Death Message

Chapter Fourteen

Brad, breaking the daze, saw Maggie lying beside him.

"Maggie are you all right?" Brad asked, leaning over his wife to lovingly caress the side of her face. Maggie's eyes opened, her face, eyes, mouth, questioning; thoughts fuzzy, confused. Seconds later, she bolts upright, throwing her arms around her husband.

"What have we done, Brad? Maggie asked, despondent, tears in her eyes. "Is this possible? I mean, do you think they can," Maggie paused, "obliterate the earth, kill everyone? That's what it says, doesn't it? 'The germ of your kind will end and your place will be no more,' Jesus."

"I read the same thing you did. They've planted these things throughout the universe to monitor the development of intelligent life on other planets, other star systems, and other galaxies. God, I don't know. The whole thing seems so unreal,"

"Why would they do it?"

"Fear." Brad hesitated to gather his thoughts. "Fear that another species might become as advanced as they are. Fear that another civilization might begin space exploration and discover them. Fear, that once discovered, it would be too late to defend themselves against a hostile invasion. I guess it makes sense from their perspective."

"How can you say that? The wholesale destruction of a planet and its inhabitants doesn't make sense."

"Ignorance breeds fear. Not knowing the kind of life forms that might develop in the vastness, as they call it, created their fear, and thus this reaction."

"Why would they arbitrarily destroy a species without knowing if it presented a threat?"

"It would seem an impossible task for them to continuously scan the millions, maybe billions of galaxies on the off chance they would find the life that threatened their existence. Their strategy was simple, rather than taking a defensive posture, they went on the offensive. They set smart traps. If the species were curious and intelligent enough to find the trap and solve the puzzle, they were too curious and too smart. That's where we came in, bang, the trap closes."

"It seems like such a gigantic effort," Maggie said.

"It was easier than the alternative of keeping, what they called explorers, perpetually searching the universe. All they had to do was plant their lures and move on to the next target. In time, they could salt all the star systems, in all of the galaxies, and be sure that they would never face an alien threat."

"They must be monsters."

"Perhaps, but who knows how they might look at other life. For all we know, compared to them, we may have the IQ of a roach. The last time you killed a fly, did you feel remorse?"

"I won't answer that question, Brad," Maggie said, outwardly annoyed at his analogy.

"I'm not being flip, Maggie. Who knows what a life form five, ten, or a hundred times more advanced than humans would think of us? And, after all, as advanced a race as we consider ourselves isn't our own greatest fear the unknown?"

The two of them sat quietly reflecting on their analysis, searching for reasons, seeking answers. Depression gave way to anger, and the anger quickly turned into the realization of what they'd uncovered, what they'd unleashed.

"Brad, how do we stop this?"

"I don't have a clue. There's nothing else in this room but the panel of lights and the screen."