19/100: Alien Race

Day 19: Take any regular object, place or event, and pretend that an alien race has descended upon Earth and wants to figure out what it is. How do they describe it? What does their description reveal about the object that you didn’t see before? Length: 500 words

The Concert: 

At first, they saw it as a flicker in the sky.  Lightning, perhaps.  Heat flashes, high above the clouds.  They paid it little attention, instead letting the waves of sounds flow through them, until the flashes grew brighter and more vibrant.  A distant roar began to saturate the air, miles above them in the upper reaches of the atmosphere. The ground began to tremble, slightly at first, then gradually building in intensity.  Millions drifted their attention from the amphitheater stage to the dark, evening sky as a large, irregular shape descended from the clouds and random particles of dirt and stone around them began to levitate a few inches above the ground. They were being visited, the first to be chosen among the world...and Dave Matthews hadn't even come on stage yet.

All it would take was a single scream, immediately followed by a surge of the masses, casualties, absolute chaos. Yet, that wasn't the case. Concert-goers in The Gorge peacefully locked their gaze onto the sky as the ship slowly descended onto the sloped field adjacent to the stage, lightly displacing the cloud of marijuana smoke drifting above their heads. The craft was met with silence and awe, the distant echoes of notes last played having long faded into the canyon-lands around them.

A bright, blinding light emitted from the vessel. Those closest to it could not see a door or hatch, just white. Then, nothing. The light blinked out and standing in front of the UFO were five tall, slender beings. They wore no clothing, but seemed to be draped in a wispy, webbing-like material that was indistinguishable as either a garment or part of their anatomy, possibly both. Their movements were graceful and fluid, as if viewing a ballet performance underwater, or rolling clouds of an incoming storm. Everyone around them was suddenly overwhelmed with peace, the intoxicating warmth of their presence spreading through the crowd.  One man, early 20's at best, with a lanky stature most similar to our alien friends, took it upon himself to welcome these visitors to our world.  Fearless, or more than likely tripping on LSD, he approached and proclaimed four, simple words that will forever live on throughout history.

"Welcome to Earth, Man!"

No one seems to be able to recall how things progressed immediately after that initial greeting. What those witnesses do recall is their profound curiosity that would bring such a large gathering together in such a remote place.  No other words were exchanged, just gestures and emotions, feelings at a raw, primal level.  Within moments, Dave Matthews began their set, and our new alien friends became memorized, as we later learned their race had never heard music before.

We've learned much since then, about what sets our race, our culture apart from theirs, and the hundreds of thousands of other civilizations out there. As the music plays on, the Age of Enlightenment begins, and a whole new chapter for not only mankind, but space as we know it has evolved.