{"sf1_id":807826,"sf2_id":null,"title":"A Lesson in Future History","author":"StGeorgesHorse","words":2065,"posted_at":"2015-01-15T19:21:00.000Z","tags":["Anthropomorphic","Clean","Future","Human","Lion","Magic","Panther","Science","Time travel","wizard"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/807826-a-lesson-in-future-history","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/807826","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=807826\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"#3 of The Mage of Terra Danor\n\nI didn't get a lot of interest in this series, but I wanted to write another story regardless.","content":"                Morlei\nwas testing out his new clone body. The circuits inside the melded\ntechnological/biological brain were still working out the kinks. It was taking\nsome adjustments in getting used to having his own body back and not just\npigging-backing on his friend's circuits.\n                Keverne\nwas sitting in the diagnostic chamber getting a once over. Any examples of\nbacteria that had managed to attach themselves to his person where carefully\nremoved and sent for study, propagation and storage.\n                Their\nquarry and his wife were one room over. Her mind was slowly being pulled\nforward. For the moment the human was too caught up in the recovery of his wife\nto question his unfamiliar and somewhat bizarre surroundings. He only had eyes\nfor her at the moment. \n                Morlei\nwalked around in his sleek, tawny body, flexing his limbs and gazing at his companion.\nHe walked over to the chamber and tapped on the glass, running his fingers thorugh his mane.. \"Hey look, another body\nyou can break in!\"\n                His\nfriend smiled weakly. \"Not right away we're not. That last jump nearly burned\nout some of my hardware. It's going to take a while for the damage to be\nrepaired.\"\n                \"So\nyou're telling me that the only part I'm presently interested in is\nnon-functional?\"\n                \"I\ndidn't say that, but we both know our guest will need attending to. I'm sure he\nhas numerous questions that will need to be answered.\"\n                It was\nsome time later that the diagnosticians were satisfied that he was clear to\nleave the recuperation chamber. He was a little off-balance from the effects of\nthe upgrades, but he was anxious to have a talk with this ancient scientist.\n                The\nhuman was at the side of his wife, who was coming in and out of consciousness.\n\"Mr. Newberry?\"\n                The\nhuman turned. \"Oh, it's you. What is this place? No one has said a thing and\nit's all rather phenomenal to take in. It seems like it's all just a dream.\"\n                \"It's\nno dream. Rather, it's the result of a nightmare.\"\n                \"I see.\nCould you manage to explain that a little better?\"\n                \"There\nis too much to explain. A lot has happened in between the time period  I have plucked you from and now. I will try to\nanswer single questions as coherently as I can.\"\n                \"OK.\nWhy do you look like someone's artistic rendering of a humanoid cat?\"\n                \"Because\nthat's what I am. I have mixed genetics. There are no full humans in this time\nnow except for you and your mate.\"\n                \"How\ncome?\"\n                \"Now\nthat is quite the story and I'm not sure that you'll enjoy it.\"\n                \"I'm\nnot sure I believe any of this right now. But it seems all too real to be some\nsort of hoax.\"\n                \"I\nassure you this is no hoax. If only it were.\"\n                \"Since\nyou have already done more for my wife than anyone else, I will take your word\nas being the truth. If nothing else, your appearance is either clever makeup,\nor even cleverer gene manipulation. If the former, my compliments to the\nartist; if the latter, then you indeed have much to tell me.\"\n                Keverne\nleaned down and put his face in the human's. \"Pinch me if you have any doubts.\"\n                Two fingers\ncame up and gently rolled the furry flesh between his fingers. \"I was hoping\nfor makeup you know.\"\n                \"Not\nsurprising. An old human frailty; not accepting the facts. But the evidence I\nhope you see is that I am what I appear. Now are you ready for the story?\"\n                \"Oh,\nwhy not? I can only hazard a guess right now as to how things got to be this\nway; whatever way this happens to be.\"\n                \"Allow\nme to discuss your extinct species in blatant terms. I hope you will not take\noffense but I do not like skirting an issue.\"\n                \"I'm a\nscientist. I understand paring back the data to its simplest form.\"\n                \"Good.\nIt all began at a time some years in your future. We don't know when  exactly because so many records were lost. It\nrevolved around the chance discovery of an organism, a small pathogen with a\nunique nature.\"\n                \"Unique\nhow?\"\n                \"Like\nso many bacteria and viruses of your time, it was essentially harmless to\nhumans. But it was found that a few variants of it had some noticeable side\neffects. For one, it tended to congregate in the reproductive system.\"\n                \"So it\nwas a venereal disease?\"\n                \"An old\nterm and not an applicable one. No, it could be only transmitted, in its\nearliest form, via direct blood contact. It never produced symptomology;\nneither fevers nor sores. All it did was inhabit the ovaries or testicles,\ndepending on the gender of the subject.\"\n                \"Strange,\nbut hardly surprising. Many organisms have preferred regions to infect.\"\n                \"You\nare correct. That in itself was not unusual. But the location was a\ncompromising one, if you understand my meaning.\"\n                \"I'm\nafraid I don't.\"\n                \"You\nwill. I assume you understand the problems with what you referred to as\nreligion?\"\n                \"You're\nlosing me now.\"\n                \"Religion;\nthe belief in a greater being that controls your life.\"\n                \"Yes, I\nunderstand what religion is. What does that have to do with a pathogen?\"\n                Keverne\nsmiled.\"Some scholars have said that religion is in itself a pathogen. But I\ndigress. Religious wars were erupting in your day were they not?.\"\n                \"Yes.\nMostly in the Middle East, but little hotbeds were brewing elsewhere.\"\n                \"Yes,\nand they only got worse. Intellectuals were killed because they spoke out\nagainst the stupidity and arrogance of many believers. The planet was\nthreatened with another Dark Age such as you had in your far past. There was a\nrampant destruction and constriction of information in your own future, mostly\nfrom corporation entities and religious leaders.\"\n                \"I\ncould see that happening. It still doesn't explain the role of this pathogen.\"\n                \"I'm\ngetting there. A few scientists, at the urging of several governments, tinkered\nwith it until they developed a form that scarred the tissues of the infected\nperson. Outside of a brief, low grade temperature, there were no symptoms.\"\n                \"Oh I\nsee. Bacterial sterilization.\"\n                \"You\nare very perceptive. Yes, anyone inoculated with the organism was rendered\nsterile. In one way or another, this pathogen was given to thousands of people\nin an effort to end their lineage. Studies had showed that what religion you\nbelieved in was mostly a matter of where you lived, so many towns were bought up\nand those who were science oriented and anti-religious moved into them.\nChurches were destroyed and believers, regardless of their sects were removed.\nA movement rose to oppose this.\"\n                \"I\nsee.\"\n                \"Do\nyou? I don't think so. The religious groups went up in arms. The call of God, Guns and Glory is still feared to\nthis day, and we had no part of that slaughter.\"\n                The\nhuman nodded. \"I can see that.\"\n                \"I\ndon't think you quite see it as of yet. This pathogen was designed to be\nadministered like a typical vaccination, but many people were against such\nnormal methods of protecting themselves from disease. They preferred to rely on\ntheir god to protect them.\"\n                \"Yeah,\nthat was happening in my day.\"\n                \"Good.\nSo you know the harm they promoted to the whole population. However, given the\nappropriate scare, they could be induced to taking vaccinations. So a number of\nfairly harmless airborne diseases were released. Anyone who was vaccinated were\nfine, but those who weren't got ill. After that, it was a simple matter of\ninjecting them with both the good vaccine and the active pathogen. No one ever\nnoticed.\"\n                \"I take\nit the population began to decline?\"\n                \"No at\nonce of course, but eventually yes. The religious folks blamed it on all kinds\nof superstitious reasons.\"\n                \"It\nwould take a few decades before anyone would be able to tie the effects to the\nvaccinations.\"\n                \"They\nnever did. They were too preoccupied with praying for an answer that they never\nhad the intelligence to run the numbers.\"\n                \"So\nwhat happened?\"\n                \"Do you\nmean before, during or after the Great Religious Wars?\"\n                \"The\nwhat?\"\n                \"You\nheard me just fine. The countries began to split up into different sections. On\nthe religious sides, the pathogen mutated until it was passed from one person\nto another. It soon became an epidemic, though they never knew it. It's hard to\nthink of something like a little fever could be the sign of a deadly thing, but\nwithin a few years they were all infected and thus, sterile. There was no more\nbreeding.\"\n                \"Wow!\nThey would be insidious.\"\n                \"It\ntruly was. Only it didn't stop there. You see the program had been abandoned\nbecause it was considered to be too prohibitive to be effective. Once it became\ntransmissible, then it roared through the population like wildfire. No one\nnoticed until it was too late. Only the most remote pockets of humanity\nremained unaffected by it. These groups became phobic about having contact with\nany others, except via their communication systems.\"\n                \"Ok, so\nthat can go far to explain the reason my kind may have died out, but it doesn't\nexplain you or anyone else around here.\"\n                \"I'm\ngetting to that. There had been some dabbling in genetic crossovers. There were\na number of corporations that invested in genetic technology, working to build\nbetter soldiers and warriors. In this they were successful, to the point that a\nnumber of protoforms actually went into production.\"\n                \"Production?\nYou make it sound like they were manufactured!\"\n                \"They\nwere, just like we have to do here on occasion. They were all sterile...except\nthat they weren't. Someone figured out that giving one of these protofroms a\nhealing elixir activated their reproductive organs.\" \n                \"Ok, but\nwhat's the catch?\"\n                \"Catch?\nOh, I see the term you are using. The \"catch\" was that this pathogen didn't\naffect the biology of the protoforms. They could breed where the humans were\ninhibited in their regenerative process. In two generations thehuman population\nacross the planet plummeted by forty percent.\"\n                \"Wow!\nThat was millions of people!\"\n                \"Yes it\nwas. The planet was better off for it, for the demand on food and energy was drastically\nreduced. At the same time your species became so paranoid of one another that\nthe wars were fought to the death rather than risk soldiers coming back with\nthe unknown ailment. Only the scientific people prevailed, using technology to\ncontinue fighting.\"\n                \"Using\nthese protoforms?\"\n                \"They\nwere only a few of the developments they used. But the harm from this pathogen\nwas not to be halted. Over centuries it kept cropping up, sterilizing formerly\nisolated patches of the population. Many natural disasters happened as well,\nsince given enough of a population loss, there were not enough of your people\nto stave them off. We can discuss those later if you are interested.\"\n                \"And\nthis is where you come in?\"\n                \"To a\ncertain degree. Much damage was caused to this planet, and while given a few\nhundred thousand years it might return to being agreeable to life as you knew\nit, we think we can help it long. Therefore, we are searching out people whose\npresence in the past won't be missed, such as yourself. We have a great amount\nof information and technology available to us, but we lack a certain\nimagination that seemed to go hand in hand with the human species.\"\n                \"And\nyou think I can fix... how many years worth of damage?\" \n                \"A few\nmillennia.\"\n                \"Is\nthat all?\"\n                \"We can\nsend you back to your past if you like. We are giving you a chance to correct\nwhat your kind did to themselves and to this planet. You can be the new Adam\nand Eve, if you will forgive the religious reference.\"\n                He\nthought it over. It was a lot to take in. \"I have nothing back home. If my wife\nrecovers, then you have yourself a deal!\""}