12.09.25: The Alien Zoo

If aliens ever visit, they won’t study us in labs. They’ll build a zoo. Not cages, but curated spaces. Cities with invisible walls, humans going about daily life while extraterrestrial scientists observe. We’ll think it’s normal. Bills, traffic, grocery stores. Meanwhile, they’re writing papers: “The Ritual of Commuting,” “The Mating Dance of Nightclubs.” Every so often, glitches reveal the walls. Someone disappears into thin air. We call it a mystery, an unsolved case. But really, it’s just bad zoo maintenance. The terrifying part isn’t captivity. It’s the thought that maybe we’re already inside.