At precisely the same moment all over the earth,
Spaceships landed in every nation's capital city.
Aliens emerged proclaiming they brought a gift of great worth.
Should earthlings refuse it, why it would be such a great pity.

For this gift was a revolutionary device that would allow
Mankind to travel around the world at unbelievable speed.
A tremendous advance centuries beyond Man's technological know-how
That would provide all the travel convenience Mankind would ever need.

With it Man could travel across town or thousands of miles in a minute.
Just think of the time this would save; think of the safety issue.
No more driving for days; it would need no gasoline to propel it.
No more hours flying in airplanes; travel would enter an age brand new.

The aliens would make this travel device readily available to all
Once every nation had agreed to their deal and signed on the dotted line.
The price they demanded in return was in their mind really quite small.
The aliens would simply extract a certain human toll, then all would be fine.

Only 200,000 humans worldwide would be taken by the aliens each year.
For example, the U.S. would see a mere 10,000 randomly removed.
Mankind soon realized the fate of those abducted was something to fear.
They were to disappear (all right, be killed if you will) for travel to be improved.

Such a demand for human sacrifice caused a worldwide angry uproar.
The aliens were sent away never to return; Man adamantly rejected their deal.
Departing they stated that to them it all made no sense for Man to ignore
That he sacrificed 100,000s more lives for an inferior travel device, the automobile!

The aliens spread the word that earthlings are a totally illogical breed.
Why reject a deal to advance travel AND save so many lives? Why indeed?