Misguided

“I believe in planet Earth.”

This statement became a famous statement. In the centuries following this statement, the alien being who made this statement was met with strong revile. His name was Riccard G’Yoson, he was a member of the Vescen species.

A species of great wealth and prosperity. A species that was literally known for the way they built bridges between other species.

I guess you could call it ironic that the sun they were orbiting was slowly killing them and the other planets in its vicinity. Riccard was an ambassador that was literally standing up to The Council; a group of Vescen who gave the final say when it came to planetary relations. An Ambassador to be more specific.

“Why should we listen to you? It only took the most intelligent species on Earth three million years to learn how to split an atom,” the council member known as Mikkel asked. “They literally started murdering each other the moment they figured out how to pick up a rock.”

“I am well-aware of humankind’s capacity for violence, but they do not deserve what is happening to them right now,” Riccard argued.

“What is happening to them right now is only a natural extension of the violence they inflicted among each other before they developed rules for themselves,” Mikkel interjected.

“Then why?” Riccard asked. “We have been watching the development of planet Earth ever since they were hit by an asteroid all those millions of years ago and we never fought to show them a better path.

You claim they have gone back to their primal ways, but those things walking among their planet right now are not human beings.

Who are we if we decide not to help these human beings? You compare human beings to the savage creatures of our own civilization, yet we have reached out to help even those creatures.”

“What is happening on planet Earth?” A council member named Yostef asked.

Riccard pulled a small, floating metallic sphere from his pocket. A bright projection illuminated the room and with a populated city consumed by broad daylight. It zoomed onto a street that seemingly showed groups of people clumped together.

“Approximately three Earth years ago, there was a leak in a research lab in San Francisco. It was a disease that has had multiple strains. In the first week, there was a strain that was waterborne. That one quickly died out.

“The week after, it became airborne as well as spread among certain animals. The effects lay dormant for three months, and then the disease mutated so that the effects were immediate. The victims of the disease are legally dead for two minutes before the disease takes control of the motor functions of their brain.

“The victim then proceeds with one objective: to spread the disease to other human beings and certain animals that are not infected. Human beings commonly referred to these types of beings as zombies in their popular culture.”

“Again,” Mikkel said. “They did this to themselves. We should just let nature run its course.”

“You’re wrong,” Riccard argued. “This disease has killed 90 percent of their population, it has ripped apart families and created factions. There is no denying they did this to themselves, but that doesn’t give us the right to let them die, we have saved other species from the brink of extinction, I think we can save them and they can save us.”

“What do you mean they can save us?” A member named Vrutus asked.

“Their solar system has four places that would be perfect for colonization. Not only would we be able to save our own kind, but the other species within their system.”

“And how do you know this won’t be problematic for us?” Vrutus asked.

“Because, our Sun only has thirty years left before it goes Supernova, their Sun has at least one million years before that happens to them.”

“And what about this disease?”

“Our probes on Earth have ran tests. This disease would be contagious to every intelligent species within our solar system. But, I believe that with our weaponry, we can save the human beings who are still alive.”

“And in the long-term?”

“We set up colonies on Mars and on safe-zones on Earth, we study these ‘zombies’ and we develop a vaccination. Something that I believe we’ll have within a year of our arrival. After we stop this disease, we focus on integrating humans into our society and begin the process of colonizing more systems.”

“If we do this, which I believe we may do, I do hope you are right.”

“I know I am right.”

And that is how Riccard G’Yoson became the most reviled living being in history.