The Touch Of God

story

It first appeared as a distant disc, floating in the high atmosphere like a frisbee caught in an updraft. Upon close inspection they saw it was a globe: Entirely black, completely featureless, awesomely huge. The world was concerned; the military investigated. Jets flew past and Apache helicopters encircled the odd entity, hovering, mimicking the craft's stillness.

The days passed, and weeks, and still it remained. The military tried communicating with bullhorns and radio waves, flashes of light, fireworks and electronic signs. Nothing. They even landed on it, walked around the top looking for a hatch or a window, but found none. It seemed to be made of a material which behaved like beach sand, and they tried poking it with sticks. It was unresponsive.

All the world's ruling bodies met to discuss the issue; it was decided to leave it be. They announced: "It isn't attacking. We can't affect it. Go on about your business." It remained motionless, miles in the air and a mile in diameter, hurting nothing and in nobody's way. By and large the people went on about their business. The orb remained; silent and unopposed. Weeks grew into months. The summer loomed.

One day without warning the black globe moved, descending. The world went on high alert-- every missile pointed its way. Minute by minute it dropped, to the world's rapt attention. GPS positioning was determined; the people were warned away but gathered regardless. Slowly it sank, over hours, until it kissed the Earth, touching down in the middle of a barren American desert, dry and dusty and empty but for the presence of half a million military, political, media and dreamer souls who surrounded the enormous craft in a circle one hundred deep. Soundlessly it landed, calmly, with not even a breath of stirred air.

And there it sat. Ignoring the warnings, impassioned people ran up to and under the enormous ball, up to the tiny point where the craft touched Earth. Thousands were at risk if it rolled even an inch, but it did not roll.

Curiosity insatiable, they touched the wall of the space thing, feeling the surface. They could dig into it like sand and it moved about obediently over their heads but refused to fall, held together by unknown forces. For awhile.

In the desert silence a low sound erupted from the craft, starting softly and growing louder by the moment until it was too loud, too intense. It was like a billion tubas all pumping at once. The people had no choice; move away or face shattered eardrums. The military tensed and readied their formidable weaponry; one nervous private shot at the ball, inspiring a hail of gunfire and launched missiles. Cameras from every news agency on the planet observed the barrage. The missiles hit their target and obediently exploded; the crowd gasped as one. The ultralow sound stopped abruptly. Was it destroyed? The smoke cleared. It was not, but displayed deep divots where the missiles had exploded. But the divots were getting smaller as they watched. A self-healing craft? people wondered, until someone shouted, "It's shedding!"And it was. Black sand was falling off the craft. The divots weren't healing, they were disappearing as the sand fell away in sheets. As it piled up on the ground one scientist entered the dusty storm and filled a test tube to examine. "It's not sand!" he shouted, inspecting it under a portable microscope; it looked metallic, and each grain moved independently of the others. It looked like an insect colony.

The ball shrank rapidly as the 'sand' became a mound, then a hill. The mile wide spaceship became half a mile wide, then a thousand feet, then five hundred. There it stopped, the last few black grains dropping to Earth.

A mountain of glittering black 'sand' now lay before them; at the center was a gleaming white orb a hundred feet across, also featureless. The sun bounced off its bright skin; a breeze came up and stirred up dust. The people waited, expectantly.

Obediently, a circle irised open and a tube emerged, also white, angling to miss the mountain of 'sand'. Out it extended, impossibly long, stopping in front of the Brigadier General in charge. Eight feet in diameter, the end was closed like the bottom of a glass. Then it too irised open, and out from the gloom walked a figure. The crowd gasped, for what they saw made no sense.

The facts were these: An alien craft made of sand hangs in Earth's sky for months, then descends and lands, then sheds, and finally presents its cargo to the people, and the emerging alien is... a human being!?

Yes. An ordinary man. Five foot eleven, wearing a rumpled brown suit and scuffed black patent leather shoes, carrying a businessman's attaché. He wore glasses with thick black frames. his hair was combed but blowing in the breeze. He looked like an accountant, or Clark Kent.

The man stepped forward and spoke to the incredulous General. Three words, the first words ever uttered from an alien species to our human one, came from his normal looking mouth. They were:

"I have information."

With a gesture from the General the man was surrounded by soldiers and searched thoroughly. He accepted his fate without complaint. He carried nothing but the attaché, which he opened politely. Inside was a booklet and a clear glass device with a bow on it. "A gift. It is an Omniphone," he explained.

Brigadier General Smythe, leader of the armed forces addressed the man, who bowed imperceptibly. In his most impressive voice, he asked, "Why have you come to Earth?"

"I need to impart valuable information to the people of Earth, Brigadier General Smythe."

"How did you know my name...?"

"Your name and rank are both on your uniform, sir. My name is..."

Everyone within earshot turned to listen. Would it be understandable? Unpronounceable?

"... Frank."

"Frank?! Just Frank?" The General seemed dismayed.

"Francis Everett, sir. Call me Frank. All of your questions will be answered. Every one. But I would like to address the entire world when I do, if you don't mind, sir."

The General scratched his head. "Well, Frank," shaking his head at the oddly normal name, "Umm, Mr. Everett. We can arrange for many of us to hear you, but not everyone on the planet has access to television or radio yet."

"The Omniphone should help. When used correctly, anything spoken into it will be heard by everyone on the planet simultaneously, in their native language. Speak to your superiors, sir. I'll be here when you are ready for the..." he searched for the term, then nodded, "Press conference." He smiled, turned tightly and re-entered the tube, which retracted rapidly into the ship, closing and leaving no seam.

The meeting was breathlessly set for two days hence; the excitement was tangible. Frank Everett arrived at the U.N., brought in by presidential helicopter, and sat at the dais with his attaché case opened and the booklet in front of him. He looked up and the crowd hushed, awaiting his words. He adjusted his glasses, and spoke:

"Good people of Earth, I am Frank Everett. I am human like yourselves, but the race I represent is not. It was decided that at this point in your development it was time to learn the facts. The time for speculation is over.

"You may wonder why my craft remained in orbit for such a long time before landing. It was so I could learn the current ways of Earth, to further hone my message to you. The last information I had on your culture involved stagecoaches and six-shooters. My journey was a long one and it was necessary to wait and watch, to observe the vagaries of modern human existence. I know you all have questions and I will answer them all, in due time. For now, let me briefly recite Universal history.

"Your scientists are largely correct. The Big Bang did occur, and it did so about fourteen billion years ago. The Earth was formed of stellar matter coalescing about five billion years ago. At about that time the Wuhuun learned that they were alone in the Universe; no other sentient beings existed anywhere. Saddened by this, they used their advanced means to bring life."

From the dais, the American president asked, "This race of entities you represent are called 'the One'?"

"Wuh-huun. It sounds similar in this language. The Wuhuun are a very old race of beings, the last survivors of the last Big Bang. They were once solid form like ourselves, but evolved beyond that state. They are not gods, nor do they care to be. They consider themselves only the gardeners of the Universe, nothing more.

"The Wuhuun science worlds created and detonated an immense DNA supernova in the center of the Universe, which shot genetic material everywhere. Even so, life began on only about point zero zero zero three six worlds that were seeded, because of the many factors which affect the potential for life. And only a small fraction of those reached sentience, about sixty million worlds.

Outside of the Wuhuun, humans are currently the most advanced species in the Universe. That was not always so. Many thousands of species survived beyond your current level of knowledge and technology... for awhile. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, they have all self-eradicated-- they are all dead species now.

"The Wuhuun have been visiting you for millions of years. They are not immortal, but live for a very long time. The science teams who originally seeded the Universe have themselves been dead for millennia. After watching innumerable species die of foolishness they have decided to intervene on your behalf. By protecting you from yourselves, you will be able to pass through this period unharmed and move on to the next and final level of solid-form sentience-- illumination. Since the Wuhuun are intangible and will not directly interact with you, I was chosen to be your vehicle of change.

"I was borrowed from Earth in 1272 BC. They rescued me from striking the rocks after a particularly lengthy fall off a cliff, and schooled me in their plan and in their level of ability. When I was finally ready they put me in the ship you saw and guided it here.

"Your history is this: You evolved naturally on the planet after the Wuhuun seeded Earth. Your look is the natural outcome of the forces on Earth which affected your evolution. So yes, humanity was both created, AND it evolved. Regarding dieties, I'm sorry to inform those of you who believe-- there is no entity like a God. The Wuhuun are the closest by your definition but are not interested in the job."

From the dais came an outcry of denial. Many country leaders were angrily murmuring to their aides; a few were standing up, ready to walk out. Frank paused and stared at them until they sat back down. Then he continued. "It is important for you to accept these facts, as they are without question, facts.

"There is no soul, nothing which survives after death. What each person experiences through life is a reaction to and processing of their sensory information- what they see, hear, smell, taste and feel. When the body dies, the sensory devices die... including the brain, and then the individual is no more. Get your unique perspective down on paper, each of you, so that you may live on in history."

The American president interrupted, "How can you be certain about these 'facts'? The Lord's ways cannot be understood by such as ourselves!" His eyes darted nervously to the dipping pollmeter.

"Correction. You have not had the facts until now. Now you do. The Wuhuun have determined that every movement of every subatomic particle in the Universe occurs due to natural physical forces. There is no entity affecting them. Also, there is no heaven. There is no hell. There is no reincarnation, or ghosts, or vampires. And sadly, there is almost no point to telling you this, because those of you who believe in these things will not be swayed; as a matter of fact you are most likely calling me a tool of Satan as I speak. And no, there is no Satan, either."

Monitors gauging public reaction showed angry mobs forming in scattered areas across the globe. However, most street scenes were calm. He warned, "Do not react to this knowledge with anger and violence; I am here to ensure your survival and bring about clarification, and to that end the Wuhuun entrusted to me certain abilities. Sleep!"

Across the globe, everyone engaging in anger or violence stopped abruptly, lay down where they stood, and slept.

"You will hear and remember, but will not wake until I am finished." He continued. "Heaven and hell are religious icons that represent the best and the worst of real human behavior. Heaven and hell as places don't exist... but they are found every day all across the globe. The irony of religious punishment is that it brings about the very hell that religion warns of.

"The Universe is random by nature. You ask, 'Why are we here?' and the answer is simply 'Chance.' You lament, 'Why was my loved one taken from me?' and the answer, once again, is simple chance. There is no goal achieved when it happens; it just does.

You ask, 'What is our purpose?' and the Universe asks for none. It is your society which requires purpose from you. Each of you feels a burning desire to let your passion out, and that fact is what drives humanity forward. For if you were not to build societies... then your lives would be as simple and as pointless as the beasts of the wild. Born into agony, living life warily, dying most painfully.

"One of the paths you are on, the quest for knowledge, is a good one. The best one, in fact. The Green revolution is also valuable, as there is no point surviving as a species if you have to make your homes underground. And your potential for compassion is powerful. But another, the quest for acquisition, will serve only to end your species. "You already can see how this is true, as your factories pump out poisonous waste to create items you neither want or need until an advertiser hypnotizes you into thinking you do. You buy the item, the corporation gets the money and distributes part of it to the shareholders. It is a way for the vast numbers of poor to be suckered into giving money to the relatively few rich.

"Corporations can be good, but they are following the wrong charter. A better way to run them is not as moneymakers, but as society servers. The profits of such a corporation are split differently. Money made goes to society first in the form of taxes, then research and development plans for the corporation, then dividends to the stockholders, and the balance shared equally among all employees, including management. There should be no more than a tenfold gap between the lowest wage and the highest. And of course, decision makers bear responsibility for wrongs the corporation has committed.

"Your society has high ideals, but many desires are stymied by lack of resources... even though the resources are widely available. This makes little sense to outside observers. Homelessness, starvation and sickness have no place in an enlightened society. Nor does poverty, an ailment which is caused by the rich, who suffer from a disease of their own-- greed. Selfish hoarding is for squirrels, not people. Money can easily be turned from a tool into a weapon. Eliminate its power and you eliminate the power of the rich.

"And by all accounts, close most of the jails. They are bad for humanity-- they don't actually implement any form of correction. Instead, the innocent are routinely incarcerated; good people come out angry and desiring revenge and bad people come out ready to kill.

"Education must be repaired, because the world births 1000 potential Einsteins a year, almost all of whom aren't given the opportunity to reach their potential. Schools are shutting down programs and only educating to the minimum government test requirements, which destroys a country's potential to compete and reduces the overall IQ of the populace, allowing politicians to manipulate them with fictional data and enact greedy laws to fleece them.

"Children must be provided for, regardless of their parents. Parenting should require a license, with study somewhere between the difficulty level of driving and practicing medicine. Children must have fully nurturing home lives, along with strong education and social interaction programs. Marriages are not for everyone and punishments to one spouse or the other for failure is not logical-- far better to enact classes and test facilities to determine which couples are more likely to remain strong, and allow the rest to mature.

"Overpopulation on the planet is a big problem. The Earth can contentedly sustain as many as one billion humans, but there are currently seven billion and growing fast. One reason for the overpopulation is the religious directive to 'be fruitful and multiply', a plan which made sense when it was written, at a time when there were less than a million humans on the planet. A new directive must be put in place to limit our growth. One couple, one child is good to start. Other solutions could include a moratorium on childbirth every other year, or voluntary birth control. Or involuntary birth control. Or rewards for childlessness. The solutions are many, but one thing is certain... the Earth must lose 85% of its people. A civilized society allows the citizenry to live out their lives but account for the next generations, and the ones after that. One hundred years should be sufficient to bring population under control without a shed tear or drop of blood.

"Abortion is a highly charged concept, largely because of the widely held but inaccurate belief that life begins at conception, and therefore abortion is murder. But life actually begins when the creature can remain alive unassisted; until then they are simply life 'potential'. Seed, for example, is life potential. But the need to end a potential life must be medical in nature, to save the mother or prevent grievous birth defects, not for economic or emotional reasons.

"The religious belief that life must not be prevented using birth control has caused the abortion dilemma and the overpopulation problem, an ironic fact which demonstrates that you do not use reason like the enlightened species you purport to be. Your laws have not kept up with your learning.

"Because of rapid transportation and instant communication, your species has reached a unique potential: Global sharing. You already exchange goods in a limited fashion through the use of money, but that is not sharing.

"On Earth, droughts and floods often occur simultaneously in different parts of the world, as do storms and good weather, or bountiful harvest and failed crops. When one culture come to the rescue of another, that is called sharing. When the rescuers present a bill for services at the end... that is called selfish. If this seems like a reasonable trade to you, then you have been deluded by selfish practices for far too long.

"With global sharing, no culture suffers while another complacent culture watches; the whole planet is in a constant state of caring. It will be the beginning of the end of tit-for-tat, another embarrassing belief system your world currently espouses.

"It is my fervent belief that soon you will see the absurdity of state-sponsored pettiness, wasteful practices, self-centeredness and other behaviors which you frown upon in children and individuals but foster as societies, and to that end I have entrusted to Earth the Wuhuun's most valuable gift-- the knowledge of truth. From this day forward, lies spoken for selfish gain will be recognized as such, and the speaker will feel the consequence of deception as a deep and unrelenting shame, until they abandon their opportunistic ways."

Frank Everett stopped for a moment. "Let me finish by saying that as a race you are traveling on a dual track, with one headed for glory and the other, despair. It will take time, but I know you will choose the right track. Although the Wuhuun are not interested in being your god, for your next few critical choices it seems as though you will need one. They have bestowed great power upon me-- I guess I have been chosen for the job.

He picked his next words carefully. "Remember, all of you, to do what has been said here today."

With that comment, Francis 'Frank' Everett, new God of Humanity, disappeared. Out in the desert his ship disappeared, as did every grain of sand on the ground around it. The sand in the scientist's test tube vanished. Across the globe, people were waking up and holding their heads, pained by the intensity of knowing the full truth.

And suddenly, heard by everyone around Earth, was Frank's voice:

"Make wise choices. Make me proud of you."

And they did.

Copyright 2009 Bruce Ian Friedman