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About 20 years ago, I read a sci-fi short story that was at least 40-50 years old itself, where an alien race has contacted Earth to let the human race know that the alien race is the creator of all life on Earth and the early ancestors of humans.

This race is returning because their experiment concerning creating a new planet is over and they have decided that humans have become too dangerous and need to be reassimilated back into the original alien race.

The story ends with the race telling humans that all of them will once again become the same "color" and for those who find they are the "wrong" color, not to worry as they will be made into the "right" color of the alien race. The aliens reveal the color as a bit of a bombshell in the last line.

I do remember looking at a picture of the author and he kind of looked like Buddy Holly.

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  • This was just asked and answered in the last few days!
    – Ernest Friedman-Hill
    Jul 30, 2015 at 19:48
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    scifi.stackexchange.com/q/96257/1253
    – Ernest Friedman-Hill
    Jul 30, 2015 at 19:53
  • Does that sound like it?
    – Ernest Friedman-Hill
    Jul 30, 2015 at 19:54
  • That does sound like it. I guess I didn't see that post before I posted mine, I'm still becoming familiar with the site. Thank you for responding.
    – Tara
    Aug 7, 2015 at 18:32
  • I just posted this on META: I have to question what makes a story ID question a duplicate? Is it the answer? I ask because the name of a book could be the answer to several different questions. Just because the answer is the same doesn't mean the questions were. It's a slippery slope.
    – Major Stackings
    Aug 13, 2015 at 4:23

1 Answer 1

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As I said in my answer to a recent, very similar question:

It's "Reunion", by Arthur C. Clarke.

It's a message from the descendants of the original colonisers of planet Earth.

People of Earth, do not be afraid. We come in peace — and why not? For we are your cousins; we have been here before.

They describe how the colonists became ill with a disfiguring disease, that caused strife between the victims of the disease and those that were immune to it.

The twist is in the ending of the message:

If any of you are still white, we can cure you.

Whether Arthur C. Clarke, the writer, looks like Buddy Holly, is for you to decide.

Arthur C. Clarke

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  • PEGGY SUE!!!!!!!
    – Ernest Friedman-Hill
    Jul 31, 2015 at 0:58
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    Thank you for the title, SQB. I didn't see that other post. My apologies for repeating the question, but I do appreciate you responding. I'll write down the title this time!
    – Tara
    Aug 7, 2015 at 18:34
  • Thanks, @SQB! I marked your answer with the checkmark! Have a good weekend!
    – Tara
    Aug 14, 2015 at 22:19
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    @Tara Great, thanks! And stick around, who knows what questions you may be able to answer in turn. Did you by any chance ever read a story about the number 3 on the clock?
    – SQB
    Aug 14, 2015 at 23:05

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