The Paradox by Alex Percim

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As the continued ringing of the alarm clock slowly awakened him, Josh Cardingly became aware of were he was. It was nothing new for him and yet with every hangover came a renewed feeling of resentment and distane of who he was and what he was. "Shit! What did I do with my sneakers," he mumbled after slowly and carefully moving out of bed and into to the darkened room, after shutting off the alarm clock of course. Yet another day had dawned upon this earth for him, and yet he still couldn't seem to find his damn sneakers. "Didn't leave them at the party that's for sure," he said, still careful not to move his head to quickly. Only hard labor under the constant supervision of foreman Kilahan awaited him, and here he was rushing through morning trying to get to a stupid, low paying, back-breaking job on time. "Ironic isn't it?" he thought. "Or is that sarcasm? Hated my English teacher anyway. Never get anywhere."

* * *

A few miles away, a conversation was taking place which, although Josh Cardingly would never realize it, he would help to bring to something of a close. As Dr. Mercadine had done so many times at lunch, he was becoming more and more frustrated with Professor Ashkor. Although this discussion was somewhat outside his field of expertise, he felt just as passionately that he was correct.
"You just can't seem to comprehend the truth about the universe Professor," said Dr. Mercadine. "Is it that inconceivable to you that there have to be millions of other Earth like planets just within our galaxy, and that on at least a handful, and probably many more, advanced life forms must have developed some time within the past few billion years?"
"No, Doctor," said Professor Ashkor. "But the fact of the matter is that despite our continuous searches over the past decades, not one sign of their existent has manifested itself. If there were other, more advanced cultures in the galaxy, it would be reasonable to assume that they would have spread throughout the galaxy to some extent, and by extension be somewhat visible to our rather primitive radio searches. It is inconceivable to me that any civilization would arise that would not, within the first few dozen millennium of existence, spread their radio broadcasts throughout their entire portion of the galaxy. Upon their certain spread throughout the galaxy they would have to leave behind some trace of their existence for future primitives to stumble upon."
"Perhaps, Professor, perhaps. But how can you simply dismiss the fact that other civilizations must arise? Have all others besides us simply died out?"
"I will never know, Doctor. This Paradox simply must be left for future generations to consider, and eventually to answer. I do know one thing, however. If in fact, as it appears all previous civilizations, and there must have been many, have died out without a trace, it does not bode well for ours."


* * *

Billy Kilahan hated many people. Some he hated with a fervor unmatched. Some he hated because of some wrong they had caused him.