Luke

16

The sun rose and everything fell. Coinciding with the sunrise on April 13th, 2016, at 5:31 am Eastern Standard Time, Gamma Ray Burst 248, better known as “Exodus”, ended its course toward the Earth. About four years earlier, the nearest star to our solar system ended its life and doomed the life on Earth as consequence. To preface: Gamma Ray Bursts are a scientific phenomenon, occurring only a few times every million years in your typical galaxy. They are massive emissions of energy released from cataclysmic supernova explosions which are capable of completely decimating a planet with an unstoppable energy wave, essentially supercooking and superfrying any space rock they come in contact with. Any such emission of energy pointed at Earth would surely turn it from a blue marble into a fried mozzarella ball, erasing the billions of years of biological history that may have occurred on our home planet. This includes every human life, concept or relic that was ever created since the beginning of mankind. Kind of a big deal, don't you think? However, the chances of this sort of disaster happening and eradicating the human race are slim to none. Not only would one of these things have to happen in our galaxy, it would have to be pointed directly at the Earth, which is nearly impossible given how far away we are from the nearest supernova, not to mention the unlikeliness of a gamma ray burst being created by a supernova explosion in the first place. As stated, nearly impossible. As near to impossible as you get. However, on that fateful day of 2016, the Universe's mercy upon our unlikely little planet gave way, and soon humanity realized that “nearly impossible” and “impossible” were two very different things. Life as we knew it, and everything before it, had reached its end. Hence, Exodus.

Operation Exodus

Alex awoke to a firm slap to the face.
“Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty!”
Alex jerked forward, his eyes more open than ever before. To his surprise, he found that he was not in his bed nor lying down. Alex had his entire body tied to a metallic chair. He'd seen this type of thing in movies, but now it was all a little too real. Alex looked up to his captor. Before him was a middle-aged smirking man wearing a fluorescent pink tuxedo and aviator sunglasses. That image was... unlike the movies.
“Okay, I wanna wake up now,” Alex whimpered.
“Oh, we're only just getting started, Mr. Sterling! Latte?” The pink-clad charmer said, holding forth a Starbucks cup. “I know you like lots of sugar, Alex. I already put in a few packets.”
Alex frantically looked around the room. It was very dark, but Alex could tell that he was in a large and spacious room by the echoing that followed every sound. The only objects in his vision were six wooden chairs in a circle behind the pink-suited man, set up as if the space were formerly used for an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Alex attempted to reach up to the coffee cup, but found great difficulty in this task because, well, his arms were bound to a chair.
“Oh, right,” The man said, “We've got the whole 'captive' thing going on. Right.”
“What the hell is happening to me?” Alex asked.
“You're being held captive, I just said that.”
“I know that! I mean, why am I being held captive? What do you want from me?”
“Jesus Christ, I bring you a latte and you just start ripping me a new one? What ever happened to please and thank you?”
“Just tell me what you want.”
“Can I get a please?”
Alex hesitated.
“Fine. Please.” Alex muttered.
“That's the spirit!” The man cheered, pulling out a chair from behind him and taking a seat in front of Alex. “We'll make an interplanetary diplomat out of you yet!”
“What are you even talking about?” Alex asked.
The man cocked up one eyebrow. “They... didn't tell you?” He asked quietly.
“Tell me what? Who's 'they'?”
“Well, this sucks. Looks like we'll have to watch the whole movie, beginning to end.” The man said, rubbing his eyes. “Okay, first things first! I'm Special Agent Martin Clive, you can call me Marty. I already know you very well, by the way, no need to introduce yourself.” Marty set the Starbucks cup on the ground and extended his arm toward Alex, looking for a handshake. He then lowered his hand awkwardly. “Man, I keep forgetting about the whole prisoner aspect of this.” Marty said.
“Okay, Mr. Clive. Would you tell me about the 'prisoner aspect' of this?” Alex inquired.
“What's the magic word, Alex?”
“...please.”
“You catch on quick,” Marty remarked with a smile, dimples indented in his cheeks. “Anyway, I would prefer this to be more of a friendly meeting, but we're kind of in an urgent situation right now and can't have you spreading information to people. Sorry about that!”
“Who's 'we'? And what am I here for?” Alex demanded.
“That latter question I'll get to later. But we're the CIA, believe it or not. You've made it to the big leagues, pal!” Marty said.
“Uh,” Alex said, examining Marty's flamboyant attire, “You don't look like the CIA to me.”
“What, the suit?” Marty asked, “This thing's been in my closet for ages, never worn it to work, God forbid. Not until today, that is. Big day for the whole world, whether they know it or not.”
“I still have no idea what you're talking about!” Alex snapped. “Just explain what this is!”
“Yikes!” Marty said, “They didn't tell you that, either?”
“No one told me anything!” Alex cried, “I took an afternoon nap and now I'm here, and for some reason I don't think it's because a man in a pink suit from the CIA wants to talk to me about international diplomacy, or whatever the hell it was!”
“First of all, afternoon naps are for people my age, kid. You're thirty.” Marty scolded, “Second, it's not international diplomacy, it's interplanetary diplomacy. Like I said, big deal stuff!”
“Please, just tell me why I'm here.” Alex begged, “Please.”
Marty sighed. “Alright,” he said, removing his aviators to expose his blue eyes, “But I don't expect you to like it.”

Marty ascended from his chair, turned around, and disappeared into the darkness. Seconds later, Alex heard a light switch flick, and the entire room was suddenly illuminated. It soon became evident that Alex was not captured by an insane person in his sleep, dragged into a warehouse and tied to a chair. This was something much different.
The room appeared to be a banquet hall. There were chandeliers, tables with fine tablecloths, elegant dishware and glasses, and the overarching feeling of governmental elegance. Standing in the far left corner of the room, about one hundred yards away from Alex's chair, Marty stood in all of his pink-suited glory, his hand resting on an electrical panel that must have controlled the lighting. Marty threw his other hand in the air, waving to Alex.
“What do you think of the space?” Marty called over to Alex, “I know it's a bit over the top, but the decor is nice, don't you think?”
“I... are you...” Alex called back at a loss for words, “Is this for real? Are you with the CIA?”
“Yeah, that's exactly what I said. I appreciate the listening and comprehension skills, you're a real product of American public schooling.” Marty snickered, “Speaking of education, I've got an informative video for you to watch. It should explain everything. Watch and learn!”
Marty pressed a button on the electrical panel, causing a large, theater-like screen to descend from the ceiling behind him.
“Hey Alex, do you prefer lights on or off with films?” Marty asked, as if they were simply friends watching a movie in one of their living rooms.
“I-” Alex began,
“Trick question!” Marty chimed in, “You like lights on, of course. I know you, Alex!”
“Have you been spying on me or something?” Alex asked.
“In a way, yeah.” Marty confided, strolling over to Alex's seat, “Not you in particular, though. The NSA is a powerful thing!”
“So if I'm not anyone in particular,” Alex said, “Why is it that I'm tied to a chair and held captive by a man in a pink suit who claims to be with the CIA?”
“You're kind of annoying, has anyone ever told you that?” Marty scoffed, pulling up a chair next to Alex and sitting down, “Just watch the damn video, I must have seen it a dozen times with the other HIDOs.”
“When you say things like HIDO, you know that I don't know what that means, right?” Alex asked. Marty did not respond.
Marty withdrew a small remote control from his suit pocket and clicked the power button. The giant screen lit up, revealing what seemed to be a DVD menu for a movie or documentary. At the top of the screen, an option labeled “The Situation + HIDO instructions” was lit up. Other options underneath it included “A HIDO's Guide to Interplanetary Diplomacy 1, 2 and 3”, “HIDO Interplanetary Transitional Homes and Technologies” and “Blooper Reel”.
“I didn't know that the CIA made blooper reels.” Alex muttered.
“Oh, we're a fun bunch of people.” Marty said, turning to Alex and winking, “Believe me.”
Marty held up the remote and clicked on “The Situation + HIDO instructions”, initiating the video.

On the screen, there was an office building's kitchenette where a man in a dark suit was turned away from the camera, pouring a cup of coffee. The man turned ninety degrees with his coffee cup, and did a double take when noticing the camera. The man was no other than Marty Clive, although it was hard to recognize him without his pink apparel.
“Oh, hey! Didn't see you there!” Marty said with an amicable smile on his face, “I was just taking my lunch break. Just a regular American doing a regular job. For his country, that is! You see, I work for the Central Intelligence Agency, and we're here to protect people like you.” Marty pointed at the camera with enthusiasm.
The next shot started with elevator music, showing Marty standing in a crowded elevator with other office workers, all of whom seemed to be in a bad mood. “Allow me to introduce myself:” Marty said, “I'm Special Agent Martin Clive, and my regular old job is to recruit regular old people. People like you.” Marty once again pointed at the camera with a grin on his face.
The elevator then opened, and the camera followed Marty as he left the crowded elevator and began walking through a dark, empty hallway. “Recently, my job became a lot harder when I found out about a little thing called 'Operation Exodus'.” Marty said as he walked up to a double doorway at the end of the hall, “You may be wondering: 'What is Operation Exodus, and what does it have to do with me?' Well, let me show you!”
As Marty opened the doors and walked in the room, Alex was surprised to see the very banquet hall that he was trapped in at that moment. The room was set exactly as Alex had seen it earlier, with the tables and dishware organized to perfection. The camera followed Marty to the front of the room, where the projector screen was. Marty stood to the side of it as if he were giving a PowerPoint presentation. The screen lit up, showing the acronym “HIDO” in block letters.
“You may or may not have already been told that you will serve your country as a HIDO: a Human Interplanetary Diplomacy Operative.” Marty began, “You've been drafted by your country to teach extraterrestrial beings of our human culture. This may be the most vital role any group of humans will ever play, because you will be the only living humans soon enough.”
Alex looked over to Marty who was sitting next to him. The CIA agent seemed stoic, almost bored, as if the idea of the totalitarian death of most people meant nothing to him.
The screen changed to display an image of the Earth from space. Marty's voice resounded over the image: “This is our Earth, as we currently know it. Everything seems just fine, doesn't it? Well, that's where you're wrong. Approximately four years ago, a star in our galaxy reached the end of its life and began an unstoppable chain of events. It released a little thing called a Gamma Ray Burst, which is, from what I understand, a concentrated ray of light that will destroy anything it touches. Our scientists calculated that, based on the trajectory of the Burst, our planet lies directly in its cross hairs, and the Burst will come in contact with us on April 13th. This means that all life on Earth will be exterminated, including the human race. No more Christmas, no more commutes to and from work, no more... anything. In less than two days, the tens of thousands of years of human history that we've been cultivating will be gone forever, quite literally in a flash of light. The most bizarre thing is that no one on Earth will know it's coming, and no one will even know that it happened. It'll all just vanish, just like that. Well, not all of it. That's where you come in!”
The screen switched to a panning image of what appeared to be an air base in a desert. Again, Marty's voice spoke over the image: “This is Area 51, America's top priority base of military engineering, experimentation and most importantly, extraterrestrial contact. Yes, the conspiracy theorists were right. This is where you will be transported after viewing this video to board the Gaia-51 – humanity's final project. The Gaia is a self-sustaining aerospace vessel upon which you will live for approximately 545 days. It will be sent off before the Gamma Ray Burst, also known as 'Exodus', reaches our planet. There you will live among your fellow HIDOs in space, until the cruiser from Kepler-452B arrives to pick you up. You may have heard of Kepler-452B, the planet very similar to Earth that NASA discovered about a year ago. What they didn't tell you, however, was that super-intelligent beings live upon said planet, beings that have existed for about 600 million years longer than we've been around. We've been communicating with them ever since the planet's discovery, translating their signals and effectively showing them our friendly intentions. We've been constructing Gaia-51 in secret ever since this event, in preparation to conduct a face-to-face meeting with our friends in the Universe. They've mastered light-speed and teleportation technology, so when we realized that our planet was in danger, we immediately asked them for help. They can teleport within a margin of 1.5 lightyears, meaning that it'll still take them a year or two to actually reach our location. But they're en route as we speak, and you're one of the people who will be able to meet them!”
“You still may be wondering why you, of all people, would be selected for such a task.” Marty said, the camera showing him sitting down in the banquet hall with a meal in front of him, “You with your average life, average job, average family, average hobbies. Well, that's exactly why we chose you! You are an individual who has exhibited abnormally normal behavior throughout your life. If we're going to show alien entities our way of life, we need people who clearly represent our culture, in all of its normalcy. Every sovereign nation involved in Operation Exodus will send two HIDOs from their country to Area 51, two of the most average individuals that they can find! A bit like Noah's Arc, I suppose.”
The camera cut back to the kitchenette, where Marty stood once again with his coffee cup. “This whole ordeal may seem shocking to you, but you should know that your friends and family will know no pain when they meet their end.” Marty said, “I would hardly consider it death, in fact. Much more like... ceasing to exist, I suppose. Everything that we've done here will be physically erased, but in the minds of you HIDOs, we'll live on! If anyone's gonna carry on humanity, it's gonna be you.” Marty yet again pointed at the camera happily. The smiling image of Marty froze, and the credits began to roll across the screen, finishing the last film that would ever be made.

As the screen cut to black, Alex's mind cut to black, as well. He couldn't think. He couldn't believe that this was happening, he didn't believe that this was happening.
“Well, on the upside,” Marty said, “I've got a great stage presence, don't I?”
“I don't...” Alex said, trailing off.
“Believe it?” Marty asked, “Yeah, it still hasn't totally hit me yet. I guess it never really will!”
Marty let out a small chuckle as Alex sat in silence, his eyes wide, his gaze blank.
“God, I hate this part.” Marty said, “All the HIDOs always have that look after I show them that video. You'll get over it, don't worry. Hey, you wanna see the blooper reel?”
Alex did not respond.
“I'll take that as a no, then.”

Marty stood up from his chair and walked behind Alex. “I'm gonna cut you loose now, Alex. Promise me you aren't gonna go running off all crazy like that last guy from Bolivia.” Alex was silent.
“Okay, here we go.” Marty said, kneeling down and setting Alex free. Once Alex was loose, his entire body slumped over, his eyes wide in a state of shock.
“Hey, would that latte I got you earlier make you feel any better, or can I have it?” Marty asked. Once again, Alex did not respond.
“Alright buddy, let's get you on that plane to Area 51!” Marty declared, taking Alex's hand by force and lifting him out of the chair. “This is time sensitive, by the way. I bought a panther a week ago and gotta go home, she gets lonely.”
Marty put his arm around Alex and slowly guided him to the double doors at the end of the banquet hall. “Alrighty. They're waiting for you outside,” Marty said, taking his arm off of Alex's shoulder, “And I'd get going if I were you, all the other HIDOs have been waiting for a few hours now and, you know, the world's ending.” Alex stood in front of the doorway and looked back at Marty like a wounded animal. “Go on.” Marty coaxed, watching Alex move his hand somberly toward the door. Alex stared at the door handle and slowly turned the knob.