AEHU/Plot/Esoterica Foreward
Greetings, dear reader! My name is Belthasar, First Director of Operations for the Chronopolis Temporal Research Facility. Being that this document is meant for the eyes only of subsequent Directors of Operations, I will dispense with lessons in quantum theory and temporal mechanics, as well as my own fantastic personal history. Let us jump straight into the heart of our mission.
I can only guess at why my good colleague Melchior, Guru of Life and PhD, decided to write this oft-censored mini-compendium. Its genesis probably lies in the efforts of his predecessor, the late Guru of Life Emeritus, Norstein Bekkler.
In year 12,004BG of the Guardian calendar, Guru of Life Bekkler completed his symposium on the Creation Fibre and the relation between Earthbound and Enlightened peoples. His most contentious conclusion - that a mere single genetic switch separated Earthbound and Enlightened with respect to Elemental energy channeling capability - ignited a firestorm within Zealian society. You see, back in those days we depended upon essentially free labor from Earthbound to meet our basic energy needs, allowing Zeal's scientific vanguard to pursue more lofty goals without distraction. If there were conclusive proof that Earthbound and Enlightened were identical in all respects, rather than Enlightened being naturally superior to Earthbound, well...I believe you can appreciate the ramifications.
While it would have been possible to undoctor Bekkler, his recently-acquired title of Guru was traditionally irreproachable. The royal family managed to sever funding from disfavored projects, but this did not deter sypmathetic families from providing private funding to Bekkler (and am I glad we followed the same path in establishing Chronopolis, ho ho!).
Between 12,004 and 12,002BG, Guru Bekkler attempted to prove his hypothesis by forcefully "flipping" the genetic switch he suspected of being responsible for Elemental-channeling capability. However, as you may well know, there are complex interactions among the Creation Fibre's various nodes; then-unknown rules hidden to Guru Bekkler stymied his progress, and his early live Earthbound subjects developed into truly grotesque creatures as their protein structures changed in unforeseen ways. Threatened with losing funding from even private sources (the liberal Bendar family especially abhorred the inhumane early results), Bekkler turned to biogenerating humanoid organisms from scratch.
Mother nature shields her exact methods in unforgiving secrecy, but most subjects Guru Bekkler managed to produce by 12,001BG were approximately humanoid, and their genetic structure emulated natural Creation Fibres to approximately 96% accuracy. Unfortunately, even Bekkler's most promising subjects failed to demonstrate conscious thought. They breathed, excreted, responded to pain, and could emulate simple actions such as raising their arms in response to visual stimuli - provided their brains were under the influence of externally-introduced electrochemicals. All the organs worked. However, the creatures (to this day I admit I could not term them "human") remained incapable of speech or cognition, and even choked on non-intervenous food, as if they simply were not aware of the world around them. Little more than biological dolls. Decades of training in the life sciences left good Bekkler dumbfounded.
In early 12,001BG my personal protoge, one Melchior, PhD., noted the complete lack of activity in the cerebral cortices of Guru Bekkler's subjects and took extreme interest. Much to my chagrin Melchior's engineering projects dipped in quality while he engaged for an entire week in what I called "mere philosophizing." I fully believe the Blackbird Project could have completed a month ahead of schedule had it not been for this episode, but contrary to Her Royal Highness Queen Zeal's publically issued opinion, Melchior's philosophical reprieve did not impinge on our early investigation of the Object (that was fully conducted under my own keen eye). In any case, Melchior's opinion proved factually applicable and enabled Guru Bekkler to proceed with his research, and he made great strides until his untimely disappearance.
The volume that follows is purely Melchior's philosophical reflection on Guru Bekkler's dilemma, aside from occasional commentary from myself that will be labeled B Notes. I also supplied the final Addendum, which is meant for your eyes only. I must admit that releasing it is emotionally complex for me, as it decisively put my stellar protege along the Guru of Life track as opposed to the Guru of Reason track within royal opinion. Please do not distribute to other members of the temporal research community.