Stray Cat Strut - Chapter Forty - Creative Kleptomania

... right now. But humanity is catching up. It's not fast, but it's consistent, and the more time we spend breaking down their alien tech, the faster we learn basic principles that will allow humanity to catch up, and eventually surpass, the Protectors.

Just give us a few years, a decade at most, and we will turn this world into a utopia!"

--Professor Henry, MIT, 2031

***

Predictably, the PMCs knew nothing.

In fact, they seemed willfully ignorant. They were no ...