Prologue

“Don’t get involved.”

That’s what they always told us.

We are to observe only; we are never to interfere with the lives of others.

I suppose that’s how we ended up labelled as “the Watchers”, though that is not our true name.

“Don’t get involved.”

If you had to give us an Earth term, I guess you could say that we are scientists, tasked with watching planets capable of sentient life.

We are all over the galaxy. There is no known planet that we do not watch.

Any my unit is set to watch the planet Earth.

We aren’t told why we have to watch these planets, only that it is for the greater good of the galaxy and all of the beings in it.

“Don’t get involved.”

It makes sense.

They don’t want us getting too attached to the planet that we are watching. Any interference would greatly alter the natural progression of the species.

That is why we watch, to gather data on the progression of life of as many species as we can. Interference on our part would corrupt the data.

It’s hard not to get attached though.

As soon as we have graduated from our lessons, we are sent out to a newly developing planet.

And we watch that planet, from its beginning to its end, for our entire lives.

It’s a lonely existence, but someone has to do it. The data we collect is vital.

“All for the greater good.”

What I want to know is, who is the good for?

What or who are we collecting this data for?

And how do they expect us not to get attached to beings that we have observed for our entire lives?

Think about it.

You try to watch someone, anyone, for your entire life.

You would know them, at a more intimate level than anyone else that you know.

You would see their birth, their death, likes, dislikes, hobbies, little quirks of their personality.

Strengths, weaknesses, evolutions.

I have been watching Earth since the inception of humanity.

I know them.

You could maybe see why, when I had the chance to make a difference, that I would want to take that chance.

After a lifetime of watching humans die, even after my shipmates have grown accustomed to the constant cycle of life, I find myself still affected by each death I witness.

With an average lifespan of a human being between 80 and 90 years of age, that is a horrendous amount of deaths to see, especially when 80 or 90 years is but the blink of an eye to my kind.

“Don’t get involved.”

It is our number one rule, the first lesson that they teach us.

“Don’t get involved.”

When I saw the astronaut drift away from the ship, I knew something was wrong.

They tell us to not get involved with the lives of the species that we watch, but I knew that I had to save this one life.

So despite knowing that I was breaking every rule that I was ever taught, despite knowing that my actions could (and probably would) destroy most, if not all, of our Earth data…

Despite knowing off of these things, I still saved that astronaut.

I still got involved.