The Halls of Ancient Kings
06 Jan 2023Astraeius
The halls of ancient Kings I roamed, searching for their power,Instead I found their buried truths, that now my soul devour,
For as I contemplate their sad demise, their fratricidal crime,
This ancient, alien, world of theirs, seems much alike to mine.
I promised myself that I would keep to prose, and yet... I have walked through the ruins of a civilisation that ruled the stars when humanity was still taking its first steps! Who would not feel at least a tad romantic? And poetry does have a certain power, I feel. After all, in four short (and perhaps ill-metred) verses, I could finally draw out the thoughts that have been tormenting me for days on end.
Yes, I was awed by the Guardian stones and their enduring mechanical servants. And of all my travels, this past expedition might very well rank as the most memorable. If nothing else because I finally lived up to my old promise and – even if for but a short while – allowed myself to trek amongst the stars and enjoy the sunrise on a planet where none had walked before.
Yet, awe-inspiring and humbling though the trip might have been, it is not to the ruins of that ancient people that my thoughts fly. Rather, a newfound curiosity – and the man’s own suggestion – having brought me to peruse Messere Tah’s publications, I found myself worrying less about the downfall of the Guardian civilisation, and more about that of our own humanity. Because, as far removed as they may be – in space and in time – those ancient people do appear to me as if though crafted into the perfect mirror of our own, sad, situation.
I speak not of the Thargoid threat, mind you, though that too we have in common. And from their war with the monsters, we have still much to learn, it seems. Especially as far as the possibilities of peaceful resolution are concerned, noble though that idea may be. But no, as much as I can hope that our conflict ends in the same victory that theirs did, it is the Guardian people themselves that most remind me of humanity. A people fractured into two, one side of rapacious materialists, the other of spiritual purists. One side who adopted machine intelligence for every purpose, the other that opposed it to the furthest extent. A confederation of noble-minded hypocrites, and an imperious force of ultimately correct paranoids.
Perhaps all patterns seem alike, if one looks at them from a sufficient distance. And certainly there are, between the Guardians and ourselves, untold differences for each point of similarity. Still, I do believe there is much to learn from their fate.
Because Thargoid weaponry might be more advanced, but I much rather fear humanity’s wrath.