Giorgio A. Tsoukalos

I'm the 'aliens' guy, no I'm not angry about that or upset that, that is what I'm forever going to be known as. I'm ok with it, so how did I become the 'aliens' guy? Well I graduated college in 98 and found out that no there wasn't any work. So I made my own, believe it or not I used to promote body building competitions in Frisco. Seriously that was how I made my living, I know I don't look like it but I was actually pretty damned good at my job. The 90s was a scary time, people remember it as the dark and gritty era of capes. The flash of the 80s was gone, giant monsters were destroying cities and nothing we did could touch them. The villains who had been a nuance became an actual threat. The Soviet Union collapsed and their guns and arms scattered around the world.

It felt like the world was ending, in my spare time, when I wasn't trying to promote the next event, I was online or at conventions talking about aliens. I was facinated by the subject, and I would go to these events and when the Endbringers came out I would openly side with the alien faction. Keep in mind no one had a clue what they were at the time, so there were other factions. Some people thought they were some tinkertech thing that went wrong, really powerful villains, demons, fairies, angels sent to punish us. The list went on, and then Japan lost an entire island and, well that was the most extreme show of power we had ever seen. Suddenly millions upon millions of people were dead, and then Ironwood came.

Other people talk about the intitial horror of it all, suddenly there were three of them instead of two, and he was in an american city right on the heels of Leviathan's attack, and then we won... No violence, no great battles a normal person walked into the mouth of hell, talked to an Endbringer and then he surrendered. A lot of us didn't even know that it was possible for that to happen. We won and I think that as a species we needed that, but the way we won, well it just felt weird. There weren't any celebrations or party, it was more a feeling of what would happen next.

Then the President got on television a few months later and we got the news. They're aliens, oh and parahumans? They get their powers from alien symbiots called Shards, and while we're at it there aren't three Endbringers. there are twenty-one of them, but hey one of them is totally on our side. A lot of people didn't handle the news well, we were watching TV when we got the news, and one of the guys gets up. Iron Joe, one of the locals stars, well he gets up leaves the room and we hear a bang. We find Joes brains splattered all over the floor. I liked Joe, he was a tough guy but everyone have a breaking point and that was his.

I didn't handle that well, I got more into the whole alien scene, I had a reputation there but after the news? Well I was on the winning side of that argument and that brought me and a lot of UFO people a lot of legitimacy. So I continued promoting and I and a lot of my guys paid attention to Seattle. Icy was from Frisco and when she started dating Ironwood the opinion was mixed. Some people thought she was a traitor to humanity, some people thought it was romantic, gross etc. like I said a lot of opinions back and forth. Then the wedding happened and well looking back on it. It was romantic, I mean the first marriage between a human and an alien in recorded histor, that's a big deal.

Eventually I moved, I had to be closer to the action, I had to find out more, I studied more, debated more and scrounged up enough money for a magazine of my own. When the World tree went up I was a part of the first boat to Mars, and that... god that felt like a religious exprience. Kids today simply don't get what a big deal the trees were during the early days. It was this beautiful, meaningful moment that gave us hope, and I doubled down, and worked even harder. I wasn't even promoting anymore, I was writing books, working on my blog and going to conventions, and then out of the blue we get the news that Mars is going to be terraformed.

Not in a thousand years, not in a hundred, in a human life time, the UFO nuts well we just watched the feed from space as Mars grew and became a living planet, watched as oceans formed and continents grew, and then we got the message that this was not going to be a one time thing. The history channel contacted me early 05. They wanted someone to do a show and since I had a reputation I was picked to host it. That show was Ancient Aliens, that's how I became famous. I was so excited to be there that I didn't sweat the small stuff like my hair or my orange muscle man tan. I was just happy to be there, the show had a good run, five years in total, by the end of it we had just ran out of stuff to talk about and then it was gone.

I still go to conventions, write books, work on my magazines, every now and then someone reconizes me but the show is over now and having such a major part of my life end was strange, yah know? So when I got the news that the show was ending I was depressed and then I get the message, Ironwood's willing to do an interview. It was going to be our grand finale so I got in a black car, and the PRT agents gave me a list of things I wasn't allowed to ask. Which still left a lot, I was then walked into Lincoln park, I felt nervous and scared, I didn't want to freak out.

"It's going to be ok."

Someone said that, I was still walking with the group so I didn't look back.

"Thanks, but you know he's a real live alien, what if I screw this up, what If I piss him off?"

The voice was gruff, kind of metallic.

"He's going to understand, you can do this, I believe in you."

I turned around to thank him and then stared up at him, it was Ironwood. The renegade Endbringer, an alien from another world. I kind of froze and stuttered and he put a hand on my shoulder.

"It's going to be ok."

I couldn't talk or speak I just kind of stood there, and then he got on his knee and looked at me face to face.

"Thank you, I have... it's an honor."

He kind of tilted his head.

"No."

He says, and I feel bad did I say something wrong?

"Other way around, it's an honor for me to meet you, my children love your show."

I felt touched, I started tearing up you know and he brings me some tissue paper.

"Don't worry it's going to be ok, just remember you're a human being and that's a really good thing to be. You can do this."

He then gets up and we walk side by side to the interview room, the final episode got our best ratings, we went out on the top. So after that, am I ashamed to be the 'aliens' guy? Nah it's good to be the 'aliens' guy, I have no regrets.