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The entity felt an electrical current pass through her body as she crossed an intersection in the centre of Rotterdam. Surprise overtook her for an instant before she could place the awareness. It was a sensation she hadn´t felt in centuries but had been expecting nonetheless. Another of her kind had entered this solar system.
She ducked into a dark alley between high rises and ensured no passers-by could observe her. She shouldn't have worried. With the cold November rains coming down, people were huddled in their coats, eyes downcast, hurrying for shelter.
She felt a pang of remorse as she recognised John from work in the commuters, his pink down jacket clearly standing out.
Strange creatures, she would miss them, but it was inevitable. With two deep breaths, she rearranged her bio-electrical composition and let her body dissolve into its natural state of pure energy.
Freed of her corporeal shape, she ascended beyond the high rises. The only evidence of her passing was the strange flickering of the lights.
Through the layers of grey clouds covering the city, through the many spheres protecting the small planet, and finally into space to meet the companion she had been expecting.
They met in orbit of Venus, both enjoying the unique slow and relaxing orbit the small planet provided and its proximity to the yellow dwarf star. She mulled the words yellow dwarf star as she waited for her orbit to coincide with her companion´s. She had started thinking in the language of humans almost three thousand years ago, first to be able to read their literature, but eventually also to interact with them.
She was still lost in thought, reminiscing about her time on earth, when she felt the electrical current of her fellow observer wrap itself around her. Sharing his energy, he immediately started transferring information and requesting it. Showing the path his journey had taken and the stars he had passed, the intimacy was natural for their species but felt wrong now.
“STOP! “ She shouted the words through her entire body, creating a powerful shockwave that repelled her companion, surprising them both.
She had not expected this level of revulsion at being touched by someone of her kind.
“What is wrong?” he asked her in insecure English, having only just experienced and absorbed the language through their exchange.
‘We should use the language of humans; it is the least we can do before the passing of millennia of civilisation,’ she replied, covering her feelings and closing her body to his contact.
‘You call humans civilised?’ he replied with apparent abhorrence, probing her with his nodes, not understanding her signals.
‘Civilisation comes in many forms, and you must be very young not to understand that.’ She lashed out, letting her electrical spectrum become red with fury.
Humbled by her intense reaction, he retreated some distance and let the planet's gravity direct their path again, gently floating next to her. “Apologies, elder, this is my first witnessing. I will follow your teachings.”
“Good, then explain to me in their language why we witness?”
“To make sure the mass extinction event will not lead to permanent destruction of the livability of future sentient life on the planet.”
“That is one side of it, yes. The other is to make sure the right evolutionary pathways are protected.”
“The demonic evolution theory, that is just a myth.” He replied with incredulity.
“Don’t be naive, youngling; think of where you are. Think of the planet you passed.” She changed her body composition again, turning into a red sphere. It had been so long since she had done this.
“Mars?” The young observer replied after a short time.
“Mars will never hold life again, its atmosphere made void of life forever, just for the faint chance that something of that dark entity survives. And for that same reason, humanity must end.”
“You truly believe them capable of resurrecting the Ending Energy?”
“I believe them both capable of resurrecting him, as well as creating a new one. This level of evolution is always the most dangerous, the most unstable. Capable of great things, positive and negative. Remember the deity debacle on Betelgeuse? That was the same level, mammalian bipeds”.
“Then why let them get this far? Why not initiate evolutionary change in an earlier stage?”
As the young observer asked the question, they passed from the night side of Venus into the dayside. They both welcomed the warmth of the sun, the nourishing radiation.
“Because the next evolution has to have the lessons of violence, genocide, planetary destruction and epidemics embedded in their genes. Know the consequences of those choices subconsciously to avoid them and eventually be able to reach the next level of conscience needed to travel between the stars. Disrupt this process, and the consequences are….”
“I know, the same demonic theory but on a galactic scale, which you now say is not a theory at all. Are animals even present on earth with the right potential?” he interrupted her.
“Oh yes, fascinating ones as well. We could be looking at the first harmonic sentience between two species: Whales and dolphins.” He was silent for a while as he absorbed the knowledge she sent him on the aforementioned mammals. Their elegant sonic and musical form of communication and their timeless migrations through the earth's oceans.
“Fascinating indeed, so what is our role now, elder?”
“We return to earth and witness. Make sure that humanity never reaches Mars or uses weapons of mass destruction. They must either end through a pandemic or climate change, that is critical.”
“Sounds easy enough.”
She laughed for the first time since meeting her companion and finally lowered her guard and let him touch her.
“Wait till you meet them. They are equal parts ingenious and destructive. Nothing is easy with humans.”
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Perilous Evolution
They must end