The world waited with abated breath as the alien spacecraft touched down outside the lawn of the American Whitehouse.
Out came a tall and slim humanoid figure similar to what the sci-fi movies have portrayed as “aliens”. It’s about 7 feet tall, with elongated fingers and slender arms and legs. Its movement was almost “elf” liked - gentle and graceful, with small measured steps; as if it’s afraid to disturb the fallen leaves on the lawn.
The alien carried a small tablet made of crystal like material. On it, there were strange alien markings; but on the top, the bold letters in English can be observed clearly: “To Serve Man”
The world breathed a sign of relief as we discovered the alien visitors were benign and benevolent. They have come in peace. Earth’s united military stood down. Nothing unites all the warring factions of Earth’s humanity than a common “threat”…
The aliens brought with them new technology to aid the humans. Within a few months, many of the diseases that have plagued Man were eradicated. Bountiful crops and harvests ensured with the aliens’ aid. New clean energy resources were introduced, and Man learnt how to clean up the polluted rivers and how to turn the barren deserts into farmlands and green oases.
War and strife was soon forgotten and obsolete. Man has enough.
Man can finally relax and enjoy life. They “worked” four hours a day and 3 days a week. Man relied on the advanced robotics and computer technology the aliens so kindly shared with them. Man was so grateful to the aliens!
As the months and years passed, Man’s population mushroomed… The alien visitors were ever so kind to invite Man to visit their home planet. Regular shuttles of these inter-galactic flights were introduced at all major cities on Earth.
No one ever questioned why those humans that visited the alien’s home planet never returned. The conventional thinking was that if Earth today is so pleasant, the alien’s home planet must be paradise! So no one wanted to return back to Earth. Yes, that must be it!
Deraj, an amateur code-breaker has lots of time on his hands and was bored to death with the life of “no challenges”. To satisfy his intellectual curiosity, he took a copy of the “To Serve Man” tablet and tried to decipher the alien markings.
It took Deraj many months, but he finally cracked it!
As Deraj read and re-read his own translation, his face turned paled… Without a moment’s hesitation, Deraj rushed to the nearest inter-galactic shuttle flight station in his city of New Delhi and shouted wildly at the boarding humans – who were all full of smiles and laughter:
“It’s a cook book! It’s a cook book!”
Singapore Man of Leisure (welcome to my blog; just google it!)
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