How Far? (OLD)

The message began in blackness, before a small candle appeared to illuminate the area. It only revealed a hand, gloved in metal and cloth as if it were a wound. As the outline of the figure came into view, it was covered in a concealing black cloak, a mask of unblemished white where the being’s face should be. Once it’s silky smooth voice began, everyone connected to the mesh knew who it was.

Address to the people of the Coalition of Humanity, to be distributed on all frequencies and channels:

You know who I am by now. I’m sure the Coalition has given me many nicknames by now, all in an attempt to slander me. I can already hear some screeching through the mesh.

Monster.

Madman.

Deranged.

Frankenstein 2.0, a personal favorite of mine.

Exhuman.

They will not grant me the basic right to be heard, and have exiled me beyond the edges of known space, so I now address you directly dear listeners.

Throughout our time as a species, we have struggled with many things, and overcome most of them. We conquered the depths of the oceans, the planets surrounding our homeworld, the rest of the system. And now we stretch beyond, eager to find what new struggle we can overcome. Yet there is one that has eluded us from the moment humanity began.

Perfection.

We cannot define it, except in relation to our failures. We are all to familiar with the imperfect. One need only look at this corrupt husk of a government to see that.

But that is not the focus of my address to you today, dear listeners. Today I come with glorious news, for perfection is finally within our grasp. The human form is weak, pitiful. Not worthy of our minds and not fit to be the vessel for a spacefaring race. I have perfected the technology that once had me exiled. Now, true biological perfection is within grasp for everyone.

Now the figure cast off the cloak and mask, revealing what could be described as both a perversion of the human form and as a work of beauty.

His skin was scaled and gnarled, covered in hard plates. The body was muscled and lithe like some chimeric predator, a haphazard clash of crab, hyena, lizard and some things completely alien. His face was adorned with mandibles and deep sunken eyes, hardly a recognizable feature to be found.

As you can see, I have shed my pitiful shackles. My imperfection. With my new body, I have become the perfect evolutionary organism, ready to adapt and survive even the death of our own star.

This is perfection. Evolution has finally been brought to heel beneath us.

But, I know this is hardly everyone’s idea of biological perfection. Each individual has their own ideal of perfection, and I would be just like the Coalition if I forced you to conform. Which is why I am including coordinates to my new world in this transmission. Don’t worry, Coalition goons will never find us, we are well hidden. But if you do not wish to or are unable to travel, use the schematics included to reproduce my equipment and begin your ascension.

The human race is doomed. Already we crumble under our own weight, and the weight of the Coalition.

Join us. Become Exhuman.

Shed your evolutionary shackles, and outlive a failed race.

Attain perfection.

As the message ended four lines of text appeared on billions of screens throughout human space.

Your body is a shell. Bend it to your will.

Death is a disease. Cure it with our knowledge.

Extinction is approaching. Fight it with a new form.

Become Exhuman