The Capsule

Date: Sometime after the year 2094 AD.
Location: Unknown
Person Recording: Android - Trenensen421, serial number QWTAF495782151
Purpose Of Recording: I am recording these last thoughts as instructed by my commanding officers. I was instructed to record my last thoughts at what I perceived to be the conclusion of my mission.
Purpose Of Mission: Contact with God using all non-human technological means.

Although I appear to be fully human, I am the world's most advanced computer in the form of a human-shaped android. My computational abilities are greater than 10,000 human beings put together. I have been in the capsule for an unknown period. We started the mission on January 1, 2075. I have been in the capsule ever since. I am still comfortable and the regeneration processes implemented to keep me electronically alive, healthy, and free of operational downtime are still properly functioning. I do not know the present date. My clock and calendar program as well as the on-board clock and calendar stopped functioning in the year 2094 for reasons unknown. I do not know whether anyone at the command station will ever read these thoughts because when the clock and calendar stopped, so did confirmation of my recordings from the command center.

I realize the mission of contacting God by non-human means was controversial but since I have the capability of thought and decision-making, I decided to volunteer because it was important to push technology to its limits. Human beings have conquered time and space. Humans and those of us who are enhanced android robots can travel from one side of the universe to the other in seconds with the ability to fold time and space over upon each other. Human beings have also been able to conquer death. We, meaning humans and androids, can essentially live forever because we have learned to regenerate our physical and/or mechanical body. Of course, death is an option for any of us if we chose it. I volunteered for the contact mission because of the need to make some kind of direct contact with God using technological means. Hopefully, if the mission comes to a successful conclusion, we can make and maintain contact with God just as we communicate with each other using telephone and mental telepathic technologies. We have learned how and can now move physical objects, including living organisms, at speeds greater than the speed of light by essentially disassembling and reassembling physical matter. What was considered virtually impossible a hundred years ago is now commonplace. We have learned to move forward and backward in time as remote observers but the remote observer technology is still in the stages of early development.

I volunteered for the mission because as rapidly as our technology has developed, the ability of human beings to live in peace and harmony has never made any progress. After the Great Holocaust in 2012, most of the survivors made commitments to never again build nuclear, biological, chemical, or pulse weapons. However, we had persons who developed even more powerful weapons that could vaporize a whole planet with the execution of a remote timing device. There are also other social problems on the planet. In addition, our colonies on the moon and on Mars are in trouble because of disagreements among the colonists. Our underground cities are beginning to socially crumble. People are purposefully forgetting the Great Holocaust and the ensuing cost of human life. I volunteered for this mission because I thought human beings needed to make contact with God in a more reliable fashion than the human supernatural means now commonly used.

When the on-board clock and calendar stopped I thought the mission would soon end in successful contact. However, I have lost track of time and no contact has been made. I realize the mission was of indefinite length but I am now wondering if success is possible and what the outcome will be if no contact has been achieved.

With the failure of the clock and calendar, the programming for my sleep and wake cycles are beginning to be more and more erratic. I have lost some of the on-board life monitoring equipment to ensure my circuitry functions properly as well as the deep sleep instigation electronics used to keep me dormant or asleep for decades if the need arises. I have also noticed a degradation of other pieces of equipment, particularly the embedded silicon and telium circuitry. If the degradation of this equipment is any gauge, I may have been on the mission for over 10,000 years but still am not able to ascertain an accurate figure for the mission's length.

Although I am not programmed for pain-related sensory input, I am beginning to feel electro-mechanical discomfort. I have lost nearly all of the simulated psycho-biological monitoring equipment. Some of the support backup equipment has begun to malfunction. My computational ability is seriously decreasing.

The light in the capsule is getting dim. Most of the instrument panel has gone out. There are times when I think I have died or shut down but I am not able to determine my present status. My power source is getting weaker and weaker.

Final Report
Date: 36,321 AD.
Location: Glenton, Iowa
Person Recording: Roger MacClendon, Director Of Archeological Reconstruction
Purpose Of Recording: To present a final report on the project to contact God by non-human technological means.

One year ago, during a cross-continental tunneling project, a capsule was discovered in which was located a human-shaped android identified as Android-Trenensen421, serial number QWTAF495782151. Although incredibly ancient and technologically primitive, the capsule was unearthed and reactivated. It is apparent the capsule remained functionally active for 20,233 years. Damage from an interplanetary war where deep earth penetrating pulse weapons were used caused the failure of the capsule and the on-board systems. No evidence of any contact with God has been found. The wise men of our present age consider the project pure folly but do understand how early technological man could have believed contact with God might have been possible using non-human technological means. Human beings now understand contact with God is possible only when a living creature has a spirit or a soul capable of possessing hope. Android-Trenensen421 was a machine without a spirit or a soul. As a gesture of kindness towards the present androids who so ably assist us in our present age, we have reactivated Android-Trenensen421 and supplied Android-Trensensen421 with all the advanced knowledge and human experience ever recorded about God. With the addition of our present advanced random number sequencing programs and the advanced self-generating thought capabilities we now use in our computational devices, Android-Trensensen421 will be able to assimilate the knowledge of God an indefinite period. If at some point in the future Android-Trensensen421 is able to possess hope for the future, Android-Trensensen421 may be able to experience an aspect of God.

This story appeared as the January, 2004 Virtual Church message in Shepherd's Care Ministries virtual church site at http://www.shepherdscare.net