LESSON
SOMEWHERE IN NEBRASKA.
YEARS FROM NOW.
DEEP UNDERGOUND.
THE FIRST SUBLEVELS HAVE LONG BEEN ABANDONED. TO RUST AND DECAY.
20 STORIES BELOW, YOU’LL FIND A BLAST-PROOF DOOR.
THIS IS WHERE THE LAST HOPE OF HUMANITY SURVIVES.
GOOD MORNING, CLASS.
“GOOD MORNING, MISS BRAUN!.”
OH JENNIE, AGAIN?
IS THERE ANYONE ELSE IN THE CLASS WHO WOULD LIKE TO HEAR THE HISTORY OF THE MONSTERS?
MISS BRAUN YOU PROMISED THAT TODAY YOU WOULD TELL US ABOUT THE MONSTERS.
VERY WELL, LET’S SEE HOW MUCH YOU REMEMBER FROM THE LAST TIME.
WHO CAN TELL ME WHEN THE MONSTERS FIRST APPEARED?
WHEN NEW YORK WAS ATTACKED? NO TRACY, IT WAS BEFORE THAT.
TWO CENTURIES AGO?
WHEN THEY DETONATED THE BOMB ON BIKINI ATOLL?
YES, SALLY, THAT WAS THE FIRST DOCUMENTED SIGHTING, BUT STORIES OF THE MONSTERS HAVE BEEN WITH US SINCE ANTIQUITY.
UNTIL THE 20TH CENTURY THEY WERE DISMISSED AS MYTHS OR LEGENDS. BUT THE EVENTS OF 1954 FORCED US TO REEVALUATE WHAT WAS FACT AND WHAT WAS FICTION.
FOR INSTANCE, IN WHAT USED TO BE FRANCE, THERE WAS A CAVE NEAR THE VILLAGE OF MONTIGNAC THAT CONTAINED SOME OF THE OLDEST PAINTINGS CREATED BY MAN.
WE NOW BELIEVE IT TO BE A RECORD OF AN EARLY INCURSION, OR PERHAPS THE MANIFESTATION OF A MYTH PASSED DOWN THROUGH GENERATIONS.
SUBSEQUENT EXCAVATIONS IN THE AREA REVEALED LARGE FOSSILS SCIENTISTS HAVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO IDENTIFY.
YES, GO AHEAD TRACY, YOU CAN INTERACT WITH IT!
“PINDAR’S PYTHIAN ODES” WRITTEN IN 470 BC, RECOUNT THE LEGENDARY CREW OF THE ARGO, AND OF THEIR FIGHT AGAINST GIANT SERPENTS ON THORYSTUS ISLAND.
THE MIDDLE AGES ARE REPLETE WITH ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS CHRONICLING ALL MANNER OF LEGENDARY CREATURES.
THAT INCLUDES THE VOLTEX VOLARES, WHICH HAS YET TO BE DECIPHERED.
THOUGH LIKELY REMNANTS OF TALES TOLD TO KEEP CHILDREN SAFE FROM OPEN WATER., IT’S UNDENIABLE THAT - WITHOUT EXCEPTION - ALL THE LEVIATHANS EMERGED FROM OUR OCEANS.
MANY CULTURES HAVE FOLK LEGENDS ABOUT LAKE AND RIVER MONSTERS, THE MOST FAMOUS BEING THE BEAST THAT ALLEGEDLY INHABITED LOCH NESS
THE FIRST RELIABLE RECORD WE HAVE THAT FORESHADOWS WHAT WAS TO COME IS FROM INNSMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS IN 1695.
JAYNE AND CHASTITY GOODFELLOW WERE PLAGUED BY NIGHTMARE VISIONS OF GIANT SERPENTS EMERGING FROM THE NEW ENGLAND SHORELINE.
THE TOWN ELDERS FOOLISHLY DECLARED IT TO BE WITCHCRAFT, AND THE FINGER OF SUSPICION WAS POINTED AT THE WIDOW SARAH OSBOURNE
OF COURSE SHE DENIED ALL KNOWLEDGE OF THE NIGHTMARES, BUT TO NO AVAIL.
AS SHE BURNED AT THE STAKE, SHE IS SAID TO HAVE CURSED THE MONSTERS INTO EXISTENCE “ELEVEN SCORE YEARS FROM THIS DAY.”
AS IF HE COULD SEE THE FUTURE
MOVING ON, DOES ANYONE RECOGNIZE WHO THIS IS?
IT’S THE SCIENTIST WHO CREATED THE BOMB? YES, VERY GOOD, LISA. HIS NAME WAS ROBERT OPPENHEIMER.
THE ISLANDERS OF A REMOTE ATOLL IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC WERE FORCEFULLY EVACUATED, AND U.S. MARINES BUILT A 100FT BOMB TOWER.
CLOSE YOUR EYES.
AFTER DEVELOPING THE NUCLEAR WEAPONS THAT ENDED THE WAR, OPPENHEIMER TRANSFERRED HIS ATTENTION TO HYDROGEN DETONATIONS.
SCIENTISTS HAD MISCALCULATED THE YIELD.
THE RESULTING EXPLOSION WAS 1,000 TIMES LARGER THAN BOTH HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI. COMBINED.
IRONICALLY IT WAS THE MOST POWERFUL EXPLOSION THAT EARTH HAD SEEN SINCE THE METEOR THAT KILLED THE DINOSAURS.
SOON AFTER, THE MONSTERS APPEARED…
SOME FEARED THE MONSTERS, OTHERS WORSHIPPED THEM.*
FOR YEARS, HUMANITY DIDN’T UNDERSTAND HOW TO RESPOND TO THE INCURSIONS.
* AS SEEN IN SUMMER ISLAND
IT WAS SUCH AN ALIEN EXPERIENCE.
WE FOUGHT BACK, FIRST WITH CONVENTIONAL WEAPONRY.
THEN WE DEVELOPED ADVANCED MECHANICAL TACTICAL UNITS, WHICHFOR A SHORT TIMEPROTECTED OUR CITIES.
BUT NO MATTER WHAT WE TRIED, ULTIMATELY WE FAILED TO REPEL THEM.
NUCLEAR, BIOLOGICAL, CHEMICAL. NOTHING SUCCEEDED. WE CAME TO BELIEVE THEY WERE ALL BUT INDESTRUCTIBLE
IN FACT, ALL WE REALLY ACHIEVED WAS MAKING OUR OWN PLANET INCREASINGLY UNINHABITABLE
THE FIRST LAUNCH ENDED IN TRAGEDY, WITH THE MONSTER NAIKA DESTROYING THE ULYSSES ON ITS LAUNCH PAD AT CANAVERAL WITH ALL ABOARD.
SO WE TURNED INSTEAD TO COSMISM AND THE STARS, AN AUDACIOUS PLAN TO ESCAPE TO A NEW EDEN
THE ICARUS MADE IT INTO SPACE AND HEADED FOR THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN.
WE NEVER HEARD FROM THEM AGAIN.
AND THEN, THERE WAS THE TURING.*
* READ THE STORY OF THE TURING IN EXODUS
AFTER A LONG HIBERNATION, THESE BRAVE WOMEN FINALLY MADE IT TO THEIR DESTINATION…
ONLY TO DISCOVER A TERRIBLE TRUTH.
AND FINALLY, WE MADE A DISCOVERY.
WE ISOLATED THE ONE SUBSTANCE FATAL TO ALL MONSTERS.
SO WE RETREATED HERE, TO OUR HOME UNDERGROUND WHERE SCIENTISTS CONTINUED TO WORK.
MISS BRAUN, THAT SCIENTIST ON THE HOLO - ISN’T IT YOU?
YES, LISA. WELL NOTICED. IN FACT, I LED THE TEAM THAT MADE THE BREAKTHROUGH.
AFTER MANY TESTS, WE FOUND OUT THAT THE ONLY THING THAT COULD KILL A MONSTER WAS THE HEMOGLOBIN OF ANOTHER MONSTER.
BUT WE NEVER FOUND A WAY TO SYNTHESIZE MONSTER BLOOD, SO WE WERE FORCED TO DEVELOP A HYBRID DELIVERY METHOD.
IT’S SIMILAR TO HOW THE ANTIPODEANS SOLVED THEIR VERMIN PROBLEM BACK IN THE 2OTH CENTURY, BY RELEASING MYXOMATOSIS INTO THE HABITAT.
AND ONCE THE MONSTERS STARTED TO INJEST OUR WEAPON, IT WAS JUST A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THE TIDE TURNED.
SLOWLY AND SURELY, THE MONSTERS BEGAN TO DIE
MISS BRAUN, ARE ALL THE MONSTERS GONE NOW?
MOST ARE, YES.
THE ONES THAT REMAIN CONTINUE TO BREED AND EVOLVE, AND THE FORMULA FOR THEIR DEFEAT IS ALWAYS IN FLUX.
SO WE STAY HERE SAFELY UNDERGROUND AND WATCH, AND WAIT
ALRIGHT CLASS, THAT’S ENOUGH FOR TODAY.
TAKE OFF YOUR HEADSETS AND GET READY FOR YOUR FEEDING.
BUT MISS BRAUN, IF THE MONSTERS COME BACK, HOW WILL WE STOP THEM?
OH NICKY, THAT’S WHY YOU’RE HERE, WHY I’M TAKING CARE OF YOU.
THAT’S WHY YOU’RE ALL HERE.
THE MONSTERS COME BACK, YOU WILL SAVE US.
ALL OF YOU.
THAT’S WHY WE BRED YOU. HERE ENDETH THE LESSON.
