An ONI Story

[MousesDonkey]

Let me start off but saying I am in no way associated with Klei, and none of this is canon as far as I know. I do however have an overactive imagination and a love of stories. And as there does not seem to be a solid backstory to ONI, and I tend to have times when I am waiting on dupes finishing tasks and my mind tends to wander, I've started to fill in my own. What I currently have imagined is:

It's far into the future. The Earth is overpopulated, running out of resources, and polluted beyond saving. The top scientists have worked together to find a way to save the human race. Space travel is imperfect, no one can stay active in a ship for too long for health reasons with current technology. So they develop these highly advanced probes to fly out into the stars. Unfortunately because of resource limitations and the calculations showing that not many of these probes will be successful, they are each given only enough fuel to fly as far as the asteroid belt.

Now these probes have been equipped with the most advanced computer system that these top minds can create. The system will scan asteroids and planets it approaches to determine if they have the materials to create a sustainable living environment. Once it finds one, it will fly near and using its short range teleportation ability it will teleport into a small cavern deep under the surface to establish a base. It will then begin the process of creating an environment.

Originally, the plan was for the probe to produce robots to construct the environment for future humans, but the problem was storing the amount of raw materials needed to produce these machines would be a hindrance to the probe, as well as again straining the limited resources left on Earth. That is when the idea was brought up to use DNA printing. It was realized that storing the proteins needed to create these "duplicants" as they called them was much more ideal for the limited space of the probes. It was also mentioned that the robotics of the time were still not as agile and nimble as a person, while other also brought up that since the environment will be created for humans to survive in, the best way to test that is to use humans to create it.

So while the probe was fitted with a DNA printer and just enough rations to last while another food source was found, the population was screened to find a list of candidates who would be the best templates for the duplicants. While some of the scientists lamented that genetics were not advanced enough to remove all negative traits, others would defend that these traits are what make people human, and they will need to know that the flaws of the people will not prevent them from surviving in these environments.

And now the probes were almost ready to start their ascent. All that was left was hammering out the details. It was realized that the addition of the DNA templates to the memory banks of the computer would create less room for the millions of advancements earth had for creating the livable area. To counter this, many things were reduced to seed ideas, and the plans for research stations were added in the hopes of furthering the progress if the bases being established.

It was also decided that the duplicants would without their knowledge have chips installed in their heads that would help the computer system influence them. These chips would send commands to the dupes for tasks in a ways that they would believe they thought of them on their own. They also could influence the dupes in ways resulting in curbing the desire to procreate so the computer can stay in control of the workers, lessening their sense of self preservation so they are more willing to performing dangerous tasks, and even affecting their appetite as needed. Unfortunately, the chip's influence has a side effect, making the dupes more susceptible to stress, so blueprints were added for things that would help alleviate this stress. Additionally, the chip was designed to scan new environments the dupes went into and relay the information back to the computer, so it will be able to find resources needed for expansion and can map the environment better.

The last hurdle in the probes design was power. The Scientist were able to develop a small perpetual power supply that would last for a few decades, that created enough power for the computer to run with a bit of excess, plus a battery for power storage. Unfortunately, the battery would only have power for the massive amount needed for the limited teleport, with enough left over at the offset to create three duplicants. After that the power supply would run the computer while the excess would slowly build until it had enough to create another dupe. What the Scientists did not realize was, there was a bug in the code that made it so only three random templates would be available to choose from each time additional dupes were to be created, and if the computer decided not to create a dupe at that time the power saved up would be discharged when the DNA printer was shut down. As the Scientists would not be on site when this occurred, they would never realize it was happening.

So the plan was complete, and the probes were launched. A system would be put in place so the computers on the probes would relay data back to Earth as time goes by so they would know which ones were successful and to also see how they can improve possible future probes. And now the scientist focus on the last stage of the plan, where they build ships to send the population out in suspended animation to the successful colonies. Once there the final steps would begin. The scientists realized that these bases were going to be for the people, so the duplicants would no longer be needed. When the ships would arrive, the implanted chips would compel the dupes to return to the probe where they would fall asleep, and the DNA printer would break them back down to the basic proteins from which they came. After, the populous aboard the ships would awaken and teleport to the base, where they would interact with the computer to establish a home, and communicate with Earth.

And thus, the human race will live on. Those who stay on Earth will continue to develop ways to spread out even further, perhaps out from the new colonies and even beyond our solar system. 

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And that's what I've come up with during my time playing. I'ts just my way of figuring out why certain things are the way they are in the game. But like I said, this is just my thoughts and I am in no way saying this should be what Klei goes with for a back story, if they ever make one at all. Also, I thought I'd put this out to see what other backstory others may have come up with for the game. Sorry for such a long post, but was sitting here bored, trying to get over a bad cold. Hope people like it.