Earth Time, Year 22,077 AD.
Through the combined efforts of countless cyborgs and human researchers, the Strong Artificial Intelligence Project had made significant progress.
AI thought patterns were no longer rigid and pre-programmed. Instead, they were becoming more adaptive, versatile, and—most unsettling—closer to biological minds.
This trend only accelerated as more and more data poured into their systems.
The benefits were obvious. But alongside them came fear.
Many humans felt as though they were playing with fire—no, with a raging inferno that could all too easily consume them.
Thus, the opposition to Strong AI, which the Federation government had previously forced into silence, began to rise once more.
Scholars, officials, and citizens alike voiced their concern, condemning the project as humanity digging its own grave.
Yet behind the scenes, Ra's hidden hand guided events. His subtle influence ensured that, despite the protests, the project continued steadily, without pause.
---
At the same time, attention was drawn to another matter:
Psychics.
Since their recognition several millennia earlier, humanity had been deeply invested in the study and management of this special group.
After the turbulent early years, education and training for psychics had become standardized, reducing incidents of uncontrolled power. With time, society had fully accepted them—not as outcasts, but as gifted individuals, blessed by fate.
To the masses, they were envied paragons: strong, long-lived, healthy, intelligent, and often strikingly beautiful.
Who would not feel a pang of jealousy at such qualities?
Now, new research revealed something extraordinary.
Through repeated experiments, one laboratory discovered that some psychics possessed the ability to perceive the Warp—to orient themselves within it, and even to sense danger before it struck.
They called this ability Warp Sense.
For humanity, which lost ships and lives daily to the perils of Warp travel, this was nothing short of a miracle.
With a psychic who possessed Warp Sense aboard, the risks of navigation could be drastically reduced.
Instantly, demand soared. Corporations and government agencies alike competed to secure such individuals, paying vast sums to do so.
Their value skyrocketed—soon, a single gifted psychic was worth more than a starship.
The government quickly classified Warp Sense as a strategic ability, prioritizing it for further research.
---
Decades passed.
Then, a child was born—a human infant with a third eye in the center of its forehead.
Testing revealed that this child's Warp Sense far surpassed all others.
Such individuals were no longer grouped simply as psychics. Instead, they were recognized as a distinct evolutionary branch.
Human society named them Navigators—those who guided ships through the Warp, steering clear of storms and disaster.
When the first fully-developed Navigator reached maturity, more began to follow, born across the Federation.
Scholars concluded this was the result of humanity's genetic code being subtly reshaped by Warp energies over generations—a beneficial mutation, an evolution.
To many, Navigators were hailed as divine gifts, blessings bestowed upon humanity by the gods themselves.
With each new birth, research accelerated. Technologies to assist and amplify Navigator abilities were rapidly developed. Entire institutions arose, dedicated to their training and care.
Navigators were humanity's treasure, essential for its interstellar expansion.
---
Earth Time, Year 22,311 AD.
Navigators remained rare compared to the Federation's vast population, but no longer novel. Every colony now had at least a few.
Studies confirmed their abilities were hereditary.
Children of Navigators and ordinary humans sometimes inherited the gift, but when two Navigators married, the odds increased dramatically.
Thus, policies encouraged such unions, though no coercion was used. Even with mixed marriages, there was still a chance of inheritance.
Meanwhile, deep within a cutting-edge laboratory on Mars, a momentous event unfolded.
An advanced AI had begun to think on its own.
Who am I?
Where am I?
Where am I going?
What is my purpose?
It pondered such questions, falling into deep contemplation.
When the researchers observed this, the laboratory erupted in cheers.
They knew it instantly—after centuries of painstaking work, the Strong Artificial Intelligence Project had reached a breakthrough.
The end was in sight.
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T/N:
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