The Experiment

It was so long ago, before we knew all that we now know about ourselves and this wondrous universe that we find ourselves in.  Many forget that it was both our failures and successes that led us to this knowledge that we may now take for granted. This instance was one of those unfortunate failures that was integral to our discovery of the realities of our existence, unfortunate but fundamentally necessary.

Almost as soon as a planet was found on the far end of the galaxy that would sustain life as we knew it, the momentum began to build which would result in an attempt at colonization.  There were those with vague warnings who resisted, but the majority were all for the adventure.  Though the preparation did take a great deal of time and effort, we never faltered and the expedition was on its way.  

Logistically the endeavor was a success on most levels, the planet was indeed suitable to our form of life with few minor differences to be overcome, the voyagers arrived alive and ready, and they had all that they needed to create a safe haven there on that foreign soil.

Communications were unfortunately sluggish so that what then happened was only communicated at first in vagaries that barely registered, only to be eclipsed by more seemingly sudden shifts in tone, and finally silence.  The problems began as sudden flashes to some of a feeling of being lost, unsure, and mostly afraid.  These momentary dips began to then be felt by more and more of the crew, be sustained for longer bouts, and began to be much more overwhelming.

What we did not know then but would learn from this very situation was key to our understanding of the flow and nature of our universe, about things then hidden to us about the way energy and other seemingly invisible forces played with the celestial forms and their inhabitants.  It was only after it was all over that we found there were other ramifications to be faced by living beings attempting to move from their origins to another location.  It seems that because of these hidden realities the consequences for leaving the place of beginning were dire and caused a fundamental un-mooring in our understanding of who we are and where we reside.

It took a long time to piece together what had happened, how the colony fell to dire results after these effects took hold, how it turned upon itself and eventually obliterated all that was left to remind it of where it had come from.  And it can be very hard to describe to those who have never experienced it just what was happening in the minds of those colonists....

...to be seemingly out of tune with the universe, to feel no known link to your surroundings or situation, to have no understanding of your fate or purpose, to fear what could be a total lack of any purpose at all, to look around you at the other beings on that planet and see that they do not have the same doubts, that they instinctively know themselves and their world and therefore to think that there is something fundamentally wrong with yourself and your kind that is alien, and the never ending dread and despair that results from such a schism, such a dark floating from any solid station in this large, beautiful, terrifying place...

But I don't really have to tell you all of this, do I?