The First Superhuman: Rebuilding Civilization from the Moon

Austin’s expression grew serious. "You have to understand that machines are just our tools. Humanity is the core of this mission! We are the Federation’s soldiers, the tip of the spear, and we can never afford to lose our nerve. Do you understand?"

"Understood!"

"I can’t hear you!"

"Sir, understood, sir!"

Austin composed himself and continued a few seconds later. "Right now, the surface drones are still conducting their search. We suspect the enemy hiding in the ocean is a type of planetary consciousness—a Gaia entity and we’ve already bombarded it into hiding. We’ll distribute this intel for all of you to review.

"If everything goes according to plan, we will launch a planetary landing operation within a few days. Your mission is to gather enough intel to uncover exactly how the native Dige civilization went extinct.

You also need to find concrete evidence proving the existence of this Gaia entity. Meanwhile, our orbital forces will keep suppressing the unknown enemy in the deep sea. You won’t need to worry about that front."

The mission target was a ruined city located inland, exactly one thousand kilometers from the coastline. Numerous military installations surrounded the city ruins.

These might have once belonged to the native resistance forces, but now they were completely destroyed.

However, these shattered bases gave the Federation hope. The command team believed they could find valuable data buried in the rubble.

How exactly did the natives vanish? Was it a global civil war? Or a losing battle against Gaia? Were there any survivors left? Unless the entire population was wiped out in an instant, they must have left some records behind in those ruins.

The drones had even detected several sealed underground bunkers. Could there be survivors locked inside?

"That covers the briefing. Dismissed!" Austin concluded.

Jason had already approved this landing operation. Since they had the terrestrial threats well under control, command decided to treat the mission as a live-fire training exercise.

It was impossible to eliminate every risk, but the Federation’s high command needed to shift their mindset. Spoiling their soldiers wasn’t a sustainable strategy.

The orbital array could easily monitor any threats emerging from the ocean. Unless a nuclear warhead detonated at point-blank range, the fully armored squads wouldn’t face any significant danger. A buffer zone of one thousand kilometers provided more than enough time to react.

Meanwhile, aboard the deep space observation platform, the alien advisor, Blake, was practically shouting at Jason.

"My God, it really might be a Gaia! And it’s a newborn, with only a fragmented, confused consciousness! This is incredible luck! We have to capture it! We absolutely must catch it!"

Blake was so thrilled by the data that his face flushed a bright crimson. His chubby cheeks swelled up like a red balloon, looking as though they might pop at the slightest touch.

"This is a natural L3 civilization! It has the innate ability to mass-produce nanomaterials. If we tame it properly, it will become an unimaginably powerful biological factory!"

Normally, the alien was incredibly composed and polite, but right now, he was throwing his usual manners out the airlock in sheer excitement. As a seasoned galactic traveler, Blake knew exactly how valuable a Gaia entity was.

Compared to this, the Iron Planet was practically worthless. How could there be so many incredible discoveries hidden in this remote sector of space? It was an unbelievable stroke of luck.

Despite Blake’s enthusiastic shouting, Jason remained expressionless. He carefully observed the massive green planet on the monitor, lost in thought.

Across the planet’s surface, large patches of white clouds drifted lazily, massive plumes of water vapor triggered by the recent nuclear bombardment that had yet to dissipate.

Swarms of drones were currently broadcasting Federation messages on all frequencies, and the fighting had temporarily stopped. It seemed the enemy’s immediate war machine was in ruins, crippling their ability to produce combat units for the time being.

Jason still struggled to comprehend the exact nature of a Gaia lifeform. Could a sprawling network of scattered algae genuinely develop a unified, collective consciousness? It defied common sense.

If he forced a comparison to a hive mind, did it have a central node, much like a queen bee? Could they simply isolate this core and cultivate a new entity? If that was true, capturing Gaia might actually be possible.

"Ideally, we want an entity with a fragile sense of self. Something naive," Blake rambled. "Only a newborn Gaia has the potential for domestication. We need to integrate it into the Federation! Captain! You must seize this opportunity. Don’t let it slip away like you did with the Iron Planet."

He paced excitedly. "The universe can be both incredibly generous and incredibly cruel. The vast majority of species are utterly mundane. But conversely, there are innately powerful entities out there.

We call them ’Singularities’—supremely rare civilizations that can evolve into a full interstellar power entirely through the biological strength of a single individual! Certain Gaia entities fit perfectly into that category."

The concept of a powerful, completely self-sufficient biological civilization was a well-known hypothesis in galactic sociology.

These civilizations were entirely unique. A single entity possessed such immense capabilities that it could guarantee its own survival in the harshness of space relying purely on its physical form.

Lifeforms like this were the absolute darlings of evolution. Their innate biological traits saved them from countless hurdles, vastly separating them from standard species that had to bridge their evolutionary gaps through mechanical engineering and technology.

For instance, instead of mining ore to build artillery or nuclear warheads, they could synthesize devastating weapons organically.

They naturally started at a massive advantage. By the time they developed true sentience, they had usually accumulated an incredibly deep foundation over a long evolutionary path.

Once self-awareness sparked, they could essentially cross the threshold into an interstellar civilization in a single stride.

Hearing Blake’s explanation, Jason felt a sudden knot of tension in his chest. What if something went wrong during the landing operation and the entire battalion was wiped out? No one truly knew the upper limits of Gaia’s capabilities.

Blake was still babbling. "No, Captain, don’t worry! Its technological output is extremely primitive right now, which means its sense of self is barely formed. It’s like an infant, clumsy and ignorant.

The threat level is entirely manageable! After we hammered it with heavy orbital strikes, it’s probably just sitting there, stunned and disoriented.

Though, to be fair, even a stunned creature of this magnitude could effortlessly exterminate a primitive civilization."

Jason frowned. "You want us to capture this Gaia? How exactly do we do that? How do we tame it?

We need a concrete tactical plan. Are we supposed to drain the entire ocean into the Ark? What if it contaminates our own water reserves?"

Blake paused, scratching his head awkwardly. He had gotten carried away. The truth was, he had only heard vague rumors of such formidable entities and had never actually encountered one in person.

Encounters like this were statistically near-impossible, even on a galactic scale. He had no practical idea how domestication would even work.

"Tell me everything else you know," Jason demanded.

Blake thought for a second and quickly relayed the rest of his knowledge.

"The universe is unfair, but it maintains a certain balance. A Gaia entity starts off incredibly strong, but it usually lacks long-term evolutionary momentum.

They can effortlessly reach L3 status, but advancing past that point is brutally difficult. Because their physical structure is so decentralized, the mechanics behind their self-awareness are unnecessarily complicated."

He took a breath. "Their organic complexity makes it almost impossible for them to transition to silicon-based forms. That leaves them with a very low ceiling for self-improvement.

Furthermore, the creative breadth of a single mind can never rival the collective ingenuity of a diverse population. Their technological tree is almost guaranteed to have fatal blind spots.

Galactic sociologists theorize that once these singular biological powers reach a certain threshold, they invariably stagnate, unable to progress any further."

Blake’s eyes shone. "But that makes Gaia the perfect companion for a standard interstellar civilization! Captain, you know the Federation’s population is critically low, and we won’t see a demographic boom anytime soon.

If we can introduce a domesticated, friendly Gaia, our industrial output would multiply overnight! Organic smelting, biological water purification, organic synthesis of nanomaterials... Whether it’s heavy industry or the biosciences, the Federation would experience a massive technological leap forward!"

Seeing Jason’s skeptical expression, Blake pressed on, bringing up old galactic rumors.

"I once heard that a L5 civilization successfully integrated a Gaia entity. Within a single century, they advanced to L6. It proves that a symbiotic relationship can drive incredible progress. If a Gaia is useful to an advanced empire, imagine what it could do for a fledgling civilization like ours!"

Jason considered the proposal carefully. If Blake was telling the truth, and a lifeform capable of easily reaching L3 could genuinely be domesticated by humanity, the strategic benefits were undeniable. He was actually beginning to like the idea.

However, the inherent risks were catastrophic. If the entity developed a strong, aggressive sense of self and refused to be controlled by the Federation, it could spark an entirely new interstellar war.

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