The First Superhuman: Rebuilding Civilization from the Moon

And so began the second, high-profile military reconnaissance mission. This time, however, the level of public attention and internal vigilance was exponentially higher.

Three days passed in a flash.

For the general public, all they knew was that a sudden battle had erupted on the frontier, and it seemed humanity had been attacked by a primitive civilization.

"War" was always front-page news, instantly commanding the attention of every ordinary citizen. The blinding flash of a gigaton-class nuclear warhead was easily visible from orbit, making it entirely impossible for the Federation to cover up the event, even if they had wanted to.

War was a matter of life and death for everyone; no one could afford to be apathetic. If a full-scale interstellar war broke out, right and wrong would no longer matter. The entire civilization would have to mobilize and prepare for total conflict.

As a result, anxious citizens flooded the government hotlines, asking if war was imminent, if they needed to evacuate, or if a draft was being instituted. Some even crowded outside the government administration buildings to demand answers in person.

Faced with a panicked public, the Federation officially downplayed the conflict. Their statement read: "A primitive civilization failed to grasp the situation and launched an unprovoked attack. We are currently engaged in ’friendly negotiations’."

It was indeed a friendly negotiation, it just happened to be entirely one-sided, heavily armed, and they hadn’t actually found the other party yet.

"Rest assured, everyone. We hold the moral high ground. Not a single soldier was lost in the initial clash. It was a decisive victory!"

"Don’t worry, please. It’s just a low-tier civilization, only slightly stronger than the native lizardmen we’ve encountered before. There is absolutely nothing to worry about. We haven’t suffered any losses. I repeat, zero casualties!" a slightly overweight officer from the Department of Public Relations explained to the restless crowd. He had an approachable face and a naturally reassuring smile, making him perfectly suited for crowd control.

Hearing these reassurances, the onlookers let out a collective sigh of relief and slowly dispersed. For the average citizen, as long as humanity held the moral high ground, no one died, and their daily routines remained unaffected, they were happy to treat it as a minor border skirmish.

But to the keen-eyed experts, that blinding flash in space was more than enough data to calculate the exact yield of the nuclear strike. They kept their mouths shut, however. The Federation’s prestige was ironclad. Over the past century, Jason’s authority and leadership had become deeply ingrained in the hearts of the people.

What was the point of digging for a terrifying truth? Perhaps in a few weeks, the classified details would be quietly published in the back pages of a newspaper anyway.

Ignorance is bliss. The general public continued to gossip and dream, their longing for the lush green planet undiminished. If the enemy was completely wiped out, or if these "friendly negotiations" succeeded, unrestricted travel to the surface would be a dream come true.

But for the small circle of high-ranking personnel who actually knew the truth, these past three days had been excruciating.

Faced with an unprecedented, bizarre lifeform, they were caught between intense scientific curiosity and deep apprehension. They were tearing the planet apart trying to find it.

The senior scientists, in particular, had been working like maniacs for three straight days, skipping meals and sleep. They utilized every piece of scanning equipment in the fleet in a desperate attempt to find any trace of the "Gaia" entity.

Jason had even bypassed standard protocols, flying straight to the Titan-Z command ship to personally oversee the front lines. Many of the ongoing operations violated established safety regulations and required his direct, on-site authorization.

Just three days ago, with Jason’s explicit approval, a sealed seawater sample classified as Biosafety Level 5 was urgently transported to a Leviathan-class research vessel. The sample contained dense clusters of the highly suspicious alien algae.

Upon hearing the news, dozens of leading biologists rushed to the vessel to begin testing. They were determined to find clues about Gaia’s collective consciousness hidden within the water.

Simultaneously, command deployed hundreds of additional surface drones to comb the inland ruins, hoping the shattered native cities held answers. A few drones had actually detected signs of survivors; it appeared some of the natives were still alive, hiding deep underground.

...

"What do you mean you can’t find it?"

Jason slammed the thick data report onto the table. The dossier was filled with high-resolution images and dense analytical charts. One of the main photos was a highly magnified cross-section of the seawater.

Under a microscope magnified a thousand times, the water was teeming with various plankton, including vast quantities of multi-colored algae. It looked exactly like what they assumed the building blocks of a Gaia entity would be.

Yet, after three days of relentless study, the science team had found absolutely nothing. They couldn’t even confirm if this supposed "Gaia" actually existed.

Jason was not thrilled with the lack of results.

"Captain... it’s impossible! Once these algae are isolated from the main ocean, they immediately revert to individual, basic microorganisms. They sever all neural or chemical links with one another. There is zero interaction and absolutely no sign of collective intelligence!" the lead scientist explained, looking deeply distressed. "...They’re just simple microbes now!"

"That said, their genetic material is highly anomalous, and their cellular structure is bafflingly complex. There is still a lot we don’t understand."

Jason waved a hand, his brow furrowed. "So, you’re saying that if we extract a small piece of Gaia, that severed piece simply becomes a jar of ordinary microbes incapable of forming self-awareness?"

The scientist nodded emphatically. "Exactly! It might possess the ability to rapidly clone itself, but we wouldn’t be able to detect any hive-mind activity from an isolated sample. Furthermore, conducting these experiments in zero-gravity is a nightmare. Without gravity, the water suspends as a sphere, slowing our workflow to a crawl. And since they’ve been removed from their native marine ecosystem, the microbes are already beginning to die off. We won’t be able to preserve this specimen for much longer."

Jason sighed, forcing down his frustration. Science was a grounded, methodical process that had to be taken one step at a time. It wouldn’t magically speed up just because he willed it to, and losing his temper wouldn’t help.

Three days was simply too short a window; failing to crack the planet’s greatest mystery in 72 hours was entirely normal. Besides, due to extreme quarantine protocols, they couldn’t risk bringing the samples back to The Noah for better analysis anyway.

"Alright. Continue your research. Report any anomalies to me immediately, and let me know if you require additional resources. And above all, maintain strict biosafety protocols," Jason ordered.

The scientist nodded gratefully, turned, and hurried out of the office.

Jason sat alone in the quiet command center, lost in thought. Suddenly, his heart began to pound against his ribs.

That unsettling sixth sense had returned.

It felt like plunging into an ice water bath, a silent, freezing sensation of impending dread that slowly wrapped around his throat.

In truth, Jason hadn’t felt this specific, overwhelming intuition of danger in a very long time. Not once during their century-long stay in the Nyx system had he felt anything like it. For it to suddenly manifest now, so intensely, left him deeply unsettled.

He tapped his fingers rhythmically against the metal desk. What kind of apocalyptic threat could a nearly extinct native civilization and a newborn, confused Gaia entity possibly pose to the heavily armed Federation?

According to Blake’s sociological data, even the most inherently gifted Singularities needed to advance their technology step-by-step to reach true interstellar status. That evolutionary leap was measured in decades, if not centuries. It was impossible to achieve it overnight.

A newly born Gaia entity couldn’t just magically jump to L3 status by tomorrow morning and instantly wipe out a genuine L2 civilization like humanity.

So, where exactly was the danger coming from?

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