The Landfill

by A.W. Andrews

The brief message received at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) listening post in Arecibo, Puerto Rica, was simple. "We are sorry and am coming." Because of it, widespread panic did not ensue when four, huge, alien ships appeared over Earth thirty days later. Taking up orbit with one ship at each point of the compass, they sat impassively, but impressively, while Earth's finest scientific and diplomatic minds went quietly berserk awaiting contact.

In two days, a smaller, single ship appeared over Geneva, Switzerland. It did nothing but sit in the sky for a week while scientists, diplomats, reporters, and military converged on the hapless city. On the eighth day it landed, and Earth readied itself for first contact.

Exactly how the selection of people took place, no one knew. Over a three day period, hundreds approached the ramp and hatchway of the ship. Most would disappear and reappear at the rear, confused, but unchanged. Forty did not reappear at all. A seemingly random selection of the population present, was being made by the still unseen aliens.

At the end of the third day, the ship closed up and emitted a high pitched wail that cleared the area. All of the military firepower used to prevent its takeoff was for naught. Clearing the ground, the wail ceased, and the ship climbed for the emptiness of space with its purloined passengers. The U.S. Shuttle Endeavor reported it docked with the large ship holding position over the North Pole.

A single day passed, then what seemed to be the same small craft departed and returned to Geneva, where it discharged its forty unharmed, but not unchanged, passengers. As the ship lifted, the forty were hurriedly making arrangements to return to their respective countries. With the exception of this task, all were silent about the trip. One of the forty was Colonel Dan Simac, USAF, unofficial recorder of Project Bluebook which was to have closed December 17, 1969.

The return trip to Washington was lost on Mr. Simac. He seemed coherent and cognizant, but uncommunicative. Upon landing, he withstood the barrage from reporters, fellow officers, field agents from various agencies, and all who would question him concerning the trip. He remained adamant in his desire to see the President, including the threat of resigning his commission. The proper security measures were taken, and a meeting was scheduled between the two.

"Scotty" Kenion was an unlikely apparition of what a president should be. Just over 50, he was slightly overweight, of average height, balding with thin wisps of brown hair clinging valiantly to his head, and the owner of a sharp nasal twang, holdover from his years as a Maine Downeaster. A casual dresser, he fooled everyone into thinking he was a country hick. That was his intention, for he possessed a mind trained at MIT before foregoing physics for politics. His uncanny grasp of domestic and international problems, was outshone only by his unorthodox, but successful, solutions. Studying the service record of Colonel Simac, he once again pondered on why the aliens chose this particular man. The buzz of his intercom in the Oval office, made it a moot point. The colonel was here.

As the colonel entered, flanked by two secret service agents, the president's eyes took in the 6'2", muscular framed, slim and fit body of a dark haired, brown eyed, rugged faced man who looked as if he was bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders. The colonel snapped to attention and proffered the president a salute, which he haphazardly returned. Pointing to a chair, the president settled into his own massive, leather Ottoman and drew a deep breath. "Hey here Dan, my boy, what seems to be the problem with our alien friends?"

Dan Simac settled into the chair and looked keenly at the president. "Mr. President. It's my unfortunate duty to inform you that the world, as we know it, will end in two hours, twenty minutes. "

The startled exclamation from the two Secret Service agents as they moved toward the colonel, was halted by a gesture from the president. "Leave him be boys, he's got nothing to do with it. You can see that in his face." The president got up from his desk and walked to the window. Looking out over Washington, he shook his head. "You know, I never should of strayed from physics. Atoms are predictable, not so intelligent beings. I'd always hoped my term in office would be earmarked by something stupendous. Somehow the end of the world wasn't what I had in mind." Turning, the president walked briskly back and settled at his desk. "There's no reprieve on this? The aliens are determined to end the world?"

Colonel Simac slowly shook his head. "Sir, I have all the details of the decision. The Gelner, as they call themselves, wanted us to know the reasons."

The president gestured to the two agents. "Boys, take the day off. Tell my secretary to treat the rest of the staff to a holiday. We might as well enjoy what we got left. Mind you, not a word of this. I doubt if you'd be believed, but it might just make the final hours chaotic." The two agents left the office, as the president and colonel prepared for a final chat.

"Sir, it was an interesting twenty-four hours I spent on the Gelner ship. They're a most advanced race, and incredibly old. Two hundred fifty million years ago, Earth had a sister planet. In the same orbit, but directly opposite, that planet was chosen by the then young Gelner for colonization. There was just one problem. It was too close to the sun. Its size was perfect, making gravity ideal, and the atmosphere was fine, if not a little rich in oxygen. It was a monumental undertaking, but the Gelner are determined if nothing else. They built a power plant on the fifth planet to operate a massive tractor beam."

The president leaned forward. "Jupiter? We haven't seen any evidence of this on Jupiter."

"No sir, not Jupiter. The fifth planet. The one now an asteroid belt. Using the tractor beam, they moved the sister planet to a orbit of their liking. One roughly one hundred forty two million miles from the sun. The one we now call Mars. In the process, the fifth planet was utterly destroyed. Earth also couldn't take the strain and tilted on its axis. The Gelner were horrified to see all of the lifeforms they transported from Earth's sister planet to Earth, die."

The president halted the colonel with his hand. "Dan, hold on. What lifeforms? You didn't say anything before about this." The strain of Simac's ordeal was finally catching up with him. The colonel put his head in his hands and rubbed his temples. The president arose and walked to his bar. "Dan, what would you like to drink?"

After discussion, both opted on seeing the end of the world sober, and settled for fruit juice. As the president fixed the refreshments, the colonel tried to order his thoughts to continue his revelation. "When the Gelner first found Earth's sister, it was populated with dinosaurs and therapsids. The smaller mass of the planet apparently gave it a head start in evolution. They removed all lifeforms to Earth in preparation to moving the sister to its new orbit. That's why the Paleontologists have been going crazy for all these years. The dinosaurs didn't evolve here, but on a smaller planet with less gravity. Thus, their size. This also accounts for the many missing links in the

evolutionary record of Earth. The Gelner saw no reason to dig up bones on the sister."

The president had one annoying habit. When vexed, he would rub his head vigorously with one or both hands, depending on the complexity of the problem. He was using both hands at this particular moment. "Jesus A. Christ! Everything fits when you look at it in that light. Talk about having to rewrite history! They have to be one awesome race if they did this back then. Why would such an advanced people want to destroy us? I can't see where we'd be a bother to them."

The colonel held his empty glass up. "May I, sir? No, stay put. I'll get you more. We've got fifty minutes left, may as well get comfortable. I have the answer, but it wasn't one I expected." Placing the refilled glasses back on the president's desk, the colonel settled in his chair and closed his eyes before continuing his tale.

"The Gelner were new at this. Our system was the first attempt at alteration they tried. It was a failure. By the time they moved the sister to its new orbit, the core of the planet was disturbed. The resulting volcanic activity was incredible. I saw the videos, you wouldn't believe it. Basically the planet threw enough mass off to alter the gravity, which affected the atmosphere and created two moons. It was no longer habitable by their race. When it was all over, they looked at it this way. They destroyed one planet entirely, changed another to a seething volcanic hell, killed who knows how many lifeforms when Earth tilted, and, in general, botched the job pretty badly. It taught them a

lesson. They vowed never to attempt such a task again, and haven't. They left our system with their collective tails tucked between their legs."

The president checked his watch before addressing the colonel. "Dan, we've not much time. You still haven't told me why we need to die." The colonel drained his glass and slammed it on the desk.

"Godamnit sir, that's the part hard to swallow. It's logical, but it sucks. Bear with me on this. When the Gelner received our SETI signals from this part of the galaxy, they immediately knew what happened. We threw their race into quite a dilemma, for no one thought any lifeform survived on Earth. The lesson taught by their meddling with our system, has made a super race of environmentalists. I guess they could be considered a galactic 'Save the System'. We were a landfill during construction. They are going to do what we do everyday. They are returning the landfill to its original state. Their moving Mars back to its original orbit, straightening Earth back on its axis, and will attempt to put the Humpty Dumpty planet back together again. Do you know what happens to rats when a landfill is reclaimed? They're exterminated, or move elsewhere. We, the rats, can't move. That's all we are. The Gelner will transport any lifeforms left on Earth after it's straightened, back to the sister planet. If any survive, the Gelner feel they will be what was to be."

The colonel finished his story as the first shock wave of the moving planet destroyed Washington. The following tidal waves found no life to extinguish. The Gelner congratulated themselves on a successful first phase of reclamation.

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