Stay on Your World //or// Five Monkeys on 791 Worlds

The entire thing was quite remarkable.

A great metal sphere, struck the Earth at the dead centre of latitude, at about half 5 on the 24^th May.  Far off the south-west coast of Nigeria, in the Gulf of Guinea. We’d all been told the object had been coming for months, and a lot of fairly unimportant people were very alarmed, so of course nothing was done. A fishing vessel requisitioned by the Nigerian Navy found it floating, if you can belief metal doing such a thing, quite peacefully in the ocean. It was a sunny day I was told.

Its diameter was about 6 metres, and despite its miraculous floating act, it was reportedly hard to the touch. Now, an object falling to earth without becoming superheated dust is odd enough. For it to be perfectly spherical is beyond comprehension. For the object to strike Earth, our Earth, at the dead centre of latitude laid out by London, is an act of god. But here words fail me. For words were the nature of the sphere. As the Nigerian seaman pulled the net off the great shape they had fished from the sea, their jaws and arms dropped. They had seen this thing fall, strike the ocean with a great splash. There was so doubt as too its origin beyond the heavens. So how, how in the name of any god imaginable, did the device have English carved onto its shell? Or French? Or Russian, Mandarin, Dutch, and any language you wish to name. They were all there. Latin, Ancient Greek, the strange symbols of Hieroglyphics. Every human language the anthropologists declared had ever existed, was etched onto the spheres surface.  Now you see why words failed me. Words failed everyone else as well. The sphere was taken to a facility outside of Lagos, where it rested for a few days. Teams flew in from across the globe, and the analysis began. But the farmers who saw it on the back of the truck as it was driven from the coast made the most obvious analysis. You didn’t need to speak the English the articles published were written in, because by design the sphere would have your language on it. The absence of any written tongue was an impossibility. If you could read, you knew what it said. And here it was it said.

“Stay on your world, and good will come.”

It said this in English, but the translators told us variations were all the same. A warning, a recommendation, or a threat. Whatever it was, it was only the beginning of the shocks this strange metal circle would bring. Exactly 30 days after its arrival, the sphere broke apart. The Peruvian engineer trying to remove a sample of metal from one of the more ornate letterings staggered back in shock. His was the fourth team to try and break off part of the device for some kind of metallurgic examination, and his was the fourth team to fail. Yet the great sphere collapsed into 11 equally great segments, like a tall metal orange. Within the interior walls of each segment, were innumerable objects, of intense complexity, embedded into the walls. Things that resembled the bows of violins, but with a thin black laser as the string. A huge collection of tiny headphone-like devices that fit snugly over the forefinger. A an almost exact replica of an octopuses tentacle, but ending in a sharp blade. The descriptions could go on for hours. The Peruvian was aghast, but not aghast enough to reach down and pick one of the more medium sized objects up. It was a sphere, enclosed in a wire mesh which covered half of it. As soon as he picked it up, the tiny sphere began whizzing and twirling. Although he didn't know it, the engineer held a perpetual motion device.

The U.N. had to intervene very quickly. But this didn't stop an estimated 30 devices going missing, or judged missing from their empty holes in the original sphere’s segment. But the devices that remained were quite enough. The more interesting devices were wrapped up in legislation and flown off around the world. It was fairly explanatory what each thing did. Infinite energy. Faster than light projection. Localised biological dilation. Even, what appeared to a real time map of the nearby universe, one not hampered by the limitations of light reaching out planet.  But more of that later. Tradition would dictate that this technology was passed only to the elite, maintain their grip on power.

But the entire thing was rather a pleasant surprise to the sceptics. The useful devices were readily duplicated using technology from the sphere, and the free energy and productivity spread across the world. The poorest nations were lifted to the status of a superpower 10 years ago. AIDS orphans were projected to live 200 years old. Those born blind saw colours they never thought possible. Mankind became a godlike race, in the almost unbelievable space of 20 years. It was a new renaissance. But through this period of joy, excellence, and happiness, never once did the more intelligent stop thinking about the warning etched onto the surface of the sphere.

“Stay on your world, and good will come.”

The good had come, so now they had to stay on their world. Some more religious groups tried to outright ban spaceflight, and their lobbying was somewhat effective. It took about 3 years for the next spacecraft to leave earth, carrying a satellite was promised to revolutionise about 4 schools of science. But we never knew, because the rocket didn't leave.

At the outer edges of the atmosphere, it was struck simultaneously by 791 different microscopic lasers, from 791 sources in the void. All rocket launches were suspended, indefinitely. While we saw nothing but darkness in our telescopes, the real life map of the universe differed. 791 planets fit the exact position of the laser origins. The world was a frenzy. Had these planets sent the sphere? Was this a declaration of interstellar war? Could we talk to them? When would we talk to then? What did they say? These last 3 questions were answered in the impressive timespan of about 8 weeks, and suddenly we had friendly conversational assurance that we were not the only intelligent life in the universe. By launching what we were told were microscopic lasers through microscopic wormholes, we progressed from binary, through to maths, through to words. We spoke with 791 races from 791 worlds, and they spoke to us. In our new age of prosperity, where every man was fed and lived happily, everyone was able to buy devices to talk to the aliens. And while what we talked about varied, we were able to draw conclusions.

Firstly, they had fired the lasers which destroyed our rocket. Secondly, had we not heeded the words of our sphere? Every one of the 791 worlds had the same history, of moderate success in civilization and science, then a great sphere of scientific power falling from the sky, followed by a great age of prosperity. They all followed this pattern, and all seemed ready to cede their right to spacefaring for the simple cost of joy.

But not all agreed. A reformed Eastern USSR, fuelled by introversion, kept launching rockets. And each was shot down. After 3 cosmonauts were killed, the world stepped in. We had to stay on our world! We could not leave it, less we face the loss of our great new wondrous civilization! The others across the cosmos warned us, they fired their lasers to keep us here, for our own good! But the rockets continued, and so did the lasers. The 791 voices apologised profusely, but it was what happened! The sphere had given us its good, so now we must stay on our world!

But this did little to dissuade the Soviets. Despite the new age of chemical synthesis and matter transformation making the creation of rockets a simple affair, they nearly destroyed themselves sending the rockets up. NASA and the ESA were already dismantled. We tried to convince our 791 friends that the Russians were a rogue group, and didn't represent us all. They were incredibly understanding, but didn't stop their bombardment of their spacecraft.

Years passed. The deaths of people of anything other than natural causes fell to the thousands globally. The golden age became more golden. Things progressed.

Then the game changer. After intensive research, using what little resources we still allowed them, the Eastern USSR managed to shield their rocket from above. They managed to get further and further out of the atmosphere into space before the bombardment had any effect. Our 791 friends were incredibly worried. Imagine 791 planets, literally billions of lifeforms, all crying the same thing.

“Stop! Stay on your world! You’ll destroy yourselves! This has never happened before! Let the good continue!”

Finally, enough was had. The Soviets launched their most promising rocket yet. It was impervious to assault, invincible, a modern titanic. But ironically, it was the rocket that made it the least way into the void. For a great laser of our own struck the rockets undefended underbelly, destroying it completely. 3 hours later, the Eastern USSR was removed from the globe, with peaceful, calm and cool methods. No more lasers would need to be launched Earth, we promised our 791 friends. They were overjoyed. They loved us, and we loved them. The happiness was exponential.



So when they started sending us reports of rogue groups on their planets launching rockets, against the explicit orders of their spheres, we were horrified. We didn't want their joy to end, so when we were asked to destroy them with the laser of our own, we gladly agreed. Eventually we weren't even asked to destroy their launches, we simply detected them, and fired. It was the done thing, no comment was made of it. And when we detected a specific radiation on a specific planet that indicated intelligent life on, we were happy for them. Soon they would enter our joyous fold of existence. But first they had to stay on their world. So 6 months after their sphere landed, when they launched a satellite, we joined the 791 lasers fired by our 791 friends, and destroyed the new launch with 792 microscopic lasers launched through 792 microscopic wormholes. The new race soon developed a communication method, and were curious and furious as to why we had shot down their precious rocket. And 792 voices answered, with 792 identical statements, the same as those found on the now 793 spheres that had fallen now to 793 worlds.

“Stay on your world, and good will come.”


Written by me.