God is a Fish

I remember the day the last shark died. News agencies from all across the globe flocked to Mexico, where “Bessie” had washed ashore. Bessie had only been discovered a few months earlier, a decade after her species had been declared extinct. With great fanfare, she was tagged and tracked in the hope that she would lead us to find more of her kind. Sadly, however, the lonely shark migrated in circles close to shore, no doubt in search of the same thing.

Bessie’s death was reported as a great rebuke of mankind’s efforts to save the oceans he’d plundered. The half measures and non-enforcement had not worked. Perhaps it had been a foolish idea to let the industries that depended on the sea to self-regulate. Now, there were no more whale sharks, gone like the thousands of other sharks and species man had decimated. We had no idea how our existence was going to be affected by this.

The loss of the shark brought about the first worldwide appearance by the Underlords. Our aptly named superiors rose from the great depths in gargantuan disc-like crafts to darken the skies with their judgment from above. To say that they were displeased was an understatement.

For centuries, man had reported sightings of UFOs and flying saucers, often discredited by authorities as hoaxes or illusions of a delusional imagination. If the phenomena were real, we might have thought them to be visitors from another planet, aliens or ETs. But now top-secret government agencies could no longer deny the truth very few had been aware of. The Subterraneans were not from somewhere else, they were living below, and sometimes among, us all along.

The Underlords looked slightly like us. They were tall and also grey with long white hair. Their most remarkable feature was their emerald green eyes which had a depth of color no one had ever seen before. Their beautiful eyes seemed to glow and were so mesmerizing those who had seen them in person would debate other features of the Underlords, such as whether or not they had gills or if their sallow skin had subtle patterns similar to whale sharks.

The Underlords let us know they had rescued our species eons ago when we lived on a dying planet. With great benevolence they allowed us to live on their beautiful planet where we mated with primates and other homo sapiens which allowed us to adapt to our new surroundings. Now, they told us, they had regrets about this decision.

The shark was revered in Underlord society, where it was assumed they saw them when they looked above, toward what made up their sky. These animals were important to them, and the ocean itself. They pointed out that these creatures predated all of us, including them.

Why had they not stepped in sooner? The Underlords took some responsibility for this. It was possibly the only thing that saved us. They admitted to being distracted with their own politics and the responsibilities they had in other worlds, with other forms of sentient life, that they were completely blindsided by the primitive barbarians running amuck on their own planet.

Humanity feared the wrath of these obviously more advanced beings. What would our punishment be? Annihilation? Destruction? Eternal hell?

The Underlords were not human and their thought processes and logic came from a different perspective. Their determination, however, benign as they thought it to be, would be considered tantamount to damnation by so many.

Their declaration was that humanity could no longer access the waters of the planet. From now on, no animal could be removed from the ocean by man's efforts. No animal that lived in or depended on the ocean could be harmed, even indirectly. No plant life could be removed or harmed either.

Humans were distraught that the Underlords were usurping the dominance we believed we had. That they were putting the fish and even the kelp and the seaweed above us in the hierarchy we created and believed in was an outrage. The Underlords never had a hierarchy and we were not advanced enough to know that.

All mining and drilling were also permanently shut down. It was announced as a suspension to avoid the upheaval such a directive would lead to but it was most definitely ceased forever. All military operations were also prohibited in the sea. No dumping of any kind was allowed and shipping was greatly curtailed by an exhaustive list of restrictions.

Swimming and some recreations were allowed but only because we were seen as a potential food source for the predatory sea life we hadn’t yet wiped off the planet.

Some operations were put in place for a massive clean-up of our oceans. The Underlords were pleased with our efforts. However, one outfitter was quickly discovered to be engaging in black-market seafood and the reaction by the Underlords was swift.

It seemed that humans had given the Underlords a capacity to create a punishment doctrine, something they had never considered before. Violators of their orders were exiled to a distant moon of Jupiter to toil in a tundra like conditions with little support or supplies. Even minor infractions were considered absolute and destined for banishment.

Humans, however, surprised the Underlords with our ingenuity. It is our most enduring quality that we adapt and survive.

The UN scrambled to create treaties and partnerships in order to share the energy production from the land worldwide. Since most warfare had also been disabled the treaties were forced to produce compromise and acceptable concessions.

Industry was able to replicate the taste and texture of the seafood we enjoyed so much. Using labs and plants we were able to change and grow. Scientists also created new ways to recycle and even used our waste as a new energy source.

Superhighways were created that stretched across the oceans connecting continents. The road was unaffected by waves and the movement of the tides due to amazing advances concentrated on creating new technology rather than updating ships. These highways were supported by pillars that floated on the water using gyroscopic technology that was impressive even to the superior intelligence of our new Subterranean leaders.

Our scientists even found ways to regenerate the dying reefs and repopulated them by cloning DNA. They were able to bring back multiple formerly extinct creatures, including the sharks which were loved by man and Underlord alike.

Adversity has always spawned innovation in humanity. The Underlords told us that none of the other primitive tribes in the cosmos evolved the way we had. Other species of sentient beings came from distant galaxies to see what we created in order to try and replicate our successes.

With our new way of life, we were finally able to see the Underlords for what they were, not dictator gods but benevolent protectors. We had so badly wanted to think of ourselves as the ruler that we had believed our superiors were just like us. But now that we were forced to move ahead under different circumstances we were able to see that with their gills, scales, and yes, those subtle whale shark patterns, they actually looked more like fish than like us.

Our redemption as a species had changed the opinions of the Underlords. We had finally proven to our leaders that they had not saved us in error so long ago.