The Life Giver 1 ( slow sci-fi )
by David Farr

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Now chapter 1, an introduction.
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A history of the universe.


   The professor stood at the front of the class and looked around at the
collection of humans. The lecture theature was full of people from all
age groups.
   "Greetings, this is the orientation lecture on galactic history for
group 514/NYC.  If you aren't part of group 514/NYC, please leave now and
visit the information centre to discover where you should be." She waited
for a half a minute as a few people pushed their way out.
   "As I said this is the lecture on galactic history. As this is the
only lecture on this subject, it is a only a summary, touching only on
the galaxy in general, as it'd be impossible to cover the history of a
single planet in one day, let alone the thousands of inhabited worlds
within the galactic community.
   "To begin, we look back before any recorded history available begins.
Back then our galaxy had spawned only two sentient species. These two
species were so alien to each other, that they simply gave up trying to
understand each other and simply started warring, or so we are told.
   "These wars continued until one side found an ultimate weapon. This
weapon wasn't created, built or designed, but was born as a random
mutation from their own gene pool. The child was trained as weapon.
Capable of processing information faster than any computer, the yound man
was placed in control of a fleet. As a weapon though he was almost
totally useless. The fleet vanished only days after being commissioned,
all hands having been tricked into abandoning ship. The two rarces
continued their war, in time creating weapons that destroyed each other.
   "Time passed, and it was to a dead galaxy that the weapon returned.
Where he had been for the intervening millenia we may never know, however
he was old, even by the standards of his long lived race. He drew up a
plan to repopulate the stars, but not with either of the races that had
already wasted their chance at life, but the weapons age was such that he
could not continue for long enough for even the first stage. He created a
being, a son, to continue in his place. The son though was created not in
his father's image but of one of the races that the father had planned,
so as to easy move among his creations.
   "The young being was born only after it's creator's death, leaving it
alone for it's purpose, alone but for the machines and computers of the
fleet. In time this being seeded his first planet, bringing forth life.
As according to the plans of his father he created the life in the same
image that he had been born, the image of us humans. However this new
race was not given the advantages that their creator had. Their life span
was finite, and had not recieved the collective knowledge of the orginal
two races.
   "In time the first race named their creator Terus Lor, the Life Giver.
Terus examined this race, learning from their culture. He continued his
job of creation, seeding more worlds with old and new races, after a
while he simply created probes that selected suitable uninhabited world
at random and seeded them.
   "The galaxy was once more populated and the Life Giver once more
vanished into seclusion,  and has remained so to this day, although he
continues to create new races and seed worlds.
   "The early races decided to seek out the later races and aid them to
reach their destiny. Which is of course, what brings the galactic
community to your doorstep."
   She clapped her hands. "Now then, are their any questions?"
   A number of hands were raised. The professor indicated one.
   "You said that Terus Lor has remained in seculsion, but if humans are
as populus as we are led to believe, and he is just an advanced human,
then how can anyone tell?"
   The professor smiled. "That's a common question. The answer is two
fold. The first answer is that unlike any other human we've encountered,
Terus Lor has pure silver irises. While that is easy to disguise, his,
ah, presence isn't. Those that met him recorded that he had something
about him that conveyed his age and wisdom, if you meet him, you're
unlikely to miss it."
   Another questioner asked. "Your history has said little about war, has
the galactic community been that peaceful."
   The professor laughed. "I'm sorry if I gave that impression. No, there
have been a great many wars caused by misunderstandings. The older races
tend to be more forgiving and tend to settle problems easier than the
younger races. Certainly the older races are slower to react to insults."
   The professor continued answering questions until till her hour was
up, then let the group move away.