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skonen_bladesThe virus was in the music.
First contact had happened four months ago. We were receiving music from another planet. All of the deep space exploration dishes swiveled over to listen. A small bit of it was played on CNN when the story first broke. Not long after, the whole song was released. It was digitized and after the primary uploads it spread out over every radio, television and internet station on the planet. YouTube users produced homemade music videos to the music. A few experimental artists did their own cover versions.
It cured deafness. It was deemed a miracle by the pope.
It was immensely popular. Alien but catchy. A new rhythm we’d never heard before. An always repeating but never repeating pattern, like the branches of tree. A few notes we didn’t have but an accessible beat and in some places, an almost plaintive sense of purpose. It never quite hit completion. There was something maddening about it but also calming. It made a person’s mind search for what was missing. The scientists were finding that there were notes in the song that were too high and too low for us to hear, like it was designed for aliens with wider sound spectrums. Either that or it was a song designed for every race in the universe to hear no matter what kind of ears they had.
It didn’t have an ending. It had been playing since we first started listening to it. When people covered it, they merely faded the song out after a while. You could do a ten minute version or a two-hour version. A few film makers had released movies where the entire feature-length soundtrack was a snippet of the song. Mathematicians were likening it to pi.
We were all swept up in the craze. Musical aliens! People openly wept with joy on talk show interviews when they were questioned about it. It seemed so benevolent. For the religious, it was concrete proof of God. For the atheists, it was proof that the universe was a friendly place.
It wasn’t something that we noticed right away. I mean, people all over the world hate their jobs, right? People were quitting. A few at first, but then a lot. Soon, people started saying home in droves. Calling in sick or just not showing up. They walked around the streets with smiles on their faces in the sunlight. All turning up the music, smiling, and walking out of their workplaces.
Only the workers necessary to keep humans alive and listening kept going to work. And they did it gladly. For free.
The music caused an intense sense of peace. It affected everyone who heard it. It was also altering people’s bodies. They could get by on water and a few bare nutrients a day. Some people starved but most people just got much thinner. They sat in parks and on rooftops with earbuds humming all smiling and staring. There was no panic. It was a worldwide quelling of stress. Reporters stopped reporting.
Within a year, industry collapsed and communication networks hummed with only the music. Gardens sprang up on every block. People stayed in touch through the internet but after a while, even that went silent. We were all connected through the song.
It was a lullaby that put us all to sleep.
It had caused everyone to sit down where they were and just appreciate the beauty around them.
The immense, black, pointed ships showed up in the sky two days ago. They’re collecting us.
We don’t mind.
tags
First contact had happened four months ago. We were receiving music from another planet. All of the deep space exploration dishes swiveled over to listen. A small bit of it was played on CNN when the story first broke. Not long after, the whole song was released. It was digitized and after the primary uploads it spread out over every radio, television and internet station on the planet. YouTube users produced homemade music videos to the music. A few experimental artists did their own cover versions.
It cured deafness. It was deemed a miracle by the pope.
It was immensely popular. Alien but catchy. A new rhythm we’d never heard before. An always repeating but never repeating pattern, like the branches of tree. A few notes we didn’t have but an accessible beat and in some places, an almost plaintive sense of purpose. It never quite hit completion. There was something maddening about it but also calming. It made a person’s mind search for what was missing. The scientists were finding that there were notes in the song that were too high and too low for us to hear, like it was designed for aliens with wider sound spectrums. Either that or it was a song designed for every race in the universe to hear no matter what kind of ears they had.
It didn’t have an ending. It had been playing since we first started listening to it. When people covered it, they merely faded the song out after a while. You could do a ten minute version or a two-hour version. A few film makers had released movies where the entire feature-length soundtrack was a snippet of the song. Mathematicians were likening it to pi.
We were all swept up in the craze. Musical aliens! People openly wept with joy on talk show interviews when they were questioned about it. It seemed so benevolent. For the religious, it was concrete proof of God. For the atheists, it was proof that the universe was a friendly place.
It wasn’t something that we noticed right away. I mean, people all over the world hate their jobs, right? People were quitting. A few at first, but then a lot. Soon, people started saying home in droves. Calling in sick or just not showing up. They walked around the streets with smiles on their faces in the sunlight. All turning up the music, smiling, and walking out of their workplaces.
Only the workers necessary to keep humans alive and listening kept going to work. And they did it gladly. For free.
The music caused an intense sense of peace. It affected everyone who heard it. It was also altering people’s bodies. They could get by on water and a few bare nutrients a day. Some people starved but most people just got much thinner. They sat in parks and on rooftops with earbuds humming all smiling and staring. There was no panic. It was a worldwide quelling of stress. Reporters stopped reporting.
Within a year, industry collapsed and communication networks hummed with only the music. Gardens sprang up on every block. People stayed in touch through the internet but after a while, even that went silent. We were all connected through the song.
It was a lullaby that put us all to sleep.
It had caused everyone to sit down where they were and just appreciate the beauty around them.
The immense, black, pointed ships showed up in the sky two days ago. They’re collecting us.
We don’t mind.
tags