Alien First Contact- Bryan Hupperts

Alien First Contact
Bryan Hupperts
May 4, 2007


May 4, 2007
Alien First Contact

Rumors of an alien civilization were whispered by the faithful. Strange sightings, otherworldly looking creatures had been seen. A few of the faithful had dared to venture outside to explore this vast, strange new world, but then disappeared. Were they victims of alien abduction, or was something more insidious playing out?

Was there an alien conspiracy?

Are the aliens hostile? That's what Dr. Nu Paradigm wanted to know. From his lofty tower he had been watching the aliens, studying their patterns. He saw their protruding antenna; Scary, indeed. Still, while some were definitely hostile, he concluded, most were remarkable like the faithful, but without the faith.

Someone had to make First Contact.

Theory must always give way to fact. A thousand times his soul cried out, "Go!" but he could never quite get his feet to step outside the safety of the blessed sanctuary. There were, after all, aliens in the land. One day, the burden of what he knew was overwhelming. The aliens were surely diseased, living and dying for what they knew not. Dr. Paradigm knew the Waters of Life could cure them - he thought so, anyway - but wasn't this blessed drink reserved for the faithful? So may questions, but one thing was certain: he made the transforming leap from theorist to adventurer. He was going.

The elders feared contamination. What if... what if... what if one of the aliens decided to violate the sanctuary? What then? Who knew what chaos would follow if the aliens responded? What if they invaded the sanctuary? What then? Certainly, "Go Ye" what part of their liturgy, but to actually put it in to practice...?

To the muted charges of heresy, blasphemy, and treachery, Dr. Nu Paradigm quietly responded that someone had to make First Contact with the aliens. After all, were they not to be a light to the world, even the alien world?

After debate, and countless symposiums on the "alien problem," and how it might adversely affect the faithful, the High Counsel decided to put the matter off for a vote - in 5 years. And Nu realized that if contact were to be made, he would have to go it alone. He had received his commissioning and would not be dissuaded from his mission.

From his study of the aliens, he decided to alter his dress and manners of speech to be able to effectively communicate. With his Holy book in hand, he took a deep breath and pushed open the sanctuary doors and made a quantum leap into the great unknown. He was now in the world but not of it.

Inside the sanctuary, the horrified faithful watched through their narrow portholes as Nu Paradigm attempted a successful first contact. His eyes were blinking from the strain of the naked sunlight; he was used to muted track lighting. It was odd not to hear the piped in choral refrains of, "Just As I Am," the theme song of the faithful, though no one was really sure exactly that the song meant. Instead, he heard, felt, a curious loud thumping crescendoing with spoken rhyme and then passing on into silence as the alien vehicle sped on.

Nu's feet faltered a moment but he found his courage as an alien on a flying machine came whizzing down the little cement road that followed alongside the big cement road. Wait! He wasn't flying. His board had wheels like the skateboard he had as a child. Golly, it was a skateboard! A cement road; No! It was a sidewalk. Why, even the houses looked - normal, just the one's the faithful lived in. How utterly weird.

The alien saw him staring as he came to a stop.

First Contact.

"Sup, Homey?" asked the youthful alien.

Nu stammered to find his voice. "I am an emissary, a missionary, if you will, from the sanctuary hidden on the hill. I come offering the Waters of Life, heralding Good News."

The alien looked him over quizzically in a prolonged silence. Then, "Oh, you're a church dude. I get it. Welcome to my world. So what's with that book you're hiding? Is that some kind of Instruction Manual?"

And Nu Paradigm found himself walking and talking among the aliens who, it turns out, had actually heard of the Great God and were shocked, SHOCKED, that one of his holy followers had ventured out from their hallowed hiding place to speak with them.

Nu was shocked about many of his initial misgivings, too. Those alien antenna? Ear buds. Somehow the aliens had gotten hold of their blessed sermon box technology, the holy iPod. The whole world suddenly seemed like a great harvest waiting to be reaped.

After a long afternoon of talking over a Coke in the worldly sanctuary of the Golden Arches, the kid with the skateboard finally said, "You know, you're OK. Tell me, are there other friendly aliens like you in that lofty tower that overlooks this town?"

Nu started, then smiled when he realized it was he who was the alien, the stranger in a strange land. There was an alien conspiracy but it was the High Counsel doing the cover up. When Nu Paradigm embraced this truth, he knew he could not go back. He left his compulsory necktie forgotten on the table, and he ventured forth unbound into the great unknown.

Despising not the day of small beginnings, First Contact was a success.


Bryan Hupperts
Copyright 2007
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