Science Fiction

Gordon was an avid reader and movie buff.  One of his favorite genres was Science Fiction.  The following is a rough draft of a Science Fiction short story he penned, on November 29, 1997:

There have always been objects circling the earth, but on this day, August 28th, 2159, the ship maintaining a constant orbit around the third planet for these past three solar days, had definitely not been constructed by an earthling!!!

The following is the accumulated data compiled by the science and medical teams, sent down to the planet's surface in an effort to ascertain what could have caused the total extinction of all life forms on both land and in the oceans!

According to the records kept relating to the global environment, it appears that although this planet had capably supported life for the past two million years, this capacity seemed greatly reduced not long after the beginning of their industrial age!

It seems that they were well aware of the damage being done to the atmosphere and to the waters, yet continued this practice at an ever increasing pace until the very elements that sustained their lives became so toxic that the human and animal populations around the globe began their rapid decline into extinction!

There apparently had been attempts by small groups around the world to stop this destruction at a time when the earth may have had a chance of recovering.  Their cries of restoring sanity were drowned out by the masses, who were relentlessly raping the earth of all its natural resources and beauty.

Throughout the entire history of this world, one common denominator stands out that has led this civilization to its destiny, and that denominator was greed!  Everything was worth money, and the people of the earth, from the earliest of times, went to any lengths to get it.  This greed reached its zenith within the last two hundred years, when advances in technology enabled them to build machines that could decimate a gigantic forest, or siphon the last drop of oil from vast deposits in the ground or ocean depths, in mere days!  By the time they realized they had gone too far, nothing could be done to reverse the effects they had caused.  The chemicals they had spewed into the atmosphere and the oceans for the past two centuries had finally won the battle and, instead of giving life, they now only promised death!

In concluding this report, it has been decided that the Earth Probe "Voyager," along with its contents, be left on the planet surface as a memorial to the civilization that created it, and also as a warning to others, that they may avoid this happening to them!!!

END OF REPORT