[This is in no way official nor has a lot of this been shown on the show, although I was flipping back to the official backstory while I was writing this; call it a dramatization. I also used a few key phrases from their version in mine, since there was no other way to say it. Or at least I couldn't find one. But the bulk of this work is pretty original, OK? =D]
The technological boom of the twentieth century was levelling off but far from over in the twenty-first century. Having conquered the mysteries of their own planet, mankind now looked out to other planets and found more to quench their thirst for knowledge.
Magnificent ships were built; hyperdrive followed shortly in order to cut down on the travel time until we were no longer limited to our galaxy. Computers with sophisticated cognitive abilities and marvelous ability were invented to help.
Despite all our advances, we were still human. But only the threat of exile could remind us of that. Just as it had plagued our ancestors, we were destined to die at our own hands.
Late in the twenty-first century, word of a devastating virus, one that could have only been created by one of our own, swept through the newswire.
We responded quickly to this new threat. Research labs looking into possible vaccines, anti-viral drugs, and anything else that could stop the deadly Pandora Virus were established immediately; colonies were established on Mars, Jupiter, asteroids and any other place that could be settled on.
It wasn't enough. Even with all the attempts at keeping the colonies free of this highly contagious virus, it reached them eventually and the darkest chapter in mankind's history looked to be the last.
The pressure of the impending virus forced us to find a solution. Scientists on the Araxes base had uncovered one. In fighting the plague, scientists had stumbled upon several new technologies in the field of genetic engineering--sophisticated techniques of incubation, of gene reproduction, of non-sexual replication, and huge selections of gene samples, like sperm banks, which represented the whole variety of human population were tested and perfected.
Then began the project, named Deepwater Black--a last attempt to save the human race from being completely extinct. The objective of the project: to assemble a gene bank which could be encapsulated on a space ship and set to cruise through space until Earth had cleansed itself of the virus. When the time was right, the ship would return to earth and re-establish the race. Hundreds of people, all posessing different skills and knowledge on thousands of fields, banded together to work on it. A proprietary scientific software, a "Life Formula", was devised to turn the gene stock into human life. But it would require a human team to run the program.
The scientists fried their brains trying to come up with solutions to the two problems: how would Deepwater stay out of the contagious zone but close enough to return back to Earth when the virus was gone; and who would still be alive when that happened to launch the program and look after the bank?
After years of searching, Deepwater Black's course was finally mapped and the gene bank, a self-contained shuttle that could pass through an atmosphere, was built. They also determined that Deepwater would need a human crew, not only to run the program but to deal with situations if any were to arise. The solution was to place individual DNA samples in cloning chambers equipped with cryosleep ability. The samples would be grown into clones during the 500-year journey, to be awoken at the right time to restore human life to Earth.
The clones needed memories, though; ordinary ones would have no idea what to do and wouldn't know how to run the ship. So while they were growing in their chambers, memories, skills, and knowledge would be put into a memory implant, giving them all the wisdom and experience of their originals and enabling them to carry out the mission. They were also slightly genetically enhanced to further their chances of success.
In testing the process, scientists discovered that genetically enhanced individuals would occasionally be subjected to Genetic Memory Recall--a flashback of pre-existing memories (for that reason, it was nicknamed prexing). Prexing was completely involuntary, and usually triggered by an event or circumstance that "reminded" them of something that had happened to their genetic donor--prexing would often cause them to re-live a moment in their donor's past, and when, where and what happened to them in their prex depended on when the donor's material was taken, where they were, etc. Sometimes, they have flashes of images from the prex while the prex is being triggered, but do not experience the entire thing until a later time (like Hunt).
The ship was launched from Mars in 2157, and began its lonely journey, carrying in its cargo the last hope for the human race.
Find out what happens with the mission...