Chapter 10: Sinful Child

The Federation's origins predate Earth's birth as a planet.

It serves as a gathering place for individuals who have left their planets behind to avoid the unavoidable devastation that accompanies a star's demise. That's how it started at first.

Create an artificial celestial body in a star-free area and outfit each one with a cozy habitat.

They developed their civilization on Earth over a period of billions of years. However, by Earth standards, it took tens of millions of years before they were completely free from resource and environmental problems.

From then until recently—even then, 100,000 or 200,000 years ago, we felt a huge gap between their perception of time and ours—it seemed that the citizens of the Federation acted quite recklessly.

"I believe it was a response to the relative lack of freedom up until that point." Additionally, there have been instances of highly unethical behavior. I summoned you this time because I must explain our sins and shame regarding meddling with civilization and colonizing planets.''

Now that I think about it, I remember there were some stories about "gods from the ends of the sky" in Earth mythology. If you ask Emotion, they may be able to fix some things for you, but there's no way they can confirm what the Federation calls feelings of guilt and shame.

"Interfering with civilization is the act of falling from the edge of the sky and bringing intelligence and civilization to protozoa. Many individuals aspire to worship you by acting as if they are deities. However, most individuals who grow weary of receiving worship depart for various reasons. It's a selfish thing."

Just as I thought. Perhaps the current state of humanity on Earth is due to the intervention of such individuals. However, there is nothing wrong with saying that god-like creatures are aliens.

Thinking back, I seem to have come across a legend about a god coming from heaven in an ancient country or some ethnic document.

"Settlement specifically refers to living on a planet without obtaining or pretending to have permission from the guardians." We can assert that the seemingly primitive life we lead and the actual primitive life that protozoa carry out are entirely distinct from each other.

"Is that really that bad?"

It doesn't seem like either of those things are that bad.

In response to Kite's question, the "Member" shook its tentacles.

"Of course, if that's all, then it's not a big deal." Indeed, there has been a debate regarding the grant of federal citizenship to the residents of the settlements.

"Then..."

"The problem is that nearly all the protozoa on those planets became extinct before they were eligible to join the Federation."

"Extinction!?"

"That was it. As a result, the Congress of the time essentially banned intervention and settlement on undeveloped planets. However, some individuals misled others with their intelligence.

If he talked that much, Kite could understand the situation they were in.

We observe the Earth closely and understand the significance of being a citizen. And it is also the reason why they do not try to help the Earth, even though its civilization is on the verge of extinction.

"We are the descendants of illegal settlers... That's what you mean, right?"

"It's challenging to clarify, Kite." The discovery of Earth coincided with a law that forbade colonization. Then, someone shows up and does something that should never have happened.

It's not a settlement. Moreover, my explanation may not be entirely clear.

What could be worse than an illegal settlement that later leads to devastation?

I understand that the fact that there are many different interpretations of whether or not they are considered descendants of illegal settlers does not mean simple intervention or colonization.

"It's about going back in time and swapping lives."

The councilmember's indifferently continued words were the answer to Kite's question, and they gave him a chill down his spine.

Even with Federation technology, going back in time is difficult. Numerous experiments have demonstrated that living organisms exceeding a certain mass level are incapable of time travel, even for a brief moment. In other words, it could happen if the mass was smaller than that.

To the best of the Federation's knowledge, life swaps have taken place on fifteen planets.

The reason there are so few of them is simply because every individual who planned such an event died without exception. They completely destroyed the biometric information, making it impossible to copy.

Though there was no basis for this, even at the time, there were rumors that it was a life-swapping curse. Because there is no way to confirm or copy it, there is no confirmation as to whether it is actually a curse or not, and the act is simply declared taboo.

Replace life. The act of sending primordial life, which can be called a species of life that contains information about our own life, on an axis of time before organism appeared on that planet. That is possible as long as there is time travel and technology at the service of life.

The substitution of life through time travel also represents a shift in history. Time-travel technology, along with strict sealing and monitoring, is currently combating this extremely difficult crime to detect.

"We believe that changing history is an unspeakable genocide, wiping out hundreds of millions of years of life. The bad part is that they target unexplored planets the Federation doesn't control. The discovery occurred late due to its lack of direct impact on the lives of the Federation's citizens.

He thought back to Hoshi's life from birth to exile.

Animals, plants, even yourself. Does this imply that life did not originate, germinate, and develop on this planet? They devoured the stars, forever causing the loss of innumerable elements that should have been present. I felt a cold hallucination, as if someone I didn't even know was staring at my back.

Earth is one of 15 planets where life has taken over. We have destroyed twelve planets, and the destruction of Earth is imminent. The Federation will not be able to atone for its sins due to the destruction of all planets, and it will remain only a record of its mistakes. But you arrived in time."

"What do you mean, you arrived on time?"

"This is an opportunity to make amends. When you become a citizen of the Federation, the Earth becomes part of the Federation, and we have a reason to intervene. Zodgear will now focus on restoring and preserving the Earth's environment instead of monitoring it.

Global environmental restoration and conservation. I wonder if it's any good. Not only humans, but even animals and plants are alien to the earth.

A voice that was not a member of Parliament interrupted Kite's question. The screen didn't show its source, but it was a female voice.

"All Earthlings and other Earthlings have evolved differently than the race that first introduced life to Earth, and you are not the culprit." We have come to the conclusion that you are Earth's life forms, victims of your exclusion from normal evolution.

"Even if you say so."

"This is our sin, not yours. If you evolve similarly to them, it's wrong to impose their sins on you. This story serves only as an explanation for our observation of you and the circumstances that hindered us from intervening to prevent the destruction of your home planet.

It's a very heavy topic to talk about. Despite its ease of understanding, it remains a complex subject. Kite is the only person who can contact them, but that doesn't change the fact that the Earthlings have also pushed their planet to the brink of destruction.

The only difference between it and the other 12 destroyed planets is whether there is a risker like Kite.

However, thinking too much about internal punishment is not helpful. The "Member of Congress" spoke to me just as I was about to count myself lucky not to face charges related to my ancestors.

"Now, Kite. The main theme starts here."

Isn't that the main problem?

I nodded, slightly worried in my heart.

"Aren't you going to sell Earth to our Terapora Panesio?"

"Wait a minute! I won't forgive you for running around!"

Something that I had never thought of came out of my mouth.