Much and more is explained.
New Eden was settled a few centuries ago from a relatively distant planet known as Tremoli, which, if their coordinates is correct, is the same as the Linked System of New Alexandria. This is not entirely surprising, as the expedition set forth during an escalation in conflict between the ruling orbital community and the planet-bound masses. According to the histories of New Alexandria, the colonists arrived to find—instead of the pristine (if barren) planet they were expected—a world pockmarked with systematic nuking, and a ring system of orbital debris. Now we know (or I know) what happened before on that world.
What’s more interesting is that the locals of New Eden aren’t actually refugees from the impending war, but were rather something of a science experiment. In fact, nobody left Tremoli, since that was against the rules. Instead, the fleet sent forth to New Eden was wholly unmanned, and merely contained a diverse array of genetic information. A few thousand years later, the fleet arrived, terraformed the planet to have an atmosphere, and then used the genetic information to generate a decently sized population.
This isn’t terribly uncommon, though normally the ‘travelers’ are frozen embryos rather than just genetic data in a computer, but the experiment wasn’t a question of seeing whether colonization would work, but rather of using colonization to isolate the test population.
The friendliness noted earlier isn’t a cultural thing, it is a genetic imperative. Moreover, to hear the historians tell it, it is normally a maladaptive imperative. To trust everyone, to give without expecting anything in return… you don’t need to be Gestler to see why these traits, when taken to the extreme, are potentially maladaptive. However, the idea with New Eden was to create an isolated population where everyone had these traits, and where nobody would take advantage of their naïveté.
Nobody, of course, until we arrived. The historians are incredibly worried about the introduction of Faster-Than-Light transportation, because it means their isolation can and will be violated. They already know of Gateway technology, they simply chose not to build it. They cannot simply choose not to be visited.
And, in their opinion, isolation is key. Their theory is that while altruism and cooperation are better for the group, selfishness is better for the individual. In a situation of various competing groups, this balances out – too much selfishness in a population, and that population will be out-competed by more cooperative groups. However, as groups become larger and less competitive, the balance shifts increasingly to favor selfishness – selfish culture and selfish genes. The worst case scenario is, then, of a unified world government, ruled by whoever can wheel and deal their way to the top, rather than effective leaders. With the lack of competition, the only standard required of leaders is that they prevent the world society from imploding – anything short of that is fine. Given that as being the case, the selfish leaders then resort to whatever means can be used to quell dissent and revolution, while jockeying for position in the leadership.
This all seems incredibly pessimistic to me, but I understand it to be their explanation for the history of Tremoli, right up until the civilization self-destructed. If they have a pessimistic outlook on baseline humanity, it is because they came from a very negative example of base-line humanity.
However, I cannot entirely dismiss their concerns. There are a lot less Linked Systems that one might expect from twenty thousand years of colonization. How many societies destroyed themselves? How many societies regressed down to the level of technology seen in Arcadia? Is this the natural fate of human-kind, to kill itself? To destroy itself, either before or after sending out a colonization effort? One could almost think of colonies as organisms, growing and hopefully reproducing before dying.
And what of the Linked Systems? Has the competence of the Linked Systems been a result of the eternal jockeying between systems? Is the creation of a Linked Systems government structure an inevitable step towards the demise of the Linked Systems? The acausal message describing the Gateway technology has always existed and will always exist. So why are the Linked Systems so young? Could it be that the previous Linked Systems destroyed itself so utterly that no trace remains of them?
New Eden believes in isolation. I understand that. For people so utterly innocent… there is a part of me that wants nothing more than to protect them from those out there who would abuse their kindness, or pollute their purity. Another part of me is astounded at their civilization, and wonders if their technological prowess is only possible because they have survived longer without the constant upheavals of a more base-line society – what could they achieve if they were given another few centuries of isolation?
I have agreed to not tell anyone that New Eden exists, and to falsify records to show that there is nothing of interest here. However, while I trust the captain, Ms. Santiago, Mr. Gestler, and the pilot all to keep this secret… I do not know whether the doctor or Mr. Landerson will choose to betray my trust and sell the secret for profit.
In ‘exchange’ for secrecy, they have explained to me that we should avail ourselves of their full hospitality, and everything they are willing to offer us. I have promised full access to all the information I carry, as not to feel like I am taking advantage of them and offering nothing in return, and everything seems to be looking up. I have allowed their engineers to inspect me, and they are more than willing to provide me with substantial expansion, beyond my wildest dreams. We will dock here for however long that takes, (or the time required for Susana’s new body to be grown, if that takes longer) and then set out for alien space. There will be no detour to Telivoni, and so much the better.
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