Short Story: The Only

Short Story: The Only

Sometimes, life is lonely. . .

Intro:

After having walked upon this planet, for forty-eight years; one sunny Sunday I found myself walking in the woods alone in the mid-morning. I noticed something that seemed strange to me; and went to check it out.

There in the clearing of the trees, was what is obviously a spaceship. Awestruck, I walk over to get a closer view of it. It looks neat, I’ve seen things like this in movies, but never something this realistic.

I get about ten feet away from it, and from out of nowhere, a voice says: “You want to see the inside?” I turn around, and see what is obviously an Alien starting right at me, no more than ten feet from me. He looks harmless enough, and I raise my hand, and wave. “Hi” I say to him.

“We’ve been watching you a long time, you are an interesting person.” We didn’t know what to make of you, but after this long, maybe we should tell you the truth, why don’t you come into our spaceship, so we can show you proof of what we tell you.”

He seems honest enough, and friendly enough. I see no reason not to trust him, and with the way his ship looks, it doesn’t seem dangerous. I say to him: “Okay, show me the truth.”

We walk to center of the ship just underneath the whole ship. and then the next thing I know; I’m standing inside the ship in what looks like a control room. “How did you do that?” I ask.

“Simple, we energized you enough to move your body inside the ship, without causing you any harm.” he says to me. I look around, this looks pretty cool. “You travel all over the galaxy in this thing?” I ask him.

“Not really, the whole universe maybe, but we have other ships that are faster, and travel differently outside this galaxy. This is a small ship compared to what we fly around the universe in.”

“You had better sit down, this news, may be difficult for you to hear.”

I look around, and find some place to sit down and the alien introduces me, to himself. “My name is Orion, and this world, is the result of an experiment.”

“We know your name. We know everything about you. We know what you thought when you were driving, or watching TV, we know what you were thinking when you thought no one was around.”

“The goal of this experiment was to see if you are smart enough, to handle the truth. And you did very well; it seems you are a high functioning species and different from every person on this planet.”

“What do you mean? What are you trying to tell me?” I ask him.

“The long story, is a very long story. However, the short story is much simpler. You were born into this world, and aside from some people you knew that used to live in this world, you are the only real person in this solar system.”

I shake my head. The feeling of disbelief hits me hard. I’m in shock. “Who are the other people in this world?” I ask him.

“They are all Artificial Intelligence. Part of a living simulation, known as Earth.” He then continues, “You are the only person in this solar system, that is a real person. Everyone else here, is a part of a program.”

“We have been studying you for a long time. To see how you respond to things. You have done well, and you will be given some choices that can make life a lot better for everyone.”

“We know the body you are using, will be enough to live well enough, the basic designs are pretty good. The real question is: Do you want to stay here, or would you like to get the fuck out of here?”

I don’t have to think about this, not a second. “If they aren’t real people, what I would like most is to spend some time with real people.” and then after thinking about it for a second, I mention, “And I would like to have some fun.”

“Both of those things can be arranged for you. You have passed all the tests, and we would like to take you back with those who will care for you.”