The Gods and the Builders

by Brandon Hale

  “And there you have it,” The President said from behind his desk. “We’re still working on ways to communicate with them more clearly, and we’re still working on ways that adults can talk to them. We’re also constantly working on ways to revive the people that are unconscious. We believe they may be the key to full communication with the aliens.

  “We have other leads. When Timothy mentioned that the aliens tried to get us ’to know,’ we believe he was referring to abductions. We have reached out to several of these people, and a few of them volunteered to help us. Unfortunately, the end result was the same as with everyone else. For now, we have shelved that initiative, based on Timothy’s statement suggesting their experiments failed. We believe it means they made no real progress with the abductions. While we may come back to them, we’re focusing on other things for now.

  “And now we’re left with a very big decision. Without a doubt, the biggest decision humanity has ever faced.

  “Do we believe them?

  “The governments of the world are working nonstop to get more information. This isn’t something we can consider lightly, but time is obviously a factor. You will eventually hear from other world leaders. We have much to discuss, and we consider pure communication with these aliens to be our single most important directive.

  “You will be continuously updated, possibly from the researchers themselves. In the meantime, I want each and every one of you to consider this situation carefully. Discuss it with your families. Within an hour, we will have an active website devoted to this monumental event. Our people have been working on it since this all began. It will have every speech. It will have the interview with my son, the video and a transcript. When we launch this site, I recommend you all go to it. If you don’t have a computer, we will provide one. It is vital that every human being understands the magnitude of this decision.

  “You’ll hear from us again very soon. Until that time, thank you… and good luck.”

  Processing the Information

  “Something doesn’t smell right,” Fred Banks said from behind the news desk. “They’re willing to just pack us up and take us to a new world? And they built us cities? I find that impossible to accept. And if they’re supposed to be such advanced life forms, how could they possibly not know the difference between an alien and God? The very notion is silly.”

  “As usual,” Chris Hamilton said from the other side of the desk, “you are completely blinded by your own prejudices. Look at it on a smaller scale. If we discovered a small, primitive village living beneath a volcano that we knew was about to erupt, don’t you think we would relocate them, no matter the cost? And wouldn’t we do whatever it took to find them a new home?”

  “Perhaps,” Banks conceded. “But we wouldn’t go in claiming to be their gods.”

  “I disagree,” Hamilton said. “If that volcano was about to erupt at any moment, and the only way to get them to listen to us was to say we’re gods, I think we would do it. We would do whatever it takes to get them to safety.”

  “How could they possibly have built enough cities to sustain the entire human race?” Banks said. “I’m telling you, this doesn’t pass the smell test.”

  “We know nothing of the world they come from,” Hamilton said. “Nothing. For all we know, this is one of a million abandoned worlds in the galaxy. Maybe they didn’t build it at all. Or perhaps they possess technology that can build cities quickly.”

  “Then why don’t they just divert or destroy this phantom asteroid?”

  “The President’s son described them as rocks,” Hamilton said. “Plural. We don’t know how big these things are. We don’t know how many of them are coming. It could be the size of our solar system. Once we have full communication, they can answer these questions.”

  “If we ever get pure communication,” Banks said. “I am personally very hesitant to accept the translations of a five year old child. How do we know he’s not making half of it up, without even realizing it? How do we know he’s not just seeing ancient memories of these aliens?”

  “Because they’re here,” Hamilton said. “With ships all over the planet. I think that backs up the kid’s story pretty well.”

  “How did they get here?” Banks asked. “I’m no scientist, but everything I understood about interplanetary space travel suggests it’s impossible do to the vast distances involved. And faster than light speed goes against physics.”

  “Well,” Hamilton said, “I have two replies to that. First, you’re not a scientist.”

  “I already admitted that.”

  “Secondly, that entire question is moot. We know it’s possible, no matter what our current level of science teaches. How do we know? Because they are, in fact, here.”

  “So you’re going with them?” Banks said. “You’re just going to trust them, and when you see the book on their ship called ‘How to Serve Man,’ you’re just going to assume it‘s a book about how to treat us well, and not a cookbook.”

  “I didn’t say I was going with them,” Hamilton retorted. “I’m just trying to look at this reasonably. It sounds to me like you’d rather die from a planetary apocalypse than open your mind, even for a second, to the possibly that something you don’t understand doesn’t automatically mean it’s the enemy.”

  “And you automatically assume they’re friends,” Banks said. “You think they’ve come here to give us hugs and flowers.”

  “You know,” Hamilton said, “it’s people like you that make me wonder why they’re even bothering.”

  “That’s actually the best point you’ve made all day,” Banks said. “If they are so advanced and peaceful, why are they going through this much effort just to save a primitive planet that thrives on tribal warfare? Especially since they‘ve all but admitted they think we‘re freaks of nature. We‘re ‘wrong‘ in some way.”

  “We don’t know how much effort they’re going through to move us,” Hamilton said. “We only know how much effort it would be for us. For them, that standard is obviously going to be different. And maybe we‘re worth the effort because we‘re freaks of nature. Maybe they appreciate the fact that we‘re unique, and want to learn more about us.”

  “Boy, oh boy,” Banks said. “That’s one hell of a leap there. Even for you. We know virtually nothing about these things, and you’re already giving them the attributes you personally consider noble. Talk about projecting your own beliefs onto others. You bring it to a new level, my friend.”

  “I’m not suggesting that’s what they think,” Hamilton said. “I’m just pointing out that anything is possible. We simply don’t have enough information to make assumptions, one way or the other. We need to more information.”

  “On that,” Banks said, “We agree.”

  Hamilton looked at the camera. “When we return, we’ll discuss this with our panel of experts. Stay tuned.”

  “Don’t you ever get tired of that crap?” Alice asked.

  “Not really,” Arthur said, turning away from the TV. “They give varied opinions. I like that.”

  “Lauren has been in there for a long time,” Jerry said.

  “It takes a while to change her pump,” Arthur said

  “She’s been in there for almost an hour,” Jerry said. “And don’t you think that was an odd time to suddenly decide she needs a shower? I mean, the President of--from what I could tell--the world just told us we’re all going to die. And she decides in that moment to go shower up and work on her insulin?”

  “Has it really been an hour?” Arthur asked.

  “Yeah,” Alice said. “It has.”

  “I’ll go check on her,” Arthur said as he stood up.

  “You know,” Alice said as Arthur left the living room, “She’s not the only one acting weird. Arthur immediately turned it to those debate dorks, and you went outside to smoke about twenty cigarettes. Everyone left me to sit on the couch for the past hour, with nobody talking about what we just saw.”

  “All things con
sidered,” Jerry said, “I think my reaction was fairly normal, especially considering the amount of neighbors I saw doing the same thing.”

  “Okay,” Alice said. “But when are we going to talk about this?”

  “Not much to talk about,” Jerry said. “I’m sure you’re going with them and I’m not. Pretty simple. I think you should be having a conversation with Art about this stuff.”

  “Jerry,” Alice said, “don’t you think it’s worth considering?”

  Arthur came back into the room. He looked worried. “Through the door, she said she’s fine. She said she just wants a little time alone. I think we should respect that.”

  “Considering what she devoted her life to,” Alice said, “I’d say she’s got a lot on her mind.”

  “Yeah,” Arthur said. “I can’t imagine what she must be feeling right about now.”

  Jerry laughed coldly. “You can’t imagine, huh. You really are a shitty husband, you know that?”

  Lauren lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She had already done the alternating eye-checks at least a dozen times. She changed her pump forty-five minutes earlier. After that, she just didn’t feel like getting out of bed, or even putting her clothes on. For almost an hour now, she lay on the bed, naked, staring at the ceiling.

  There was another knock on the door.

  “Arthur,” she yelled, “I said I’m fine. Just leave me alone for now. I’ll be out there in a bit.”

  The door cracked open and she heard Jerry’s voice say, “Yeah, it’s not Arthur.”

  Immediately sitting up and wrapping her sheet around herself, she said, “I’m kind of naked in here.”

  “I won’t look,” Jerry said as he stepped inside. “You’re not naked,” he said as he looked at the sheet.

  “You said you wouldn’t look, then you immediately looked,” Lauren said. “Real gentlemanly there.”

  “Sorry,” Jerry said. “Instinct. If you had been naked, I would have just pretended I didn’t see it.”

  Lauren laughed. “Go back in there with the others. I’m fine.”

  “I dealt with my abduction for years,” Jerry said as he sat on the end of Lauren‘s bed. “I can’t count the times Alice asked me if I was okay and I would just tell her I’m fine. I know when ’I’m fine’ means you’re really fine and I know when it’s pure bullshit. Your ’I’m fine’ falls into the pure bullshit category.”

  “Even if that’s true,” Lauren said, “it doesn’t mean I need company. You of all people should know that.”

  “I do,” Jerry said. “I really do.”

  “Then why aren’t you leaving?” Lauren asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Jerry said.

  “Listen,” Lauren said. “I’m naked. And my husband is in the next room.”

  “You’re funny,” Jerry said. “How about I step into your bathroom here, shut the door, let you get dressed, then we’ll be over the whole naked hurdle.”

  “Why do you care if I’m okay?” Lauren said. “You’ve known me for like a week.”

  “Wow,” Jerry said. He seemed genuinely surprised. “It hasn’t been long, has it.”

  “Seems like years,” Lauren said.

  “Gee, thanks,” Jerry said with a smile.

  “You know what I mean,” Lauren said. “The world has changed so much since the night I came to your apartment acting like a psychopath. It‘s like it was a lifetime ago.”

  “World shattering events will do that,” Jerry said. “And you never acted like a psycho.”

  Lauren smiled. “Thanks for the lie.”

  “Not a lie,” Jerry said. “You seemed like a strong, intelligent woman that happened to have a broken heart. If you had been acting like a psychopath, I wouldn’t have asked you to go get coffee. I wouldn’t have given a shit about you, one way or the other.”

  “Point of fact,” Lauren said, “you asked me to get drunk with you. I suggested the coffee.”

  “Whatever,” Jerry said. “I’m just saying there was something about you that made me want to keep you from hurting.”

  Lauren smiled again, but this time her smile was a bit gentler. “And that’s why you’re in here now? Because you have this inexplicable desire to protect me?”

  “Well,” Jerry said, “to be honest, I’m in here now to avoid Alice. I think she’s about to get all hippy about the aliens, and I don’t think I can stomach that.”

  Lauren laughed. “Let you in on a little secret?”

  “Sure.”

  She leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, “That’s part of the reason I’m still in here.”

  This time, Jerry laughed.

  “I’m mostly joking, of course,” Lauren said.

  “Mostly?”

  “Yeah,” she said. “Mostly. I know she’s in there feeling excited right now. She’s thinking about these aliens and about how beautiful it is that they’re here to save all of humanity.”

  “I’ve always liked that about her,” Jerry said. “No matter how hard I tried to beat her down emotionally, her optimistic nature managed to survive my assaults.”

  “It’s a wonderful trait to have,” Lauren agreed. “But I just don’t think I could take it today. Well, not right now. We just found out that humanity is facing one of two obstacles. Either we‘re dealing with lying aliens that have some monstrous plan to deceive us for some unknown reason, or we‘re dealing with the actual destruction of our world. Neither option, in my mind, is something to celebrate.”

  “And neither option,” Jerry said, “is very compatible with a strong belief in God.”

  “There is that,” Lauren said.

  “I think you need to put those thoughts on the shelf for now,” Jerry said. “On the surface, they may seem to be mutually exclusive, but I’m sure a thinking person can reconcile this.”

  “No,” Lauren said. “A rationalizing person can reconcile these things. A thinking person has to face the questions this raises. A thinking person has to evaluate these questions and answer them honestly. I’m sure many people in my line of work are currently trying to come up with explanations that fit in with their own belief structure. I can’t do that. I don’t create truth, I seek it.”

  “Damn,” Jerry said. “That’s deep.”

  “One of my favorite speeches,” Lauren said, “is about evolution. I never give sermons about evolution, but I will sneak it into almost every conversation I can. It’s because I think religious people are often morons when it comes to the topic of evolution. They see it as a black and white issue. My little speech opens their eyes to the possibility that evolution isn’t the enemy of creation. It’s just the answer to a question that creation doesn’t ask.”

  “Not following,” Jerry said.

  Lauren laughed. “It doesn’t matter. My point is, I have this speech that completely connects evolution and creation. It does it in a way that doesn’t scare people. And that’s what it boils down to, Jerry. Many of the church goers I’ve known don’t refuse to think because they’re judgmental or because they’re stupid. They refuse to think because they’re afraid to. They’re afraid it’ll land them in hell or something.”

  “I can believe that,” Jerry said.

  “Well, I was always pretty good at teaching them they didn’t have to be afraid to ask questions,” Lauren explained. “It got me into trouble more than once, but I believe in that philosophy. I believe in it completely.”

  “Until now,” Jerry said.

  “Until now,” Lauren said.

  “What’s different?” Jerry asked.

  “Now, I’m the one who’s afraid,” Lauren said. “Before all this alien shit happened, I asked questions. I searched for answers to my questions, with an almost reckless abandon. I didn’t realize it then, but my faith was what drove me to find those answers. Through it all, my faith never faltered. When I was researching evolution, I knew the answer would bring me closer to God, whatever that answer might have been. In my theological studies, many of the questions
I had involved inconsistencies in the Bible. I didn’t shy away from them, though, because I knew the answers to those questions, while controversial to some, would ultimately bring me closer to God.”

  “I see,” Jerry said. “And you’re afraid that the answers to these new questions you have won’t bring you closer to God.”

  “No,” Lauren said. “That’s not it at all.”

  “Then you’ve lost me again,” Jerry said.

  “Jerry,” Lauren said, “I’m afraid the answers to these new questions will, in fact, bring me closer to God than I’ve ever been.”

  “That’s a good thing,” Jerry offered. “Isn’t it?”

  Lauren shook her head. “Not if it gets me close enough to see God, and I don’t like what I see.”

  “You’re weird,” Jerry said. “This entire thing stems from these bug-eyed bastards calling themselves God.”

  “No, Jerry,” Lauren protested.

  “Yes,” Jerry said. “They called themselves God and it got your brain all worked up. I want you to listen to me very carefully, preacher. I don’t know if there’s a God, and I don’t know if there’s a purpose to the universe. But I know one thing for sure. These assholes are not God. Period.

  “They took me up on their spaceship, and they tortured me. Contrary to what the President said, they didn’t torture me so they could better help us. They tortured me because they were curious. They wanted to see how I bre…” He stopped.

  “Jerry,” Lauren said. “Jerry, what is it?”

  “They were studying how I breathe,” Jerry said. He was staring at the bedroom wall. “Son of a bitch.”

  “Jerry,” Lauren said, “you were making good progress on ending my freak-out here. Don’t go all nutso on me in the middle of it.”

  Jerry looked at Lauren. “All these years, one thing has made me crazier than anything else. It was the fact that I didn’t have an answer when I asked why. Why did they torture me? Nothing else bothered me as much as that. The pain. The fear. The fact that they really didn’t seem to give a shit. All of that was disturbing, but nowhere nearly as disturbing as not knowing why it all happened.”