Original date: 18th June 2020

It was something of a humbling day when the Elders revealed themselves. They insisted on that label themselves, though it seemed like a first-thought one.

They claimed to have been living amongst us for a while, just watching, waiting for the right time to reveal themselves. It sounds creepy and, to be honest, it was. But it gave an air of mystery to them, which seemed an important part of their self-image. The humbling came from their revelation that they had created humanity. At least, they had guided us on a path to global hegemony as a species, from the ancestral apes which had shown such promise all those millions of years ago.

A surprisingly large number of people were actually relieved. Many struggling religious sects took a told-you-so tone, making and losing adherents in equal measure. Many biological and evolutionary scientists found their jobs made much easier by the detailed accounts of human evolution provided by the Elders. These included blueprints, project requirements and risk analyses.

But in the end the extensive documentation was a double-edged sword; the thin end of the wedge in the Elders’ downfall. You see, in the opening months of their presence, people began to worship them like the gods they almost were. People looked to them for answers, for meaning, for lottery numbers. Humanity had been shown a mirror to itself, and the reflection was that of a secondary species – an invention.

As much as the Elders gave new (or different) meaning to human life, those scientists caused consternation by pointing out that the Elders themselves, in all their technological superiority, must have, themselves, evolved. If their arrival obviated questions on human origins, it just shifted the enquiry up a level, to the Elders themselves. After all, the scientists said, the Elders were flesh and blood too.

When the Elders had no answers to these or other questions, the curtain had been pulled aside. Their downfall was swift. Many came a cropper in mass brawls, others were murdered. Many simply melted away into the shadows in fear, a lesson for any future species who would risk throwing humanity of its own pedestal.