The Chosen One - what's the job?

It seems that I whet some appetites with my #FridayFlash, The Chosen One. In particular, MEG and Travis seem quite keen to know. Since you both asked so nicely, I'll tell you.

About 450,000 years from now, humans will become unstoppable in our expansion from star to star. We'll take over the galaxy, not as part of an organized campaign of conquerors, but the way an aggressive weed dominates an ecosystem. After fighting a losing battle against us for more than half that time, what's left of the Shallorian Galactic Empire makes a final bid to stop us.

Stop us, but not destroy us. The Shallorian economy is built on slaves. Humans are prolific, hard working and inventive - excellent slave material, if only we could have been harnessed properly before we reached critical mass. The Shallorians could have sent a battleship back in time to simply destroy the Earth, to strangle humanity in the cradle. Instead, they need a spy who can infiltrate Earth's early space expansion age to sabotage the colonies and convince humanity to limit themselves to their own solar system. Brainwashing a captured human from their own time wouldn't work; too much evolutionary time has passed.

Their plan is to go further back, find just the right kind of human to derail an entire civilization. Smart enough to get the job done, but not so smart as to ask too many questions. Vicious enough to do all the necessary killing, but patient enough to make the killing work for the Shallorian's plan. Mercenary enough to be willing to work against the burgeoning star civilization of humanity, but not so mercenary that he can't be controlled.

They find their human weapon, bring him forward a thousand years and set them to change history for the benefit of the Shallorian Empire.

Problem: the Shallorians aren't the only civilization the humans have overrun. Another race from the far future also has it in for humanity, but they don't want the humans docile and controlled. They want the humans dead - starvation and disease if possible, slaughter and holocaust if necessary.

At a critical turning point in the history of mankind, The Chosen One has to save humanity from destruction in order to deliver it into slavery. Unless he decides to take matters into his own hands...

===== Feel free to comment on this or any other post.

3 comments:

  1. Sweet, Tony. Very creative, satisfying explanation. You didn't have to do that just to satisfy our insane curiosity, but I, for one, thank you for doing so.

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  2. After reading both stories (great btw) I must know who's the bastard who screwed up mankind. I want a name.

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  3. @Travis: You're welcome!

    @mari: Sorry, that's all I've got. Good enough for an opening chapter, though, right?

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