Kilroy Was Here With The Earth ETs

“We thought things had changed, but we were wrong. They never did. Now here we are again, hoping for something to change. Why are we always doing that?”

“It’s called hope, Kilroy. It is called hope–a cup we all must drink from some times. But if we are not in need we don’t have to depend on hope, do we?” She stood and went over to the coffee dispenser. I watched her walk across the room, not really wanting to stare. Katherine was a very smart woman. Many said she was a genius when it came to star drives and engineering. Aside from that, and the old baggy coveralls she often wore, she was a very attractive person. I couldn’t help but notice it. I wondered if I was just enamored with her or if she could really be so beautiful.

We had known each other for years. We were from the same small town and had joined the corps together, thinking we would explore space and make the universe just a little better for all humankind. It was only afterward that we discovered that all of the stories about ETs we had been hearing from people we had deemed nuts were true. We were thrown into a secret world of beings not only with intelligence, but some who were very much like us, spread out across the stars. We were also confronted with the fact that many of us, many humans from various civilizations, were spread out among the stars.

Human civilizations had risen and fallen repeatedly. The procession of history was cyclical, not linear. A civilization would rise, reach a peak, and then through arrogance and wars, destroy itself. Those who were intelligent enough would somehow find ways to escape to the stars while the others who didn’t even believe in the possibility would be left behind in the rubble.

ETs who were connected with various groups of people would develop relationships with the best, kindest people, and take them away, as others simply were allowed to fight, struggle, and die. That was the crazy history of the Earth and of many other planets. Why hadn’t we been told this? We had. We had been told about it for several centuries, but the so-called whistleblowers who told us were made to look ridiculous and foolish. The truth had been right before our eyes, but our eyes had been closed by those in whom we had put our faith and trust.

Katherine came back with two cups of steaming coffee and a pleasant smile. “I knew you’d want one. You didn’t have to ask,” She said, plopping mine on the table and then sitting down, coddling her own in the palms of her hands. She blew on her coffee and grinned. “What?” She asked abruptly.

“Nothing,” I responded. I picked up my cup.

“Yeah, nothing.”

“I just like that you brought me coffee…and…why am I still shy around you? I think I have a thing for you.”

“A thing. Really. And it took you how many years to realize that?”

“That’s not the answer I expected.”

“You expect me to swoon or something?”

“No Kathy. I’m sorry.” She stared at me as she drank her coffee. “I'm sorry! Don’t get me for sexual harassment.”

“Sexual harassment? I didn't think you did that.”

“Ok. I’m done. Don’t spit in my face, Okay.” I jumped up and headed for the door.

“Wait Kilroy! I thought you were joking.”

“Joking? I wouldn’t joke about such a thing.”

“No. You would.”

“Maybe, but not now.” My shoulders slumped. I felt vulnerable. I sat back down.

“I thought you wouldn’t leave,” She said. I shook my head as she sat there grinning. She was really mean. I wouldn’t even think about that again. What had crossed my mind?

***

Sam stood behind the bar. I liked Sam. He gave me extra drinks sometimes and would introduce me to some sexy ETs every so often. I was there alone again. Kathy–old meanie, wasn’t there. I didn’t know if I wanted to see her again anytime soon. I started feeling like I was in love with her or something, but I didn’t want to be in love with such a hard lady. I was hoping that she would walk in with some other guy so I could feel hurt and relieved at not having to talk with her again about anything serious. Instead here she comes with Lacey, another engineer who was almost her opposite. Lacey was tall and dark with long braids running down to the middle of her back. She was a pleasant woman with unbelievably beautiful eyes. Her pupils were very large for a human, giving her a strange cartoonish look sometimes, but that didn’t take away from her beauty.

Kathy was shorter. Blond hair, sometimes, when she wasn’t dying it different colors. She was pale with a strong jaw, bright blue eyes that seemed like ice picks sometimes, but a beautiful smile when she smiled. I guess…I don’t know what I liked about her. I guess her personality was like mine…more like the opposite of me. She and I, if we produced children, would have made a decent person…personality wise. The two headed in my direction.

I looked at Sam. He grinned. “Here she comes,” he said. “I know you have the hots for her.”

“I never said that, Sam. You take it upon yourself to know a lot of things.”

“Bullshit, Kilroy.”

“What is this I hear? You boys arguing for once?” Lacey asked with a smile that could break a weak man’s heart. I shook my head.

“Kilroy and I have a thing going,” Kathy said out of nowhere.

“Since when?” Sam asked.

“Since yesterday.” He looked at me.

“I knew it. I just told him that he had the hots for you for months and he was denying it.”

“In a state of denial are we, Kilroy? I thought you were waiting for me,” Lacey said.

“I wish you would have said something earlier,” I responded.

“Don’t joke like that anymore, Dear.” Kathy picked up my drink and took a sip.

“Already possessive are we?” Sam asked. She gave a nod.

“Let me buy you a drink. You too, Lacey,” I said. They both sat at the bar.

“So what’s the plan for tonight?” Sam asked. “I get off soon. In fact I have a 3 day. Do we paint the planet red or what?”

“It’s already red. It’s Mars,” I commented.

“Well it doesn’t look red to me and never has,” Sam responded.

“I’m down for it,” Lacey said. Kathy was silent and just looking at me.

“Maybe later,” I said. “Kathy and I might just hang out a little tonight.” She looked at Sam and grinned as he made a silent ‘o’ with his lips.

“Looks like me and you, Lacey,” he said. They gave each other a high five.

***

I sat on the veranda looking at Kathy. We were under a dome with the appearance of an open sky including artificial stars and a soft breeze. We looked out over the fake ocean. I looked at her as the wind tossed her hair.

“So what is this thing going on?” I asked. “Are you serious? I am.”

“Of course. Wouldn’t joke about that.”

“Good. If this is for real…”

“You want a kiss or something? It would feel like kissing my brother.”

“I guarantee that it won't feel the same.” We leaned close and kissed each other.

“You’re right,” she said. “He uses a lot more tongue.” I pursed my lips and she laughed.” You know I love you, dummy. I have for a long time. I just didn’t want to scare you off.”

“I’m sure you didn’t. I guess that’s why you’ve been acting so mean too.”

“Who’s acting, Kilroy?"

“Let’s go to my place,” I said.

“What do you have in mind?” I was silent. She lifted a brow.

“Ok. Let’s go.”

***

The world seemed new, but our relationship was old. It had moved to a new level, but we knew each other so well that it didn’t matter that much. We were still just hanging out. I liked that. And so we met Sam the next night in Rain Dome. Rain Dome was a large area set aside where exotic plants grew and several animals lived. It was a gigantic terrarium, with artificial rainfall piped in almost 24/7.

The rain would pour down, run through small streams and rivers, sink into the earth and then be filtered and pumped back through to provide clean water for the plants and animals. We had discovered a lot of frozen water on mars, so getting water was not an object, but we didn’t want to waste the resources on mars the way we had on Earth. We recycled as much as we could.

Since there was very little rain on Mars despite the terraforming and the attempt to reinvigorate the atmosphere, sometimes strange people like us, who liked both solitude and the rain, would hang out along the edge of the dome and relax. I liked listening to the sound of the rain and watching it. Getting soaked was another matter.

We often brought food, as was the case that night, and had picnics or barbecues as we sat just relaxing and having fun. Sam was a little crazy. Not only was he a bartender, but his hobby was making homemade beer. I must admit it was good beer. He would bring it with him to Rain Dome. He was single, like all of us. I guess I was the first to pair up with someone, Kathy, but everything still felt the same. I think he liked Lacey and she was enamored with him, but they were both single and wanted to stay that way. They were, as we called it, “not the marrying type.” I guess some people aren’t. I wondered if I were. I would wait to decide that.

The rain came down in sheets. Sometimes some of the small animals would linger around the edges trying to avoid us, yet trying to stay out of the rain. Many had been born in that terrarium. To them rain was as normal as fresh air. They would just stand there or walk around as rain poured down upon them in torrents. I wish I had such stamina.

A whiff of barbecued meat hit me. It smelled so good I could almost taste it. “What kind of meat is that? Is it real meat?” I asked.

“I only eat real meat,” Sam said.

“And where’d you get it, the graveyard?” Lacey asked. We laughed.

“Believe me,” he said. “I have my connections. It is what they used to call beef. You ever heard of beef?” Lacey walked over to the grill, hands in pockets. “

“I’ve had it before, once. Where’d you get that…the black market?”

“As If I would tell you that,” he said jokingly. “Don’t worry. This isn’t the only world. You’d be surprised what the ETs have on their healthy planets. Everyone hasn’t destroyed their planets, you know.”

“Like us,” Kathy finished. “I hate to tell you, but I didn’t destroy anything. I wasn’t around when that was happening.”

“Well, your ancestors did.”

“That doesn’t count as me.”

“Don’t matter. It’s still destroyed and here we are on the red planet,” he said. “Get’s mighty cold here despite the terraforming. I would say I miss Earth, but I’ve never been there.”

“Well we have replicas,” I said. “If you’re so interested in going to Earth, volunteer for the time loop. They are supposed to be able to send you back in the past for a few days at a time. They can shoot you through a wormhole and then puff. You are on Earth centuries ago. You can smell the flowers and all of that.”

“Not hardly,” Sam said. “They won’t be blowing my atoms apart in any wormhole. I’ll go on VR if I want to see it that much.”

“VR, that’s not seeing anything.” Kathy said. He shrugged. “That’s fake,” she continued. “You’ve gotten too used to all this fake stuff Sam. Go through the wormhole.”

“I see you telling me to. Have you been through?”

“I’ve thought about it,” she said.

“Really? Why haven’t you told me about it?” I asked.

“I don’t tell you everything. It was just a fantasy.”

“I think it would be cool,” Lacey said. “We should all do it.”

“I don’t want to be torn apart and thrown into the past. From what I’ve heard Earth sucked,” I said. “I can go to a place that sucks right here. All I need to do is go to new Philadelphia.”

“He’s scared,” Kathy said.

“I never said I was scared.”

“You don’t have to. I can tell. We won’t judge you Mr. Buck Buck.” Sam and Lacey began to laugh.

“I just don’t want to waste my time.”

“Suppose we all go with you,” Lacey asked.

“You. I’m not going anywhere,” Sam said.

“The men are cowards,” Kathy said. Lacey nodded.

“Maybe we’ll just have to go alone and show them what it means to be men,” Lacey said. Sam and I looked at each other. They had no shame.

I sat back down. There was silence for a moment. “So when are we going, Kilroy?” Kathy asked. I didn’t say a word.

***

We all stood in front of this big ring that looked like an MRI machine. This was crazy. Why had we agreed to it? I looked at Sam and he shrugged, as if he had somehow heard what I was thinking. Lacey responded the same way. Was I that transparent?

“Cheer up, boys. This will be an adventure. One of the greatest ones we’ll ever have. And the good thing is that we will return after staying as long as we want without missing a second.”

“If we return at all,” Kathy said.

“Having second thoughts, are we?” I asked.

“Second and third. I never thought you’d agree to this.”

“Kathy!” She just shrugged. Sam looked at us through narrowed lids.

“Let’s go,” he simply said. We stepped into the whirling light hoping that we would be assembled again, and that this artificial wormhole would take us where we wanted. People had done this many times. Some had never come back. Some wanted to stay, some just disappeared, but the majority returned with tales to tell. Our problem was that we were going to one of the most interesting times in human history…the 21st Century, which was the one that damaged the atmosphere so much that leaving the planet became the only viable option for the continuance of human life.

It was the most bigoted, ignorant time in human history. After several addlebrained presidents in the US followed by similar ones all over the world, there was a rise in ethno-supremacy. Everyone began to think that their group, and only their group, deserved to be free and deserved to be able to enjoy the fruits of the Earth. Nationalities, races, sexes, genders, and almost every religion became the only right ones and would maintain their rules over the others no matter what the cost. The cost? A global nuclear war.

Some people were devastated, some were happy. They thought the only way to get rid of the sickness of white supremacy and the religion of social Darwinism was to wipe everything out and start again. That’s what happened. It was a time of both revelation and despair.

The revelation came when they realized that their religions were just controlled mechanisms pushed by a small amount of zealots who wanted total control, and that their governments were as religious as the stated religions when it came to the idea that they were the only ones and their path was the only one that could lead humanity to a sort of heaven on Earth. They didn’t work.

We barely made it out of what had been a Hell instead of Heaven, only to spread all over the solar system in various colonies with artificial systems to keep us alive. Most of us had never been to Earth, but had only heard about it in history class. A prime example of what not to do.. Some people dreamed about going back to the home planet, as they called it, but it had been resettled a long time ago by ETs who could live there in the horrendous conditions we had created. Earth was gone. We needed to find another one.

In the space corps we discovered that there were many Earths. We were able to travel to them many light years away and had been for several centuries, but the knowledge was hidden. So many were living under domes, or underground on various moons while we used our mars colony as a jumping point for the whole universe. Of course all of this was top secret. And if you were a whistleblower you would find yourself floating somewhere in space without a ship–no questions asked. That was a trip I would never take.

Here I was stepping into an even more primitive world full of hatred and stupidity. My God. I wasn’t sure I wanted to see that at all, but after a quick movement through time and space I found myself stepping out of a door carved into a solid wall of stone somewhere in a place that had been called Arizona. One of the most bigoted and stupidest states in a country called the United States. It was not against the law to be stupid and bigoted in the US at the time so we could get a view of the stupidity without being attacked, if we were careful.

One of our contacts pulled up the dirt road just down the hill. These were the people in the space corps with enough clearance to know everything about the bending of time and space, and to expect to receive time travelers from the future every so often. They and their families had been thoroughly vetted.

The small white van pulled up. A very young man with dark hair, a tee shirt and jeans opened the passenger door and got out. He looked as though he was of Latin American descent. That is what it was called at that time. By the time I was born no such distinctions existed. The woman in the driving seat didn’t get out. She just told him to close the door as soon as possible. I guessed it was to keep in the cool air from the air conditioner, because it was hot. Hot as hell.

He walked toward us, paused, and waved us toward the van as he opened the side door. “Welcome friends. We were expecting you. Good to have some fellow corps people coming in.” He said as we climbed in. “You’ll find some water in the pockets on the back of the seats.” As a second thought. “I’m Berry, first LT and Sgt Massy is driving. Massy doesn’t like the heat.” He grinned. She flattened her lips and shook her head. We continued into the van and he slammed the side door and then got back into the passenger’s seat. We pulled onto the winding dirt road and headed to who knows where.

All we could hear was the sound of the air conditioning. We were silent, and I think, in awe as we looked out the window at cactuses and scrub brush, spread out across a flat plane of sand as far as we could see in the distance. The ride was bumpy.

“I can’t believe it,” Sam said, “they’re using wheels. I can’t believe it. Wheels on a vehicle this big.” He leaned back into the seat and grinned.

“It’s as hot as hell out there too,” I added.

“I kind of like it,” Lacey said.

“It all looks strange to me,” Kathy added, “But exciting. It is so different and the air is so different. I wonder what other places look like.”

“You’ll see soon,” I said. “We can go anywhere in the world.” She looked at me and grinned.

“So you’re on board now?”

“Since we’re here we might as well enjoy it.”

“That means you're on board,” Lacey said. Sam grinned, but didn’t say anything. I just shook my head.

***

I pulled out my com and said, “Maps.” No response. “Maps again.” No response. Kathy shook her head.

“No 10G here," she reminded me. “Didn’t they show you the manual?” I didn’t answer. “Didn’t you review what you needed here?”

“No. I obviously didn’t.”

“You obviously didn’t.” She reached into her shoulder bag and pulled out a small tablet phone. Try this, she said. 5G, like everyone else has.” I looked at her angrily as I snatched it from her hand, but could not help to break into a smile. “I got one for each of us in case we get separated.” She fished two more out and handed one to Lacey and one to Sam. I looked at the maps, as this was happening. We were in the middle of the desert near a town called Phoenix. Yuk! There was a red circle around it designating racist and stupid.

“This town is racist,” I said. “Are any of us whatever race they hate?”

Lacey shrugged. “Does it make a difference?”

“We could be shot,” Sam said, jumping in.

“For being a certain race?” I asked. That’s impossible.”

“Welcome to Earth,” Sam said. “That’s why we almost died out. Because of the two things on that map…racist and stupid.”

“I never thought of it that way. We better ask our two friends up front how to behave and which ones of us are targets.”

“From what I’ve heard all of us are dark enough to be targets. Well maybe not Kathy,” Sam said. “Pretend like you own us, Kathy.”

“That was a long time ago,” Lacey said. She shook her head.

“I’ve never studied the history of hate and stupidity,” Sam said.

“Well you’ll get a stomach full of it here,” Lacey responded. I read about a guy in Florida who had curly hair and got a tan. They started calling him all kinds of names and beat him until they realized he had a tan and then he was Okay. They gave him a beer. That is total stupidity to me.”

“Isn’t that what the word ‘Florida’ means?” I asked. I laughed to myself and others joined in.

“I think that Earth 2024 means stupidity,” Kathy said. We all laughed. It was a time when the leaders were both clowns and dangerous. It was a new age on Earth after a pandemic when the stupid were put into positions of power with the hope that stupidity would be the new path to the future. It didn’t work and caused World War Three. They did everything backwards. It was as if they went to stupid school and learned to carry out every activity in a way where it didn’t work and not only that, came back to hurt them.

“There’s a meditation center here on the map. Right in the middle of the desert,” I said.

“Yeah. I read where they had to learn to meditate to stop from going crazy or getting sick from the stress,” Sam said. “They were always searching for money and resources while they had plenty. But one person would have enough resources for millions just sitting stored up somewhere and people just let it happen. They wouldn’t stop it.”

“I can’t believe a world like that ever existed,” Lacey said.

“You’ll see soon,” I responded. We did see, because we hadn’t brought any money

***

Lacey's face stayed scrunched up like she had just tasted a lemon after several hours.

"Calm down a little. You'll get your watch back," I said.

"How on a world that is ending?"

"It's not exactly ending. They said they would leave it for you…somewhere. You seem pretty greedy for a person from a place where they don’t have money.”

“I didn’t see you offering your watch.”

“I would have if you didn’t first,” I said lying. “Do you want my watch? Would that fix it for you.?”

“Yes.” She stuck out her hand.

“Well I can’t do that. I want to help you recognize how attached you are to material things.”

“What a bunch of bullshit,” Kathy said. Sam just laughed. I shrugged. Lacy just sat there glaring at me and fuming until she got tired of it. We kept going to our next destination in silence. The next destination…a bus station, believe it or not. To Phoenix Arizona, the backwards city in a backward state.

***

Downtown Phoenix was hot as Hell and seemed to be getting hotter every second. Large fans were placed in various parts of the city with water lines connected to them served to sprits people as the strong breeze from the fan swept out across large areas. It was difficult to maintain this, however, because they often had water shortages. Many planes and flying drones would often be sent up to seed the clouds, as they called it, to produce more rain, but how much could one do that.

The power grid was in very good shape in 2025. just a few months before the war. Air Conditioners and fans were running everywhere and there wasn’t a crash. Old 5G internet worked very well, but there was no way it would be fast enough to support all the ALFs and AI that existed in my time period. We often used quantum computers, but the old ones they had worked for what they needed.

Everyone else ran around the place like they were at an amusement park or in a museum. I just wanted to go. It was as hot as Hell and the people were all weird and segregated into small groups based on their skin shades in various restaurants and bars. They were just sweeping up a bunch of brown skinned people at the bus station when we arrived, or forcing them to show ID that proved they were US Citizens. Fascism and racism at its best, just like we had read about. We looked on in fascination and then moved on quickly, seeing that some of us were dark.

“I could get used to this,” old pale Kathy said, as we passed a large poster advertising perfume. I just frowned, which made her laugh. “You have to admit…most of the pictures of glamourous women look like me.” Lacey shook her head. “I don't mean all of them,” Kathy corrected, “the real glamourous ones. The superior ones. The others look glamorous too, but they seem to be imitating the ones that look like me. There are even some very dark ones with blond hair. How often do you see that in real life? It’s kind of funny.”

“Tragic,” Sam said.

“They had to make a living,” I said.

“Well I’m sure there are a lot who don’t look like that but make a living quite well. I’ve read about it. It is called internalized oppression. You feel so bad about yourself and your own self image that you try to erase it and look like the oppressor.’

I shrugged. “I didn’t know,” I said.

“Because we don’t have to deal with that now,” Sam replied. “Didn’t you watch any of the history vids before we came?”

“Nobody watches them,” I replied.

“You didn’t,” Lacey said. “We all did. As I remember we invited you to watch them with us and you said you would do it on your own.”

“You have a good memory,” I said. “I just never…got to them.”

“Yeah,” said Sam. We walked past a street lamp. On the post in very small letters was written, “Kilroy was here.” They all looked at me. I shrugged.

End Part 1

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