The Created Future
By Barbara
Disclaimer: They ain't mine. I wish they were, but they belong to someone else.
We create the future with our words, our deeds, and our beliefs. - Babylon 5
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Hubble Urick looked around his office in relief. It was over. The Taelons were dead, and so were the Jaridians. Even better, Kincaid had been killed in the eruption as well. While he had nothing personal against Kincaid, he had never trusted him after Renee had told him that Kincaid was part alien. Just because Kincaid had helped to stop the Taelons didn't mean that he didn't have plans of his own for humanity… plans that weren't in their best interests. You never knew what was going on in the mind of an alien. Just look at Kincaid. Raised by humans, partly human, and yet he wanted the Taelons to live after all they had done. Want to help them. Despite the fact that they had killed his alien father and effectively brainwashed his human parents, he still wanted to help them.
And the Taelons. Professing peace and light, yet their true purpose was to find soldiers in their everlasting war against the Jaridians. They hadn't even allowed humanity the luxury of a choice; they had just blocked the Jaridian signal before it ever reached Earth. And then they had kidnapped and coerced people into programs that bioengineered them into killing machines. They had convinced humanity well enough of their benevolence that the best and brightest law enforcement officers had joined them, and had been turned into slaves as a result. He had had a friend with a CVI, and the CVI had changed him so completely Hubble had barely recognized him afterwards. Everything the Taelons touched, they destroyed.
The Jaridians were no better, though. They knew their signal had been blocked, and that humanity had really had no choice about helping the Taelons. You can't just say no to a race with the ability to destroy the Earth. And yet the Jaridians had tried to destroy the Earth as well. Even though they knew it had no choice but to help the Taelons. And this was after humanity had tried to help them with their reproductive problems.
No. Aliens weren't to be trusted.
With the Taelons, the Jaridians, and Kincaid dead, the immediate threat was over. But the threat of future aliens doing the same thing still existed.
Hubble never wanted humanity to be in that position again. Never wanted it to be taken in by aliens again. And if it was the last thing he did, he would make sure humanity knew better, for the next time.
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Over the next few months, articles and books came out, detailing the Taelon atrocities, showing how the aliens had manipulated humanity's curiosity to take control of the planet. Mixed in with these were articles detailing the Taelon/Jaridian war and how the Taelons had tried to get humanity right in the middle of it without asking. Then came the articles showing that the Jaridians were no better- that they had been willing to destroy the Earth because it had unknowingly sided with their enemy.
The desire to go into space remained, but the urge to find intelligent life had been stifled. And slowly, humanity changed, grew less trusting, more suspicious. They would never let it happen again. Never again would they trust an alien race who said they came in peace. The Taelons had said that… and they had experimented on countless people and killed countless others. They had trusted… and their trust had been betrayed.
And when they met an alien ship near Earth that said they came in peace, they were wary. And when that ship helped them for no reason, they were suspicious. And when another ship joined the first on the fringes of their solar system, they attacked. They would never trust again.
END
