What Would happen if...?

[Danmark]

I have an idea for a science fiction story and wondered if there would be any interest in ... well, here's a rough draft of a beginning:

[center]The Disappearance[/center]

The Ka’bah was gone. When morning broke it simply was not there. The millions present at the Great Mosque surrounding the Ka’bah, even in the early morning hours, claimed it simply disappeared. One moment it was there, then it was not, as if it dissolved during a blink of the eye. There had been no explosion, no noise at all. It was simply gone.

This was impossible of course. The witnesses were wrong, but most of them were in accord. There were some who disagreed. Some heard a sound, others a voice, some felt a deep rumbling beneath the earth. But they all agreed it was gone.

In the days following there were recriminations, accusations of plots by Jews and Christian terrorists. But with no explosion, no sound of rockets or bombs, it was hard to make the case. True, there were reports of Jews and Christians who claimed this phenomenon was an act of God and showed that Islam was a fraud and God had finally demonstrated the Great Lie that was Islam.

Most Christians kept such thoughts to themselves, tho’ secretly they harbored exactly that idea. There was a quiet, rarely verbalized satisfaction that ‘The Lord’ showed is displeasure with false religion.

A week later the Temple Mount and Western Wall disappeared overnight. Again, there were no explosions, just a silent disappearance. The event erased smug smiles among Jews and some Christians, tho’ some of the latter took some satisfaction. Naturally there were cries of retaliation, but the utter soundlessness of the event was perplexing to even the most extreme zealots. In both cases no one was injured. Nothing had happened except the structures were now invisible. Clean air was the only thing that remained, not even clouds of dust.

The following week the Church of the Holy Sepulchre vanished as neatly as the others. By this time plans to rebuild the Ka’bah were publicly discussed, but there was a problem. The sand where it had stood was softening spreading outward to the walls of the Great Mosque. [center][/center]

[benchwarmer]

[Replying to post 1 by Danmark]

I love the intro. The book would be super interesting if it remained in the sci-fi theme. I think it would be cool if it never became clear who or what was actually doing it. If it could be written so the reader could decipher all the clues and come to their own conclusion rather than having one handed to them that would be neat.

Perhaps the 'satisfying ending' would be more about how humanity had to come together and the various triumphs of 'good' between the unlikeliest of peoples. I realize this would be tricky, but so cool if you could pull it off.

[Divine Insight]

I like it. But I'd like it better if it was accompanied by doubts by everyone, including Christians... and questions about the motives of this Jesus or aliens. You could explore philosophical questions about control v. freedom, contentment v. independence.

Oh absolutely. Those would all be in the details of the story.

In fact, the real plot of the story is about those who rebel and those who fall down and freely worship "Jesus" and do precisely as he says without question.

He acts VERY KIND AND LOVING toward those who obey him and don't cause any trouble. And he doesn't need to even show any hostility or anger toward those who refuse to accept him because his angels instantly vaporize anyone who dares to challenge him.

He appears to all the leaders of all nations. He does this simultaneously as with Jesus all things are possible.

Leaders who worship him and agree to do as he says are allowed to remain in their leadership position. Those who oppose him are instantly vaporized by his army of flying angels. And then Jesus becomes the leader of that nation until Jesus personally assigns another humans for that role.

He goes to NASA and explains to them that they are free to continue their research and he is giving them the Earth's Moon as a challenge for them to terraform. He explains that they will no longer be permitted to send any probes beyond the Earth-Moon system until they have proven themselves fully colonizing the moon.

He goes to the LHC and tells the physicists that they are free to continue their research and develop their theories and that he will not give away the answers in advance for this would spoil their fun.

He goes to the hospitals and tells the doctors and nurses that they will no longer be needed. He thanks them deeply for their dedication to the health and well-being of humans. He explains that new hospitals will "appear" but only patients will be admitted. They will enter the hospitals and be restored to pristine health. However when they leave the hospital they will have no memory of what had occurred within.

He then calls all the religious leaders of the world together and explains to them that there is indeed a heaven and the promise of eternal life is real. However, for now he would like them to live on the earth with him for a thousand years as Earth is transformed into a paradise.

Some people beg Jesus to take them to heaven directly. He tells them that there is a way. First they must convince him personally that they are truly prepared for heaven, and secondly they must understand there there is no coming back from heaven. (what actually happens is that the aliens eat the humans who choose to go to heaven as a delicacy) This is why there's no coming back.

In the meantime there is an "underground" resistance of humans who are convinced that Jesus is a fraud, potentially sent by the aliens that are now taking over the solar system. So you have that whole saga of the resistance movement as well.

In the end the resistance movement never makes any progress. Their struggle is endless futile.

The world becomes a "paradise" with Jesus as the sole (albeit in multiple places at once) dictator. On the surface he appears to be a very loving compassionate person who loves to play and enjoy life in the sun with humans who are constructive, productive and non-rebellious.

Jesus has human engineers designing and building wonderful infrastructures. He tells them that this is for their benefit to continue to learn new things and express themselves artistically.

The aliens continue to transform the entire solar system ultimately building a Dyson Sphere around the entire Solar system. Even rearranging the position of some of the planets.

When the aliens want to celebrate and enjoy a meal of "delicacy" Jesus simply offers large groups of people the chance to go to heaven. A one-way trip remember?

And that's basically how the story ends. The aliens have taken over the entire solar system leaving Earth as a playground for obedient humans that the aliens can snack on at will because so many humans are more than willing to jump at the chance to "Go to Heaven". A one-way trip.

Well, there you go. I told you the whole thing clear to the end. Even the resistance movement continues, but the audience is now aware that the resistance movement will never succeed. The aliens just allow the humans to play their silly futile games. Even to the point of allowing the resistance movement to think it has made major progress at times, just to keep the game interesting for the humans.

[Danmark]

The part about going to heaven for a meal reminded me of a classic Twilight Zone episode, 'To Serve Man.'