One (Earth Year B.C. 194,478)
When they designated Earth as her watch and keep, it was the
best day of her long life. Earth (officially known as XCMW187)
was the best shot they all had. It was perhaps their last shot.
Still, they hoped- what good was anything without hope? Beyond
their great technologies, it was hope that had led to the breakthroughs of
interstellar travel, eternal life, and the divine qualities their
great leaders possessed. They had solved the quantum mysteries long ago- those
of entanglement between all particles, the sameness that governed over all
things. They entered black holes into wonderfully blank nothingness, endless
galaxies, and back- in a few instances, as if placed by Loki, they would lead nowhere
at all. The aliens could manipulate time, space, and the thin line that existed
between the two. They had no gods to worship and offer sacrifice. There was no
need for them.
They were gods- save for finding life to watch over and
nourish. It was thus a lonely existence, on the move forever with no home.
They would locate the planet that would free them. They needed to. Every citizen of their species believed in it and
contributed what they could to the cause of finding it.
Countless other planets spanning the vast nebulae had risen
in the grand attempt to emerge from the pool of life and ultimately succumbed.
Some simply just did not have the necessary components to even begin. Others,
over the millennia, had reached the point of organized species and kingdoms,
only to fall victim to dominant predation, disease, or most unfair, the external
judgement bestowed by random flying rocks, some as big as moons. With every
failure of their charges, the keepers were inconsolable. They knew the
consequences- no other planets assigned, another box to check in the direction
of misery.
But there was reason for optimism. Covering impossible areas
that spanned trillions of galaxies, the aliens were proud to have located three
planets that had finally progressed to intelligent life. Two had recently gone silent
and were terminated. One was left.
It was her watch and keep.
Two (Earth Year 1967)
The alien stopped for a moment and wiped her brow. It was difficult
to take this form, which exposed her to the elements in a way that was both unnatural
and exhilarating- only two others had ever experienced a star quite like this,
raw and living within the beads of sweat that formed on her skin. The reason
for this trip was simple, as all others had been. Arrive, blend, document. As
all great time travelers knew, intervention was not allowed.
It had been damn near impossible to not intervene in several
instances- the most notable recently being the great black death that had swept
through Europe relentlessly for 7 years, and the rapid spread of colonization
to the Americas, once a tableau of abundant coexistence between species. Both
were plagues. They had seen similar harbingers on the two defunct
planets. It was profoundly troubling to witness them here- a planet that was
otherwise perfect- from the essential blend of foundational elements to the
fierce adaptive qualities it possessed. It was like witnessing a beautiful
woman rip her own face apart with a paring knife.
On this trip- the alien had shaken hands with John F Kennedy
and witnessed the end of endocannibalism in Papua New Guinea. She saw men fly
to the moon and back for no reason at all except that they could. A wonder to
behold, the might of humans to push beyond their evident limitations. She saw
socialism and capitalism jockey for control. She wandered the camps of Poland
in 1942, aghast at the inhumanity that breathed within. She sat in the hills
overlooking Dresden in 1945, weeping as its citizens screamed, the flames lighting
the night sky. It was one of the longest nights until Hiroshima.
She passed through England in 1965- music was a novel creation
never heard by her people, and she stood proudly at its apex. A wonder to behold-
humans discovering and harnessing the notes that dictated the essence of the
spiritual realm- beautiful, charming, and sad in an undefinable way.
She saw the good, the bad, and the very ugly. There was cause for concern and cause for celebration- like a coin that stands on its edge, there was no telling which side it would land. She left.
Three (Earth Year 2032)
The alien returned to earth at a disallowed interval. She
considered the trip justified. The humans had discovered Pandora. She watched as
artificial intelligence paired alongside humanity, as eager to assist as it was
to destroy. It had taken less than one decade for earth's citizens to take the exponential
leap into infinity that lapped the natural progress from the past 300,000 years. Utopia was imminent.
She saw the great leaders shake hands, joyous.
Four (Earth Year 2079)
An even faster return. Earth looked much different, encased
in a organometallic shell that controlled the weather, could track all movement
upon the surface and skies, and flashed messages from Ant’wa’Tan. Humans had dwindled
to around 45,000. Those who were so unfortunate to persist hid underground. No animals came with them, for they were gone. She wept.
Five (Earth Year 2084)
There was nothing left, and nothing left to try, even if she could. From a distance, she
executed the command that exploded the sun and left the galaxy with haste. Perhaps
in a billion years, the hot elements would cool and try again.
Six
They resumed their search.
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