Birds of Paradise

Humanity received a technological upgrade from long-dead aliens. But there's no such thing as a free lunch.

Humanity had somehow muddled through the horrors of the 20th century and - surprisingly - managed to survive the first half of the 21st, despite numerous nuclear accidents, flings with neo-fascism and the sudden arrival of catastrophic climate change. It was agreed that spreading our chances across two planets offered better odds than staying rooted to little old Earth. Terraforming Ma...