Mutual Uplift
Once
upon a time the Shadows, riding their dark spider ships, descended upon planet
Minbar in fire and fury. The spider fleet burned and blasted with lasers and
missiles. Their attack toppled Minbari civilization.
The
Shadows orbited the striken world. They watched, they waited.
Down
on Minbar, chaos and conflict raged. In those dark days, only the strong, the
smart and the lucky survived. Their descendants inherited these traits. They
were brighter, swifter, tougher and fitter than ever. The species had evolved.
The
Shadows were pleased, for that was what they wanted. The Uplift operation was successful!
They left orbit and went home to Zha’ha’dum. They planned to return in three
thousand years, to repeat the good deed.
But
during those three thousand years, the Minbari evolved so fast that they lifted
into space, and then into hyperspace. The Minbari tracked the Shadows back to
Zha’ha’dum; and they did unto Zha’ha’dum what the Shadows had done unto Minbar.
In
the resulting chaos and conflict, the Shadows evolved intelligence so high, and
wisdom so deep, that they never played Uplift ever again.
Moral:
No good
deed goes unpunished.
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