The Great Reset

When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion – when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing – when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors – when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you – when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice – you may know that your society is doomed. -Ayn Rand

Yanni Trigger frowned as he flipped through the mainstream news feed. Floating plastics clogged waterways from India to Hispaniola. Disease ridden homeless camps marred once beautiful cities. African children starved to death by the thousands as parents wailed in despair. Fleeing Mideastern wars, refugees invaded Europe and clashed with citizens. A dozen countries teetered at the tipping point of insolvency. Irresolvable government corruption plagued what remained of democratic nations. Politicians bickered over trivialities while public riots ruled the streets. Recurrent virus pandemics disrupted societies and crashed economies. Depleted soils produced insipid crops. Smoke from fossil fuels despoiled the air. Nuclear waste leaked into the oceans. Inedible fish sported tumors and double heads. Species went extinct. Forests burned. Icebergs melted.

“What are you watching, baby?” Ebony, his mate for a dozen years, set a steaming cup of java and several biscuits next to his keyboard. Yanni’s frown curled up into a smile as he inhaled the pungent aroma.

“Dismal harbingers of our collective demise.”

Yanni closed the flow of visual information and leaned back in his chair, looking out over the once inspiring view of crystal blue water and lush green jungle. A grey bird flapped pitifully to a charred trunk and gazed down through the oil slick hoping to spot a fish. It cawed in frustration and leapt, its boney frame struggling to gain altitude.

Ebony slid into her favorite spot on his lap. “Can’t be all bad.” She laced her arms around his neck and brushed his face with her hair.

“Worse than bad.” He took in her fragrance and smiled. “All except for you.”

Yanni had gone off the grid years before when he discovered the truth about how the world really worked. The small group who owned and controlled everything were not interested in saving mankind. An expanding population meant more servile constituents and expanding markets with an insatiable thirst for products. The working class carried society on its back like an enormous tortoise. The rich got richer and the poor were relegated to an incessant struggle for survival.

Renegade free thinkers like Yanni existed at the fringes, risking their liberty by skewering the status quo with reports from distant outposts as the juggernaut of humanity chugged blindly toward oblivion. Yanni and Ebony were connected through the Network of Enlightened Earth Devotees (NEED), others who had left established societies and taken up posts at key locations around the globe. These self-appointed guardians of the truth delivered real news to the millions of interested followers through affiliated websites.

“Wanna walk up the mountain?” Ebony’s green eyes shone with hope and promise.

“Love to.” Yanni could always count on her to lift his mood.

* * *

Inside the McDonald Observatory on Mount Locke in the Davis Mountains of West Texas, two astrophysicists peered into an ultra HD monitor connected to the Hobby-Eberly Telescope.

“It’s still coming and there’s no way to stop it.”

“Hope and pray it’s friendly.”

“If it isn’t, what can we do about it?”

Isaac and Ray watched the approach of a slow-moving dot from the direction of Alpha Centari. It had first appeared eight years previous as a dash on a time-exposure from the radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Asteroids, comets and other space debris had been ruled out by the world’s experts. It was a spacecraft from another galaxy headed straight for Earth, anticipated by radio frequency bursts that had grown stronger during the past several months.

“How long before it arrives?”

“At the current speed…” Isaac did a quick calculation, “… eighty-eight thousand miles an hour. Dawn tomorrow.”

Ray checked the clock, 10:30, and did his quick calculation.

“Dawn tomorrow is 6:30, eight hours at 88,000 mph is 704,000 miles. About three times farther than the moon.”

“Roger dodger, Sparky. Just as we figured.”

“Seems like a Spielberg film.”

“This ain’t no movie, bronco.”

They had often speculated that Close Encounters, E.T., The Day the Earth Stood Still, Independence Day, Arrival, and other space alien movies were part of an extraterrestrial plan to manipulate the imagination of artists and filmmakers to instill an awareness in the population at large. If so, it was a brilliant strategy. A large portion of society believed beings from another planet had visited or would visit earth. By some estimations there were millions of planets capable of supporting life in the Milky Way galaxy alone.

It was no secret extraterrestrial notions had been around for millennia, Isaac and Ray had studied them all from the beginning of human history. Greek, Roman and Norse mythology touted superhuman gods as creators and rulers of earthly realms. Tales of Pangea, Atlantis and Lemuria were part of every seekers’ education. The occult, magic and mysticism offered explanations for phenomena beyond reason and logic. Who really knew for certain the architects of the pyramids? Sculptors of the buried heads on Easter Island? Master builders of the runways on the plains near Nazca, Peru? What type of beings were in the ship that crashed in Area 51? Why would the government keep that information from the people? And a million other unanswered questions ignited curiosity in those who sought to understand the scope of life and all its ramifications.

Isaac and Ray kept pace with each other’s careers through graduate school and achieving PhD’s in astrophysics. They worked the cyclotron in Bern but grew tired of being cooped up underground where results bordered on improbable postulation to maintain funding. The lone star state was embodied in their souls and when positions opened at the remote west Texas outpost, they jumped. Outer space was so much more exciting than inner space. And being scientists, they favored empirical events over mysticism and sought real verifiable answers. They relished being at the cutting edge.

“Will these be the friendly guys or the guys who want to wipe out mankind?” Ray mused as the blip grew closer.

“Maybe they are coming to reap their harvest,” Isaac smiled. “Human free-range chicken.”

Panspermia was a frequent topic of discussion many rational scientists embraced in lieu of accidental quantum leaps in evolution.

“Are you scared?” Isaac kidded.

“False Expectations Appearing Real? Naw!”

“Mankind will finally get to experience God.”

“Guess I better take a shower and smell good.”

“Go ahead, amigo. I got this.”

Isaac grabbed a fresh cup, then slid on the headset to monitor his colleagues’ conversations scattered around the world, cutting off the echoing strains of Ray’s “Moon River” amid running water.

* * *

What once was a rain forest so dense it resembled broccolis in a cool blue fog now lay in ruins, a pockmarked smoldering mud plain dotted with broken stalks. Yanni scowled at the gray puddles bisected by loggers’ trails. The valuable hardwoods had been scavenged and boated to China, Europe and America to become dining tables and interior automobile panels. The odor of rotting flesh hung in the air. Fish floated belly up along the shoreline. Tearful pods of river dolphin pushed their deceased inside patches of floating debris choking the flow of the once mighty Amazon. On their climb they passed skeletons of sloths and other mammals, creatures sacrificed in the name of progress.

“At least the waterfall is still here,” Ebony forced a smile and pointed to the ribbon of white water tumbling down the rocky hillside below the high plateau in the distance.

They stooped to palm a drink from their favorite rivulet snaking through a browning meadow, but after a whiff decided on the canteen.

“I hate this,” Yanni sighed, gazing across the putrid yellow of the fouled land stretching toward horizon, a majestic paradise ruined by thoughtless greed. Ebony squatted and dug out a sassafras root, but the tuber was dry and rotten. She stood and put her knife away as a tear slid down her cheek.

“Damnit!”

Yanni took measurements and switched on his camera to document the current state of forestial degradation. They climbed higher.

“We’ve tried everything,” Ebony said. “Why can’t people wake up!”

When they moved into the canopy treehouse eleven years ago, they were surrounded by a lush jungle where parrots cawed in babassu palms and spider monkeys swung on vines dangling from cocobolo trees. Now all that was gone to feed the gorilla of human avarice.

Suddenly Ebony tensed and looked over the crimson-soaked horizon to the sky above where stars were emerging in the waning light.

“Something’s coming.”

“Yeah, baby. But what?”

Yanni and Ebony hugged each other as the wind arose, their souls sensing a reunion from the ether.

* * *

Ray stumbled into the viewing area beneath the dome, blinking the sleep from his eyes. “Any progress?”

Isaac glanced at him then back to the monitor, wired on the thrill accentuated by half a dozen cups of coffee. “Look!”

The blip was large and silver moving rapidly toward the moon. Then it disappeared. They waited for a moment for it to reappear on the other side. But it didn’t.

“Pink Floyd time.”

“Yep.”

A flash of silvery light shot from behind the moon straight at them, arriving in 1.3 seconds to quickly circle the Earth like a ring on Saturn. Too close to require magnification, Ray and Isaac stepped outside on the deck. The ring spanned from the horizons like a silver rainbow over the rising sun.

“My god,” Ray sighed in awe.

“You got that right.”

* * *

Ebony felt it first and shook Yanni awake.

“What is it, babe?”

They were compelled to rise and walk outside. A silver banner ran overhead from the sea to the wasted jungle beyond, bathing everything in an ethereal sheen.

“It’s the prophecy,” Ebony breathed deep.

“I don’t know,” Yanni said, his mind racing.

“They have come.”

“Could just be the weather.”

Yanni looked at her as if seeing her for the first time. Ebony put her arm around him, and they watched the sun push its way up from the putrid ooze.

“I can feel it.”

* * *

The first communication came telepathically to every conscious human, much like a whimsical notion that was quickly dismissed. But this thought lingered and could not be dislodged. It obliterated all other thoughts no matter how important or urgent they had seemed the moment before. To those whose minds handled the communication with grace, humility and curiosity, more gifts of knowledge came rapidly. One scientist would later describe it this way: “My mind was a wild tangle of inconsistency, like a snarled garden hose, then water ran through and straightened it out.”

During the next 24 hours everyone on the planet became aware of the silver ribbon that spanned the sky overhead. It was all anyone talked about. It was the main story on the news. Distant aboriginals without modern technology sat by campfires and gazed at the heavens, waiting for what they instinctively knew was coming.

Then, at noon on the following day, the earth “stood still” just as it did in the harbinger movie. Planes landed but could not take off. Cars died in the streets. Nothing worked but life-sustaining devices in health care and electronic communication – home computers, big screen TVs, car radios, cellphones. Those not electronically connected received sensory stimuli in the form of mental and aural phenomena as if their minds had been switched to a constant frequency. Thus configured, the entire human race was focused on what would happen next.

It appeared. First as a gossamer image inside an immense raindrop. Then it became a ball of fire. Then a man grotesque as Quasimodo who morphed into a man handsome as any who walked the earth. Then a woman, beautiful and desirable as any who graced the silver screen, dissolved into an old crone hideous as any who tossed a frog into a bubbling cauldron on Halloween. Then a lion, an eagle, a python, a narwhale, a polar bear. In the span of a few minutes the image transmogrified in and out of a thousand of earth’s most recognizable creatures, stunning even the most skeptical critic into stupefying awe. Whatever this was… it was in control.

The force settled into a gently pulsating wave of silvery light with the face of an angel and spoke in the language every person watching could clearly hear and understand. The French heard French. The Russians, Russian. The Chinese, Mandarin. The Americans and British heard English articulated with appropriate accents.

“People of Earth, I have come to you as a friend from far away. I am from a brotherhood of beings advanced billions of years beyond you. We no longer need bodies. We exist as energy and can manifest in any form. We are never born and never die. We are eternal.

“The earth is one of thousands of experimental planets in the universe we have been cultivating as you would a vegetable garden or a terrarium. Two billion years ago we seeded Earth with spores of moss and lichen. As the chemical composition of your environment evolved, many subsequent trips were necessary to produce all manners of creatures, first in the sea then on emerging land. A hundred and seventy-five million years ago we caused the separation of the land mass you refer to as Pangea into the continents. Sixty-six million years ago we sent an asteroid to accelerate the process. It blocked the sun and killed vegetation – leading to the demise of your dinosaurs. When things stabilized, we continued with the experiment, eventually seeding creatures which became mammals and led to the evolution of humans.

“Just like my planet was encumbered long ago, your planet has problems – uncontrollable pollution, overpopulation, destruction of natural resources, unbridled human carelessness. Your kakistocratic forms of government honor not the sanctity of human life, but rather the immediate selfish interests of those who rule. This places your planet and its inhabiting creatures on an irreversible course of extinction. If we do not make radical adjustments, our experiment will fail. This cannot be allowed.

“We have given you every chance to fix the problems you have caused, but they have multiplied beyond your capacity to ameliorate. The few of you enlightened enough to create positive change are overwhelmed by the power structure and the ignorant masses. Your leaders are consumed by self-aggrandizing behaviors. Your businesses care only for making profits. You have soiled your nest with pollution, used up most of your natural resources and are creating uncontainable fatal viruses. Mankind will be self-eradicated if we do not take immediate action.

“Your human species is one of the most successful experiments we have ever conducted. Your advancements in science and technology have evolved faster than anticipated and we cannot allow your progress to disappear. Just as you trim back roses to remove diseased branches and increase the blooms, so too must we prune your species of all specimens with the lowest chance of survival.

“We will cleanse the Earth for you and return it to its natural state. This action will come at a price many of you will not be willing to pay. But you have no choice. Your population will be reduced to one billion people, the ideal number to sustain life at replenishable levels. Those of you best equipped to continue with the experiment will be saved.

“Our selection process is solely based on individual DNA. Over the past 12,000 years your species’ DNA has evolved unfettered. There have been many mutations, some improving survival propensities, others producing chromosomal aberrations. This selection is irrespective of wealth, occupation, education or any other of your mechanisms of social stratification. Political leaders, billionaires, movie stars and geniuses stand no better chance than laborers, orphans or the poor. Your societal world will be reorganized by those who survive.

Those souls who will be dead within the next ten years will be reclaimed now. This includes anyone who is sick, suffering, starving or would perish of natural causes or accidents. These conditions and events are known to us and makes our selection automatic. Those who remain will possess DNA free of deleterious effects on offspring who would otherwise suffer needlessly. This will be the most efficacious example of humane treatment ever perpetuated on earth when measured against plagues, genocide and your brutal wars.”

In the War Room, President Buchanan glanced around to assess the reactions of his military commanders and closest staff.

“What a crock of shit,” said the big man with four stars on his epaulets and ‘Gen. V. C. Powers’ his name tag opposite a cavalcade of battle ribbons with clusters. He looked the President straight in the eye: “Say the word and I’ll find this lunatic and blast him back to whatever black hole he crawled out of.”

The Secretary of State, a smaller well-dressed man of impeccable reputation, waved him down. “I admire your resolve, but this force is beyond your weapons, General. I suggest you sit down and listen.”

“Please, gentlemen.” Buchanan motioned for them to calm down and turned his attention to the flat panel.

“There is nothing anyone can say or do to alter what is going to happen. Every thought of every person on earth is known to us, as are all actions and deeds, anticipations, plans, musings; in short, of instant of your entire existence – present, past and future. When you speak of fate or predestiny you are subconsciously accessing a spark of universal intelligence with which you are imbued. This may seem incomprehensible, but trust nothing anyone on earth has ever done has escaped our notice.

“Please understand that no one who is prematurely reclaimed will suffer. They will depart peacefully without pain in a state of bliss. Their earthy toil will be over. Physical phenomena will become energy. Life will return to the wellspring of universal noumena. Those selected for survival will inhabit a new balanced world without pollution, disease or war. Take this time to say good-bye to your loved ones. Celebrate what you have shared of life as, for many of you, it will soon end in precisely 24 hours from now.”

The extraterrestrial spirit vanished. All machines, electricity, and everything that had been halted resumed as it was before. And the people of Earth were gobsmacked in awe and disbelief.

* * *

“Holy Pelosi, Batman!” Ray exclaimed wide-eyed.

“The source of our thoughts and dreams.”

“Lizards in a terrarium. Really?”

“Make a fresh pot, would you, froggie. And rustle up some bacon and eggs. Gotta make a call.” Isaac dialed a number from memory.

President Howard Buchwald, his roommate at Yale, answered on the second ring. “Pretty crazy, Isaac.”

“It’s going to get crazier.”

“How could this be real?”

“How could it not be.”

“Eliminate six out of seven people. It’s a bad dream.”

“Maybe it’s a good dream. Things have been going to shit for a long time.”

“It’s not that we haven’t shared these thoughts, that we were being watched.”

“It ain’t the Russians, Howie. Begin to weave and the divine will provide the thread.”

The President paused to consider the words of his old friend and secret advisor. Since they were boys, Isaac was always the smartest person he knew. His uncanny predictions were rarely wrong. Buchwald was able to look out through the window of the Oval Office across the White House lawn because of his friend’s advice which ran contrary to the party leaders.

“What am I supposed to do?”

“You are the President. Assure the people everything will be alright.”

“But it’s not.”

“Some will take solace; others will call you a liar.”

“So, what’s new.”

“I wonder if we will make the cut.”

“If we don’t, then it’s been nice knowing you.”

“Same here, buckaroo.”

President Buchwald’s voice changed. “A mob just scaled the fences. People with guns are running toward the White House. Oh God!”

“You said it.”

* * *

The extraterrestrial’s message was recorded and replayed continuously on every media outlet in every country until it became rote. Interviews with world leaders flooded the media. Houses of worship were packed to capacity. No one in power was willing to make a decision that might bring blame.

Broadcasters and internet sages began to spoof the veracity of the extraterrestrial’s message:

“Alien planetary reset, my ass.”

“Psychological mind control by the government!”

“A sick cosmic joke.”

“Better than Orson Welles ‘War of the Worlds’ hoax.”

“Hollywood horse shit.”

“George Lucas needed another hit.”

“No, it’s a 5G Disney 5-D project.”

“That was Joaquin Phoenix.

But the wide silver band encircling the globe was a constant reminder. Religious and spiritual leaders broadcast round the clock services. True believers gathered in joyous celebration.

“The rapture has arrived.”

"As-Salaam-Alaikum.”

“Biblical prophecies are true.”

“Shalom, my brothers.”

“Allah O' Abha.”

“Namaste.”

“We love you, Jesus.”

“Soon we will be in paradise.”

To which the atheists added, “Finally, intelligent life has come to Earth.”

* * *

The world’s leading scientists, theorists, leaders and other powerful thinkers converged in a special chatroom on the internet set up by Microsoft and Apple with a bank of dedicated servers large enough to accommodate all those who wanted to attend, or watch the proceedings from their home computers or cell phones. The extraterrestrial’s presentation was analyzed until the consensus was unanimous. Their conclusions were summarized in five succinct phrases translated into every language and broadcast so every person on earth could prepare for their fate:

1. The extraterrestrial and the message are authentic.

2. Everyone should prepare themselves and their families for the mass extinction.

3. People should be respectful and kind to one another, as the criteria used to evaluate individual DNA is unknown.

4. An International Day of Pre-Mourning is declared with all normal work activity suspended so people can be with their families.

5. A moment of prayer is suggested during the final minute so every human being could reach out to their higher power to ask for forgiveness, salvation, or whatever else they thought meaningful.

This news was met with a variety of responses by the general public. Some panicked and allowed themselves to fall into depression, fear or constant wailing.

Businesses closed, many with unlocked doors.

Churches, synagogues, temples and other houses of worship experienced record crowds as people sought answers and comfort.

Others ignored the news, regarding it as either science fiction or, if true, there was nothing they could do but enjoy themselves.

Pubs and taverns were filled to capacity, shelves were emptied of bottles, people ran tabs never to be paid.

Sexual desires were unleashed irrespective of marital bonds or relationship commitments.

And, the deviants emerged to loot, plunder, rape and pillage. Law enforcement was overwhelmed and gave up.

Then, precisely 24 hours from when the omnipotent force disappeared and operations of the planet returned to normal, a blinding flash overwhelmed all human senses, stunning the entire population of 7 billion people into blissful unconsciousness.

* * *

Yanni awoke from the dream he didn’t want to end. He was walking through fields of wavy grass with Ebony, their two children laughing and running ahead. The sun shone brightly in a cobalt blue sky laced with friendly white clouds. A pristine stream ran alongside glimmering like glass.

Yanni reached out and felt smooth solid haunch of Ebony next to him. His eyes still closed, he rolled next to her and nibbled on her cocoa ear. She moaned sweetly and rolled to face him, her arms around his neck pulling him close. They began to fulfill the beginning of his dream when he opened his eyes and froze.

Ebony wasn’t there in the bed Yanni had fashioned out of reeds and bamboo, nor in the modern bed of foam and shiny metal inside a room he had never seen. The décor was all white with pastel slashes adding warmth and color. Yanni got up, went to the wall of glass, slid the door open and walked to the bannister of the balcony.

“Oh my God!”

Beyond the treetops a deep blue ocean surrounded his tall building in the center of a floating island, one of many such islands dotting toward the horizons. The air was the perfect temperature, the sun’s heat cooled by a slight breeze. The balcony ran around a cylindrical structure with other balconies above and below. His apartment occupied an entire floor.

“Ebony?” He called out for her, eager to share in the promise of the new Earth. No answer. “Where are you baby?”

He returned to the bedroom and saw the two envelopes leaning against the mirror on the dresser. They had written them the night before, letters to each other, to be opened in case what was portended became a reality. His hand shook as he slid his finger under the flap and pulled out the page with her lyrical scrawl.

Dearest Yanni,

In case I don’t make it and you do, don’t mourn for me. You were the love of my life and every day we spent together was a blessing. If you are reading this letter it means you made the cut and I didn’t. I am eternally happy for you. Continue with your good work. The planet, and the human species, needs you to be you. I am in a better place and will await your arrival.

All my love always,

Ebony

Yanni sunk down onto the bed and started to cry himself to sleep.

* * *

Inside the MacDonald Observatory, Isaac woke in a cold sweat. He dreamed an alien had come down, appeared in a thousand different forms, threatened to dematerialize 6/7s of the population and reset the Earth.

“Hah! That was a doozy.” Isaac hefted his corpulent frame off the visitor’s cot… no wait. A soft but firm luxurious mattress. Where had that come from? He looked around. He was in a strange room with a glass wall. He hobbled over and opened the door.

“What the –“. He was on the top floor of a round building in the center of a floating island in the middle of the ocean. He slapped his face and squinted his eyes, but the view didn’t change. Then a calming peace washed over him, bathing him in humility.

A strange beeping drew him back into the center of the apartment. A dome spanned overhead. State of the art equipment filled the room. He went to answer the phone.

“Isaac? That you, my boy?”

“Howie?”

“Can you believe it? That damn alien was right. Everything is brand new. The world was reset all right. The land has been turned into a global park. Pollution is gone. People are living on floating islands around the equator.”

“Then it’s all true.”

“Damn right it is! Most incredible event in the history of mankind. Going to Mars was like dropping a spoon in a sandbox.”

“So, who is in charge?”

“We’re trying to figure that out. All the nuclear weapons are gone. No rockets, tanks, guns, drones, mortars. It’s like they are forcing us to live together in peace.”

“That’s a good thing.”

“I guess. Be hell to figure out all the details.” Chatter in the background causes him to pause. “Gotta go. Putin is calling and Chao Jing is on hold.”

* * *

“What’s wrong, baby?”

Yanni shook off the tears and peered upward. Ebony smiled down at him with the look of supreme compassion.

“How?” He rose up and took her in his arms. “I read your letter.”

“Cured I guess. I have never felt better.”

“How is this possible?”

“He, she, it, said they had evolved into amorphous energy which could transform anything.”

“A reorganization of matter.”

“But done so quickly.”

“Time is relative. Why should it take a long time?”

“If what we see is any indication, I’m eager to see what he did to the entire planet.”

“How do you know it is a he?”

“What?”

“You said a minute ago ‘he, she or it’. Why not a ‘she’.”

“Why not indeed!”

“She never gave us her name.”

“No, she didn’t. Pick one.”

“You choose.”

Ebony thought quickly. “Kirke.”

“Goddess of sorcery and necromancy? Too dark.”

Ebony dug deeper. “Persephone, goddess of fertility and rebirth.”

“Closer,” Yanni encouraged. “Let’s get away from mythology.”

“I’ve got it,” Ebony cried. “Kiah. Girl’s name meaning new beginnings.”

“Perfect. Let’s get dressed and see what Kiah has done to our planet.”

They went inside and explored their spacious apartment, replete with everything humans needed to maintain their bodies, from a sumptuous bath to a fully stocked kitchen. They found new clothes and shoes which fit them perfectly. A separate room was dedicated to communications equipment and Yanni was tempted to try and contact his NEED clan, but Ebony pulled him away.

“You can do that later. Look at this.”

A vehicle was docked inside a garage accessible through a hallway. They climbed in and found they had the knowledge to operate it. Yanni backed the vehicle out and it floated in magnetic aversion to the Earth’s gravity. The vehicle was silent and fast and soon they were cruising along the line of floating pods where others were beginning to explore the wonders of their revitalized world. Each pod was identical and floated off the surface of the ocean while sustaining its geopositional location around the equator.

“Amazing,” Yanni said as he pushed the throttle forward. The aircraft accelerated and sped away from the ring of pods. In a short while the north coast of South America came into view. They knew the area well as they had traversed the continent for years. But what they saw next was beyond their belief. They passed over the pristine coastline past the Colombian capital of Bogota. The jungle was dense and beautiful behind the city buildings.

As they mingled and met other residents in their pod, Ebony was struck with an unusual perception. “Have you noticed that everyone is roughly the same size?”

“Now that you mention it, yes,” Yanni replied, noting he was on eye level with the other men who all seemed to be about 5’10”at 180 pounds. Women were Ebony’s height of 5’6” weighing about 120. “I wonder why the average size was chosen.”

“Slightly above average I would say.”

“To create a level playing field. Give everyone an equal start.”

“And the clothes,” Ebony added. Everyone wore the same styles and colors with few variations. “Makes it easy to mount a wardrobe.”

“Make sense. Simplifies getting going again.”

“Basketball will be interesting. They may have to lower the net.”

“Mutations will occur like they always have.”

* * *

In the spacious cities, everything seemed to be operating as usual. Bakers got up early and baked bread, but their customers were few. Garbage was gathered from the streets, but there wasn’t much. Office workers had breakfast and went to work, but it seemed like vacation week due to the short staff. But, the people weren’t fooled. They were the chosen ones, the people with the best DNA according to an extraterrestrial algorithm. They were grateful to be alive.

Doctors and nurses arrived at hospitals mostly empty of patients.

“How odd,” said Dr. Davenport to ER charge nurse Flanagan.

“And how clean and spotless,” she added. “It’s like a little elf came in the night and put everything in order.”

“I miss our colleagues,” Dr. Davenport mused. “Somehow I know they are in a better place.”

“I feel that too. They are smiling down on us.”

“I thought I would feel more grief, sense of loss, but I don’t.”

“Me either. It is like we have had our emotions tuned to a higher vibrational level.”

“Yes. I have no regrets, no remorse. All the mistakes and bad things I have done in my life are void of their influence. It is like we are free, forgiven of our sins.”

“Looks like our prayers were answered,” nurse Flanagan nodded, drawing upon some inner vision. “But I think we may have had a misplaced notion about God’s true identity.”

The question of God’s identity predominated religious services. Believers sought answers from their priests, rabbis, imams, pujaris, shamans and other spiritual leaders.

“My conception of God has changed, father.”

“How could Muhammad alone have created this great event?”

“Krishna is all-knowing, but this?”

And so on. Empirical knowledge superseded faith. God was not a tall man with a long white beard on a throne, or a sumptuously attired woman emanating a golden halo, or any other heroic figure from whom mankind used to receive blessings. Or, to administer admonishments.

“I saw the ring around earth,” said a charter fishing boat captain.

“I saw all my machines suspend operation,” said an autoworker.

“I watched the live broadcast and studied the recordings a hundred times,” said a network TV producer.

“We just had to have faith,” said a true believer.

“What was it that H. L. Mencken said,” offered Earnest Happy, the nation’s most popular talk show host whose audience of millions was reduced by 6/7ths: “Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.”

“It was certainly improbable what happened,” said astrophysicist Isaac from the MacDonald Observatory during an interview. “Yet undeniable.”

“You’re a scientist, Isaac,” Happy continued. “How did the alien do it?”

“I would say the force you refer to as an “alien” is probably more germane to our DNA structure than our family members.”

“How so?”

“Omniscience and omnipotence.”

Happy laughed and motioned to the sparse audience in the studio, eyes glued to the huge TV on set. “For those less erudite than you, doctor, please explain.”

“The force is all-knowing and all-powerful. Heck, in a matter of hours – I don’t know for sure because like everyone else I was unconscious – the earth was swept clean and rebuilt.”

“As if a magician waved his hand over a top hat.”

“Simplistic cliché,” Isaac scoffed. “Can you comprehend the magnitude of what happened? All the physical problems of the earth solved. All the damage to the environment repaired, pollution evaporated, magnetic poles stabilized, garbage removed to who knows where.”

“What about the departed?” Happy frowned. “Our vanished family and friends. Wasn’t that cruel?”

“In the short term you might say that. But in the long term it was humane beyond anyone’s wildest imagination. Think of all the present and future suffering that was and will be alleviated. Those who were taken did not suffer. They simply met their fate a little sooner.”

Happy stood up and went out from behind his desk toward the audience with a microphone as cameras followed.

“How many of you lost friends or family during this… this… I don’t even know what to call it.” He looked at Isaac for help.

“The Great Reset,” Isaac smiled.

“Yes. The Great Reset.”

Every hand in the audience went up but that of an elderly man in the front row. Happy went to him with the mic.

“What is your name, sir?”

“Bill McClintock.”

“And may I ask your age?”

“I will be 104 next week.”

The crowd broke into applause.

“I noticed you didn’t raise your hand with the others.”

“No,” McClintock said with a smile. “All my friends and family are long gone.”

“So you must possess the special DNA.”

“Evidently I do!”

The crowd laughed as his wide smile with perfect teeth appeared on the huge monitors over the stage.

“Well, God bless you, sir.”

“Yeah, if that’s what you want to call him.”

* * *

Precisely seven days after the great awakening, every survivor on the planet was motivated to take a seat in front of their TV monitor at the same time. The force Ebony named Kiah once again appeared and spoke to everyone in their native language, perceived through the ears or directly with the brain.

“Greetings Earthlings! Now that you have had a chance to glimpse your new world, you have many questions I will answer. Your population has been reduced to roughly 1 billion people. Controls have been placed on your reproductive biology such that deaths equal births so your population experiences Zero Population Growth, or what your Kinsley Davis termed ZPG. This will prevent many of the problems you had before. Within these parameters you can lead full prosperous lives; make rapid progress to develop innovations which prove your worth to those of us further advanced in the universe.

“Though you may suffer emotional loss due to attachment of those lost to you, this will be temporary as you adjust to your new lives. We have removed most all the extremes, the short and tall, the skinny and corpulent, those with sickness and disease, those destined to a life of poverty or starvation, those with genetic defects predisposed to cancer and other deadly diseases, damaged units of every kind with a few exceptions whose maladies we genetically corrected. You may find this to be emotionally cold, but we assure you it is for your benefit. As time passes you will understand the sagacity of our methods. As none of you were responsible in any way for this choice, none of you can be blamed. It was our decision alone.

“As we have done twice before, we have given your planet a clean sweep. The oceans are no longer polluted, the water is clean, and the air is pure. You will find the seas full of fish, the forests rife with animals, the soil fertile and bursting with healthy crops.

“How did we do this? All matter is composed of atoms combined into molecules including living organisms. While organizing molecules into living plant and animal tissues is something you have just begun to discover, we can produce organisms at any stage of development instantaneously.

“We have left your buildings, factories, houses and malls alone. Over time you will repopulate the most desirable areas and the others will be reclaimed by the environment as have the ancient ruins of the past. Your machinery and technology are untouched. Your powerplants and industries are operating as before but will require immediate attention from those skilled to step in and maintain these services.

“You will find your governments have been upset and many of your leaders have passed – along with their outdated self-serving philosophies of how best to govern their fellow men. It will be interesting to see how you handle the challenges of reorganizing your political and social structures.

“Ownership of private and public assets will pose an immediate problem, but we will help you. We will initially equip those who show promise with the requisite knowledge, ability and strength to make things work out for the good of all. How long that condition persists is an area in which we will not intercede. You have free will in all things, but those who know how to listen will receive guidance.

“All weapons have been destroyed. You will find no bombs, missiles, warships, fighter planes, rifles or handguns. You have the freedom to recreate these things, but you have been given a chance to run the world without senseless killing. The example of our omnipotence should be a constant reminder.

“Conscious awareness is life. Life is the result of flesh animated by universal consciousness. Each of you is embodied with a noumenological speck of this awareness which returns to the wellspring when your body is abandoned during the death process, much like a drop of rain falls into the ocean. You may assume this has created an egalitarian world absent of individualistic distinction, but you would be wrong. All your memories, thoughts, ideas, worries, fears, desires, and other feelings accompany your consciousness as it blends back into the universal. Your deeds are forever etched in the cosmic record.

“We know ethnicity are important to you. One day all races will blend into one Earthling ethnicity, but it must happen naturally. Representatives from every culture have been preserved. We encourage you to maintain an open mind and break down the barriers of bias and cultural prejudice. Some of you have already done this and are at the forefront of your planetary evolution.

“While you sometimes catch a glimpse of our spacecraft when certain atmospheric conditions are aligned, we are mostly invisible to your physical senses and electronic detection. Rest assured we are always here monitoring your technological and philosophical evolution. Those times when you escape a near death, or things magically fall into place, know that you are being awarded for your efforts in doing the right thing, the thing that best promotes your individual survival and thus the optimal continuation of your species. When your mythology or religions develop terms like “guardian angels” they encapsulate some of the functions we provide as more advanced beings. We are not here to harm you, only foster attributes which mold you toward one day, millions of years from now, becoming beings such as us.”

With that, the transmission ended and all the people on planet Earth experienced a collective shudder and vibrated at a frequency best described by the word “love.”