posted on Dec, 27 2013 @ 01:45 PM
Melanie woke up with a smile on her face, amazed that she even went to sleep at all. The smiling came easy to her now as it had every member of her
ragtag team. Who could blame them? For the past two years, they had had more to smile about than anyone else on Earth. As was her morning ritual,
she stretched and headed to the shower. Today like most days, she replayed the day, two years ago, in her head as she stood under the streaming
water. The date was November 17th, 2015 and she would never forget it.
She and Charlie had been dating for almost two years. So naturally he was there. It just so happened that her roommate had stopped by to bring her a
burger at exactly the right time. So there they were. Just her, Charlie and Tracy, sitting and watching her boring little experiment do its thing.
It was supposed to be about the effects of electromagnetism on light waves. No biggie…been done about a thousand times. This time however, nature
or fate or just the random chaos of the universe, decided to participate. She still had not figured out the particulars of what had happened, but she
surmised that lightning had struck the building in which the lab was housed. Somehow that amplification struck a chord with the low level lasers she
was using in the project. She heard a sound that was like piano notes mixed with shattering glass. Then there was a weightless, lightless, silent
moment, and she was sitting on the ground in front of the library in broad daylight with Charlie and Tracy right beside her.
They stared at each other in amazement then immediately looked around to see the commotion that they had caused. Students and faculty walked all
around but did not notice them at all. One girl, Melanie couldn’t remember her name but knew they had a calculus class together, actually stepped
over Charlie’s legs without so much as a glance toward him or a word uttered. As they stood, more people changed course to avoid them but acted as
if they were invisible. Then they noticed the palpable excitement in all the others. They weren’t quite running but walking determinedly. Almost
everyone was smiling and some were outright giggling. Although a college campus can seem to be a pretty happy go lucky place, at least the staff
generally looks more serious and stuffy than they did right then.
They tossed the expected question between one another: “What happened? How did we get here? What’s wrong with them?” None of them had any
answers. They had tried to stop passersby’s but none paid any attention to them. Charlie had actually tried to push one nerdy looking kid as he
trotted by and we all saw his hand go right through the guys midsection. The kid kept walking and smiling, like he was on his way to a Star Trek
convention instead of heading into the library. After a few minutes of stunned silence, we each tried our new magical hands and none of us were able
to make physical contact with another person. We did realize that we could touch inanimate objects like trees and a coke can that someone had thrown
on the ground.
Having no better options we decided to follow the main bulk of the crowd into the library. Inside there was standing room only and several television
sets were spread about the main common area. They were all tuned to the same news program. We had no problem getting up front and close to one as
people moved out of our way without knowing they were doing it. The news anchor had the same look of happiness that everyone around us seemed to
have. The report switched to a pre-recorded video of what could only be described as a spaceship hovering over the White House lawn. The voice over
was telling that the President along with the rest of the leaders of the world would be releasing a statement shortly, but they wished to assure
everyone that the visitors did not come to harm, but to help us. The bottom of the screen scrolled unbelievable news tags like: “Doctor’s
baffled as long term patients show no signs of illness.” and “Fresh water springs appearing in severe drought locations.” and even “No crimes
reported since arrival of ships.”
It was Tracy that tapped me and started pointing to the screen. When I tried to tell her to hush I was listening, she got more shrillness to her
voice and said: “Look at the date!” The television confirmed that it was still November 17th, but in the year 2017. Somehow we were witnesses
to the happenings two years into the future.
Melanie got out of the shower and toweled dry. She slipped into her robe and went to the kitchen to make coffee. Tracy and Charlie were already at
the kitchen table. They had all decided to move in together after the event. None of them wanted to not talk about what had happened, but who could
they talk to but each other? Who would believe it? Somewhere down the line, Tracy and Charlie had come together while she and Charlie had grown
apart, and that was fine. After all, they knew that no matter what they would one day be living in a heaven on Earth.
As she sipped her coffee, Melanie remembered the President’s address to the world. He looked like a kid at Christmas, grinning from ear to ear. He
told how the aliens had come from a place in the universe that we had yet to even name, but they were to be called the Uvas. They were similar to our
Peace Corp, seeking out civilizations that needed help and providing it. Upon review by them, we humans had been chosen as one of these civilizations
because we met certain criteria. Our intelligence mattered, but not much, as the aliens themselves could increase that. The main points that we
qualified under were our creativity and curiosity. That coupled with the fact that our species had never broken a universal law led them to us. The
Uvas had already seeded our atmosphere with a biotic that cured and destroyed all of our diseases. We would age and eventually die, but it would be a
long painless process without infirmity. A human would live to be several hundred years old, determined by their personal DNA, and then would simply
not wake up one day. Other projects that had already begun were the providing of clean water to the areas of Earth that did not previously have it,
the cleaning and repairing of our atmosphere, the deactivation of all weaponry, and a euphoric agent added to the atmosphere that would ensure the
increase in happiness and the decrease in violence and crime. In the near future, the Uvas would teach us so that we could one day become like them
and spread good will to others in the universe.
Suddenly, the three of them were sitting in the darkened lab again as if nothing had happened. After much discussion, they decided on a plan for that
day in the future. Since they couldn’t share the good news of the future with anyone without being labeled as crazy, they would at least make sure
to be in the first group of humans to welcome and thank the Uvas.
Today was that day. The each dressed and loaded into Tracy’s car to make the trip to the White House. The conversation ranged from what each of
them had prepared to say to what the best part of living in the new world would be. Wearing the smiles that would soon become as commonplace to
others as they had been for them, they entered the White House as part of a tour group.
After much research online, they had booked their tour at the exact time that the Uvas had been invisibly reviewing humans to make their
determination.