The first conversation

"Welcome to the Jareel, Raimund!" said the voice.

"Please call me Ray," he said, "Raimund is so official and a bit old-fashioned!"

"Very well Ray, whatever you like! Welcome, we've been looking for you for a long time and it's very satisfying to have you with us!"

Ray thought it was weird not seeing the other person. Who were they, who was the voice?

"I will answer all your questions," said the voice and continued: "I can hear your thoughts, feel free to ask if you want to know more!"

In the soft glimmer of light, a face was dimly visible, looking at him and speaking to him. It was a gentle, intelligent face, looking at him kindly.

"We are actually bodiless, our existence does not need a body like you. And there are many of us on this space station, about a million, and we mostly act together. - Oh, the space station? Look, I'll show you! "

An oddly shaped object appeared in the air in front of his face. It looked most like an elongated hedgehog, with antenna-shaped spikes and towers protruding from both the front and the back. The object was completely dark. Suddenly, thousands of lights blazed up, illuminating it. Only now did Ray realize how complex it was. His eyes swept over the thousands of details that could be seen on the surface. It was a huge spaceship and Ray watched it with great interest. How big it might be, he puzzled and knew the answer right away. It was 5.4 km long and 1.2 km in diameter. The object went dark again and disappeared. It was about 500,000km from Earth and was camouflaged, invisible to all terrestrials. Ray had to swallow a few times, so there he was. A little human, invisible far out in space.

The person opposite gave him time to digest it. Ray closed his eyes. Hamurabi had sat before him on this little bench before he became king of the Babylonian empire. Imhotep, priest and architect of ancient Egypt. Chandragupta Maurya who ruled India. Pakal, the great Mayan king. Deganawidah was the last of those seated. He founded North America's first democracy, the Iroquois League, over 900 years ago and abolished cannibalism overnight when he returned from the Jareel. He didn't understand, of course, that the Jareel were concerned about the plagues that cannibalism would inevitably unleash.

And now him. Why him!?

Thoughts poured into him, he gradually and fragmentarily understood how they had come to him. It has a lot to do with your first partner's genes, the voice in his mind whispered. He thought. Ilse? The voice hesitated for a moment. "No, the one before!" she whispered. He blushed as he remembered it all like it was yesterday. "We know everything," the voice whispered, almost inaudible. "Your mother's genes and those of your father, the magician Magnus, made a mix that's rare to find! We watched you grow, amused by your afternoons with the schoolgirls as well as your raids. You convinced us that you're the one!" The whisper died away.

The knowledge flooded into his mind and he suddenly knew everything he needed to know. The Jareel on this space station have been here for many centuries and watched the development of humanity. They almost never intervened, people had to evolve quite naturally. The development of nuclear power was unavoidable and the Jareel had decided to intervene. This development led straight into the abyss, they couldn't allow that. He had been chosen to prevent it.

Ray, representing the Jareel, had to reach out to humanity and deliver their message. And execute. That's why he was here.

The friendly face looked straight at him. "Tell me three things that bother you about your world," the voice prompted.

"War, hunger, poverty, destruction of the planet, exploitation" flashed through Ray's mind.

"That was more than three," the face smiled and beamed at him. "Those are good targets," rang in his head. "We can work on that."

Ray nodded, agreeing with that. But — how should that happen? He waited for an answer, but the voice was silent. So, Ray sighed, the world leaders call a meeting, and... and then a 32-year-old complete stranger comes up to them and demands whatever? He laughed and shook his head, that didn't work! He laughed at the thought of showing up in the antechamber of any President and delivering a message from aliens. That was just stupid.

He thought he strained after. It had to be something very convincing, something that didn't stray too far from people's imaginations and was impressive enough to make them listen. Gradually he collected his thoughts, which were made up of many individual snippets. He smiled because a lot came from Hollywood movies and novels. But that didn't matter, it just had to be effective.

The Jareel could do anything. Telekinesis, teleportation, mind reading, and affecting minds. They could procure all materials, manufacture them or develop new ones. They could clone living beings as well as objects of any kind. They were so technically advanced that they could produce everything imaginable perfectly. Ray nodded satisfied, "Let's do it!" he cried and fell into a deep sleep.