if tomorrow had finally come.

“Assemble the Security Council, quickly.”

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Submitted by Rohrin on Thu, Mar 10, 2022 to /r/WritingPrompts/

The prompt

50 years ago an alien came to Earth in a flying saucer, claiming to be a representative of the Galactic Federation. Under his guidance, mankind achieved world peace and huge technological advancements. Today, the REAL Galactic Federation arrived, in a search of a fugitive.