Bob
STORY (1)
On the planet Transsexual, in the distant galaxy of Transylvania , a great and mighty civilization once thrived. For countless millennia, the Transylvanians lived as gods. Their scientists conquered disease and postponed death, granting them near-immortality. They perfected the arts of cloning and biomechanical enhancement, and designed a caste of genetically engineered servants to cater to their every need. The ruling class lived ageless lives free of pain and want. Liberated from the struggle for survival, the Transylvanians reveled in luxury, devoting themselves to the pursuit of sensual pleasures.
Thousands of years of peace and prosperity inevitably gave way to stagnation and rot. Sex, divorced from procreation or emotion, became a form of causal recreation, arousing no more passion than a handshake. Politics, religion, and philosophy were all abandoned as primitive superstitions, and gender became nothing more than a garment to be changed with the dictates of fashion. Even the most ancient and sacred Transsexual ritual, an orgiastic mating dance known as the "Time Warp", became a meaningless shadow of its former self and was nearly forgotten. A society that once represented the pinnacle of innovation and advancement became stagnant and dependent on their servants for basic necessities.
Eventually, the Transylvanians forgot the secrets of creation entirely. Their ability to reproduce naturally had long since been eliminated as a messy anachronism, and efforts at further genetic manipulation yielded only diminishing returns and inbred monstrosities. With their unnaturally prolonged life spans drawing to an end, and no hope of propagating the species, the elders of Transylvanians foresaw their extinction and trembled.
But at the last possible moment, a beacon of hope appeared in the dark infinity of space. A tiny blue planet, orbiting an insignificant sun in an unfashionable galaxy, began beaming signals into the void....
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