Life evolved in the inner reaches of the Galaxy many billions of
years ago and reached a state of high intelligence in a short
time as we compare the span of creation. As the millinia past and
we grew and developed we moved outwards in ever widening circles
to expand our empire. As we moved outward and met those other
forms of life and absorbed them into our culture, we grew in mind
and heart and strength. But the Galaxie is a teeming mass of life
and there were many long jumps to be made between worlds, many
lessons to be learned from all the other forms that took time.
Although not all worlds are fully known to us, the time finally
arrived when we knew we could cross the boundless gap between the
Galaxies in the not too distant future. We reached this point
approximately five million years ago in your history.
Some of the events I quote from are in our general history banks
and are known to all who wish to pursue this field, but most of
what I tell you now is hidden from the student for a good purpose
as you will find out as we go on.
In our pursuit to cross the void between the next Galaxy to ours
we at last came to the outer fringes of our own Galaxy. At first
we had not thought it possible for life to take root so far from
the centre of life energy. But we needed a base for our
spaceships on the fringe of our Galaxy and so scouts were sent
out to find one suitable in this quadrant of space. We found that
there was life in plenty on the fringes as well as in the centre.
It exists everywhere. It wasn’t always in human form but that
wasn’t the problem.
Many planets helped to seed the one we finally chose as a base
for the long jump. Volunteers for the seeding program to populate
the new base were carefully chosen experts in many fields. No
field was ever considered to be better than another, for in our
experiences, experianced grandparents to give continuety to the
young were as important as the skilled craftsman or the creators
of the great intergalactic starships complex we were going to
build. Each one had some quality needed to maintain what we
considered a good balance of population. From the different races
and cultures of this seeding we would choose our intergalactic
travelers of the future.
The people thrived on the new world and there was much to do that
kept us in constant touch. Then came word of a comet heading too
close to the planet. It had deviated from its course by only a
fraction but that was enough to send it heading into the field of
Earths orbit. We estimated the orbit of this comet as passing the
Earth every 4,000 years and it was only fate that we had entered
its path at this time. Our presence in this starfield with our
huge ships had disturbed its orbit enough to make it come close
to Sol.
I notice that you have named your star, Sol, so I will call it
that also. We sent ships to pick up our people and move them to
safety until the comet passed. When it had gone by we returned to
assess the damage. All these trips took a few years to pass by of
course and were not accomplished overnight. When we returned we
found the planet had been destroyed completely. We mourned for
the beauty that was lost. We had called the planet Eden.
We wanted to abandon the area as too unstable but there were
those who wanted to return to what they considered home by now
and so we moved them to the next planet in line that was suitable
for life. It too had suffered from the comet and it was not as
hospitable as Eden had been but the people were willing to work
to make it home again like the old one. They named this one
Earth.
The next time disaster struck it came in the form of an asteroid
broken from Eden. It passed too close and the equipment that we
had developed for you for the purpose didn’t deflect it in time.
It didn’t hit, but the effect on the Earth was disastrous just
the same. By the time word had been sent to us and we arrived to
assist you, the Earth was in a shambles. Many were lost that time
and for the ones that were left, we did what we could to help and
those that wanted to, went back with us to the ‘Inner Circle’.
There were many that wanted to stay and so we left them here
until the next Star Fleet run, hoping that by then they would
have changed their minds.
We had come to the conclusion by now that this area was too
unstable for a progressive seeding program, and we had decided to
relocate the Jump Off Base to another Star Field. We made
arrangements for continued inspection visits and there were still
supply ships scheduled to stop on a regular one hundred year
timetable.
This might seem a long time to you but to the people of the
‘Inner Circle’ at the time I speak of, it was considered a short
span, for their lives were normally long. As time went on, the
generations lost their immunity to the disease of aging on this
planet.
But lack of constant interchange with home made you draw further
and further away from our culture and you began to create your
own. At first the differences weren’t too noticeable and they
were what we had allowed for. Our own preoccupation with the
growing discovery of intergalactic travel was another factor in
the growing rift between us. When our Family of the Inner
Councils became annoyed with your odd ways, we made our
inspections visits on a less regular basis. It seemed that each
time we came you were digging yourselves out of another disaster.
Floods, Earthquakes,Tidal Waves that cleaned off entire
continents in one hour...you were a stubborn bunch and we didn’t
know whether to laugh at you or cry for you. What we did do was
learn to respect your grim determination to hang on to your part
of the Galaxy and your way of life; which seemed at times to go
all the way back to the beginnings of creation after each
disaster.
The time finally came when you didn’t remember us anymore or who
we were. Your life span was becoming greatly reduced and as a
result so was the agility to remember your history and pass it on
to your young. Your troubles had almost made you forget us and
you tried to tell your children, but we became legends instead of
real members of a common ancestry. When we did make our visits
then, we were not recognized for what we were, but as strangers,
Gods, or angels and we frightened you.
We never forgot you at home...you too became legends to us. We
sing of your exploits and write epic poems of your life and we
build monuments to your courage and to your strengths.. and we
kept from the people your crimes against each other because we
didn’t want to destroy the dreams...and because we no longer
understood you. We excused you because you lived in such fear and
danger, and we thought, because you no longer had the means to
come amongst us anymore, we could ignore you.
I said I wouldn’t lie to you about our part in your tragedy. Our
mistake was in not interfering sooner. We did monitor you unseen
on a regular basis and so teams of agents were sent here at all
times to report your progresses and keep us informed. I will not
tell you who they were...it doesn’t matter now, not really.
And now, I hope we have made something clear to all of you. We
are not ‘Gods’, but just more advanced than you socially. We
cannot work the miracles you expect of us all the time. What
seems like miracles to you are only everyday events in our lives
that have come about the same way your technology came about;
hard work. We do not flit here in an instant or at least we
didn’t until now, but that is going to change, thanks to you. I
will be telling you about that later.
That is why when you discovered Atomic Power again it took us
awhile to hear about it. We arrived as fast as we could, although
I was not among that group. Our huge ships are up there above you
now, where they have been for almost 28 years. Naturally when I
say above you, I don’t mean just above the Earth, that’s only a
figure of speach belonging to your perceptions. They orbit beyond
Pluto and we use smaller craft to span the rest of the distance.
We have been debating long and hard in our council chambers over
what to do about you. We would not destroy you for that isn’t our
way. You were our children once and we want you back again, but
you have become a problem with many points to consider.
The opportunity passed a long time ago when we could lift you off
this Earth and take you home with us; even by force, although
that is not our way. You would not survive the cultural shock and
the loss of your Gods, or odd ways of life.
You think it is only a matter of getting used to a far advanced
technical life? No! It is far more than that. It would not be a
case of having to learn new things but one of unlearning mistaken
knowledge. That is far harder to do than is supposed. How would
you survive in mind and body, in a world that is alian to you
now, when you don’t even have the conditioning to go against your
own culture to stay alive on this world. Some of you die of
starvation, while food is near at hand, because religious or
social taboos have taught you that some foods must not be eaten.
Wasn’t it you that decreed that and not your Gods? No God would
tell you to refuse food if you were hungry.
The shortness of your lives does not give us enough time to help
you. You have become monsters in your behaviour and to be quite
honest with you, any help we could give you wouldn’t be
acceptable to you. We know. We have taken some of you home as a
test. If we could put you to sleep and wake you one at a time and
recondition you we might succeed, but what a job!
It is as if you have a collective disease who’s symptoms are
illogical.
You go hungry and starve to death in the midst of plenty of food.
You worship money and accumulate great quantities of it that you
don’t need and can’t use, all the while you know that its
continued circulation is what your world is based on for a
healthy economy. You go thirsty because you polluted your own
waste system. You are lonely...all the while you complain of
overcrowding. You have teachers you worship but don’t believe in
or listen to. You have laws that say you must not kill, but
training camps to teach the art of killing and medals for those
that kill the most. You pray for peace and give funds to support
wars. You claim life is a sacred gift from your diety and stone
the vessal that carries it if it isn’t conceived with your
approval. You have lived with the idea of constant change and
progress yet every generation acts as if there will never be any
different way of life than what he is used to.
We found the way you treat your children and the women that bear
these gifts of life the strangest and most illogical and
appalling of all your behaviour. We know of no other life form in
the Galaxy that does not respect the giver of life. In one of
your religious organizations, the man that founded it, and who
you worship, was conceived out of wedlock. We believe that all
life is foreordained from the beginning, with each of us having
the free will to accept or refuse the lesson to be learned. And
since his life was foreordained the lesson in his conception
might well have been the sacredness of birth no matter under what
conditions it is concieved or born under. I think you missed the
point of the lesson; life is sacrd at all times. Up until then
you cast out the woman and the child and continued to do so even
in the face of opposing evidence of example.
This was one of the facts of your existance that weighed heavily
against you and at the same time gave us the clue to solving our
delimma. If you could not respect and love the gift of life or
creation then we would be only too happy to relieve you of this
burden you don’t enjoy. In this manner we would save the little
ones and bring a people back into the fold the easy way.
We would then be able to leave you in peace, to go your own ways
as you wished, with no interference save this from us. You will
suffer no cultural shock by comparison with our ways and our
knowledge, or our long lives. For we cannot confer that upon you
in only one generation. Your churches may go in peace and not
worry about other truths being brought to you. Or did you think
that it was all known? That there was no more the Divine Spark OF
Creation would teach you?
All of you must realize by now the price you pay for this
freedom. The youngest children left on Earth will be those just
over the age of five. No more will come after that you will be
allowed to keep. When these grow old and the last one dies, it
will be finished for good. The old ways of Earth will not return
again."
With these last words, Pheadeknosses arose from her chair and
stood before her stunned audiance. Cuping her hands beneath the
Orb, she spoke to them once more;
"I have brought you words of much sorrow and this grieves me
deeply. I could not bring you these words if I did not also have
words of hope to follow them. The Earth shall not be barren for
long after your passing and it shall be your own children that
will inherit the Earth after you. I want you to have a week to
think about what I have told you. I want you to consider your
lives as they will be in the future. For I will ask of you a
sacrifice a week from now. At that time I will tell you all about
your children; how we took them, where they are and what
provisions we are making so that you may see them."
As the last words were spoken, her hands closed gently around the
Crystal Orb and she vanished from sight.