Identified Flying Object

Identified Flying Object

Modern science and technology have given us certainty.

The certainty that anything can be reconstructed beyond the limits of reality. The certainty that everyone can pursue their ideals with peace of mind.

These scientific achievements, born of human ingenuity, demonstrate just how closely connected we are, and how much goodwill we hold toward one another.

And yet, if anyone still struggles to appreciate the benefits that science and technology have brought us, I would urge them to take a closer look at this invention.

For this invention holds limitless possibilities, enough to turn every dream we have ever cherished into reality!

The A.T.M. changed our lives.

Of course, it was nothing more than a time machine, the sort of contraption one might find in a science fiction novel. But the peace of mind it brought humanity was truly extraordinary.

For one thing, it gave us certainty about the future.

The Earth would not perish!

Despite the catastrophic climate crisis that had threatened our planet, humanity would overcome it. We would endure every hardship, every terrible consequence, and emerge victorious.

And we discovered that not a single conspiracy theory had been true. They had all been nothing more than wild fantasies born of uncertainty!

Unidentified flying objects were not weapons of mass destruction devised by Jews to carry out genocide on a massive scale. Nor were they instruments intended to revive the eugenics programs of Nazi Germany.

And they certainly had nothing to do with extraterrestrial visitors.

They were simply time machines from the future.

Their appearance differed from the machines of our own era, of course, but that was merely a matter of evolving design. The frequencies they operated on were, ultimately, identical.

Ah! And the benefits of the time machine did not end there!

We came to regard its invention as a turning point in human history, a great leap forward that would allow our species to become something better than it had ever been.

People grew kinder, more tolerant, more understanding of one another. There was a noticeable difference between humanity before the invention of the time machine and humanity after it.

Surely, this was proof that mankind had finally become one.

Our descendants in the future seemed to share our enthusiasm.

Following the invention of the time machine, they began sending more and more flying objects into our skies.

And each time one appeared, we waved.

Children playing in the streets waved. So did Miss, the kindly woman who made ice cream for those children.

Young and old, men and women alike—everyone reached out toward the flying objects whenever they appeared.

The arrival of an identified flying object meant that our descendants were alive and well.

In this way, humanity and its future generations exchanged greetings across time.

We, the people of the present, could travel only forward.

But the people of the future could travel backward as well.

Landing in a particular period, however, seemed to remain a problem even they had yet to solve.

After all, we had only ever seen their A.T.M.s.

Oh, look at that!

At last!

Humanity of the future had finally learned how to stop in our time!

Above a little girl holding a lollipop nearly as large as her face, a flying object hovered longer than usual.

Everyone watched with bated breath.

On the underside of the craft, a circular opening was beginning to form. Something was preparing to emerge.

All the little girl had to do was receive it!

What could our descendants possibly be offering us as their very first gift?

And why had they chosen this little girl to receive it?

We all assumed that whatever it was, it must be something innocent. Something pure. Something suitable for a child so young.

Perhaps that was why, when the little girl stretched out both arms and waited eagerly beneath the craft, we mistook the cylindrical object descending toward her for the end of a giant lollipop.

But perhaps it wasn't a lollipop after all.

The object had barely emerged halfway when it blew the little girl's head clean off.

And then it was gone.

Ah, poor child.

What a terribly unfortunate little girl you were.

She had died without even receiving her gift.

Surely, this could not have been what our descendants had intended to give us.

There was no reason to worry.

Once our own A.T.M. arrived, we could simply explain the situation to the people of the future.

We could tell them that the gift they had sent us must have been a mistake.

And while we were at it, we could ask them what had happened to the A.T.M. we had sent twenty-five years earlier.

Had its disappearance been a mistake, too?

Had the fact that it had never returned, even after all those years, been nothing more than another unfortunate error?

We would ask them.

That was all we had to do.

Surely, that would be enough.