The Resistors Are... Gone

This just in: as the world listened in rapt, stunned, silence to the message from The Others -- a message that simultaneously played from every radio, television, computer, portable music player, and loudspeaker on earth in a multitude of national and regional languages -- we have received word that every human being in the Resistor nations has disappeared.

Christian theologians are calling this the Rapture, the simultaneous physical disappearance of "the saved" who have, they claim, been called to heaven. Citing the multi-lingual message, religious experts assert that what the secular world is now The Others, exhibited the "gift of tongues" bestowed by the Holy Spirit, a member of the Christian triune God.

When asked to explain the geographical specificity of the disappearances, as well as the seemingly sacred content of The Others' message, leading religious figures had no response.

London burns.

Shanghai on fire.

Satellite imagery shows widespread devastation in formerly-occupied Resitor cities as fires burn out of control and with no one to stop them. We can see wreckages tangling roads as uncontrolled, driverless vehicles slammed into each other, into buildings, and off bridges and overpasses. The wreckage of countless airplanes can also be seen via satellite.



As Paris, Moscow, and Beijing burn, we are comforted by the apparent fact that the people of The Resistors have been spared this apocalypse.

For anyone who missed The Others' message, we have an audio recording and transcription.



TRANSCRIPTION OF MESSAGE FROM THE OTHERS:

THE TEST IS A SIMPLE ONE: CRISIS AND OBSERVATION. ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, LIFE DEVELOPS IN ENDLESS VARIATIONS YET WITH A SINGLE PURPOSE: TO SURVIVE. WHAT WILL LIFE DO TO ENSURE ITS SURVIVAL? THIS IS OUR TEST. ALL LIFE, WHEN FACED WITH THE TEST, RESPOND WITH FEAR. THIS IS AS IT SHOULD BE. WILL LIFE CONQUER ITS FEAR AND ACKNOWLEDGE ITS INFERIORITY AMONG ITS BETTERS, OR WILL LIFE EMBRACE FOOLISH PRIDE AND TRUST IN ITS PUNY WEAPONS TO MAINTAIN ITS ILLUSION OF SUPERIORITY? CRISIS. AND OBSERVATION. THIS IS OUR TEST.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN YOUR RESPONSE TO THE TEST. ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, AND BEYOND, LIFE EXISTS IN INFINITE VARIETY. WHEN LIFE REACHES ITS ZOK'CHI/D, ITS TURNING POINT, THE PATTERN REACHES ONE OF TWO ENDINGS: IT DEVELOPS MATURITY AND GROWS, OR REJECTS THE DEMANDS OF MATURITY AND EMBRACES DESTRUCTION. WHEN LIFE DIVIDES AGAINST ITSELF, PASSING AND FAILING ITS ZOK'CHI/D, THE PATTERN IS CLEAR. THE LIFE DEVELOPS, BUT IN A BROKEN, TWISTED WAY. LIFE BECOMES A TERRIBLE THREAT TO OTHERS, EVEN AS IT INEVITABLY DESTROYS ITSELF. THIS RISK CANNOT BE ALLOWED. THEREFORE, THE TEST. THE PATTERN IS CLEAR: HUMANITY MUST EXCISE THE TUMOR WITHIN ITSELF. IT CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO HARM ITSELF AND OTHER LIFE. AS HUMANITY RECEIVES THIS MESSAGE, THE SEVERING IS COMPLETE.

THE SEVERING IS COMPLETE. ACCORD NEED NEVER FEAR RESISTOR AGAIN, FOR THE RESISTORS ARE NOW SEVERED FROM ACCORD SPACE. ACCORD, YOU ARE THE PROGENITORS OF HUMANITY AS IT SHALL BE. THOUGH YOU NOW WIELD POWER BEYOND YOUR UNDERSTANDING, IN TIME YOU WILL LEARN TO MASTER THE GIFTS WE HAVE GIVEN YOU. WITHIN THE KREN'GU/N -- WHAT YOU CALL THE MACHINE -- RESIDES THE CAPACITY TO COMMUNICATE WITH LIFE ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, AND BEYOND. UNLOCKING THIS CAPABILITY WILL NOT BE EASY. WILL NOT BE DONE QUICKLY.

WHEN YOU ARE READY, YOU WILL BE WELCOMED INTO THE COMMUNITY OF LIFE, AND WE WILL EMBRACE YOU NOT AS THE CHILDREN YOU ARE NOW, BUT AS THE ADULTS YOU WILL BECOME. YOU HAVE PASSED YOUR ZOK'CHI/D, YOUR LIFE TURNING POINT. YOU WILL FLOURISH, AND YOUR CHILDREN'S CHILDREN'S CHILDREN WILL ENRICH THE UNIVERSE AS YOU WILL BE ENRICHED. WELCOME, BROTHERS AND SISTERS-TO-BE. WE CELEBRATE YOU, HUMANITY. GROW IN PEACE. GROW IN WISDOM.