Project SERPO – The Exchange Program with Aliens from Zeta Reticuli (Part II)

Project Serpo was a top secret program initiated in the 1950s following the events collectively known as the Roswell Incident. It saw the relocation of a human crew to an alien planet as part of an ‘exchange’ program with the extraterrestrials populating it.

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Read Part I here

All crew members were allowed to roam freely and they traveled wherever they pleased. Halfway through their stay, they decided to relocate to the northern part of the planet, where temperatures were cooler and allowed for the growth of ample vegetation. The interplanetary human crew had experienced difficulties adapting to the hot and dry climate on Serpo, determined by the increased levels of solar radiation.

The visitors built a small community for the team,” the anonymous whistleblower wrote. “The only major problem was time. Time was different on the visitor’s planet. I don’t think anyone ever figured it out. The visitors had no clocks. They didn’t judge or account for time as we did. They found our attempts to account for time strange.”

Despite dismissing watches, the Ebens were extremely disciplined in their daily lives. Every one of them worked on a schedule based on the movement of their central sun. Speaking of suns, it never got completely dark on Serpo, on account of the second star dimly illuminating the sky whenever the central one set.

The Ebens were the only population present on Serpo and they numbered around 650,000, inhabiting many areas of the planet in relatively small communities. There was nothing like the metropolises we have here on Earth. Industry was present, although not on a large scale. All of their food was artificially-grown in large structures in the north. Although there were numerous animal species on Serpo, no meat was eaten and the Ebens found the idea appalling.

They did use some of the larger fauna as beasts of burden, though. It seems that intelligence warrants the subjugation of ‘lesser’ living things, no matter the planet. When considering the bigger picture, this does not bode well for us humans.

Transportation was done with the help of floating vehicles that relied on a power source that is unknown to humans. Pollution was virtually nonexistent and so was crime. While the Ebens had an army of sorts, no guns or any other weapons were ever seen by the human crew.

Each small community held meetings to discuss and resolve their internal issues but there was a central governing body that handled all the top-level decision-making.

Money was an unknown concept. So was capitalism or any other economic system based on differential levels of ownership. No commercial activity occurred, and instead of shops, stores and malls there were distribution centers. Each and every one of the Ebens were issued what they needed and everyone seemed pleased with the situation.

Things like death, religion, establishing a family and raising offspring were present albeit a bit different from human practices. The Ebens were not immortal and they too worshiped a Supreme Being. They also reportedly enjoyed playing team games and music was not unknown to them.

The Ebens did not evolve on Serpo. They had colonized the planet some 5,000 earth years prior to the events described here, after their initial home became threatened by intense volcanic activity. Having mastered spaceflight long before those cataclysmic events made them relocate, finding Serpo wasn’t an impossible feat.

They were no strangers to conflict and warfare either. The collective memory of the Ebens was marred with memories of a Great War fought against a hostile species from another planet. They had succeeded in eliminating the threat but at a great cost. The human crew speculated this was the reason why the total population numbered just 650,000 and what determined their aversion towards weapons.

As a spacefaring civilization, the Ebens were well-aware of the existence of other intelligent species in the far corners of our galaxy. Some were peaceful and some kept to themselves but the ones that are hostile made the subject of a stern warning. “Don’t attract their attention of those guys, we have neither the resources nor the interest to intervene should they set their eyes on your world” sounds sensible enough.

Despite the fact that the official report is said to stretch along 3,000 pages, much of the knowledge imparted by the settlers of Serpo was lost in translation and due to the human crew’s inability to comprehend certain concepts. Although scientists and linguists were chosen for the mission, they found it impossible to figure out parts of the Eben culture and most of their technology. And they weren’t allowed to bring anything back, despite it being the express will of their superiors.

Nothing is known about the defectors. For all we know, they could be alive and well, sipping on longevity elixirs and not regretting anything.

Attempts to contact the Ebens continued until 1988 but the only reply received was silence.

The men and women who returned had been exposed to high levels of radiation for extended periods of time and they suffered radiation-related illnesses as a result. The last surviving member of the Serpo exchange program died in a VA hospital in 2002. It appears there’s no direct way of determining the truth.

Wikipedia says there are no planets orbiting around the two Zeta Reticuli stars and that would seem to dismantle the entire theory. But it would be very unwise to think that Wikipedia is indeed neutral in its allegiance and completely out of the reach of the powers that be.

It would also be reckless to ignore that there are some inconsistencies in what we know about Project Serpo and some of the information allegedly brought back by the human crew legitimately raises suspicion. For example, the traits of their society loosely resemble those of our own. Is this evidence that intelligent life inherently follows a natural pattern and seeks to answer similar questions? Or do we chalk it off as the fabrication of someone seeking to disseminate a sensational story under the the umbrella of anonymity?

A third alternative is also possible. Project Serpo could be the modified echo of an interplanetary exchange program that indeed took place, its exact details lost or willfully suppressed. One thing is certain though: strange and covert operations do take place and will continue to do so, no matter what we believe or how big of a fuss we make about it.