Ten billion years after the universe came into being, a star was born. A collapsing nebula, a cosmic curtain. And light burst forth to illuminate the face of Sol. The Sun. Its audience of dust circled, bumping and colliding, combining ever closer in the debut of a gaseous giant. Compelled to organize and align as 8 planetary bodies, dutifully keeping time. A metronomic masterpiece. And here this act may have remained in perpetual gravitas, save the antics and occupancy of the third row.
The rocky member of this chair spewed forth volcanic. Perspiring under a shower of icy comets. For millennia it toiled in transformation. Its surface cooled to hide a molten fire within. Warm, wet, weathered. Earth. And here, dwarfed at the feet of its immense conductor, the Earth played a few pale, blue, notes. Chemistry at speed. Chains of carbon connecting in improvised riffs. The beat of life begins on earth.
Flying, swimming, biting, scratching, vying, rimming, fighting, hatching. Dancing for survival to a set of evolving steps.
And soon enough, from among his biological partners rose a self appointed victor of killing and copulation. The first sentient being on Earth. The first being to walk upon the heavenly neighbor the Moon. Man.
Man, though he is unique, is not unique in ways he once thought. Sentience is common in the Universe. No it is not sentience or even intelligence that sets man apart. His galactic neighbors have one and all failed to branch with man upon a single branch in the tree of life.
Hundreds of thousands of years ago, on the plains of Africa, the birthplace of humanity, occurred a single event that changed the history of mankind.
One man farted, another laughed.
The first joke, and a genetic domino effect that resulted with man's place as the Universal Jester.
Jerry watched as the atmosphere faded into blackness. He could feel the three martinis start to ascend his stomach as gravity handed off its responsibility to his seat belt.
An Andromedan flight attendant passed and stuck a tube of peanut butter onto the velcro tray in front of Jerry's seat.
"What's the deal with airline food anyway?"
"HaHa. The aliens will love that."
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Seinfeld in Space.