Mission of Observation

Shy'lliah felt the appearance of a human female peel away from her as she went through the scrubbers. Her purple tentacles waved in perplexity over all she had observed. As she entered the debriefing room, her superior, Reat'ufou, was waiting for her.

"Did you learn anything?" he asked.

"This was my first time on a fallen world, and it was strange," she replied. "They have such odd ideas of us. Many think we are unabashedly evil and will come to take their world away from them. Others think we are are powerful deliverers who will come to solve all their problems for them. They do not consider that we are basically like them, but unfallen."

"There was an earthling named Lewis who theorized about that. But he was an unusual exception."

"Will we ever be able to meet them directly and not just stand and observe?"

"One day, though we do not know when, the Master will remake the fallen worlds, and those who He has redeemed from them will join us, and we will be one people. But until then, we can only observe."

"But they have so many needs. Is there nothing we can do to help them?"

"Only the Master and His messengers can intervene on a fallen world. But they have given the Master's instructions to those who follow Him there, and He has even gone there Himself to rescue them. The problem is that they simply will not listen."

"But surely," she protested, " if someone from another planet were to come and give them instructions they would listen."

"Would they?" he said, his face growing blue in amusement. "They might worship you as a god or more likely shoot you as an invader, but I doubt they would really listen. And remember the people who pretended to follow the Master because He gave them food rather than because of what He had to say. Do you want to create superficial followers?"

"But if we could convince them that we are only there to serve them."

"But would they believe us? If we said we were there to serve man, they would wonder if that was the title of a cookbook. Remember, the Master knows what He is doing and has things well in hand."

"I know. It is just so frustrating to see intelligent beings, made to be like the Master, living in such conditions."

"There would be something wrong with you if you were not frustrated. But we must trust the Master's plan."

"But why does the Master want us to observe if we cannot intervene?"

"Not for their benefit but for ours. We need to know what would have happened if we as a people had rebelled against the Master. And we need to see the lengths He will go to in order to rescue a fallen race. With that, we must be content.