Chapter 225: Puzzle
Chapter 225: Puzzle
“Mr. Williams, may I ask what ‘Bretan’ means?”
Eric had just finished speaking when Elizabeth, sitting at the end of the conference table, raised her small hand and asked. A faint teasing look flashed in her eyes.
Eric glared at her. “Liz, first tell me what Coruscant in Star Wars or Cybertron in Transformers means.”
“How would I know?” Elizabeth rolled her eyes as though it were only natural.
“Then shut up.” Eric had no intention of giving this pampered young lady any face. Joking around in private was fine, but doing this at work had already touched Eric’s bottom line. “If you interrupt again, I’ll have someone throw you out.”
Elizabeth wanted very badly to retort, “You dare?” But seeing Eric’s already darkened expression, the woman ultimately said nothing and only lowered her head, lightly sticking out her tongue.
Eric coughed softly and drew the attention of the writers, who had been curiously looking back and forth between him and Elizabeth. “All right, let’s continue.”
“In the vast universe, a planet named Bretan gave birth to intelligent life: the Bretans. After accumulating technology for hundreds of millions of years, the Bretans mastered space travel. This made them a very powerful force in the universe. However, as the long years passed, not only did the planet they relied on for survival approach destruction, the Bretans themselves also came close to extinction because of prolonged natural evolution…”
As Eric spoke to this point, he saw Elizabeth at the end of the table raise her small hand again. This time, however, the woman had become smarter. She did not speak directly and only stared at Eric with wide, curious eyes.
His narration interrupted again, Eric’s expression darkened as he thought for a moment. Only then did he squeeze out one word through his teeth.
“Speak!”
At the same time, he swore inwardly that if the woman caused trouble like before, he would throw her out directly.
“Mr. Williams, according to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, doesn’t life become more advanced the more it evolves? Then why are you saying that the Bretans nearly went extinct through natural evolution?”
Eric organized the information in his mind and replied, “Darwin’s Theory of Evolution only covers the shortest period in the process of life’s evolution. What I’m referring to is the developmental trend of species on the genetic level. Birth, development, prosperity, decline. This is an irresistible law of the universe. From galaxies down to atoms, nothing can escape this law. If you read more books, you’ll find that a species’ genes do not always evolve in a positive direction. Once development reaches a certain point, genetic sequences will also begin to decline and collapse. There’s currently a view in the scientific community that the human Y chromosome has already begun degenerating. Perhaps a few million years from now, only women will be left on Earth. Mm, assuming there are still humans on Earth by then.”
Amid the others’ soft laughter, Eric solemnly warned, “All right, Liz, this is the last time. From now on, no matter what questions you have, either hold them in or get out.”
Only after the woman unwillingly nodded did Eric continue. “All right, continuing from where I stopped. Facing impending extinction, the Bretans formulated an alien colonization plan vast in both time and space in order to continue their species. Using the technology they possessed, they created extremely advanced spacecraft. At the same time, they compressed their life force into a kind of black liquid with autonomous consciousness.”
Eric quickly wrote a keyword on the board.
“This black liquid carrying the Bretans’ life force is called ‘Black Oil.’ Spaceships carrying the remaining Bretans and Black Oil began flying through the boundless universe. When they encountered a planet suitable for the emergence of life, they would stop and use the Bretan genetic template within the Black Oil to guide life on that planet into appearing, developing, and evolving. Once a suitable species appeared, the Black Oil would activate, invading that species through infection. After a series of genetic modifications, the original species would disappear, and a new species, the complete form of the Bretans, would appear. Through this method, the Bretans completed the continuation of their species throughout the universe.”
As Eric explained, more and more keywords appeared on the writing board, and a tree diagram gradually took shape. The writers in the office also became immersed in the novel and grand science-fiction background Eric had conceived. Even the somewhat restless Elizabeth began listening with great interest.
“…Then, time arrived 3.7 billion years ago. The Bretans’ alien spacecraft finally reached Earth. They followed the same method and began guiding the repeated evolution and transformation of species on Earth. In order to produce a new species suitable for colonization, the Bretans did not hesitate to destroy existing species again and again. Four hundred forty million years ago, eighty-five percent of species went extinct. One hundred ninety-five million years ago, seventy-six percent of marine life disappeared. Sixty-five million years ago, the age of dinosaurs ended… These are only the mass extinction events that we humans can recognize within the scope of our scientific knowledge.
“With the most recent extinction of the dinosaurs, mammals began to flourish. After 3.7 billion years of waiting, the Bretans finally discovered a species suitable for Black Oil’s colonization operation: humans!”
“But the original humans did not possess any survival advantage in nature. In order to ensure that humans could reproduce and thrive as much as possible, the Bretans began catalyzing the progress of human civilization. Thus, humans learned to use tools, learned language, learned various skills. Even the emergence of various religions was guided by the Bretans from behind the scenes.
“And the final colonization date set by the Bretans for the Black Oil was December 21, 2012. On that day, the hidden Black Oil would launch its invasion, destroy humanity, and replace it with the Bretans’ Earthly form: the Little Greys.”
Eric used a magnet to attach a prepared photo of a typical alien to the writing board.
“During World War II, because of the rise of air power, humans finally realized that we were not alone in this universe. In 1945, near the end of World War II, the U.S. military luckily shot down a spacecraft over the Pacific near Japan. During the secret salvage operation, the Black Oil was discovered.
“Then came 1947, the famous Roswell crash incident. The federal government not only recovered an alien spacecraft, but also obtained alien corpses. Through a series of studies on the data from the alien spacecraft, the possibility of alien colonization was also discovered.
“In order to stop the Bretans’ colonization, the government secretly formed an organization that attempted to research methods to resist Bretan colonization. But during their research, the scientists in this organization discovered in despair that Black Oil colonization was irresistible. Therefore, in order to ensure that they and their families could survive after December 21, 2012, most members of this secret organization betrayed humanity and defected to the aliens, using the threat of nuclear destruction to force the aliens to accept their conditions. After colonization, they would continue to survive in the form of alien-human hybrids. This organization was called the Syndicate.”
After writing the word “Syndicate” at the end of the tree diagram, Eric turned around.
“All right. Next, the story of our science-fiction drama officially begins. Our protagonist, Fox Mulder’s father, William Mulder, was originally a member of the Syndicate, but he left the Syndicate because he firmly opposed defecting to the aliens. However, the aliens abducted William Mulder’s young daughter, Samantha Mulder. Fox Mulder happened to witness this scene as a child. After growing up, through deep hypnosis, he recalled what happened at the time. Thus, Fox Mulder developed an intense curiosity toward supernatural phenomena and never gave up searching for his younger sister. After graduating from Oxford University’s psychology department, Fox Mulder joined the FBI and soon transferred into a group specifically researching supernatural phenomena: the X-Files Unit. However, for a time, this group only had him alone, until several years later, his partner Dana Scully appeared. From there, they began their adventure.”
After Eric finished explaining the story background, one of the writers listening below asked, “Mr. Williams, do you want us to write a story about the male and female leads, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, discovering the Syndicate’s betrayal while searching for Mulder’s sister, then destroying the Bretans’ colonization conspiracy and saving all humanity?”
So American screenwriters of this era had already started showing signs of wanting to save all humanity, huh? Eric inwardly muttered before asking, “Your name is Peter Crix, right?”
The white man in his thirties who had spoken nodded. “Yes, Mr. Williams. I once participated in writing Star Trek.”
Eric did not look at him differently just because he had participated in the famous Star Trek series. Although both were science-fiction dramas, Star Trek and The X-Files were completely different and unrelated styles.
“Peter, if it were only as you just said, then I could complete the script alone. There would be no need for you to sit here.”
Hearing Eric say this, Peter Crix smiled awkwardly and did not refute him. With Eric’s reputation, he indeed had the confidence and qualifications to say such a thing.
“Since this television series is called The X-Files, the story will naturally unfold around the protagonists’ investigations into a series of supernatural phenomena. The style will mainly center on horror and suspense. So in my plan, the first season’s twenty-four episodes must feature twenty-four supernatural cases.”
Peter Crix asked again, “If that’s the case, wouldn’t this science-fiction drama become a science-fiction detective drama? Then what about the grand background you just described regarding the Bretans?”
“That is the reason I invited all of you here. What you need to do is connect these isolated supernatural phenomena with the Bretan colonization and the Syndicate conspiracy, forming a complete story that appears scattered on the surface but is actually deeply interconnected underneath.”
After Eric finished speaking, he turned and wrote another word on the writing board, then continued, “Based on this clue, I’ve thought of a subtitle for the first stage of this television drama: Puzzle. This stage may last around three seasons. Through three seasons of adventures, the protagonists will collect a series of clues and integrate them together, outlining the story background I just described before beginning the next stage of the story.”