The great black ships appeared simultaneously above all the planet’s major cities. Military and civilian radar operators later said they had no warning; the ships were suddenly just "there".
Airplanes that would have been on a collision course with the ships found themselves transported safely to the other side, still flying normally. An hour after they appeared, every radio and television set suddenly came alive with a message from the ships.
"Greetings to you, people of the lost colony of Terra. We come in peace from your mother world, Heven.
Many millennia ago, yours was one of the last planets colonized by our race. We were a young, vibrant race, constantly exploring and expanding, locating and colonizing new garden worlds. Not long after your world was colonized, our explorers came in contact with our first alien race, the Serpens. We were overjoyed to finally meet an alien species and eagerly extended our hands in friendship and love. In return, the Serpens offered new knowledge, technology and even new foods.
Alas, their friendship was false. The foods they offered contained a virus tailored to our genetic makeup. The virus mutated our very being, and was intended to destroy our ability to reproduce. As well, those whose DNA had been mutated became mentally warped and violent, attacking others without reason or cause. In a single generation, our civilization would have been destroyed, leaving our planets with a ready-made base for takeover by the aliens.
But our scientists fought back. They were able to stabilize the mutation, and restore a modified ability to reproduce. As well, they crafted the engines of war that allowed us to fight back against the invaders. However, many planets were lost, some due to the genetic virus and some to battle. Links between the planets of our civilization were lost, and records of their locations destroyed.
We finally defeated the invaders, and embarked on the reconstruction of our worlds. With the destruction of the Serpens, captured knowledge of their science enabled us to begin to craft a cure for the mutation. That cure has been found, and we have sent out ships such as the ones you see above, to restore our people to their former glory.
Records of your colony were finally found, and the rescue fleet you see above has been sent to heal you and bring you back into the galactic civilization. In addition to medical help, these ships will assist you with the arduous process of bringing your society into peace and harmony. Our sensors tell us this is none too soon, as war and hatred are overrunning your world.
Fear us not; we are here to help you. Those of you that are male, you can be cured."
*CLICK*
Inspiration for this came from a short Sci-Fi story, "Reunion", by Arthur C. Clarke
My thanks to Janet Nolan for her proofreading; and to John in Wauwatosa, PB, Jillian & Angharad for their encouragement. Any mistakes left are my own.
Comments
Good Stuff
To simply say job well done is an understatement.
I told you before that I could easily see this being the beginning of a whole story universe. After reading it again, my opinion has not changed in the least. I know you don't have time to take on such a huge project, but thought I'd share the idea with everyone to see if they agree with me.
Never let it be said that I don't enjoy the occasional delusion of grandeur
Never let it be said that I don't enjoy the occasional delusion of grandeur
Still a fun read
A short, sweet spin on a classic and let's not forget Douglas Adams and the Vogon constructor fleet in HHGG.
But as Woody Allen said in Sleeper.
"Don't mess with my brain. It's my second favorite organ."
But then if we get to be both or an all-in-one...
Hey, alien space fleet, come back!
This as a story universe? It would take a lot of adjustments, domestic and in the wider World. Hum, Oddfellows Day ... No, muse, down girl TOOO big a project.
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa
:)
Quite nice, with a sudden 'twist'.
Nice job!
I wonder how long it took to
---defeat the Serpens,
---find their virus records,
---manufacture a cure,
---find the location of the Colony of Terra
---and get there?
I do hope everyone noticed the allusions to the Old Testament, such as 'mother world of Heven', 'garden worlds', 'Serpens'...
And I do hope the Hevenites know well enough to make this a long-term project, seeing as if they simply distributed the 'cure to maleness' via, say, airborne retrovirus, it would have wreaked way more chaos than they hoped to stop.
Lastly, we have no real proof of their good intentions and their tale. They may very well be the Serpens who have decided to wipe the last colony of their enemies.
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
Original Sin...
I knew it!!!
Fun little story Karen. And no more unlikely than a lot of creation myths.
~~~hugs, Laika
And remember...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifLqzLEB3E0
Thanks, Yor, Faraway, and Laika
This was an idea I'd played with in my head for a long time, I read the sci-fi story that inspired it years ago. So when I decided to pop something up for a sci-fi TG story contest elsewhere this was a natural. I loaded all the creation symbolism into it I dared.
The DNA repair is an idea I've had for years. What if aliens were trying to repair a human without any prior knowledge of our DNA? They'd see that Y chromosome was "broken" and repair it! So that slid right into the framework.
I actually used ideas inspired by a number of sci-fi authors besides Clarke, such as Isaac Asmiov and others whose names I can't remember. But I was taken to task for the obvious parallels to the Clarke story, and this fell with a thud. I was considering taking it down from BC the other day, but I guess I'll leave it.
Karen J.
"Being a girl is wonderful and to torture someone into that would be like the exact opposite of what it's like. I don’t know how anyone could act that way." College Girl - poetheather
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Mutants
I know a lot of males that I thought are mutants but I did not know all are. Neat twist to the alien invasion stories. Most males would definitely consider this an invasion.
Hilltopper
Genetic Males
I am really interested in Genetics but am not educated in the field, and no where near bright enough to understand it all.
However, the "Normal" human gene set is the X Chromosome with about 900 to 1400 genes, and the Y Chromosome with about 49 genes. The Y Chromosome is disappearing and will eventually be gone, um in about a million years at the present rate of loss.
K
All I can say is more please?
I really like this concept and hope that you will do more.
Khadijah
Nice little story, it kinda
Nice little story, it kinda goes along with the storyline concept of the old "Battle Star, Galactia" tv series, which was our being here on Earth was because we were colonists from another star system. Am always wondering just what we will think the day we actually get a response to our deep space messages we send out in various manner, such as probes, radio telescopes, tv sound/picture waves and the like. One day, we will get "visitors" from another place and then "let the games begin".
They were infected by the
They were infected by the local population with the y gene ^^
Well whatever, this would be an interesting start of a universe. But I guess the aliens will be smart enough not to force the issue, that would only lead to more chaos and war. If they'd combine beeing female with immortality that might change it though.
Thank you for writing this very interesting story,
Beyogi
Thank you!
Again with the delayed response, sorry!
This was a fun one to write. I read the original story far back in the mists of time; and even then I had this idea. It was a lot of fun revising things to fit my new "reality". I had the biggest blast imagining the reactions of some prominent people. Not only the redneck religionists realizing their "Holy Book" was just a poor attempt to preserve the colonists' history; the tea-sipping liberals also who didn't really believe what they were saying all these years. Gotta take my pleasures where I can. :)
* * *
There are plenty of people in this world who think they are wits. They are half right.
Karen J.
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Request Permission to Borrow
Dear Karen,
I am just going through the list of Authors in BCTS, to see what I may have missed. (These days I read it every day, but until recently that was not possible as my work took me all over the place and often I could not get a conection.)
I enjoyed this story, The Day The Ships Came, very much. I was also very taken with this joke of yours
* *
There are plenty of people in this world who think they are wits. They are half right.
Karen J.
I beg your permission to use this one sometimes, to friends, relatives, and business acquaintences. Also to people like Politicians and others who try to tell us what we should do, take away our money, and swindle and lie to us. I promise to tell them it is your joke and not one that I thought up.
Thank you in advance,
Briar