SimianOverlord's Journal: The Biologist's Bible

In the beginning was the word
And the word was Copy
And the word swam the oceans of the early world
And the word was flashed into life by electrons
or the word fell to earth on a comet
or we know not how, but it came

But the word was real, and the word created order where there was none
It created order, until all the oceans of the world swam with copies of Copy
Copy was fragile; it was created and broken, reformed and dissipated
Yet within this glittering simplicity was Noise
Noise born out of chaos
The chaos that is encoded into this universe
Invisible, yet discernable
In its ripples on our senses

Noise rose in Copy
Copy differed from Copy
Some Copy became stabler
Some Copy became cannabilistic
Some Copy became communal, protected within itself
Some Copy gathered help from the sea around it

And so noise created wars
Wars fought in our primaeval oceans
Wars fought unendlessly, without quarter
Wars fought mercilessly, with increasing sophistication
Mercilessly, because Copy was chemical
A chance arrangement, fallen together
Over time undreamt of by transitory man

And Copy grew stronger
And Copy grew more manipulative
And Copy grew a hard shell to contain it,
Systems to tend to it, and
Machinery to maintain it, and
Protein to coddle it
Copy became a factory
That created not only Copy, but Copy's helpers

And Copy burned through the oceans of the world
And Copy became DNA
Perhaps it had been RNA
Perhaps it had been something else
There was nothing to notice
Because there was no life
Not even Copy could be called life
It was atoms; atoms with unusual properties
but atoms nonetheless

A level of energy
That grew and became us
That grew from a shell
Threw out fins and gills,
legs and wings.
Found light, and used it
Lost light, and adapted
Smelt prey on the wind
Touched its young
Recombined and remastered, seeking sophistication
and adaptability

Ever racing, it continues
It will survive us
It will be thrown into space and find new worlds
It will survive for now
It just exists
And its characteristics come from its innate nature
And it is indifferent to us