The Outsiders

Dear Future Explorers,

What you have discovered is a time capsule from the mid-21st Century, which I know will be strange to you as the concept of time has changed in my own lifetime and this custom is long out of use. But elementary students are still required to learn manual writing and they still bury things to learn the importance of digging up the past. So I, Dr. Lewis Degrassi have been asked by Mrs. Marshall’s fifth grade class to include this journal which the students themselves will never read. I predict that by your time there will no longer be a Spokesman of the Sciences because there will be no ignorance; the whole world will be like this class of fine young interested minds.

The average lifespan of a child born today is 120 years. Quadriplegics and people with congenital disabilities are able to control their bodies and homes with their own thought processes (our President is one). Blindness has been eliminated and electronic photoreceptors are capturing the first recorded images of our dreams. Astronomy has helped us to better understand the universe; we know more about galaxies we will never reach than we once knew about our own Earth.

Now here’s a question that surprised me for its oddity: “Do you think extraterrestrials have ever visited the Earth?” I don’t get asked this very much; you’ll have to forgive the naiveté of a fifth grader. A much more interesting question would be “Do I think there is life in some distant part of the universe?”. That at least would answer certain hypothetical questions that remain on the back burner in most serious discussions. There has never been a transmission detected within a hundred thousand light years that an advanced civilization would use to communicate, anything that reaches us would be from a long-dead civilization eons in the past. But I would first say to a fifth grader that we know we haven’t been visited by ETs because no human has ever seen one.

The Invasion

I’ve decided to add a second entry to this record. Over the past month several unusual events have occurred which I as a scientist am at a loss to explain. First there was a series of bizarre social movements that seemed to crop up randomly for no apparent reason, and then there was a very real health scare that took the world by surprise. If I had known I was going to be appointed to a council of scientists to address this I would not have devoted my previous entry to such minor curiosities.

These behaviors came and went like a candle flame in the time I have written this. The first was the news that tobacco plants are being grown in Eastern Europe for the first time in fifteen years. Apparently devices are being constructed to deliver nicotine (a lethal toxin) directly into the bloodstream using modern technology. My colleagues and I debated how it’s possible the manufacturers of these materials don’t know they are distributing poison for human consumption. A slightly less concerning trend coming out of Texas was a new demand for unhealthy food that does not meet GHI standards in any way, served at back-door diners and restaurants. At first I thought certain unwise habits were trying to come back because people were bored or needed some kind of risk in their lives, but I could not explain how they were able to spread in a system like ours.

I was at a symposium where a new virtual telescope was being unveiled; a device which uses holographic lenses to peer deep into the universe without any physical mechanism.

“So this makes NX8113 one of the last truly unsolved mysteries.” I was saying. “What are we to conclude from this bizarre exchange of matter and energy? Maybe it’s something unique, that’s the challenge that confronts us.”

The students applauded and I opened the forum for questions. A young woman in the center row rose from her seat and started talking without being called which I thought was odd. She had blonde hair and was what a younger man would consider very attractive, except that she was a bit zaftig. (“Shapeliness” went out of style long ago.)

“How can you say Astronomy is so advanced when an object has to pass in front of a star for you to know it exists?” she demanded. “Technology that is seventy years behind us. Are you not frustrated with this lack of progress?”

After a moment of thought I replied “What are you asking exactly? Our knowledge of the spectrum has increased tenfold due to the development of new materials.”

“So you are saying Astronomy is advanced because the gadgets are complex?” she continued. “What if this was obsolete and you could be decades ahead of where you are now?”

“Do you know a better way to retrieve information from deep space?” I asked curiously. “Light energy is the only thing fast enough to reach us from such great distances. Without the limitations placed on us we wouldn’t know as much as we do. I don’t regret having to work hard to get this far, I welcome it.”

“But you’re praising something that doesn’t exist.” she gave me a surprising rebuke. “You have no frame of reference to compare your knowledge to except your own past. You are more proud of what you don’t know and wave the ‘mystery’ on your sleeve like a magician.”

I have to admit my brow furrowed at this.

“Well I’m sorry our level of expertise doesn’t meet your expectations.” I answered. “But you can’t take a superior position and then not tell us a better way. Enlighten us please.”

“What if Christopher Columbus instead of discovering the New World by accident had just asked someone who had already been there?” she replied.

Now there was downright chuckling in the rows.

“You’re saying I might meet someone who has already been to a distant star?” I asked with a bemused smile. “That would be very convenient but do you think it’s likely to happen?”

“Again you’re using your lack of knowledge as your basis.” she responded. “How do you know this planet hasn’t been visited by outsiders when it could happen very easily without your knowing it?”

I nodded to conceal my opinion of where this was going.

“Outsiders you say. But facts have to pass a level of scrutiny or our speculation would be endless.” I argued. “I know I haven’t met anyone from another solar system because if they traveled at the speed of light it would take thousands of years for them to get here. They would have to be extremely long-lived and departed so long ago that our own civilization didn’t exist yet.”

“Why would you assume they are traveling at the speed of light?” she inquired.

“Because Einstein’s theory of relativity prevents an object from surpassing the speed of light without losing its mass.” my hairs bristled. “Look, in science a claim doesn’t count unless you can show how it was discovered, that is what matters.”

“If you were to represent Earth at a kshinikinik someday you wouldn’t be able to discuss anything that matters.” she kept going.

“I’m sorry, a what?” I interrupted her. “Is this a Native American word?”

Her face turned pink as she tried to think of an alternative and then she turned and walked out of the chamber. This discussion had taken up too much time anyway and the conference resumed. I’ve never in my life been accused of promoting ignorance.

This is only the first half of these events, for my colleagues and I were no longer thinking about trivial curiosities when it was revealed that at least 14,000 people worldwide were dead or dying from a sudden outbreak of the Measles, a childhood illness that has not been reported in decades. It is impossible to know the exact number because of the difficulty in getting information on the victims, as if none of them had ever used the global networks in their lives. Most of the cases came from emergency rooms or bodies simply being discovered rather than the victims reporting their symptoms to a doctor. Mandatory screening clinics were imposed but not a single person tested was infected nor was any one location identified as the source of the outbreak. There was talk of more extreme measures but then the cases suddenly stopped as if the virus had reached its limit.

A council of representatives of various health organizations and other sciences was assembled to discuss this mystery, a rather ceremonial solution. A conference suite was prepared for us with observers coming and going as if it were a session of Congress. Our chairman was giving us this morning’s news that this was not a new strain of the virus.

“As you all know the subjects were tested under secure conditions.” he began. “This is not a mutation, it’s ordinary measles. Virologists call it Archaic measles to distinguish it from artificial strains produced in labs.”

“But how can that be?” a woman sitting across from me interjected.

“Natural measles is not gone from the population, we just choose to ignore it.” the chairman answered. “The victims probably contracted it from the first person they encountered when they stepped outside. The DNA cultures show no resistance; they were as defenseless against it as someone from an uncontacted tribe who has never been exposed to Western civilization.”

These strange words brought everyone’s thoughts to a halt.

“And this is possible how?” the head of the CDC inquired. “They should have been living under plastic, but they obviously haven’t.”

“It could be resistance has gone down over the years without our knowing and was just waiting for the original virus to be rediscovered again.” I saw my chance to speak. “We need to know everything about the victims, what they ate and drank, where they went, a common thread.”

“They’ve made a breakthrough in Brussels.” a woman from the Global Health Initiative said. “30% of the victims there had illegal tobacco products in their system. 80% were consumers of blacklisted unhealthy foods, and there is a high rate of sexual proclivity, possibly unprotected.”

This raised eyebrows as the concept of “unprotected” sex has nearly disappeared, but the mention of sexual promiscuity suddenly made me stop and think of the blonde woman who had spoken during my lecture.

“So the contagion is one of these illegal activities.” the head of the CDC concluded. “It would not be difficult to slip a man-made pathogen into unregulated products, perhaps as a… a lesson against the foolishness of those habits?”

“Regardless of the motive we need to put these practices out of business.” I stated, looking directly into the photoreceptor hidden in the centerpiece of the table. “Viewers at home should avoid these products at all costs and report them for their own immediate safety.”

This contribution seemed to bring us to a good sticking place.

“Does anyone know why the cases have stopped?” someone inquired.

“Perhaps the most vulnerable people have already been eliminated.” I suggested. “Those with a combination of risk factors like substance abuse and poor diet plus unprotected sex.”

“None of these people have an interconnected presence or have even used a computer.” my friend Prof. Leo Schwartz spoke. “And none of them called for help or sought the aid of a doctor. That’s conspicuous in itself. I think they all know each other.”

Somehow the thought of people who don’t use computers made some distant thought spring from my mind.

“Weren’t there secret family organizations that traveled the world inconspicuously at one time?” I interjected. “I can’t think of what they were called, but they were known for bizarre customs and confidence schemes. I want to say they were descended from nomadic peoples?”

No one had a response to this so I continued with it.

“They see it as their… their cause to send individuals abroad, let’s say to every place of learning and spread the seeds of their beliefs; but they are not on any class roster and are never seen meeting in one place.”

“Sounds like a conspiracy theory.” someone replied.

“They are extraordinarily gifted but at the same time foolish and irresponsible because somehow they have been sheltered from the ways of the civilized world.” I pressed on. “They are outsiders, and this deprecated lifestyle makes them vulnerable. We need to find victims who are still alive and talk to them before they are all dead.”

I could feel the skepticism around me rising that such a group could persist in today’s world.

“And what is their agenda exactly?” the woman sitting across from me demanded.

I tried to recall everything that young woman had said to me in the lecture hall. What was she trying to tell me? Was it a metaphor for their group?

“If such a faction exists without our knowing it’s a failure of our system to track subversives and dissidents.” the woman stated coldly.

My mind was whirling trying desperately to catch up with itself. Finding someone like her was the key, then we would know.

“I think one of them spoke to me at the symposium.” I answered regretfully.

“And what did they say?” the woman demanded.

I could see this was a mistake and I had painted myself into a corner. Everyone was waiting for my response.

“She was claiming that Earth has been visited by extra-terrestrials.” I answered through my teeth.

There was a dead silence in the room for a good fifteen seconds.

“I’m not clear on what you’re trying to contribute to this discussion.” the chairman stated.

“There’s a recording of the whole conversation.” I replied. “She may have been trying to tell me something about… her people.”

There was a groan and then the woman across from me said “Dr. Degrassi I’m surprised at you. I thought you had more respect for the scientific method.”.

Her eyes had a vehemence in them as she looked at me.

“But there is clearly something about them that has eluded us.” I defended myself, but they had already turned against me.

“The scientific process is to collect evidence and then draw conclusions…”

“If there is a danger and there are warning signs the public needs to know what they are!”

“The only danger is the assault on reason that persists with this line of discussion…” I watched them snap at each other.

“I’m not allowing this to become a circus.” the chairman rose from his seat. “We have valid, realistic, grown-up avenues to pursue and I don’t want to hear about any products of the imagination, not because they are a threat but because they are not real.” he struck the table with his fist and seemed to froth as he spoke. “We don’t have to prepare for an invasion of flying spatulas or concern ourselves with anything that incites needless fear and paranoia. THEY DON’T EXIST!!”

3

In the time since my last writing I have seen my honorable profession split into two camps. What exactly was set in motion at the conference depends on who you ask. I passed a holographic billboard which read “Are you an alien?” as I drove myself back to my own campus. When I held up my arm to be scanned the doors would not open for me.

“I’m sorry Dr. Degrassi but your credentials have been revoked.” a representative from the president’s office told me. “We need to talk about your recent statements.”

When I was offered an interview that would be broadcast in every form of communication I saw it as a chance to put things right. They set it up in my own home, a woman reporter sat across from me with virtual screens taking the place of my furniture.

“At a meeting of the National Council you suggested there are thousands of undocumented people with ulterior agendas.” she asked me. “But the victims were obviously human beings; some of them were even alcoholics. Isn’t it physically impossible that they were aliens?”

“I don’t believe in extra-terrestrials, that is true.” I clarified. “A species that evolved on another planet would not be susceptible to our diseases.”

I could have added “Unless everything we know about extra-terrestrial life is wrong”, and then a thought crossed my mind. If you wanted to visit another planet you would dress and act the way they do to blend in. DNA is necessary for life but to a computer it’s just numbers on a screen. Could it be what they were seeing was not real?

“Then what are you suggesting people watch out for?” she inquired. “And on that note I’d like to bring in physicist and skeptic Dr. Bill Haaken speaking from the University of Toronto...”

“Oh no.” I thought silently. His time-lined face appeared on the holographic screen.

“Don’t listen to this man or anything he purports.” Dr. Haaken addressed the reporter and the public sternly. “There was no invasion and there are no interlopers among us.”

“You think I invented 14,000 horrible deaths?” I asked in confusion. “Isn’t that taking an enormous risk?"

“Wrong!” he seemed to revert into a single thought. “There is no risk because there is no crisis!”

“You are terrified of something and your solution is not to acknowledge the crisis?” I asked curiously.

I could see this was going nowhere, so I ignored him and addressed the public directly.

“This is a message to the visitors among us who may still be living.” I spoke quickly into the receptor itself. “If you have found a way to survive please let us help you. I know you are not like us, that you are strangers here! Find a way to contact me…”

“Shut it down!” Haaken’s voice rose as the reporter was dashed away and her crew scrambled to remove their devices from my living space. “Someone stop the broadcast!”