It is not often that the Ochivari give second chances. In fact, in all the
universes that I’ve witnessed, I have only seen it happen the one time. This
version of Earth was about where Earth Prime ends up by the end of the first
quarter of the 21st century. The environment is not doing well, and it’s not
looking good. There is some hope, but progress won’t be realized without a
drastic shift in behavior, and for leadership to follow scientific
consensus. On this other Earth, before the Ochivari arrived, most people
were convinced that climate breakdown was a real existential threat. They
were working very hard to alter their policies by removing those from office
who denied the truth, or otherwise acted against global prosperity.
Unfortunately, the human infiltrators did not see it this way. When they ran
their report for the Ochivari to analyze, they left out a lot of pertinent
information, leading them to believe that this planet was hopeless. There
was even evidence that their mere presence was holding back progress, and
contaminating the data. Luckily, some of the Ochivari representatives were
not so convinced. Perhaps their human confederates were too hasty, and maybe a
little too interested in wiping out an entire planet? They looked back over
the results, and determined that this Earth was indeed worth leaving alone.
The problem was that the sterility virus was already dispatched by the time
this appeal went through, and the only reason it hadn’t spread all over the
world was because one Ochivar blew the whistle, and warned the Earthans what
they had done. If not for this renegade, the Earthans would not have had
enough time to place all those already infected in isolation, and quarantine
people who might have come into contact with them.
This is the only known case where the virus was stopped in this manner, at
least as far as I’ve ever seen. It’s airborne, and as long as even one host
remains alive, they can infect someone else. It won’t die out until everyone
dies out. It’s otherwise impossible to stop, and the recovery rate is zero.
The world was given a second chance, but they would have to take care of it
themselves. The Ochivari wanted no part of it, but promised to return if
they didn’t wise up. It didn’t make them wonder if there was a better way.
They only figured that all they had to do was tweak the investigative
aspect. They just needed to better understand how and when people can
change. They didn’t consider helping them change, though. They simply left
that universe, and then reentered it at a later date to check on their
progress. Once they did, they found that they had done more damage than if
they had just left these damn people alone. The environment was fine. They
invested in renewables, and worked really hard to clean up their mess. They
planted trees, and filtered their polluted waterways. Socially, however,
there were many problems that weren’t there before. Huge debates raged about
what to do with the infected people. Should they keep their small nation in
isolation? Should they try to relocate them to a remote island? Should they
provide resources, or not? Should they just euthanize them, and get it over
with? This raised other related issues, and threw the whole world into
chaos. War covered the lands, and at some point, the sterility virus
escaped, and made its way into the general population, dooming the few
surface survivors to being the last generation, no matter what they did now.
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