The development of mankind from its birth up to the present days is an introduction to the Perimeter history. We still do not have answers to many scientific and philosophical questions. How did we arrive on the Earth? Why are we here? What's the nature of homo sapiens?

In the beginning of the 3d millennium people who called themselves the Spirits appeared (actually the echo of their presence has existed long before that because the history of the mankind has witnessed White Brotherhood, Illuminates and other societies). The Spirits were known for joining up two branches of human knowledge (science and esotericism), and their ideas were proven by concrete achievements. Discoveries have been made in the formerly unknown fields of genetics, nanotechnologies, force fields, etc. and for the first time in a thousand years scientific experiments proved the existence of a different dimension - "the world of spirits", in this or that way reflected in sacred knowledge of many nations.

Biologically the Spirits were in no way different from human beings, but some peculiarities and gifts of their psyche were unique and absolutely unknown. The Spirits said that a lot of their predecessors have played an important role in social life. For example, priests, shamans, clairvoyants and prophets who in trance traveled to the "world of spirits", to the "seventh heaven", to the "underworld". But only in the beginning of the 3d millennium the Spirits became a single powerful whole.

After the Spirits became recognized in the society as pioneers in many fields, they came out with a new amazing discovery - subspace worlds one could penetrate with the help of special Corridors. The construction of Corridors was resource consuming but possible. As the planet was most likely overpopulated a rapid Development of new land started.

It turned out that reality did not only consist of constellations we see in a telescope. There is another subspace dimension filled with strange formations - small isolated worlds. The whole structure looks like foam made up of many bubbles-worlds. This is where the slang name "sponge" comes from, that was diffused in the proscientific environment. The discovery had an immense practical importance as people could move to the subspace and stay there as long as they wished. The unique peculiarity of these worlds is the dependence between their form, structure and history of homo sapiens on the Earth. It turned out that this space has absorbed all the important events, ideas, fears and emotional experiences that have ever ruled masses or single personalities all along the history of mankind. Each "bubble" in its forms and landscapes brought into life intricate historical episodes, emotional experiences or the aspirations of the masses. That is why some scientists named the system of bubble worlds Psychosphere of the Earth.

Note: Corridors are constructions providing substance exchange between two stable cavities of the matter (the Earth pertains to them as well). The construction of a Corridor is considerably resource consuming and includes two stages. At the first stage named "puncture" a module is built and a non-permanent connection with another bubble world is made. The bubble world sends a special "return group", an expedition that is responsible for quick research of a world discovered and installation of a return module that winds up the second stage ("return") and makes the Corridor a fully functional two-way tunnel between the worlds. The functioning of Corridors has a number of peculiarities. After construction of a Corridor its channel still remains functional for a long time. But as objects move along the Corridor, it gradually "discharges". After being used for a long time it becomes not working. To renew the Corridor's functioning it's necessary to employ new energy resources to charge the channel. These resources are pretty consuming, although they cannot be compared with the amount of energy needed to "puncture" a new Corridor. "Charging" is a merely technical operation, which does not demand engagement of the Spirits. Other peculiarity of the functioning of some Corridors is the seasonal dependence, which most likely has to do with the drift of worlds.

Psychosphere was in the limelight just like space flights in mid 20th century, but it had a few side effects. People encountered what was later called Psychosphere's Reaction. While natural landscapes of "bubble" worlds were formed under the long-lasting impact of the population of the Earth, the very presence of human beings in these worlds led to the secondary forming of these spaces which had a much more dynamic character. Right in front of the eyes of researchers their subconscious images were materialized and many of those images threatened their lives.

A concrete form of the Reaction and its intensity depended on the given individual. That is, if a person is malicious, so is Psychosphere's reaction: all the bad a person had inside him came to light. Thus a person could see his own self in the Psychosphere. And as most people are malicious and unhappy, it's easy to imagine Psychosphere's Reaction. It undertook various forms from harmless plants to disgusting monsters. Physically they had nothing to do with the mind or live substance as we know it and that's what made them even more dangerous...

Thus on the one hand Psychosphere threatened human life and mind and on the other hand it was quickly filled with scum of society. There were even several cases of isolation when people getting an idea they were gods and prophets destroyed the Corridor in ecstasy and stayed all alone with their personal hell. Some states even managed to set up prisons on the new territories one could hardly escape from. Among those prisoners who survived there was a huge amount of those who went crazy because of seeing their own subconsciousness.

Very soon mass media named this expansion of the humans' activity as scum-space, and for many people this accumulation of new worlds around the Earth came to be associated with "scum" absorbing the worst of the civilization. Many were afraid to plunge into Scum and see their essence there, but the new environment was also fascinating for many.

One of the after-effects of the full decoding of human gene that happened with the help of the Spirits was a rapid development of means to change the human body that actually remained unchanged all along the history of human civilization. This process was named body transforming. Thus an opportunity to give the human body a different form appeared. As any new thing it was strongly criticized first, but humans could not let go such a unique opportunity for change and self-expression. Gradually society split into bodytransformers and naturals. The former went for changing their bodies that sometimes took ugly forms. As a rule all those changes were aimed only at discovering new pleasure opportunities: new genitals, new gustatory receptors, new pleasure centers. Naturally, for many people body forming was unacceptable in any form, but those were mostly religious people. The Earth became natural hell for them. Many thought Apocalypse came...

Meanwhile the whole situation with the Psychosphere suddenly went out of control. The nearest well-explored worlds brought a really unpleasant surprise. The outcome of Psychosphere's Reaction, which used to be decomposed on Earth in a few seconds, was suddenly found in huge numbers far from the Corridors. Corridors support staff in the nearest scum-worlds started to mutate quickly. The participants of long-distance expeditions came across extremely strange things - like scenes from horror films. Changes in the biosphere of the Earth happened. Flora and fauna that used to be harmless suddenly became dangerous and aggressive. Just like forest fire terrible infectious diseases started spreading, and there was no way for the medicine to cure them.

Scientists thus came to a conclusion that scum-space reacts to the human intrusion, and the consequences of such an intrusion are fatal and totally unpredictable. The Spirits urgently declared that they would shortly develop a number of measures to prevent such incidents and regulate Development of new territories. There was no reason not to believe them, but tragic events spoke for themselves. The land around the Corridors began to quickly obtain forms and characteristics typical of scum-worlds: phantasmagoric landscapes formed up by cliffs, colorful dunes, migrating marshes, flesh trees, etc. The scum-infected zone was becoming larger and larger.

Meanwhile new branches of science and technology dealing with sponge-space were developing quickly. There was theoretical proof that via sponge-space it was possible to travel through space abysses separating different galaxies. More than that, after the analysis of the surrounding subspace structure it was assumed that it is possible to exit the Corridor and step on a planet that can be populated. The planet, located in the same physical reality as the Earth, but separated from it by thousands of light years. This fact aroused enthusiasm as it opened great prospects and was a solution to many problems.

Thus all the necessary prerequisites were made for creation of Exodus Movement: the way (the massif of Psychosphere worlds), the objective (Holy Land, to which the Corridor leads from one of scum-bubbles and which has to be discovered) and the reason to leave home (fear of losing human appearance, scum-infection, mere dissatisfaction with the current state of things and love for venture). The movement was gaining ground rapidly, its core being made up of passionary forces of the Earth, not willing to reconcile with the self-destruction of their biological species. The Spirits took active part in this movement and supported it by their authority and numerous actions.

The reason for Exodus' departure was the Great Corridor Crisis. By that time around the Earth there was a sponge-infrastructure, making up a few dozens of more or less explored worlds allotted for research polygons, prisons, "bubble states" and other results of the Development. Aggression of the scum-space towards people was increasing and was finally directed on the Earth. Multiple reports on the aftermath of the scum infection were flooding to the government, and public opinion finally made the Earth destroy all the Corridors within 24 hours. Everybody was panic-stricken.

Exodus Movement mobilized its forces to withdraw as more of its members as possible to start a large-scale operation. Many were facing the prospect of leaving the Earth forever. And the decision was to be made within just a few hours. As a result half a million of the desperate left the Earth, not willing to have anything in common with biological renegades.

Those who believed in Exodus' concepts could never return to their home planet. On the neighboring sponge-worlds there were a lot of adherents of Exodus' ideas, and some migrants were not aware of the crisis and were just abandoned. A group of several thousands of people scattered in the Earth-adjacent worlds were left face to face with the horrible Scum. Corridors to the Earth now looked like huge monuments to the Earth civilization, just useless constructions through which people came from their home world to die here and never see the sunlight again.

The first years were spent on the mobilization of all the resources left and on the preparation of a trip into Psychosphere to find the lost world where everybody could be happy. All prisons were opened and the prisoners were offered to join Exodists. Thus at initial stage Exodus embraced different people from religious leaders to criminals, brought together by the fate's will.

Still on the Earth Exodists cherished the idea of the Movement being composed of "pure" individuals capable of fully controlling the Scum and restraining destructive aggressive Reaction. Those people regarded Psychosphere as a Purgatory, which can only admit a "pure" being that can finally go to "paradise". Actually the new Movement took the basic ideas of Christianity as a base and developed a new religious foundation: the way for the pure to paradise, Exodus via Psychosphere.

The key point in Exodus was Corridors linking sponge-worlds. Construction of a Corridor demanded a number of joined efforts and resources. The most important part of "puncturing" were Spirits, who due to their exceptional gifts could find new scum-worlds and tune up complex equipment for "bearing" and "puncture". It was common knowledge that a few Spirits took part in the Exodus. As a rule they did not interfere in the general management and tried to stay inconspicuous.

Energy was the second important precondition for successful "drilling" of the sponge-space. Great amounts of energy were vital for the launching of Corridors. Energy was also vital for the survival of human beings. So a powerful resource was badly needed. Fortunately, scientific labs operating in Psychosphere and containing the necessary research results went into the hands of Exodists. Though scientists could not grasp the nature of Sponge up to the end, they managed to derive benefit from some peculiarities of these worlds. The starting point was the discovery of the so-called "zeroplast": every bubble world had a foundation constant, and if the scum-substance was distributed properly, energy potential appeared. The larger the surface was, the more energy could be obtained from it. That is why the scientists called these worlds "flat" as opposed to the rounded Earth.

Besides, Exodus leaders had been preparing for such an experiment for several years collecting the necessary technologies. They took some from the Earth and some were adjusted later. First and foremost this concerned nanotechnologies and force fields: the former were borrowed from the military and the latter were used in prisons by that time (protective cupolas - barriers) and in flyable vehicles.

But technology of survival was not the only thing needed. It was important to inspire the crowd to move into Scum in search for a New Land. No one knew how much time that could take and what obstacles the expedition could encounter. Spirits did not answer these questions, but made it clear that the expedition could take much time. There was no other way out.

Exodus needed powerful ideological foundation so that it didn't collapse right in the beginning of the expedition. It was clear for the Spirits and intellectual leaders that it was no use moving out without establishing authoritarian power. All utopian dreams of unforgettable adventures and "an expedition to the unknown with those sharing the same ideas" were lost in blood during the first years of brutal terror of activist Exodists. In the long run Exodus ideologists accepted recommendations of the Spirits on organizing the expedition...

All human resources were engaged in the preparation of the expedition to Sponge. Technological components were already selected, now it was necessary to think of travel accommodation for the migrants. Ten huge movable cities - Frames - were built. Each Frame could host up to one hundred thousand of migrants. Frames had solid bodies and could go along the Corridors.

All technical preparations were finally over; five Scum- worlds were discovered and taken the bearing of. So it was time for one of the most tragic moments in human history: Personality Elimination. A million of the first Exodists lost their names, life story and other rights and characteristics. Every human being was ascribed to a certain Frame and declared a cell of the Exodus body. The most important task was elimination of personality and all memories of the Earth, as this was the only way to take physical and psychological control over a huge number of people and weaken Psychosphere's Reaction.

The new religion was named Organism. Constant overall tests of each human being revealed deflections that were cured in psy-clinics. Malignant "cells" were frozen: each Frame had a freezing section where the material was stored with the promise of a new life on the Holy Land. But it was dangerous to put all humans into trance as brain control was lost and horrible types of Reaction appeared, bringing nightmares. Each Frame exerted powerful influence on the Scum-world and its safety directly depended on how "clean" it was. A complicated system of the mind control measures allowed minimizing the influence of humans on Psychosphere and keeping Reaction on a safe level. That's why humans tried not to keep more than two Frames, as otherwise one could expect the outburst of the Filth activity (this is how Psychosphere's Reaction was called now).

Genetic programs of reproduction were worked out which were supposed to preserve a person as a biological species of full value for a period of hundred thousands of years. Having a family was out of the question, reproduction followed strict rules; partners were selected according to mathematical calculations. From time to time cell groups were exchanged between the Frames. Every single thing was done to suppress dissatisfaction during the journey and secure soul purification. As the Purgatory - the great Chain of Worlds - could only let through Exodus, derived of human vices.

8. The Beginning of Exodus.

Frames would not have survived by themselves. External services were established to provide the advance of Exodus. These were two types of MMP (Multi Modular Platform): Brigadiers (terraforming and creation of zeroplast) and Buildmasters (construction), and also Monks (energy procurement, united energy system, protecting cupola) and Legion (mobile military operations on the scum-worlds surface). All Exodists underwent a thorough genetic test at birth and at that time their fate was determined: about 10% were ascribed to one of the external services as operators and underwent special psychological training to reduce the risk of Reaction, other 90% spent all their life on board the Frame as biological material for reproduction, spending most of the time on rather primitive entertainment (Organism reasonably limited the intellectual development of its "cells"), long group meditations dreaming of the New Land and short sleep.

Occasionally born children with unique intellect abilities were raised separately and made up the ruling clique hidden from the main popularity of the Frames. They were engaged in strategic planning of the Exodus development and were aware of the real state of things unlike other migrants. Humans with uncontrollable fantasy, which threatened everyone through Scum's Reaction, were exposed and immediately destroyed. But it was impossible to utterly suppress the human nature so the Legion had a hard job to protect the borders from Filth.

According to the new chronology system, it was a year later after the Start of Exodus expedition that all the ten Frames entered the desired Corridors after leaving scum-worlds and going deeper into Sponge. After two scary generations of preparation no one living in Frames except for Spirits has ever been on the Earth and had a very vague idea what this forbidden notion could mean. None of them could go back, but their children had a chance to find and live in a new world. Exodus started its large-scale relocation to the depths of Scum, forcing its way through the Filth...