The Iniquity of the Fathers

March 17 - Al Raqis

'God has granted to me to make friends with two of the people here: one is Orlov, and the other and principal one is Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov. He is a librarian at the Rumyantsev Library... He has devised a plan for a common task for humanity, the aim of which is the bodily resurrection of all humans. First, it is not as crazy as it sounds (don't worry, I do not and never have shared his views, but I have understood them enough to feel capable of defending them against any other beliefs of a similar material nature). Secondly, and most importantly, because of these beliefs he leads the purest Christian life... He is sixty, a pauper, gives away all he has, is always cheerful and meek.' - L.N. Tolstoy writing to V.I. Alexeev, 1881

[Portrait of Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov, by Leonid Pasternak]

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I reread the communication from Colonel M________. It contained details of Project Aurotharius, its aims, methods and principle participants:

"Project Aurotharius was a multidisciplinary project created and coordinated by Wylder Aurotharius. Originally funded as a thinktank to advise the UAP about unexploited and underutilized scientific resources. The early years of the project were very productive and their teams were given access to semi-classified and classified information and even access to some secured materials for empirical testing purposes.

"After 5 more years of tremendous success, returns on investment began to dwindle. Parliament and the military began to apply pressure to the project for increasing returns. Many members and whole teams quit the project. Parliament threatened to restrict or cancel funding. The military threatened to close down the project."

The Colonel then went on to describe an event that changed everything for Professor Aurotharius:

"During this time, Wylder's daughter Audrey died. Died in a hospital on Albion from complications from treatment for leukemia and amyloidosis."

"Distraught with grief, Wylder sold all of his properties and belongings. He was last seen about 20 years ago boarding an automated asteroid surveyor scheduled for a mineral survey of the Halo Asteroid Belt. I will forward to you a picture of the ship. 30 days after launch, the surveyor ceased transmitting. Retrieval ships were unable to locate it. We are not so naive as to presume him dead.

"We did not know it until years after the project was shut down, but several of the teams had become self funding.

"Project Teams included cybernetics, artificial intelligence, robotics, biological reanimation and particle physics."

Naturally, the Colonel commented on my other cases. He was aware that warrants had been issued.

"Excellent work on Commander Faith. The Faiths have substantial wealth and political resources to work with. Make sure your team abides by all proper procedures. Document carefully. We don't want accountability to slip through some crack of procedural misconduct.

"In your zeal to make the charges stick with Commander Faith, do not forget that he is only part of a larger misconduct. Make a deal if you feel certain you can hook the bigger fish, even if it is a general or a judge. Especially if it is a general or a judge."

The final instruction was clear. We would be willing to offer Commander William Faith clemency, if he was willing to betray his own father.