Judgment Day

The war was over too quickly, if it could properly be called a war at all. Only two people died during the twenty-four hour period in which the beings took the whole world over: one who suffered a heart attack through sheer fright; another who had been in the process of committing suicide and gone through with it through sheer stubbornness. Before any military prowess could be brought to bear on the intruders, everything had been effectively routed and subdued.

The beings called for a representative of each group of creature inhabiting the planet to meet with them, from the smallest ant to the largest whale.

“Who are you?” asked the representative the humans selected when it was their turn. He stood before the being in the middle of a large grass plain, dotted here and there with large boulders. The being, vaguely humanoid, of a color the human couldn’t quite pinpoint, rested before him.

“We watch the planets,” the being answered, “especially the ones offering something intriguing. And most of the time, that is all we do. It is not our usual procedure to interfere with the natural progression of the universe. But, rarely, we see a planet reaching the point of no return through a preventable means and we must decide whether it is worth it, or even right, for us to intervene. Sometimes we are too late. Sometimes, like now, the point of too-late is imminent but not yet arrived. We have chosen to take over guardianship of this planet until such time it has been deemed restored. Then we will again let the laws of this universe rule.”

The human looked around, at the other animals waiting their own turn, “Why am I here?”

“A question with too many answers. But I believe, in this context, you are asking why you stand here before me?”

“Yes,” the human replied.

The being shifted, resettled, “We are determining which of this planet’s creatures are necessary to its eventual restoration and which are unnecessary. It is best to pare down to the bare minimum, to free up space for the vital creatures to proliferate and diversify. As this is not our home, we speak to all the creatures and try to understand their own unique contributions, as well as their place in the intricate web of life making up this planet before we make our decision.”

“And what happens to those deemed unnecessary?”

“Why do you ask questions when you already know the answers?”

“So you’ll kill us all if you think we’re not worthy,” the human retorted. “Who are you to judge us?”

“A necessary question. We have the experience, the objectivity, the larger scope of focus to do what must be done. I know this means little to you and an explanation fitted to your understanding would take longer than allotted to you. Besides,” the being leaned forward, “what could you possibly do if you objected?”

The human bristled but said nothing.

The edges of the being blurred, growing indistinct, “I can assure you that saying nothing in your defense is not an appropriate decision if your objective is to not be deemed unnecessary.”

The human stiffened, then sagged, “I apologize. I will do my best because of the faith placed in me as the chosen representative of humanity.” He thought for a moment, before a thought occurred to him, “How can you even speak to me? And all the other animals? Did you learn each of our languages?”

“So many questions, and not one word of defense yet. Interesting, this curiosity of yours. Not a rare quality by itself, but interesting how you express it.” The being shook itself with vigor, “I am not speaking to you in the way you understand speaking. I am thinking to you, using the language and concepts your mind understands. Your brain creates the words you hear and the sound you perceive, even the image you see before you.”

“A dream,” the human whispered, “a hallucination?”

“Reality. Then again, how do you know your dreams or hallucinations are not also manifestations of your reality?”

The human swallowed, “Are they?”

“From what we see, most likely not. But we have never professed to knowing everything in this universe.”

“How long have you watched us?” the human asked.

“A very long time,” the being replied. “From the beginning.”

“So you live forever then?”

A faint sound emanated from the being, resembling music in a sense, laughter perhaps? “No creature should live forever. And I do not desire to live for so long. No, we enjoy a longer lifespan than you, but still finite. Instead, we have longer memories, memories from those before us. Our physical bodies need not be aged for us to utilize the wisdom obtained from much experience.”

The human found it hard to picture having the memories of all his ancestors. And to pass his own memories down, memories he didn’t dare let another have.

“Your allotted time dwindles,” the being interrupted the human’s thoughts. “Tell me. What can you contribute to this planet?”

The human bowed low, “We have technology.”

“Technology? I have seen your technology. You have weapons that destroy other humans and the other inhabitants of this planet without discrimination. You have all these modules harnessing electricity and what do you do with them? You sit and stare and do nothing with your time.”

“We have good technology,” the human said. “We’ve used our technology to enable us to live longer and healthier lives.”

“For what end? To consume more resources?”

“And,” the human continued, “we use our technology to better the lives of the other inhabitants of Earth. We study our planet in close detail so we can save it ourselves.”

“Do you? How interesting,” the being said. “How many have you saved compared to the number destroyed?”

The human crossed his arms, “I don’t have an exact number. It’s an ongoing process.”

“So an inexact process,” the being responded.

“Yet we still try.”

“You think of yourself as superior. As beyond the natural laws of a planet.” The being angled its body towards the lion’s representative draped over a boulder in the distance, licking its huge paw, “Even a predator as that one respects the laws of life: to protect, to eat, to sleep, to reproduce and raise young, to live, and to die. You give yourself these ideas that do nothing but excuse the way you circumvent the law.”

“You compare us to those animals?” the human snapped.

“The implication being that you are not animals?” the being asked.

The man straightened, ready to lash out, then subsided, “It’s true we’re mammals. But we’ve evolved higher levels of reasoning, developed culture, morality.”

“Have you spoken to the creatures you disparage? Have you met them on their terms and tried to think as they have? I have, and my discourse with their representatives was no less enlightening than my discourse with you. You presume on their thoughts, trying to fit them into the framework of your thoughts. When they do not fit, you presume it is they who are lacking.

“You only try to find the negatives,” the human said. “It’s like you want to exterminate us and are now trying to find an excuse to do so.”

The being made its faint musical sound again, “That is not the impression we meant for you to have. If we wanted to exterminate the creatures dwelling on this planet, even the planet itself, we would have done so. No, we wish to save every creature as long as they are not a detriment to this planet’s future. Please, tell me the good humans can bring. I will listen.”

“We don’t only destroy. We create new things, wondrous things. Art, music, poetry, and life-changing stories. We see beauty all around us and are capable of expressing it outwardly. Do you think any of those around us,” the man threw his arms out to encompass all the animals surrounding them, “do you think they’re capable of such things?”

“It is true you are the only group of creatures I have spoken with thus far capable of expressing such sentiments in artificial forms. Yet, again, you discount those around you. Do you think their sense of beauty less if you do not understand it yourself? That because you do not perceive what they perceive, that such perception does not exist? Tell me, have you beheld the intricacies of a single bird’s nest? Can you say it is any less beautiful than a single work of your art? And the songs they sing. Can you say they are any less beautiful than a single piece of your music?”

The being paused but before the man could speak again, it continued, “Yes, there are those among you worthy to be saved. I do not doubt such a fact. Just as there are worthy and unworthy mosquitoes and worthy and unworthy fish and worthy and unworthy elephants. But, we cannot judge each mosquito and fish and elephant as individuals. We do not have the time. We must judge you as a group. So, again, answer my question, what can you, as a group, contribute to this planet?

“It doesn’t matter anyways,” the human said, “no matter what you do here, we can travel to other planets. We’ll go far away, far enough you can’t touch us."

"So you can use your weapons on other planets? Or consume their resources? Must we step in again much time later for another planet? Is that not a waste of our energy and resources? Why would we allow such an occurrence?”

“Your time has reached its end. Tell me,” the being leaned forward until the hot gases expelled from it washed over the human’s face in blinding waves, “Tell me with all the truth contained within you. Do you deserve to live?”

A long silent moment passed and the human couldn’t tell whether minutes or hours had passed for all the clocks had died and he couldn’t see the sun anymore. Then he bowed, head dipped low, “I believe it’s yours to judge.”