Experimental Short: Inspired

The greatest of our scientists, engineers, political philosophers, military commanders and spiritual leaders began to vanish from the world when the saucers appeared in orbit of Earth. It was a short lived visit by an unknown intelligence, and when the craft exited our solar system, it was the last that was ever seen of them.

War was rife on the planet, but with the undeniable sight of otherworldly objects, inspiration took hold and the times changed. Advancement in space exploration and related technologies replaced the implements of battle, the vehicles of war and the massively destructive weapons that made hostages of every nation.

A decade passed and the Moon was already inhabited with testing facilities, laboratories and the first off world settlements, small as they were. Twenty years later, the first human settlement on Mars was created and the second international space station was launched into Earth orbit, a joint effort between the United States of America, Russia and China. The European Union and Japan had already begun to construct the foundations of a space elevator in Kenya, taking on labour from surrounding nations and solving economic crisis’ in one move. This reach for the stars saw the end of disputes and the creation of alliances where no hope had been previously. The people of the world looked to the stars, and the governments of the world answered by building the first few steps of the staircase to reach them.

When budgets were redirected away from the destructive and towards the creative, the human race demonstrated its ability to rise above itself and reach other worlds. Two hundred years after witnessing the unbelievable, the people of Earth propelled themselves even into the farthest reaches of our solar system. Five hundred years saw the first remote contact with another space faring race, then actual contact with this friendly and cooperative alien civilisation.

Two proud, yet two visionary worlds joined hands and boosted one another into the greater galaxy, and together they travelled and grew and improved life, and between them blossomed love and they were kin. Their shared love of the stars and the unknown formed a bond so strong that after only centuries did they overcome any differences and then call themselves one, and the Earth was theirs and their world was ours, and all colonies in between were shared.

When other races were discovered, far in the future from when those flying saucers had skimmed the clouds and orbited the Earth, a great council and union was formed and the known intelligences of the Milky Way Galaxy were at peace. Happy, yet not content, as the Universe was a large place, full of wonder and awe, and those intelligent species had nothing but love for exploration and learning.

But when the majority wished to expand and look out in to the universe, into the future, some thought to explore the past. Where the human race had grown out of the memory of those first seen flying saucers and the great human people that vanished when they too vanished, some dug deep into the past and remembered what was forgotten. When humans once had no way of discovering what had happened to the scientists, the engineers, the political philosophers, the military commanders and the spiritual leaders, they now had the combined knowledge and histories of tens of intelligent species at their disposal.

Unfortunately, the greater leaders of the union had no recollection of a space faring species that traversed the expanse in saucer shaped craft. It was one of the lesser represented alien races that like the humans, were visited by such ships. At the time of their visitation, their remote technology, unmanned craft and probes were far superior than Earth’s. This race was able to track the craft somewhat, back to the home world. Though just like the people of Earth, the events were disregarded over time, forgotten all but for the ancient records of history. The human investigators used this knowledge and followed the path that was led by the saucers and with alien help they discovered the world of those once visitors and kidnappers of man.

The planet was a dust bowl, all organic life had seen its end thousands of years before the arrival of the scientific team. Any sign of civilisation was gone, at least above ground. Advanced technology allowed the planet to be surveyed quickly, both above and below the surface, and it was with this that the underground bunkers were found.

The alien records would take time to decipher, but the human records, written in notepads and long dead computers, were much easier to acquire knowledge from. This came as a surprise, the human captives that had been taken from their home so many thousands of years ago were given homes, resources, technology, workers. They were brought to the planet as saviours, angels from a world of great creativity and potential. They were brought to save this now long dead alien race from an enemy that had power beyond anything, a power that overwhelmed what they were capable of themselves. Human’s greater power for thought, for thinking in abstract and different ways was their draw, yet it was not enough. The records detailed how the humans analysed the great enemy and developed weapons, technology, strategies and diplomacies to save the besieged alien world, but their efforts were in vain. The world, the aliens and the humans saw their end in a rain of fire, and the last hand written notes of those Earthly men and woman were only thoughts of home.

It is odd, how this embattled world saw the greatest potential in human life, yet failed to use it, failed to intently develop it into something great. Yet for those left behind on the blue world, the mere sight of a greater way of living propelled them into the stars and into other galaxies. The flying saucers took the best to their doom, yet freed the remainder, inspiring them to reach the highest places in the universe. It is odd, and it is sad. And with the revelation, this world is now remembered, and those taken from their homes are now remembered, and the great enemy that has not been seen since, is remembered.