We shall be as Gods. Those words stood as a song that echoed through the soul of every human to stand upon the Earth. The Last World War, a true test of morality, brought forth the instinctive evils within mankind. And with bloodshed and technology, the world was re-shaped: continents were wiped off the face of the planet, the atmosphere shifted and churned, and the climate went through radical upheavals. By the year twenty-four eighteen, the Earth was reduced to a single, world continent. And so the fighting finally ceased. While the human population had diminished, it was at the peak of a golden age. A united front, ran by a single government. But those at the top of society continued to wait for something; they knew something. That for them to be god-like, they had to meet with the divine themselves.
"Good morning, Jared. Local time is six a.m. on the date of November second, twenty-six forty-two. It's time to wake up. Time to wake up. Time to wake up." The robotic voice, sounding female in gender, continued its repetitive announcement, until another voice sliced through it abruptly.
"I'm up, I'm up! Shut up, already!" The man called Jared roused himself out of his bed, blankets curled around him as he shoved them off of him haphazardly. Aside from his bed, which looked to be in shambles, the rest of his room was immaculately clean.
"There's no need to be crass, Jared. Breakfast has already been prepared and is waiting downstairs." The voice had no direct source, and rather, simply echoed through the walls of the house like a ghost. And so Jared gave a lengthy stretch, made his way downstairs to the kitchen, and began to eat. It was the same meal he had every Monday morning, prepared just the way he liked it. Shipments from the livestock facilities brought fresh animal products to the capital, so that before work, a man like Jared could have scrambled eggs with finely sliced cheese, atop a crispy piece of toast with a tall glass of milk. The house took care of all of his meals, so that he could focus on more important things, like his work. So that when he was done eating, he could throw his dishes in the dish-washing machine, and they would be taken care of. He could put on his long, white coat, step out to his car, and the vehicle would automatically take him where he needed to go. The man didn't have to lift a finger, and that's how he liked it. Some might call it lazy, but to many, it was merely efficient, and safer. Such was the view on most things: better to have technology do it for you than to do it yourself: less error, that way.
Jared arrived to work early that morning, to that tall skyscraper of an office building with the words, "WCI," plastered on its side. The World Capital Institute was once a teaching facility for those with the highest of academic achievement, but was now a place governed directly by the High Council. The laboratories were used for top-secret research, and only those with a special access implant within their left hand, a small, computerized chip, could enter the facility at all. Jared had this kind of access, for this was the place he spent most of his time. He thought that this Monday would be like any other, and entered looking like his usual optimistic self: a white-coat clad scientist with neatly-trimmed, dark brown hair. He didn't look a day over thirty-five, but there was no wedding ring present on his hand. Love, as he had experienced it, was success in his research.
The lab was in order, and he was ready to continue his project- but there was somebody waiting for him within. A council member, adorned in black robes that covered his entire body. His head was exposed, as his hood had been lowered. They dressed more like religious figured than government officials. "Jared Hayes." As he spoke, the man in white seemed a bit startled. What did those who watched over the world want with him?
"Hello there! ...Sir. I'm not in trouble, am I? I've been on track, as far as my reports." He couldn't help but feel nervous. The only time that council members came down from the top floor to mingle with the common-folk was when something was amiss, and he couldn't even remember when the last time that was.
"There is a meeting that requires your attention. Please, come with me." The robed man offered a calm smile and gestured for the scientist to follow him with a wave of his hand. Intrigued, Jared followed along as instructed, and so the two of them walked.
"What's this all about?" As a man who believed in facts and data, he hated being kept left in the dark. The hallways were so very pristine, never even a spec of dust upon the walls. The rooms were sealed as many worked on their research in silence. Although Jared never got an actual response, before long, they were in the elevator and traveling towards the top of the building, floor-by-floor. The front of the shaft was made entirely of see-through glass, and the skyline was visible and expansive in the bright of daylight: a sea of buildings and landmarks, bustling with life and productivity, set to outline, 'The Great Crater,' where a meteor once fell and marked Earth. When they finally reached their destination they made it down another hallway, until entering a large room that appeared to be circular: the council chamber. Robed men lined the outer circle, seeming to have the exact same amount of space between them. If it was one thing the High Council prided themselves on, just as ancestors past had in their stone-making, it was geometry.
"Jared Hayes, please stand in the center of the circle." Was he getting fired? That was the very first thing that popped into his mind. Had he not produced enough results? Was the council angry with him? He was a star student at the institute and they had later appointed him one of their chief researchers; could he have let them down? Panic began to set in as the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Slowly, step-by-step, he made his way into the center. "The Spectrum Project is a success." Pangs of confusion began to set in.
"Wait- what do you mean? I haven't finished the project; there are still a lot of tests that need to be completed...- don't get me wrong, I mean, we've made considerable improvement upon earlier models, but there are far too many variables to take into consideration."
"We have taken your research and refined it. We completed it ourselves."
"You hijacked my project?" Jared wasn't sure what he should feel. He felt a mixture of anger, confusion, and envy. More-so, despite the shock in his tone, he was impressed and intrigued. "You mean to tell me that you have created a perfect clone? No defects whatsoever, and a properly-functioning consciousness? No issues with the genetic-stream?"
"That is correct." The council member standing directly in front of Jared at the Northern end of the circle took a few steps forward and lowered his hood. He was bald, and looked to be somewhat aged, likely in his fifties or sixties. "While cloning was put into practice long ago, we were never able to complete the full spectrum. There was always an issue in the code. Something not right. We were creating faulty humans, and many of them had to be discarded. There were riots, and we were called unjust, and inhumane. And so we discontinued the project in the public eye, and moved it to the institute. But finally, with your help, we have completed it: the perfect human clone with its own individuality." Jared could hardly believe what he was hearing. Had they really done it? "This shall bring forth the age of a new era: one that humanity has been destined for since its creation. We have much to share with you, newest member of the High Council."
Blinking, the scientist stammered as he tried to speak. "W-Wait, what? You want me on the High Council? I'm honored, really! I'm absolutely thrilled that you've been able to put my work into practice! But-..., I have so many questions, and-"
"All will be revealed. Come with us." Once again, he found himself cringing at the lack of information. He had always heard that the council was full of secrets, but he had never imagined being swept away in it. The one who had stepped forward, the elder, stepped backwards and once again in alignment with the circle. They turned to the left and, in perfect synchronicity, exited the room. Finding himself at the end of the line, the scientist followed behind them, step-by-step, down the hallway.
The top floor was unlike all of the others. You could visibly see what the council members were working on. The women were in white robes, and the men, in black. There was technology present as far as the eye could see, and Jared hardly recognized any of it. It was foreign, alien to him. It was every conspiracy theorists dream, to take a peak into the reality of those who governed the world; but he was a man of facts, and he wanted answers. As they made a turn and began to walk down another corridor, the scientist stopped dead in his tracks.
"What is that!?" Jared had seen robots before, but never like this. It looked to be an android with plated, metal parts, but its face was strikingly alarming: a metal, humanoid skull with eyeballs that looked to have been ripped from an actual human's head.
"We call them, 'Enforcers.' The new face of the police." The council member that had been walking just ahead of him turned to regard his query. "We hope to have our newest models implemented within the coming months."
"The crime rate is at an all time low. Why is there a need for such a thing? And why does it need to look so..., scary? Do we intend to terrify the masses into submission?"
"You will understand soon enough." He turned back around and kept walking, and so the baffled scientist continued to follow.
"Are we going to see it, soon? The clone?"
"Do you know why we built our civilization around The Great Crater, Jared Hayes?" The man paused as he was asked this, trying to find the best way to word his answer.
"The Church believed that the meteor came from heaven during the war as a warning, to urge mankind to cease fire. So they built the capital around it to be closer to God and heed his warning..., so they say. They named the capital, A'raphel, which meant, 'heaven,' in ancient cultures. Unless I am mistaken."
"Are you a religious man?"
"I am a man of science. I choose to believe that we create our own destinies, and are not in compliance to the will of some deity." They entered a room, then. It was full of complicated looking computer consoles with holographic screens, displaying images in the air. One of which looked like a series of numbers infinitely scrolling by on a marquee.
"Sit down, Jared Hayes." And so he sat on one of the chairs, staring at a screen with a perplexed expression.
"If you want, you can just call me Jared-..." They surrounded him, again in a circle, as the elder who had briefed him before spoke to him once again.
"Sometimes, it is best not to inform the general public of certain discoveries. Humanity has hid its most treasured findings away until best to reveal them- don't you agree?"
"Yes, of course I agree. We should not have access to technology and information we are not ready for. Although, one would argue that we are now at the point where the war is behind us and that we are in a period of technological advancement beyond our wildest dreams-...or something to that extent." He shifted in the chair slightly, seeming uncomfortable, and nervous yet again. "Really, we shouldn't need to hide all too much, at this point..."
"The truth of humankind that we have known for some time, the real reason behind our creation, is a matter of science, and is not the result of some omnipotent, single, corporeal entity." They had Jared's full attention. "The ancients believed in many different gods. But in fact, they were all the same gods, viewed from different perspectives and described in different ways to the best of their understanding. The gods are not, 'divine.' They are living, breathing humanoids who once came to this planet and helped develope our evolution."
"Wait just a moment." He couldn't help but protest. "What you're suggesting-..., is that intelligent, extra-terrestrial lifeforms came to our planet and essentially, 'created,' us, making us believe that they were gods?"
"To our incompetent minds in the ancient past, it was the only way we were able to understand such technology and the abilities that they possessed."
"We've never been able to prove the existence of extra-terrestrials. I mean, sure, there have been conspiracy theories about the government hiding, 'alien technology,' and things like that, but that can't be true." They stared at Jared, and he stared right back at them. "Can it?" He paused, and silence fell for over the room for another moment. "Oh my God, you're serious. For this long? All the stories?"
"They do not speak to us in words. They speak to us in numbers, in geometry..., and in the genetic code. This is how it has always been." They stepped over to the computer and made the scrolling numbers on the holographic screen display a D.N.A strand. "Deep within us, they embedded the key: locked away in our own genome. The key to access their own genetic make-up, hidden within ourselves, that we can use to advance our species. But they have been waiting to return, to show us the key- only if we can prove ourselves to be ready. Prove ourselves to be, 'as gods.' Be as they are. They wanted us to learn how to, 'create,' life, as they have. We needed it to be perfect."
Another robed man spoke, setting a hand on the back of Jared's chair. "Long ago, when this was an abandoned slab of land and rock, our predecessors came to meet with our gods. We knew that there was a gateway here, designed in the ancient past with their guidance: one of the few left, that had not been effected by the war. But we were not ready, and the clones were defective. They were not impressed, and so they left us. But the arrival of their ship took a heavy toll on the land."
"The crater!" Jared gasped. "The crater was created by a spaceship? I don't believe this." His disbelief was written all over this face. There was a part of him that knew that there must be some truth to this; after all, why would they lie to him? But still, he needed the facts. He needed something concrete to be able to look past his pre-conceived beliefs. "How do you know this? What proof do you have?"
"It was obvious to everyone. So obvious, that nobody truly looked, and it was dismissed. But it wasn't dismissed by all of us. Our predecessors devoted their entire lives to uncovering the answers, and we have carried it on as the fundamental truth behind human society. And so, we have prepared. We shall usher in a new age."
"If I'm understanding you correctly, you're going to use the clone from the Spectrum Project as bait to lure extra-terrestrials, the ones who created us, to Earth so you can learn how to advance human genetics? Seriously? You do realize that the entire thing sounds completely ludicrous. I mean, if this is all true...- if what you're saying is..." He could feel himself sweating beneath his lab coat. Was this whole thing some kind of ruse? What were they using his research for? But, what if they were correct? What if this was a profound truth being revealed to him? What sort of lifeforms were they? They claimed that they were humanoid. Did they look like the old pictures: gray, with big black eyes and enlarged heads? No, that was the work of cartoonists.
"We wouldn't be telling you this if we thought you could not handle it, Jared Hayes. But this is your research. We chose you. You are one of us now, and you shall bare witness to the most historical event in human history since the dawn of our own creation: the day that man discovers God."
"What of the church? Of their beliefs?"
"Their beliefs are not entirely inaccurate, but they will now know the true face of the divine. We will send out the clone's genetic code like a beacon into the stars and bring him to the crater as representation of our likeness to them. He, as of right now, is the most important human being on this planet."
"I want to see him. It-..., is a boy?" Jared tilted his head and looked to the bald headed elder. "I want to see the clone. I want to see what he looks like, and hear how he speaks. What did you name him?"
"We gave him a list of names and let him pick one for himself. We wanted to see how he would react when posed with such a question. In truth, he was energetic and pleased to find he had the choice."
"And? What did he choose?" Despite the massive revelations that had just been made to him, Jared couldn't help but swell with pride at knowing his research led to the very first, 'perfect clone.'
"Ryan. He chose, 'Ryan.' He had a particular fondness of the name. Said that it sounded, 'proper.' You will get to meet him very soon. We have arranged transport to bring you down into the crater.
"Wait, what sort of precautions do we have set up for this? To keep riots from happening? I mean, you can't just have a, "spaceship," appear above the city and expect everyone to behave normally. Don't tell me- you're not going to use those freaky robots, are you?"
"Those are prototypes; they are not ready. We shall be in direct communication with the populace at all times, and will tell them what they need to hear. That is not your concern; you will be with us and Ryan when our makers descend to meet us." For the first time in what felt like ages, Jared was completely speechless. In the span of a few hours, Jared Hayes went from a bright scientist working for the WCI, to becoming a member of the High Council, discovering the ,'truth,' behind the creation of humanity and finding out that in less than twenty-four hours, he was going to stand beside a clone that he helped create and meet with aliens from another planet. Suddenly, thick, black cloth was shoved towards him, which he gathered up in a fluster.
"Put this on."
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