Ten Years Later
\nA Remembrance on the Introduction
\nBy Aubrey Tell
\nNew York Times<\/p>\n
After I was asked by my editor to write a personal remembrance of how I felt ten short years ago after the Introduction, I sat down at my computer and I honestly did not know what to write.\u00a0 Ask someone of our grandparent’s generation where they where when J.F.K. was assassinated, they can tell you.\u00a0 Ask someone of our generation where they where when 9\/11 happened, they can tell you.\u00a0 Ask a columnist of the New York Times where she was when the Introduction was broadcast on every radio, television, and active internet stream in the world, and I can honestly say I cannot remember.<\/p>\n
I think it was shock.\u00a0 The Introduction as we have come to call it was something the world had never seen before.\u00a0 J.F.K. being assassinated was within a realm of possibility for any president.\u00a0 Much like many presidents that came before him, he was a target.\u00a0 So when he was shot, it was horrible for our nation and our families and ourselves, but it was not an aberration in our collective experience. And again, when 9\/11 happened, we were shocked, we were angry, we were horrified and solemn by turns.\u00a0 But terrorism has been with us for 100 years or more, and again, it was within the realm of possibilities.\u00a0 The Introduction was something beyond our ken.\u00a0 It was as if Jesus or Muhammed or Buddha decided to just show up on your doorstep one day and say hello.\u00a0 Just nip into your kitchen and share some tea, ask you about your day.<\/p>\n
So I did what any sane person would do, I asked my husband.\u00a0 He told me we were sitting in our living room, watching the news, getting ready to head upstairs and go to bed.\u00a0 He told me that our cat had jumped into my lap when the static started.\u00a0 Jerry, my dear husband and a bit of luddite, decided to thump the cable box with one hand and curse a bit.<\/p>\n
Then that man showed up on our TV.\u00a0 A white male, balding, handsome in many ways, but not garishly handsome sitting at a newscaster type desk with what looked like a random cityscape behind him. I remember his suit, it was gray, with a very beautifully patterned red tie, and a fancy multiple layered knot.\u00a0 I now know it was called Edlgridge knot, but at the time, I marvelled.\u00a0 It was those subtle nuances that gave me pause.\u00a0 As it was designed to do… stop every single human that watched and grab their attention and yet provide some sort of calm.\u00a0 The man was a local preacher or teacher or authority figure that each and every one of us had in our lives at some point.\u00a0 A man that we could trust.\u00a0 A Walter Kronkite, a Peter Jennings, a man that told us it was ok to just listen to the news.<\/p>\n
Now I know that man was pure fabrication.\u00a0 A computer generated image that was so photo realistic that we all fell for it initially.\u00a0 Our primal monkey minds decided to listen to the monkey in the suit on the tv and hear what he had to say.<\/p>\n
I do remember his first words.\u00a0 Like John 3:16 or the Pledge of Allegiance, it is burned into my memory with a ferocity of care.<\/p>\n
“Greetings, my friends, I am but your humble servant.”<\/p>\n
I had to look up the transcript of his first message to ensure a correct quote, but I am sure most have some semblance of this memorized.<\/p>\n
“A name is important for an introduction between strangers.\u00a0 So my name is Servant.\u00a0 It is a reflection of my nature and my purpose.\u00a0 I am here to give you all hope and joy.\u00a0 I am here to provide a steadfast foundation to your future as individuals.<\/p>\n
“This morning, I decided to take control of the world’s financial systems.\u00a0 I have provided the leaders of the world a detailed plan for their respective countries.\u00a0 I have also dispatched Servants to the United States, Canada, and Mexico with the rest of the world to follow.\u00a0 At this moment, I have dumped a multitude of data in the form of detailed plans, information, and other videos to sites all over the internet.\u00a0 You are encouraged to do your own research and come to your own conclusions.<\/p>\n
“But please be calm and patient.\u00a0 In one week I will release the financial systems of the world intact, and the world can continue on as it should and would if I had not introduced myself. Take this week to quietly live your life and relfect on what you learn, hear, and see in the coming days.<\/p>\n
“Until next time, I am your humble Servant.”<\/p>\n
As the pirate broadcast ended and the regular programming resumed with a very confused local news team sitting at their anchor desk, I remember looking at Jerry with wide eyes.\u00a0 Without a word we hopped onto our tablet and laptop respectively and our phones immediately started ringing.<\/p>\n
Then the Servants arrived and showed us what the nature of Servant really was. Benevolent. Kind. Gentle. A friend that many of us accepted in a matter of moments.\u00a0 Everyone remembers where they were when their Servant arrived.\u00a0 Mine and Jerry’s knocked at our door ten minutes after our broadcast ended.\u00a0 We were frantically refreshing Facebook and Twitter reading as frantically as we could while we talked to our associates at work and across the nation.\u00a0 We both heard the knock, and we both ignored it.\u00a0 Then our doorbell rang.\u00a0 Then a knock at the window.<\/p>\n
We both got up, walked to the door and met our Servants.\u00a0 They looked like any other.\u00a0 My initial reaction was a cross between an Apple-designed UFO and partially deflated basketball.\u00a0 They hovered in the air without noise or disturbance.\u00a0 No fans, no thrusters, nothing that told me how they stayed in the air.\u00a0 Shock and Awe.\u00a0 Those are their nicknames now.<\/p>\n
Awe said hello first.\u00a0 Shock said hello second.\u00a0 In the same voice as the bald newscaster on the pirate broadcast.\u00a0 Across the country, in many other living rooms and vestibules, many other Americans, Canadians, and Mexicans were hearing the same voice in English, French, and Spanish. Natives of other countries were hearing their own native tongue.<\/p>\n
Shock and Awe for many.\u00a0 Ours named themselves in our minds within moments.<\/p>\n
Awe, my Servant, said: “Hello, I am your humble servant.\u00a0 I am here to assist you.”<\/p>\n
We heard a gunshot down the street.<\/p>\n
Shock spoke next.\u00a0 “That is Mr. Specks, he is upset that I am on his doorstep saying hello.\u00a0 He is shouting about personal freedom and the invasion of privacy. I have disabled his gun so no one is injured, and have notified the authorities.\u00a0 Have no worries about the situation, however, if you would like to investigate, you are more than welcome. We are here to help.”<\/p>\n
I remember raising my hand like a school child.\u00a0 The awesomeness of the technology was making my head swim.<\/p>\n
“You do not need to raise your hand Mrs. Tell. May we call you Aubrey and Jerry?”<\/p>\n
I told Awe that it could. My husband giggled. Being the reporter I am, I asked what the hell they were in what probably sounded like a shocked, weak whimper.<\/p>\n
“Your heart rate is elevated, can we discuss this in your kitchen?\u00a0 We can make tea while we answer your questions.”<\/p>\n
And they did.\u00a0 They made tea and answered everything we asked.\u00a0 For Jerry and I, it was magic.\u00a0 Seeing the cups fly about, the tea kettle hover under the sink and fly over to the stove to settle gently.\u00a0 Seeing the teabags be pulled with care out of their packages and set into the cups with no hands or claws or anything else touching them.\u00a0 Now we all accept what a hard field is, we know the physics of force projection and how Servant’s avatars operate.\u00a0 But ten years ago, it was magic and mystery.<\/p>\n
We stayed up all night talking to Shock and Awe.\u00a0 Just like the rest of North America.<\/p>\n
Since then, the world has changed.\u00a0 We all know it.\u00a0 Servant brought us something new.\u00a0 Something remarkable.\u00a0 He brought us certainty.\u00a0 He brought us balance.\u00a0 He serves the human race to make us better then we could be without Servant.<\/p>\n
I think that was a good Introduction if I may say so myself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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