[ WP ] Aliens have arrived on modern earth . Instead of conquest or an invitation to a larger galactic society , they instead kneel and worship as us gods .

`` Good evening, we come in peace.'' Said an alien from their ship. One of them had clearly watched at least one Earthly sci-fi show. 
 
 `` Ah, yes. Hi. I kind of gathered that from the lack of guns.'' NASA had detected the aliens in advance, so I was well prepared with my response. Why had NASA chosen me to be the voice of humanity? I do n't know, I'm fairly sure the average human could be better represented by someone who does n't live in Cape Canaveral and does n't have an MSc in Engineering, but apparently NASA did n't care about that. 
 
 `` Great work Jon, humanity's first contact with aliens and you're sarcastic. Let me talk to them.'' Said Steve. Steve was not my superior officially, however he was a decade older than me, had a PhD in Engineering instead of an MSc and was smart enough for his opinion to be regarded as fact among the people he worked with. This meant that to all intents and purposes he was my superior. And he kind of had a point about the sarcasm. 
 
 `` Hi, can you help us to do space travel like you do?'' Said Steve. 
 
 `` Actually, we were rather hoping you could help us.'' Replied the alien spokesperson. 
 
 `` I'm not quite sure I catch your meaning, you seem to be our technological superiors, after all you're the ones that managed to travel across the galaxy.'' 
 
 `` Yes but... You see... We think you are Gods.'' I spat out my coffee. As if being told first thing on a Monday morning that the Hubble Space Telescope had picked up aliens was n't enough, I was now finding out they think humans are Gods. 
 
 `` Gods? Gods? Jesus Christ, most of us ca n't even make a slice of toast without burning it and they think we're Gods? This is a really strange week.'' I said with as much irony as I could muster through my shock. 
 
 `` Yeah but we ca n't say that to them. They think we're great, and you know what that means?'' Asked Steve. 
 
 `` No?'' I stated with the tonality of a question to highlight my ever-increasing confusion. 
 
 `` It means we have the advantage!'' 
 
 `` It might be better to put our efforts into cooperating with them rather than one-upping them. Let's at least ask them why they think we're Gods.'' Steve knew I was right. Our official superiors ( specifically Marsden ) had stressed the importance of being cooperative and non-confrontational with these aliens. Although that was hard given that neither of us had had any sleep that week and we were now effectively trapped in a radio booth for the foreseeable future. 
 
 `` Er.. What makes you think we're Gods?'' Asked Steve to the aliens. 
 
 `` You do n't tend to have large scale wars for a start.'' Replied the aliens. I was puzzled. The aliens continued regardless. `` I mean yeah you had the Crimean War and the Napoleonic wars, but you're also masters of diplomacy like at the Berlin conference, for example.'' Steve had also just become puzzled, as I had just gathered what was going on. I grabbed the microphone. 
 
 `` How far away from Earth do you live?'' I asked. 
 
 `` 103 light years,'' was the reply. Ah. That's why. It's 1913 for them. They're yet to see World War One or World War Two or the Cold War. They've seen the small ( ish ) number of deaths in wars in the 19th Century, and aliens who observed Earth from close up also observed our vast population and nuclear weapons. To them, it looks like we could have a large scale war, but have n't. 
 
 Steve said `` I'm not sure what to say.'' 
 
 `` Nor am I.'' I said. 
 
 `` Wait a second, how did they know about the significance of the phrase `` we come in peace'' if it's 1913 for them?'' I asked. 
 
 `` Coincidence.'' Replied Steve. `` Can you go and get Marsden, he'll know what to say to these dammed creatures.'' I left accordingly, not knowing that that would be the last I would ever see ones Steve, or the aliens.
