The team of archeologists bleakly looked around the at the devastation around them. It wasn’t criminal. It wasn’t ideological. It wasn’t religious. It was just the result of the foolish being enflamed by the ignorant few. Many years of research and investigation had led the team to this site and months of meticulous excavation had revealed the room. Minutes of armed zealots with explosives and tools had destroyed statues and artifacts which had been safe for tens of thousands years. Just two days before the team had breached the opening to find a skeleton from ages past clutching a round crystal orb in its outstretched hand. The room had magnificent and terrible statues - half human, half beast. Dozens of crystal skulls had been nestled in cavities of the walls - mute witnesses of events which had happened before the dawn of recorded history.
All the skulls were broken shards now. The statues toppled and broken. The skeleton snatched up and smashed in the corner. The lead archeologist started to lay the bones out again … an apology for the indignity it had received. He picked up the orb - the only thing undamaged. He stood up and remarked to no one in particular “those people have just spat on the graves of their ancestors”.
Seventy thousand years earlier the lead diplomat and scientist Tamsin placed the storage module in the recording device. The round crystal would record the final meeting of this group of ambassadors from all of the different races. They were assembled in the great hall - representatives from around the world: from the tiny representative and his wife from the islands in the great ocean to the east (no taller than his waist) to the giant representative from the vast lands on the other side of the ocean. Twelve distinct races were brought together to witness the end of the world and to attempt to preserve it as well.
Tamsin recorded the last crystal skull being put into its slot in the wall. The crystal skulls were a unique storage module. Initially the crystals were melded by the great artist Ánrothán and then distributed to the major cities on the planet. These skull were each capable of storing nearly an infinite amount of data and would last one quarter of the remaining years of the sun. Two by two the citizens of the world had lined up to have a molecular snapshot taken and stored on the skulls - their bodies and minds recorded in order to be resurrected after the great calamity.
A gathering of the scientists were focused on the displays echoing images from distant satellites. “Any time now”, someone whispered. Everyone sat down and watched the display as a massive fire appeared to course its way along the mapped projection of the world. Thoughts were tinged with anger at the leaders who had failed to act on the warnings. Instead of building a colony on the moon or the fourth planet, the leaders were confident they could divert the asteroid. The reincarnation project was a last ditch effort to save the collected families of man. Trusting the storage of electronic essences and the technology to rebuild the plants, animals and people after the final failure of saving the planet. The fire moved closer and closer. Suddenly the entire room shuddered as the planet was hit. The lights dimmed.
Tamsin looked at the display. The island nation was no longer there. The cameras zoomed in. Vast clouds of steam and debris were billowing from the devastation. A massive wall of water was moving across the ocean. The representatives started running to their flyers hoping to return to their homes as the devastation fled. Tamsin was alone now. Carefully sealing the vault… waiting for the devastation to reach him. He looked at the skulls and the statues that Ánrothán had designed. A mute message to the distant children of the survivors that these were their hope and their legacy. Thousands of years of knowledge and the ability to rebuild the world was staring back at him. A slight nagging doubt played at the back of his mind as the world went dark.