Evolution

By Neil A. Hogan

“First contact is a natural part of our evolution cycle, as part of the universe’s evolution cycle. No matter what, we will expand, encounter alien races, and evolve further, as a result of this.”

I had begun listening intently to Dr. John Smith’s lecture, but got the feeling that he had already lost the crowd. I had had high hopes, thinking the town hall meeting would be full of academics and uni students, but it turned out to be something closer to a white supremacy group. Having arrived early, I had got more and more concerned as more obviously uneducated people had filed in, talking loudly, swearing, spitting, and generally making me think that I had turned up at the wrong meeting.

“They’ll take our jobs!” yelled one overweight guy with tattoos, a beard, a baseball cap and food stains down his t-shirt.

I sank lower in my chair, in an attempt to distance myself from the audience member just a few seats behind me. I hope he didn’t see me briefly look at him.

“They’ll rape all our women!” yelled another ‘bogan’ – Australian for ‘redneck’.

The lecturer looked incredulous at these reactions, then wiped his face in resignation. You can’t explain difficult concepts to people who had never had the education to be able to conceive of them.

Before the rowdy crowd got louder, the lecturer stretched his arms wide in an attempt to placate them. “One moment please, I have something that might help you.”

He quickly flicked through images on his tablet and called up a particular one for the big screen. The evolution joke image – a row of steadily evolving monkeys into humans, which finishes with a guy holding a jackhammer and another bent over at a computer.

“You get this, right?!” said the lecturer.

Some mutters of agreement, some titters from those who’d never seen it, some yelling out that it is just a theory.

“It doesn’t matter whether you recognize the theory of evolution, or even if know nothing about it. It is obvious day to day that we go through our own little, personal evolutions. Each time we learn something new, encounter something new, or even think of something new, we evolve in our own private way. Having extra-terrestrials live with us will do the same. We’re always moving forward, evolving, learning something that expands us further. Imagine what you could learn from them, for free! How you could evolve. How you could be more than yourselves now.”

Some more mutters from the crowd. Maybe some of them had started thinking about it.

A man stood up in the crowd. “My neighbors are black,” he said. I was relieved that no one reacted to the comment. Perhaps it wasn’t a KKK meeting after all.

“Now, my daddy had been a KKK member…,” he continued.

I groaned inwardly.

“…but I never followed his views. I always thought we could learn something from someone who had a different perspective. While my neighbors and I come from completely different backgrounds, there were things I learnt from them that I would never have learnt from my own family, or from courses at university. And my wife’s cooking has improved a lot since my neighbor’s family has been helping her!”

There was a slight laugh, but I still felt uncomfortable. If they’re still at the point of relating aliens to people with darker skin, this seminar was already lost.

To my surprise, the lecturer took the ball.

“Yes, just like neighbors with different views, looks, skin, taste, habits, culture and more. There isn’t much difference between a new neighbor from another country, and a new neighbor from another planet. Really, there isn’t.”

Another man stood up this time. “Yeah, mate. But, why come here? If what they say is true, and there are 64 million intelligent races in this galaxy alone, then why bother with us? We still haven’t solved racism or world poverty.”

“Ah, well, this is where it gets a bit complicated,” said Dr. John Smith, thankfully, as though he now could confidently move to the second part of his talk. “And I will answer your question now. That’s why I’m here. I’m here to answer absolutely any questions you might have about our new visitors. I was sent by the government to be your point of contact, so to speak. Of course, you could ask any of these questions online, but, in case you’re unable, I’m here to help. And the answer to that question, is that…” he paused, took a deep breath, and then announced something that no one expected, “…these extra-terrestrials are actually the children of many human beings. They’re one of us. Half human, half from another world. They want to live here, and meet their parents.”

There was silence as this information became available. My mouth fell open in shock. How could these aliens be our children? Why? What was going on?

It was then that a special slide appeared, one featuring slightly different looking children with grey skin, big eyes and big smiles, with no teeth.

“Have any of you heard of alien abduction cases?” asked the lecturer.

This time, it was I who thought I’d say something. I could finally see that the lecturer had the crowd. They had calmed down and they were listening. So, I could speak and not worry, as much. Of course, what I wanted to say could create a problem later, but I had no intention of hanging around this hillbilly town for too long, anyway.

I stood up. “Yes,” I said. “I’ve read thousands of books on alien abduction cases, I’ve interviewed people and I’ve also assisted in some of the abduction documentaries as an advisor. It’s all true as far as I’m concerned.”

The lecturer nodded. He now knew there was at least one person in the crowd who would understand, and that helped him have a bit more confidence moving forward.

There were gasps to my comment, of course. Many of the ladies who had accompanied their men had absolutely no idea about that. Focused on shopping, cooking and taking care of their kids, they hadn’t had any time to learn about, or even be interested in, this area.

“To recap, for those of you that are not aware,” continued Doctor John Smith, “For decades the US government has supported the temporary detainment and removal of human sperm and eggs by extra-terrestrial beings known as the Greys, as well as temporary impregnation of selected women, in return for advanced technology and knowledge. While this ended in 2012, there were several people who continued to assist in the program, years later.”

There was silence as the shock settled in. Everyone had already forgotten what had been said before about alien children, and were trying to process the information about how terrible the government was in letting these awful acts happen to people.

“Now, on the surface, that sounds like a horror story,” said the lecturer, understanding people’s shocked faces, “But, if you take a spiritual or metaphysical view point, many of the participants had agreed to participating in the program, long before they were born, and had chosen to be born on Earth to help. The individual sacrifice they made was to help the race, a group of humans from an alternate Earth, to be able to have children again. By creating a new hybrid race between our Earth and their Earth, they could help the ‘aliens’ make amends for the terrible situation that they had brought on themselves. These people have saved an entire race.”

The lecturer realized he had gone on too long and was now starting to lose the crowd again. He pulled back.

“The extra-terrestrials wanting to live amongst us are the result of those experiments decades ago. They’re half from our Earth and half from the alternate Earth. They want to help us evolve so that we don’t make the same mistake, that their civilization made, in the future.”

There was an angry murmur in the crowd.

“So, they’re not really alien, then!” said a young guy, near the middle of the audience. “They’re just more immigrants, wanting our jobs, our land, our women, and we can’t even visit their country. This country doesn’t need more immigrants!”

“Too right,”

“Land!”

“Yeah,”

“Resources”

“Alright,” said the lecturer, starting to get exasperated. “That was the background. The main reason for this meeting is that we wanted to find out if there were any of you who would like one of our visitors to stay with you and teach you anything you like. So, they don’t want food, land, jobs or anything like that. Just friends.”

He waited for people to calm down and acknowledge what he said. That they weren’t going to take their jobs. “Can I get a show of hands?”

Then it registered with me. They wanted someone who could have an alien stay with them? I had been hoping to find out how I could meet them. To find they were trying to find people who could take them in had me jumping for joy, quite literally, forgetting anything else. I immediately jumped up and threw my hands in the air.

Though, I think I was the only one.

The lecturer looked kindly down at me from the podium. “There is a selection process. You would need to undergo some tests to make sure you’re psychologically capable. Please see me at the end of the lecture.”

He shielded his eyes to try and see the rest of the crowd, but no one put their hands up.

“Are there any others that would like to find out more about taking care of one of the children?”

The crowd murmured again but no one else put up their hand.

“Alright, are there any other questions?” he said, slightly sadly.

One old gentleman stood up at the back. “I have researched everything,” he said. “I know these aliens are peaceful children and that they will assist humanity in getting us ready to evolve enough to form friendships and then loving relationships with alien races. My feeling, having lived in this little town for over fifty years, is that the old group here is not planning to evolve.” He raised his walking stick and waved it across the crowd. “These people are happy to stay as they are until they die. They don’t want to change.

“But, I also realize that the children of the people here have already evolved. They’re using computers, smart phones, and other advanced technology that I have not been able to get my head around. They have personal robots and speak to panels on the wall to order home deliveries by drones. This is the generation you need to speak with. Though, I guess, you have already done that.”

The old gentleman took his seat, and the lecturer looked despondently at the crowd.

“Yes,” Doctor John Smith said. “We know this to be true. The younger generation’s brains are already ready for first contact. Their thinking processes are more open, positive and loving than previous generations. They can even shift reality around more easily with their thoughts, something that our generation has difficulty doing. You could call them precursors. The generation that comes before the more evolved generation of humans. The ones that will get humanity ready. There are a few of us, like myself, that can think like the younger generation, but our bodies tend to remind us we can’t do the same things as them. If you were born between 1996 and 2026, you’re more likely to be able to relate to them. Any earlier, and you’ll need to go through a lot of training to get your frequency in tune with them.”

“So, we’re being replaced,” blurted out an old woman near the front.

“Our time has come,” said another old woman, understandingly.

There was silence as the older of the crowd reached acceptance, while the ones in their forties started looking angry again.

Did the lecturer just start to give an imperceptible nod, then stop himself?

I could see him rolling up his tablet and making sure he had everything. He wasn’t going to ask for more questions again.

It was then that I realized what this town meeting was really about. The lecture wasn’t about the alien children, finding places for them to live, or even about the townsfolk learning something new. It was about the inevitable. The moment a single member of the group had understood that they would be replaced, simply by the younger generations outliving them with new ways of thinking, new actions, new behavior – as soon as that idea had started to permeate, it meant the meeting had been a success.

These people could continue being themselves without anyone needing to change if they didn’t want to. Inevitably, they would all die of old age, their old habits, culture, customs, language and behavior disappearing, and the new generation, the new evolution of the human race, would enjoy a more loving and fulfilling connection with their new neighbors.

Even though these people were completely different to me, and could never relate to the way I think, I felt sorry for them. They would never enjoy a close relationship with the alien children. But, then, that was their decision, and it wasn’t my business to change their mind.

For myself, of course, I grabbed an application chip off the lecturer as he was leaving. Being only 35 in 2036 meant I had every chance of getting to know one of the aliens. And, in a small way, I hoped my contribution would help humanity to evolve further in the future.