The End of the World -- Conar

it was march 17 2026, it took place on the third of the five stations orbiting earth, and it starts with 42-year kenneth marlhaus. kenneth was about five feet seven inches tall, slightly pudgy around the waistline and had brown eyes and brown hair that would never stay the way he wanted it to. kenneths job was essentially to monitor the solar system for anything unusual, and on march 17 2026 ha was having a fairly ordinary day, in fact a very ordinary day. for the twelve years that kenneth had worked on the station nothing really changed. until now that is. kenneth was sitting in his chair in the middle of the control room finishing off a coned beef sandwich. suddenly one of the ships officers beckoned him over "hey boss! over here!" kenneth looked up at the officer then stuffed stuffed the rest of his sandwich in his mouth and walked over. "wafsha pobblm?" he mumbled through his sandwich "what's that boss?" asked the puzzled officer "i said" said kenneth "what's the problem?" "well not exactly a problem but something out of the ordinary" said the officer. this particular officer was manning a computer that was connected to the infrared scanner on the outside of the station and looking at the screen kenneth could see what the officer was talking about. passing close to the planet jupiter was a small asteroid-sized sized object but what was most curious was not the size of the object but the speed that it was going at. the object was going nearly at the speed of light! "you see what i mean now sir?" said the officer. "y-yes" said kenneth more than a little shocked. "wait" said the officer "it seems to be slowing down". and as kenneth looked he saw that the officer was right. as the object came closer it gradually slowed down and pulled to a full stop not thirty meters from the station! kenneth very slowly went to the window and looked out at the object. it was a oblong silvery object floating in space with no apparent means of staying there. then inside the station there was bright flash of blue light and a person appeared. although maybe person was the wrong word because the figure in the room was most definitely not human. it was about five feet tall and had no facial features but had four arms and no legs instead it seemed to end in a point hovered about three inches off the ground, and it appeared to made of liquid silver. all not very human-ish qualities. it nodded to nobody in particular and began to speak: "i have been sent to tell you some rather unfortunate news" the creature not have a tinny or robotic voice it was high and very smooth and it made you think of wind chimes "we have come to destroy the earth". kenneth sat in stunned silence for a moment "b-but why?" he said still stunned "because" said the creature "you have almost destroyed your world if we allow it to continue you will contaminate the rest of your solar system and eventually the universe." kenneth still looked stunned "let me put it this way" said the creature "what do you when a tree in a grove becomes sick or contaminated?" kenneth shook his head "you cut it down!" the alien nodded again "we thought you should know". there was another flash of blue light and the alien vanished "goodbye" came the aliens voice. the intercom had been on. the whole station had heard. kenneth did not say anything. there was not much to say. "at least" thought kenneth "the universe will be a better place when we are gone".

By Conar, Posted by Teresa