Author: Alexandru Lamba

Do you enjoy our broadcast?
You watch it narrowly, so we are entitled to believe you do. But do you still know who we are? Unfair of us to ask. For we no longer know who you are. Once, your great-grandparents called us the wayfarers, the pioneers, the paradigm overturners. And we called them the settled ones.
We were humanity’s first deviation. Our nature was adapted through the profound transformation that conceived a new specie. We were to be no less human than you, who watch this show from the comfort of the Livingroom, no less machine than the computer managing the gadgets in your home. Like the receiver decoding this show.
But what is it that makes humanity, really? Can you call the electric current circling our tiny silicon circuits a conscience, not unlike your own?
Your elders thought so.
Incarnating chips of metal and shards of glass, propelled by the sunlight focused in our butterfly-wing-sails, we were the ones to take mankind’s dream of reaching the stars upon ourselves.
We all faced the same choice, generations ago, and each of us sacrificed something. Giving up limbs could only take one as far as to the giants and their moons. To reach the stars, biological organisms had to be discarded entirely. We accepted the deal; your ancestors kept their bodies, giving up the stars. But, while we were yet to learn the true scale of our disbursement, their relinquishment was merely a half measure. For though they would not live long enough, you, their offspring, would still see the celestial bodies. Through our tiny artificial eyes.
We are sorry for this interruption of our regular program.
Do not hate us for what we are about to do. Please do not render it as an act of retribution. Undressed of flesh, we no longer know vengeance or hatred. Take it as a gift. We offer you the choice you lost with our departure.
This message is the last you’ll hear from us. We end transmission now. From your perspective, the signal was discontinued half a century ago. So, there’s nothing you can do.
If you want to see the stars, embrace our becoming yourselves. And follow us.
Or stay. And truly surrender the dream of space. For in this choice lies your humanity.