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“Early in 2010 a new movement was born,” I said kicking into gears. “‘The Zeitgeist Movement’ it was called. The brain child of a young man called Peter Joseph, he entertained the idea that the monetary system of Earth was obsolete and effectively crumbling the society as we knew it at that time. He was right.” I paused a second to assure myself Adyaphede was listening.
The man was standing stock-still, immutable, statue-like, frozen and expectant to hear my story. I obliged.
“Of course at first few people recognized what Mr. Joseph was suggesting. It was in plain sight, but people were oblivious. They wanted to ignore it. Not because they’re idiots, but they’ve always felt entitled. They owned their money, their hard-earned salary. But as the years went by, ideas coalesced, recognition dawned. It took more than 15 years. The middle-class, the low-class,” I croaked a choked laugh at that point. “Everyone except the stinking rich went down. The so-called middle-class vanished, the poor… Well, for the most part they vanished too. Death, famine, human exportation and deportation en masse to other countries. Mexico, Canada, European countries… It was… It was staggering to hear about that on the news.” For a moment I closed my eyes, but I went on.
“I was one of the lucky ones. My parent were part of the high caste. They were rich. Oh so rich. Maybe the concept of being rich is alien to you Adyaphede, but that’s what we were. I won’t go into that. God forbid it’s hard enough to relive by remembering. Suffice to mention that the rich people were more idiots than all the rest bundled together.” I shook my head as I remembered my dad waving the good sense my mother still had as she was mortified by what would happen when most workers would have lost their jobs, who would farm fruits and vegetables? Who would do our house-work, mow our lawn? With cattle dying by the score every day, would there be food on the table. What good was being rich if there wasn’t anything to buy? My father was convinced there would always be someone somewhere to be paid, to work for us, no matter how dirty, underpaid the work was. Oh how wrong he was. Those thoughts died fast and still closed-eyed I continued my tale, Earth’s tale.
“Twenty years after the ‘Zeitgeist Movement’ was born, Earthlings everywhere of all strata converge. No more money, no more segregation, no more pain, no more hunger. They were chanting. It would’ve been great if the transition would have been seamless, but those things are hardly perfect. Their implementations are rarely fast, even after twenty years of hard thinking, tinkering and preparation.” I opened my eyes and lazily scanned the storage area. I couldn’t look Adyaphede in the eye. But I went on.
“Once the monetary system went down, as prophesied by Mr. Joseph, more or less, gears went into motion; not that they weren’t before. They were, oh they were, but it was inconspicuous, hidden from view almost. I say almost because even if it was an open movement at the time; public and everything, few people really believed so steps were being taken behind closed doors to make sure the chaos would last as little as possible. All of them knew there would be casualties. It was inevitable. Third-world countries would be the worst off. But without preparedness, we, in North America would also be thrown into the horrid hell of the post-rich era.” I quickly glanced at Ady. He hadn’t moved a muscle.
“Within 3 years the movement had garnered so much momentum, it inflamed the whole planet,” I smiled. It was a comforting thought. “I remember reading about a census. 98.2% of the population admitted knowing about the movement. Of those, 75% were involved in it.” Still smiling, I shook my head in bewilderment. “By the time the whole planet had shifted its ideals, thirty years had passed. I was barely a toddler when it all had started, but I do remember some parts, not much granted, but I do.” I nodded to myself.
“At that point in time, I was getting back to the basics. That paradigm shift had been tough on me, tough on everyone. We didn’t have a place in that old society, and barely a place in that new one. We were in-betweeners. Used to earn wages, we were now working for free? It didn’t make any sense for some of us. I had been pampered, filled with food and knowledge, I could buy anything I wanted. I was, like my father, rich. Midas and Cresus had nothing on us. But we had lost everything. Both my parents had been murdered during the revolt. I, lucky me, had been on a vacation with friends in Hawaii at the time…” I choked up a bit there. Despite my father being an idiot, I’ll admit it today, he was still my dad. Without him… I wouldn’t be here.
After a long sigh I went on while I struggled to avoid Adyaphede’s gaze. “I discovered that I had passions in me. Things that, now that I can reflect on it, I would have done even if there would be no gain from it. Be it monetary, societal advancement or what-have-you. I wanted. No. I needed to know how things were done. How they worked, how they interacted together… So I became an engineer in that new world order. Overseen by Gurus, knowledgeable people, do-it-yourself types, I learned how the great things in life worked together to make life. And it’s at this point that all the pieces of the puzzle finally met and I was whole.”
My head bopped and nodded, but as I collected my thoughts it went down, between my knees. “It’s also shortly after that they arrived.”
Adyaphede moved then. A light went bright into his eyes. He knew what I was talking about. He knew about them. The aliens.
