GENESIS

Nadia watched the creature on the other side of the airlock with a sad expression on her face. The airlock being transparent only from her side – Nadia could see the creature, but from where it was standing only a large boulder would be seen. Naturally blending with the mountainside it was embedded in and the lush vegetation surrounding them. Behind her, the corridor continued for hundreds of meters into the mountain, leading to the enormous underground research complex.

This area around them, with its rich flora and fauna, mirrored the state of affairs on the entire planet that they were standing on. Such scenery being the theme everywhere on its surface. But the biosphere of this planet was not simply lush and plentiful – it was perfect. And the existence of the creature on it was no accident.

In fact, the creature was the very reason for Nadia’s presence here, on this planet. One of many planets in the galaxy-spanning empire that they created. This planet however, was unique among all the other planets that they have settled on. No other planet in the empire had the perfect biosphere that this planet had. Perfection that was attained using highly advanced technological means – and enormous efforts by many of Nadia’s kind over these past centuries.

Too many.

Every organism on this planet, every animal or bacteria, existed in perfect symbiotic harmony that spanned the entire planet. No organism here ever harmed another. A perfect chain of energy transfers existing between them. The sentient organisms only ever fed on the non-sentient ones, the planet’s flora. No organism was predator nor prey.

The entirety of the planet’s surface was a captivating mosaic of colors stretching always as far as the eye could see. A patchwork shades of green, from forests to grassy hills, interspersed by majestic grey mountains. Golden shores gently touching deep blue seas and azure lakes. The planet’s waters were also rich with life, while these watery organisms continue the same perfect symbiotic chains with no prey or predator as their land-based brethren.

Such was this planet. A gorgeous, plentiful, perfect garden stretching over an entire world.

However, maintaining such a delicate balance of an entire planet’s biosphere was a different story. A highly demanding, never-ending task that required much resources and constant preservation efforts by many of Nadia’s kind. The price was too high. And this planet could not continue to exist in this way.

Nadia’s kind had to find another solution.

And thus, the idea was born. An idea that slowly materialized over decades, until it came to be – literally – I the flesh. The intricate work required from Nadia and her colleagues to this end over these past decades of her life, had to be delicate and precise. And now, the fruit of their labor was standing before her as she watched saddened. In spite of all their work this planet’s fate was sealed. Nadia looked for consolation contemplating the alternatives, the ones not taken. No, it was better this way. There was no other way. It was just not meant to be.

As the creature was entirely naked, the organ dangling between its legs was clearly visible. This was the one essential and most important difference between the creature’s body and Nadia’s. That organ was the focus of her work and the center of her thoughts for so many years now. Not exactly the organ itself of course, rather what it meant.

Since, unlike the creature, Nadia’s body – as with the rest of her kind – did not contain a reproductive system. It was not possible at all, and neither was it necessary. That was due to the fact that Nadia’s body was not built as a natural organism.

Nadia’s body was the sophisticated result of highly advanced technology. Her muscles were nano-fibers. In spite of the creature’s prominent muscular physique, Nadia’s body was hundreds of times stronger than it. Her skin, an elaborate weave of nano-units covering her entire body. Her body required no food, containing enough energy to maintain its function for years without needing to recharge, which it was constantly doing anyway since it fed on any type of radiation that hit her skin at any given moment. The creature on the other hand, would have to consume organic nutrients from its surroundings each and every day, or its body’s functions would gradually diminish until they came to a halt, and it would cease to be.

Nadia’s brain was an incredibly complex system of nano-neurons that had a million times more synaptic connections than the creature’s organic brain could ever hold. Her mind retained perfect knowledge in many different disciplines – math, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy and many others. She knew every detail of the history of any planet in their empire. Nadia was over three hundred years old – very young by the standards of her kind. Her body will continue to exist for thousands of years.

There was just no way to build such a perfect body as Nadia’s and her kind using biological cells.

Organic systems were too weak, limited – inferior. Like the creature standing before her. Which is why they gave up on biological systems for their bodies hundreds of thousands of years ago. Initially, they used genetics, enhancing their organic bodies by manipulating their own genetic code. When they reached the limits of what biological systems alone had to offer, they turned to cybernetics. But the artificial was held back by the organic. And so, in the end they simply transferred themselves to fully synthetic bodies, artificial nano-cells completely replacing their inferior biological predecessors. Surpassing them a hundred fold in every possible aspect.

That also meant that Nadia’s kind where no longer born, they were made. They were manufactured using enormous, exceptionally advanced factories. The resources and the energy required for making even a single one of them were extremely high. But even that wasn’t the reason why they created so few of themselves. The process of population engineering was a delicate balancing act. The different personality of every individual of Nadia’s kind, their different skills, talents and realms of knowledge. The division between male and female members within the species. A carefully calculated blend that left them without hate, without jealousy, without anger. Without violence.

They existed in perfect harmony with each other for hundreds of thousands of years. But that also meant that adding any new member to the species required careful calculations. Thus, there were only several hundred thousand of them. In fact, there were only hundreds of them on most planets in the empire, and no more than a few thousands on the rest. Any attempt to manufacture more of themselves could violate this delicate balance and risk the whole endeavor. Given their immense power, would they ever devolve into war, they would undoubtedly destroy themselves along with most life in the galaxy.

But in order to maintain the perfect biosphere of this planet, the combined work of many would be needed.

Nadia’s kind had to constantly monitor the various organisms of the planet. Ensure they have enough food and that they do not evolve into patterns of harming each other. If any organism migrated to a different area, things would have to be re-calculated. Every region of the planet had to have the flora carefully considered such that it could sustain all the different organisms in it. No organism could be allowed to multiply too much – or too little. Any evolutionary step by any one organism could trigger thousands of evolutionary changes to other species. Not to mention the relationship between the organisms and their surroundings. Which itself could influence the organisms living in it.

This planet’s perfect biosphere, like any biosphere, was constantly striving to change – but every change had to be examined carefully. The effort needed to maintain the perfect balance was both enormous and never-ending.

At first, Nadia’s kind turned to automated machines. But such machines proved to be limited in their abilities, and most importantly – in their executive functions. More significant however, was the fact that they also were non-organic constructs. Manufacturing and maintaining them was costly – and damaging to the very biosphere that they would be meant to look after. The automated machines were not part of the planet’s biosphere – they were a foreign, unnatural element to the environment that they were painfully embedded in.

Even worse, in order to turn the biosphere of every planet in the empire to a perfect one as they’ve done here – their highest aspiration – would require thousands, even millions of individual units working together to this end. But such agents could not be Nadia’s kind, and neither could they be automated non-organic machines.

No, in order to do this, the entities that would maintain the perfect biosphere will have to themselves be a natural part of that very same biosphere. Their bodies would have to be made of biological cells. They will need to multiply using no factories and no advanced technologies. They would be like any other organism on the planet, feed on its rich vegetation. Their bodies would have to contain a reproductive system, and they would reproduce on their own.

They would be biological machines, organic agents maintaining and preserving the plentiful organic biosphere that they themselves would be a part of. What could be better than the guardians of the perfect biosphere being biological entities that are a natural part of it?

At its core, the idea was simple really. They would take an existing life-form, and upgrade it only so slightly. The empire had many planets containing semi-sapient organisms. Nadia and her colleagues elected one of these organisms. From a water-rich planet with a cruel biosphere. Predators and prey, harmful micro-organisms. Storms, deserts, icy mountain caps. A virgin planet, discovered by Nadia’s kind many years ago in a desolate corner of the galaxy. And given how unimpressive it was, never having been colonized. Its harsh conditions giving rise to particularly resilient life-forms.

They copied and then modified the genetic code. Adding some intelligence, slightly altering the body structure. All the necessary changes. Repeating the process over and over – as something would be missing at each iteration. As they enlarged the brain, they realized changes to the body where needed – only to discover that the result was still not intelligent enough for the task at hand. So, they tried again and again. They did not mean to add much intelligence – only enough to allow them to fulfill their intended role. After all, they weren’t supposed to be fundamentally different than the automated machines. They were meant to be their biological equivalents.

But the end result was entirely different than what they had ever intended…

The creature’s naked body was similar in its overall structure to that of Nadia’s. Bipedal, two hands, a head. Standing upright on its two feet. But that’s of course where the similarity between them ended. And yet, this resemblance was not accidental – in order for it to be able to fulfill its role, they had to create him in their own image.

On the planet Eden, there stood the first human, Adam.