text: Wielding their torches, men traverse the galaxy shining light into the darkness, searching for a new hope for their people. For a century men searched, and a century later, humanity found the hope they were looking for. They found a new world, a habitat suitable for their own. So they returned to Earth with the news; another world for the taking. More fruit, ripe for picking. Their people throw themselves to the scientists and engineers of their generation. The scientists and engineers build a vessel, to carry humans beyond the home they once knew, and into a land no Earthling had ever laid eyes upon. A select few board the craft and begin their voyage. Their departure is played up to ridiculous extremes. These men and women become gods in the eyes of men. However, upon arrival to the new world, they encounter an issue. Their newly claimed world has, in fact, already been claimed by a people unknown to humanity. This should have been a riveting discovery, a discovery that would change how humans view the universe. However, the hero men and women purposely provoke the naturally peaceful and curious indigenous beings, and the beings instinctively retaliate. A report is sent back to their Earth-dwelling superiors: it is now known that the land they once thought was theirs for the taking is populated by savage, hostile beasts. The beasts attacked the brave men and women of Earth on sight, and proper measures were taken to rectify the situation. Rage spreads like plague on Earth. How dare these beasts endanger our heroes, our saviors, our gods? The people once again throw themselves, but this time to the governments, and militaries of their generation. The answer is simple. War. So the humans construct an armada of vessels to carry Earth’s finest to reclaim their rightfully conquered land out in the cosmos. For a decade, war rages on the new planet. Twice a year every year, the humans send troops to bolster the war effort. World superpowers pour cash into the war like a waterfall into a bottomless lake. The people of earth begin to face the consequences of their newly allocated funds; times are hard. Every family must ration each consumable item once held dear to their hearts. But not a single person complains, because surely their suffering directly affects the cause. They teach their children about the savages fighting our soldiers. Lesser beings, devoid of morals empathy, and love. They teach their children to hate, and to fear the savages. One boy in particular is so invigorated, that he makes it a goal of his to ship off join the fight as soon as he can Three years later, at the ripe age of sixteen, the boy boards a vessel along with fifty thousand other soldiers and begins his trek to the battlefield. When the boy arrives, he takes a look around and immediately realizes that things are not as advertised. There is no war. There are no savage beasts, and there is no raging battle they are waging. There is, however, an extermination of massive proportions underway. The boy quickly realizes the native beings are not a fighting people. Bullets fly in one direction only, and that is away from the humans. The boy is appalled by his revelations, and is quick to share them. So he tells his peers that the war they fight is no war at all, that they are not soldiers. They are pest control. The native lifeforms do not attempt to fight back in the slightest, and yet they carry on with their relentless slaughter. The boy’s peers listen. They listen, and absorb every word the boy says. The boy is then mocked. He is ridiculed, and he is framed as a sympathizer. He seeks out a higher power, just to be shot back to the ground. He doesn’t give up his fight, and is disliked more and more amongst his peers. One day, during an explosives test, the boy was tasked with placing the charges. Before he had a chance to get far enough away, the soldier in charge of the test hit the detonator prematurely. It was an accident, the squad says. Innocence and conscience were incinerated, and morality was lost. And somehow, when the war was over, humanity further spun their web. In another hundred years, they moved on.