When I was a teenager I read a story titled “La Guerra Termino (The War is Over).” There after a space messenger crashes in some planet, the back up plan is to release this thing that creates a civilization whose sole purpose is space travel to deliver the message that the war was over. They do and when they arrive they are told “we have known this for ages.” I’m not sure why, the story stayed with me forever.

Then, the second idea is what if this Earth is the spacecraft you are talking about? Our solar system the actual ship, sailing, as we are, across this universe.

Thank you for igniting our imagination, Martin.
Pablo