They Didn't See it Coming

The headline on the Los Angeles Times that morning was about the new statistics on violence for Los Angeles. The murder rate had dropped, armed robbery was almost gone except for a few knife point robberies. People read about how the pollsters had discovered that people felt safer in public since the guns were gone.

At the corner of fifth and Figueroa a news crew for ABC was doing interviews about the new Los Angeles, without the gun violence. As the crew shot video and broadcast live the reporter turned to ask a young man what he thought.

The young man drew a knife and said, "It don't matter the guns are gone! If I want you dead, you're dead!"

He lunged at the twenty-four year old Hispanic female holding the microphone. She screamed! He disappeared. She fainted. The camera man let her lay on the sidewalk and kept shooting. People nearby panicked and many ran. One who didn't said, "The pillars!"

The cell phone in Bill Kingsley's pocket buzzed. He kept shooting video and he answered.

"Is Veronica Ok?"

"She fainted. The guy never got to her."

"Shut it down and get paramedics. Call me when they've checked her out."

The next morning the L.A. Times headline was "Violence is over!" There had been thirty-eight reports of people who disappeared in one day. A man attempted to kill his wife and her lover. She's a widow. No body of her husband, but all his clothes, his wallet and cell phone were left behind in a pile on the bedroom floor.

A bank was robbed, almost, by a man in a ski mask carrying a baseball bat. When he pulled the bat back, nothing happened. When it started forward, toward the branch manager's head the man disappeared. The bat, his clothes, the ski mask and all the things in his pockets fell to the floor.

Every news broadcast for the next three days led with stories of attempted violence that ended permanently. Judges began studying corporate law, probate law, patent law and the criminal courts for violent crimes closed. Prison populations changed. Men and women in prison for violent tempers learned quickly how to control them, or they were no longer in prison or anywhere else.

On May first, the next year, Mohammed walked to the post. It was there. Nothing changed that day or the next. Men and women who had made their living from violence had stopped. The NFL and the NHL disbanded almost a year ago, on the same day, when two men disappeared as they attempted hard hits on other players. Samoa Joe bought an ice cream store in Redondo Beach. The rest of professional wrestling found other work.

The posts could not be reasoned with. The posts didn't care who was right, justified or being emotional. There was no appeal. Parents stopped beating their children. Some parents stopped yelling at their children as well. Retired Governor Swartzenegger advised Hollywood to give up all plans to make Terminator VI or any other violence based movies. His recommendation was listened to.

Five years went by and nothing changed about the posts. Money that had been spent on wars, police containment of violence, and incarceration of violent prisoners had been diverted to other things. College was free all over the western world. Hunger and famine were not killing thousands every day. NASA got an infusion of money and sent a manned exploration to Mars.

When it was one day from Mars they saw a huge space craft parked in the shadow of Mars. They attempted to tell Earth what they saw. Their transmission was blocked. On their screen they saw a being, different from themselves but looking like kin in any case. The being spoke to them.

"Welcome. You are now ready to meet us. We have been here for many years of your time. The preparation was necessary. When you return to Earth we will go back with you. We put the pillars and the posts on your planet. We could see that without a small intervention you would destroy yourselves in less than fifty years. Now that will not happen."

Matt Bower, Captain of the E.R.B. One spoke. He didn't key a microphone, he just spoke. "Where are you from? Why did you come to us?"

"We are not from. We on this craft have lived on it for thousands of your years, many thousands more generations. Our myths tell us we once lived planet bound much as you do, but we no longer know if they are myths or are true."

The people of Earth were defenseless. The pillars and the posts had taken away Earth's possibility of defense. The huge ship followed the E.R.B. One back to Earth. Long before they arrived Earth knew they were coming and knew they had been vanquished without a shot fired.

They had been driven from pillar to post and lost. Or won.