Research project

Welcome to my blog.

This is my first contribution to Friday Fictioneers, a weekly flash fiction challenge hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields on her blog Addicted to purple. Many thanks to Rochelle for the opportunity.

Helpful, friendly comments and criticism are most welcome.

RESEARCH PROJECT

Exhibit: SOL3

Now this recently retrieved image, ladies and gentlemen, is our current challenge project – for experienced researchers only.

Observe the familiar signs of a primitive culture on the brink of transition to hi-tech capabilities and ultimate extra-planetary expansion: literacy, scholarship, meticulous craftsmanship, rudimentary but promising technology.

Yes, yes, I hear your objections. There are several additional key elements necessary for successful transition and ultimate survival: inter-species co-existence, environmental balance, and high regard for individuals. But consider closely the two smaller images within the frame. Do we see evidence of these key elements here? Or do we have the converse: predation, species elitism and narcissism?

Your research challenge: Did they make it? We know only this – despite this promising, if somewhat ambiguous evidence, Sol 3 is now long abandoned and derelict; and no-one in the galaxy has been able to explain why.