The sixty-eighth annual meeting, the first after first contact with the Zozmasians, was a quiet, subdued, and somber affair. With the revelation that the Zozmasians were only a few centuries ahead of Earth in space fairing technology and had only recently had their breakthrough to interstellar travel; the organization’s detractors were more than happy to point out how unlikely it was that another alien race had visited Earth thousands of years ago. There was talk of disbanding or rebranding as Anomalous Archaeological Artifact Theorists Organization, to preserve the acronym.
The following year saw a resurgence of the organization. Over the course of the year the Zozmasians had shared technology with Earth. Among the images of shared tech was a Zozmasian space suit. A sharp eyed member of the AAATO matched details of it to several ancient carvings of “unknown figures”. New theories sprang up. Were the Zozmasians lying about never visiting Earth before? Maybe they were time travelers? The space distortion drive they used to reach Earth might have the potential to bend time as, well some argued.
Before the seventieth annual meeting of the AAATO, a group of Zozmasians asked speak. There was some question about allowing non-members to present at the meeting. This rule was originally put in force to prevent outsiders from taking the stage and heckling the gathered members. A brief meeting was held and the Zozmasian group was granted honorary member status in the same way esteemed astrophysicist Raymond Lopez had been for the fiftieth annual meeting twenty years earlier.
At the seventieth annual meeting, the Zozmasians took the stage after the opening remarks. They thanked the members for allowing them to speak and began their presentation. Behind them a widely circulated image showing the similarities between Zozmasian tech and ancient Earth carving appeared. The Zozmasian speaker highlighted a few more similarities. Then a new image appeared. An Earth space suit beside a stone carving that clearly resembled the space suit.
The Zozmasian speaker said, “This carving is seven thousand Earth years old and was found on our homeworld. There are many more like it. We would like to create a collaboration with your organization to further the study of these anomalous artifacts.”
The Interstellar Ancient Alien Astronaut Theorists Organization had it’s first meeting the following year.