Gather round and let me tell you a tale of long ago.  It’s about heroes, and about how close we came to not being here at all.  Strange how such an important tale can get lost in the shuffle of time, but, that’s how it goes for us humans.  We are delightfully imperfect.  But that is off the point.

Now about those heroes. Say, you know what heroes are, don’t you?  No? Well, heroes, simply put, are persons noted for their feats of courage, regardless of personal sacrifice.  We have always depended on these men and women to guide us through times of danger, both seen and unseen. Throughout time these noble folks have carried the burdens of others to make life better for all.  Once, three unlikely heroes emerged at a time when humanity needed them the most. But isn’t that always the way with heroes?  They bore the fate of all humanity and strove to find the light of a new, more promising day.  Bring your ear close, and let me tell you the story of these heroes three.

Our journey begins at a time, well, not so long ago, at least for those of us in our autumn years.  In order to understand that time, we must first travel back even further, to a time long, long forgotten.  See, once upon a time, before even the beginning of the 25th Century (You young people have a hard time remembering what you spent your life credits on last week much less what occurred a century ago!), life was very different for us.  Back then, humanity was awash in emotions.  Everyday people felt hundreds of wondrously different feelings, from anger to love to hatred. People argued and fought with each other.  They yelled at Domeball Tournaments, cried at funerals, and cheered at weddings.  In this time, depending which part of the earth you lived in, you had a completely distinct and individual culture, unlike any other on the entire globe.  Yes indeed, life was very different back then.  But gradually, almost unnoticeably, these once celebrated differences were weakened and eventually went the way of the cosmic robin.

If you paid attention in history class, you will remember the Global Communication Grid Act of 2320. We can now pinpoint this moment to when human evolution headed in a very different direction. By all outward appearances, life on earth hadn’t changed that much – the sun still rose and set as always; crops – both natural and artificial – were harvested; people worked, married, watched their vidwalls, and ate the same old protein broth™ they had been raised on. But people didn’t realize how much control over their lives they were giving up. Everyone the world over was relying more and more on technology. And with every year this reliance would only increase.  Slowly the line between man and machine grayed and the earth’s human population hadn’t the slightest clue that they were starting to resemble machines themselves.

Civilization as a whole was affected too. Everything became increasingly efficient.  Wars were no longer fought, countries merged with one another, and for a time there was even talk of a great Pangaea Project that would reunite all the continents of the world. At this point, there hadn’t been a war on the earth’s surface since…well, you tell me. That’s right! It was the Battle of Little Tokyo in the late 23rd century.  No one could argue that this wasn’t a wonderful change for a world once so riddled with conflict.  But, it came at a great cost.  Cultures disappeared, and with them, their unique music, art, protein broth™ flavors, and so much more. Thankfully, with the help of our heroes, evolution has gotten back on track and people have once more embraced their own uniqueness. I recently tried a new protein broth™ flavor, something called hazelnut. Delicious!

But I digress, where were we?  Ah yes, COM-hats.

The advent of COM-hats brought big changes as well.  Back then, people weren’t given the option of having them implanted. Every single person had one installed at birth, no questions asked! Some of our older citizens, myself included, may still remember those days, and may have even experienced the painful detoothing process.  Ouch!  Anyhow, COM-hats meant humankind was interconnected and could communicate instantly and effortlessly.  People were no longer communicating as they always had – through their mouths. The planet was well on its way to becoming united in a way never before imagined.

Folks foolishly believed that emotions were insignificant, even a danger to world organization and to their newfound comfort.  They had placed all of their eggs in the basket of technology, relying on it to lead them, instead of the other way around. It was then that creativity and passion simply disappeared. Most saw the arts as counterproductive to this new phase of enlightenment.  People no longer fell in love, but rather, were paired at birth with another of similar pedigree. Procreation had turned into nothing more than a science project.  The record of life was skipping and it seemed nobody cared enough to adjust the needle.

No, sir. The future did not look bright for humanity.

Are you still listening close? Because here comes the best part of our story.  There lived a doctor of nano-molectronics in the coldest settled region of what was once called the United States of America. You know what we call that now? Close. Try again. Yep, that’s it. Japan14. A curious sort of man and collector of odd things, Dr. Rex Graff IVlived a hermit-like existence in his mountain laboratory. Those who knew him best, which weren’t many, said he had a dark sense of humor. Graff liked to ask lots of questions, even of the most accepted principles.  Other than science, he had a love of history – especially the events before the Age of Interdependence (AOI).  He owned the largest private collection of pre-AOI literature in the world.  Deep in his heart, Dr. Graff longed to return to that time, to when human nature flourished, to when people – in his way of thinking – were more like people (My guess is that he wasn’t much for this new way of procreating).  So he focused his efforts on creating a machine that would be able to send him back in time.  He succeeded, and the time-pod was born.  Unfortunately, shortly after its creation, Graff discovered that the human body could not biologically withstand the deep cold of time travel, and thus, his dream of traveling back was put on hold.

It was a curious freak of fortune that changed everything.  But isn’t that always the way with sweet lady fate?  Dr. Graff was conducting an experiment on the effects of COM-hats on “warm bloods” when he had a major revelation: the human species was going extinct. You heard me right. Extinct. Humans were becoming more and more dependent on technology and the body itself was evolving into something like a machine.   By his calculations, humankind would be replaced by an entirely synthetic version of itself within the next 150 years – that is, if evolution held its current course.  Discouraged by his findings, it dawned on him that the only way to get humanity back on track was to create three synthetic men able to withstand the cold of space-time.  These three cybernetic life-forms (CLFs) were installed with Neuro-Emoters, which would enable them to feel deep emotions, learn lessons, and record behavior patterns. Graff’s hope was that if certain past events were tampered with and emotions were reintroduced into the species, then humans would awaken from their efficient slumber, and once again FEEL.  So he sent his “sons” back in time, back to the Age of Heroes. It was no accident that the (CLFs) arrived shortly before the start of the historic bear attack summer, a landmark period in the development of the COM-hat. There, they would involve themselves in key events and learn from the past in order to teach the future how to become human again.

And that was how Oberon, Alonzo, and Buddy were born.  Ah, perhaps now that I have said their names you will know how this story ends.  These are the heroes we remember.  They were charged with the grand task of saving humanity and would henceforth become known as the 25th Century Heroes.