The Abandoned

Our ships reached their star system and found us welcomed warmly as if we were long lost brothers and sisters.  We were immediately in awe of their civilization that actually merited the designation.  They were almost perfectly civilized.  As we toured their planet we found no sign of war or conflict of any kind, not even arguments.  We could not find any evidence of poverty or class differences.  Our hosts assured us that while there were individual differences in intelligence, skill and training, no one lacked for anything including respect.  Indeed, everyone we met seemed to be satisfied, fulfilled and happy.

Their cities were wonders of architecture and engineering, with towering building and green parks everywhere.  There was light and space for everyone.  We were allowed to inspect their infrastructures, transportation systems, communication systems, agricultural systems, hospitals, and homes.  We were treated to art and history, theater, music and dance.  We ate delicacies and drank sublime infusions.  These new friends seemed incredibly open to every question we asked.  Their world seemed to be a near perfect balance of technology and humanity, and we were amazed that their whole planet seemed like a garden or a park with all kinds of organisms moving peacefully under pristine clear skies.

We learned that they had no prisons, no security forces or police.  Offenders were forgiven and embraced.  They did not know violence and had no need for weapons.  We wondered what defenses they had.  They seemed to understand that there could indeed be a threat from others, but they were willing to face what ever fate would be theirs.  They accepted the possibility of enslavement or extinction.

We asked them how they were able to be so stoic.  How did they build this great civilization?  To this inquiry they recounted a story that seemed so familiar at first.

God, they told us, had created their world and placed their first parents in a garden that he planted for them.  They disobeyed a commandment and brought the consequences of death and eternal hell to all generations.  God thought about providing a savior for his people, but decided they were not worth the great price and abandoned them to their fate.  Generations passed under the great guilt, shame and loneliness brought by their first parents' sin.  Then a Teacher rose among them and reasoned that if they were all going to hell, this life needed to be made into the only heaven they would ever know.  They needed to live in love with everyone.  They needed to be grateful for everything, and to share everything with everyone.  And when they died and went to hell, the Teacher said,
every brother and sister, every friend would be there to greet them.  Forever, whatever would be their fate, they would be together.

Our hosts on this distant planet explained that though they had been abandoned, they went ahead and built their world on the benevolence they wanted to feel from God.  Through that benevolence they found happiness and created happiness for all.

Some our crew wept when they heard this story and awkwardly tried to embrace our new friends and tell them of our God and Redeemer, and His great atoning love for all.

They told us they were very happy for us.

Law and Order: Schrodinger's Case

Scene 1.  The murder scene.

The detectives arrive on the murder scene, a crowded New York City street.  There is one man dead, shot twice in the chest, down in a pool of blood.  The shooter is in custody after having been tackled and hit in the face by a citizen, giving him a black eye.  The gunman has loudly confessed, but really several people witnessed the murder.  The police hand the gun to the detectives.  This would be an open and shut case.

Scene 2.  The victim’s home.

The detectives have the unpleasant duty of reporting the murder to the victim’s wife.  Reluctantly, they knock on the apartment door.  The door opens to the surprise of both detectives.  The victim is standing there very much alive and puzzled at the appearance of the police at his door.  They note that he is wearing the same clothes as the corpse.  They stammer a bit then ask the man if he had a twin brother.  He replied that he did not, but had a sister up state.  They ask him if he were at the address of the shooting at the time of the shooting.  He answered yes he walks past there every day to go to work.  They show him a picture of the shooter and ask him if he knows this man.  He says he does, and that he is a client of his.  He explains that he is a financial advisor.

The two investigators call their Captain to tell him that there is a problem with the case.

Scene 3. The shooter’s home.

The detectives knock on this door to have it opened by the shooter.  They draw their guns on him.  He asks for an explanation as he complies with their orders with his hands up until they handcuff him.  Then as they all calm down, the two detectives look at his face.  There is no black eyes, no sign that he had been thrown down to the sidewalk or beaten.  They ask him if he has a twin.  He answers, no.  They ask him if he had been to the address of the shooting at the time of the crime.  He said yes.  They asked him if he owned a handgun.  He said he did and where they could find it in his closet.  One of the detectives found the gun and brought it out to his partner.  It is the same gun they already recovered at the scene.  He sniffs it.  It has not been fired recently.  They take the man to the precinct, calling their supervisor ahead, telling him there is a problem with the case.

Scene 4.  At the precinct.

The police have two men in interrogation rooms they are genetically, and physically the same person, but committed a murder, the other did not.  They have two other men, genetically and physically identical, one dead, and the other very much alive.  They also have two guns, both identical in every detail, except one has been fired and the other has not.  And then the real puzzle to everyone are the witnesses.  When they interview the witnesses with the intent to get all the details of the shooting the witnesses give accounts of what they say and heard.  But, then if they follow up no one saw or heard anything.  There was no shooting.  

Scene 5. At the witness’s house.

To test the reliability of their witnesses, they question the man who tackled the shooter in his home.  They get the whole story.  Instead of leaving, they decide to turn around and knock on his door again.  He acts surprised that the police are there, as he had not seen them for awhile, and  he knows nothing about any incident in the city.  His story is consistent one way or the other as long as they remain in his presence.  But once they leave his sight, his story changes.

Scene 6. In the Captain’s office.

The two lead detectives and their captain are sitting in his office, as he finishes reviewing the reports they have filed.  He sighs, shaking his head and looks up at his investigators.  He asks for their opinions.  After a bit of silence, one of them speaks.  He brings up Schrodinger’s Cat.  Two possibilities being present at once until the probability wave collapses into one or the other,  in this case a murder or no murder.  His partner reminds him that when an observer looks into the box, the quantum wave collapses into a live or dead cat, not both.  The Captain agrees but wonders if the right observer has looked at this case.  What if they take the non-shooter to see the shooter?  Or the non-victim to to see his own dead body?  Would that make the murder disappear?

[Fade to Black]

Stopping for a Visit

To their credit, they called ahead, asking if they could stop for a visit.  They were very polite about it all, and they apologized for not being fluent in our language.  But really, they did alright considering that we have so many different languages.  They thought we would only have one.  It could be forgiven that they chose Mandarin.  That hurt the rest of us though.

As they got closer, their massive ship detected by radar and our large telescopes, they asked, again very politely if they could enter our atmosphere and land somewhere without causing any trouble.  But then when they fell into an orbit around us they told us that they didn’t want to take any chances of inter-contamination, noting that our genetics differed significantly.  They felt more research was warranted before attempting physical contact.

They asked questions about our history, culture, and technology, but we were hesitant to tell them too much.  They apologized for making us feel uncomfortable and sent us a library of information about themselves.

They said they were going to ask for water, but realized that our ocean were full of living organisms and would go elsewhere for it.

They apologized again for any inconvenience or distress they may have caused by visiting our planet so abruptly.  They said goodbye, wishing us well.

And they left.

To their regret, there are billions of nervous people not sleeping very well tonight.

The Last Entry of Commander Richard S. Johnson, Scout Ship 1352, United Interstellar Fleet.

The commander’s face appears on the screen.

 “2347.01.12.11.43.  Our engines are down, main power is down, batteries are running low.  We have contacted the fleet and have been told that help is on its way.  Our calculations tell us that they will not get here in time.  Life support will fail 17 hours before they get here.  Bio-restoration protocol will need to be employed.

 “It’s not dying that is the big concern here.  It’s what we see in our forward view screens.  There’s nothing out here.  It’s just empty.  There’s nothing for us out here.  We can live out here as long as our technology is working.  Some say we can live out here very well, comfortably.  But we cannot touch it, hold it, or breath it.  But, we just want to go home.  We want to back away from this indifferent emptiness of space, beneath the reassuring blanket of an atmosphere, in the grasp of a home world’s gravity, and feel solid ground beneath our feet.  We want to look out the window and see life around us.  Now all we see is darkness.

 “I know this report will go on my record.  I know I will be evaluated for fitness for command… or space travel.  I am sorry about that.  This has been an adventure.  It’s just that we have had some time to think about this hull and the windows, about what exists outside the ship, and what exists inside.

 “And… We just want to go home”