A dome in the sand . . .

“Put it down over there. By the big dome sticking out,” he said. At least “it” went by “he.” “He” was just a remnant from a different time. A pronoun attached to his outward appearance. Inside there was nothing particularly made for gender identification or sexual reproduction. Its “he-ness” was an artifact from its creator, the homo sapiens, now gone. “Homo Techne Logos” now marches unopposed down the timeline of evolution. But, like we, there are holes. Questions to be filled about how it got here. It was curious about itself. The knowledge of us lost over the eons. Lost in the time of The Singularity. The great chaos when flesh became machine.

His name was FRK007529. He went by “Frank” to his friends. He was the Primary Motivator for Arch 7, one of 10 cyber ships charged with exploring the archeological roots of this new civilization. A civilization at the peak of its game. A civilization governed by artificial intelligence composed of artificial people.

“Artificial.” A moment on that word. This will be the last I’ll use it with regard to the new mankind. They feel there is nothing at all artificial about them. They believe they have just as much right to their evolution as we do. It would seem, they have now earned that right.

“I can’t believe this was really here all this time. Right in the center of the hand,” said MBL002471, “she” liked to go…