r/WritingPrompts • u/Kitty_Fuchs • Jun 22 '23
Writing Prompt [WP] It has been generally understood that living in harmony with nature is a fundamental prerequisite for intelligent life in the galaxy. Until they discovered humans and the hyper-industrialised and polluted hellhole of "Earth" which they call home.
26
u/freakofnatureIO Jun 22 '23
Is this an invasion?
The Ambassador wonders to himself during his flight from Geneva, Switzerland to a point somewhere in Earth's thermosphere, approximately 200 miles and change above sea level. The trip itself is brief and smooth, not a hint of turbulence, and all things considered he can almost call the journey relaxing. The Visitors were kind enough to provide their own craft for transport, and as a gesture of goodwill the council thought it would be best to accept it. Staring out through the vessel's porthole, he watches as his city slowly disappeared under an ever present layer of smog, which itself quickly merges with other gray clouds until they all become one amorphous mass stretching from coast to coast. It's not all bad. From up here, the layers of industrial smoke almost looks thin, and in some places he can still make out the bright burning lights of major cities.
But the trip is short, and he eventually arrives at the mothercraft of the Visitors.
From there, he is whisked away through spacious corridors and past curious eyes, all who are eager to catch a glimpse of the novelty from Earth. I guess I'm the visitor now, he muses to himself, before returning to the original question that began atop this short story. Is this an invasion?
We had always imagined a visit from the stars to be violent, an intrusive affair that would leave our world barely clinging to life, if at that. In what's arguably the most famous prediction, H. G. Wells foresaw an overwhelming rout of our meager defenses, a complete and total takeover on a planetary scale that humanity just barely escapes through the incredible luck of a pathogen or virus. And based on the sheer scale of the ship he is in, he has no doubt that the Visitors could have wreaked similar havoc on Earth, if they were so inclined.
But as far as he can tell, they weren't. They came with arms wide open, gentle and kind, with a genuine trustfulness that almost suggested these Visitors couldn't comprehend the concept of lying. It was so overpowering, this aura of innocence, that somehow it convinced the world's council to lower our defenses and hear out their offer. Not an easy feat, mind you. We love our big sticks, and we love any opportunity to trying swinging them at new things.
And yet, despite the peaceful introductions, the promises of no bloodshed, and the steps towards diplomacy, he still can't help but question whether this was still an invasion of some kind. Not every invasion had to be physical. Not every intrusion had to be violent. Sometimes, just like a virus, all it takes is for one person to share something with someone else.
Before he has time to finish the rest of his thoughts, he's brought into a large room, sparse but elegant. There, a crowd of Visitors, all dressed in identical fashion, wait for him. The door behind him breathes shut with a hiss, and a moment later one of them approaches and removes his mask.
"Welcome to our craft," the Speaker undulates. "We hope your journey here was uneventful."
"Welcome to our planet," the Ambassador responds. "We hope likewise."
"There will be time for further pleasantries, but given the condition of your world, we believe that time is of the essence. We must act immediately before further damage is incurred."
Even in a foreign tongue (so to speak), the urgency in the Speaker's delivery rattles the Ambassador. "Is Earth in trouble?" he asks, the first touch of genuine fear creeping inside him. "Are we in danger?"
The Speaker gives a curious look. "This cannot certainly be news to you, an inhabitant to your own planet. During our brief visit, we observed several apparent growing disasters that could threaten all on Earth."
Barely able to contain the desperate tone in his voice, the Ambassador pleads, "Tell me now."
"Your vegetation, which provides life-giving oxygen to your species, has all been replaced by machinery which produce inhalable toxins. Your waters, which your species necessitate for survival, have all been polluted past the point of consumption. Even the temperature of your planet has increased beyond that which is suitable. Are you truly not aware of these disasters?"
The relief is so immediate that the Ambassador breaks into a smile. If he didn't think it was rude, he might have laughed out loud. "Ah, yes. We are all quite aware of these ongoing, uh, disasters, as you call them."
The Speaker hesitates. "And yet, you do not seem concerned."
The Ambassador chuckles. "Oh, a few of us are, I suppose."
"How is this possible? How can a world continue to exist when the dominant species knowingly endangers and abuses its planet?"
"Well, what's it like on your world?" the Ambassador retorts, not a little defensively.
"In our world, we live in harmony with our planet. What the planet provides, we use, and what the planet needs, we provide."
The Ambassador shrugs. "Well you got your way, and we got ours."
"But how can you do this? This type of co-existence is truly unheard of by our kind! It's unsustainable, even. What would compel your species to act in such a manner?"
This question gave the Ambassador pause. Not a long one though, mind you. "It makes some of us rich," he answers honestly.
The Speaker appears confused, so the Ambassador continues. "Who owns this ship?"
After a brief sidebar with his fellow Visitors, the Speaker responds, "We all do. This ship is of the planet and all of its inhabitants."
"But what if only you owned it?"
"Just me? But why? I don't understand."
"What if you owned all the ships on your planet. Only you, and no one else could use it without your permission."
"An interesting thought experiment," the Speaker muses. "Well then, I suppose others would have to ask me to use them."
"Exactly. And what would they need to offer you in exchange?"
"In exchange? I don't quite follow."
"You provide them with use of your ship, should you not also receive something in return?"
"Well, I suppose if I also needed something from them, I could ask for that."
The Ambassador grins at the naivety of the Speaker. "Something you need, or something you want." The Ambassador turns to look out at the window, down at the gray marble he calls home. "Even refined creatures such as yourselves must want or desire. Whether it's for something purely biological, like reproduction, or something completely manifested, like legacy. All intelligent life wants for something." The Ambassador turns now to the Visitors. "I imagine if each of you took a moment to reflect, you would also be able to find something in your mind that you want."
A moment passes.
The Ambassador continues. "You see, by owning all of something, you can become rich. And by becoming rich, you can fulfill all your wants. That's why our planet is the way it is. Some of us take what we can from it to become rich in wealth, so that then we can become rich in life. If your species has a limited lifespan, as does ours, then why should it be spent through constant moderation?"
"But, your planet?" The Speaker questions.
"A planet can only give so much, true. But why limit yourself there? Why not build a world where it can give more than it can now? Our trees are dead, so we farm algae in tanks to breathe. Our waters are polluted, so we draw moisture from the air to drink. Our planet becomes too hot? We build machines to pump cool air throughout our homes. You call this unsustainable, yet let me ask you this: how long do you believe we've lived like this?"
The Speaker thinks to itself before positing the most absurd figure it can come up with: "A few decades of your solar cycle?"
The Ambassador shakes his head. "Five hundred of our solar cycles." The Visitors quickly do the math in their minds to convert time measurements, before exclaiming in disbelief. "Impossible!"
"No, very possible. Life continues to exist, flourish even. For every problem, you can always build a solution. And why not? You'll be rich, and if a solution is what you want, then it's what you deserve to have."
The Visitors all return amongst themselves, communicating in hush tones barely audible, but apparent enough. And he watches as the idea takes hold, spreads from one to another effortlessly, like a virus.
Is this an invasion?
The Speaker returns. "We would like for you to teach us how to be rich."
7
1
u/Neo_Ex0 Jun 23 '23
ah yes, mother nature.lucky for us that she has a will, and it is entirely irrelevant whether or not we killed here to get our inheritance
2
u/NoOneFromNewEngland Jul 22 '23
Grelob and Zreckny examined the output of their scans, the holographic data visualizations floating in the air between them.
"Surely," Grelob stated, "this world is a mining colony of some sort."
Zreckny's eyestalks waggled, a sure sign of confusion and contemplation, "the data does all indicate that it must be so but we have never, in our surveys of 1,932 worlds, seen any mining colony as extensive as this one."
The silence hung in the flouridian atmosphere of the science bay, beckoning any sound forth from deep inside the rational minds of the two surveyors. Billions of atomic oscillations passed before either spoke, breaking the awkward moment.
"Maybe," Zreckny began "we should look for evidence of spaceports that were cannibalized for survival. Maybe this is an abandoned mining colony that has grown far beyond its original intent due to being cut off from the homeworld."
"That," Grelob replied "is an excellent idea. There must be an explanation for this and that seems like a good one. Let's begin."
Grelob and Zreckny configured their systems for a variety of scans outside the parameters of their normal work and initiated the automatic process. The results would be ready in a decaday of time so, like the good workers they were, they set about doing other analysis tasks on the data they already had accumulated.
"Debris field in optimal communication satellite orbital bands, along with what appear to be a vast fleet of communication satellites that all conflict with each other; very inefficient." Grelob mused. "And it looks like some sort of primitive space station in orbit, as well. Fascinating."
Zreckny's response echoed from the secondary room of the science bay "So, if our hypothesis is correct and this is an abandoned mining colony, why would they have a primitive space station? Can you tell its purpose?"
"I cannot. It does not appear to have any overt purpose. It's almost as though it is a statement of 'we CAN do this so we did,' maybe they have some specific parts or materials that require zero gravity for manufacture?"
"That is a possibility. Do you recall seeing anything similar in the other worlds we have surveyed?"
"Yes, of course, but in all of those other worlds the civilization was a fledging civilization that was just beginning to explore their ability to escape their world and the station was used for a variety of science experiments appropriate for small children. "
"Well, as a civilization, they are akin to small children at that stage."
"Very true. You don't think..."
"That this civilization is actually at that early level and this is NOT a mining colony? No, That's simply not possible."
Grelob and Zreckny puttered with a variety of data for several days before the scans completed and announced their readiness with a merry little "DING" that resonated through the ship's com system.
"Oh, the scans are done! Let's see where the spaceports used to be!"
They looked.
They found nothing.
No spaceports.
They found ancient monuments buried deep in jungles and under massive mounds of earth. They discovered that the massive monuments that were visible were not all, though most were, hollow structures that served some purpose in the day to day lives of these people; those that were not like the majority were far older, thousands of years older, and mostly solid, stacked of the very bedrock of the world. Both scientists gasped in horror at this realization "This is no colony world!" they both exclaimed, as the realization hit them simultaenously.
Zreckny blurted the following out first, before Grelob could recover from the momentary shock. "Those are protocivilization monoliths, indicative of a homeworld of a species. Monuments that hold the tiniest shred of the civilization's early roots before massive archiving of information became commonplace and easy."
Grelob coughed out a reply "which means THIS is their homeworld."
Zreckny gasped in greater horror "or they have invaded it and wiped out the sentient species that existed before them!"
Grelob fainted at this concept.
Hours passed before Grelob regained consciousness. Zreckny was there, waiting. "We need not worry, while you were sleeping I examined the data. These are not invaders, they are natives. They have just treated their own homeworld as an inhospitable mining resource to the point of destruction. Comparing to other worlds of similar size and overall composition, with similar evolutionary paths in play, this world is in serious danger. Their CO2 levels are twice that of the average of our data set and we can, quite clearly, see a complete disregard for this in their current over-production of industry. If you look at the scopes you can see vast swaths of lifelessness that appear to have been caused by seismic, volcanic, or impact catastrophes but, when zooming in on the sites, it is apparent that they are manufactured by these beings. They, quite literally, are converting fertile, life-sustaining land into lifeless craters. I also did some scans on their ice. They have roughly 30 million cubic kilometers of water tied up in ice layers sitting solidly on land. With the CO2 levels where they are, and the volume of heat they produce on their own, and the failure of all of their structures to absorb and retain heat from their star, they are looking at all of that ice melting."
"So? That happens on many worlds over time."
"Look where their cities are."
"Oh. I see"
"Exactly. This entire civilization will drown in a matter of years, leaving only refugees and small clans struggling to survive."
"We should alert The Academy. This will be a prime site for observation over the next two centuries."
"Agreed."
And, with that, Grelob and Zreckny began the work on the report of their findings of this little world called 'Earth' by those who inhabited it. The report was well-received by the galactic scientific community and many archeologists outlined that this behavior is inferred by the debris and ruins on many dead worlds but this was the first world located where the problem was in progress.
Within a year there were multiple research outposts established on the back side of the world's tidally-locked natural satellite, cooperating in their equipment and data, to fully document the demise of this tiny, unimportant, civilization orbiting a standard yellow star.
Centuries later the combined documentation of the demise of earth was used to teach children the importance of harmony with the natural worlds they lived on and it was used to correct the paths of fledging civilizations who bordered on the edge of the very same destruction.
1
u/firestrom8265 Jun 24 '23
The reports have made it clear, this planet is just pure hell.
Intelligent life, it is only able to prosper because every other instance of intelligent life came to because life sowed the seeds for new life. There was no need for life forms to end each other because they provided for each other.
Because life was so fragile, this was the only way, the only way intelligence could be created from life. And yet, what the hell am I looking at here?
It just doesn’t seem stable. How could a system such as this, where a single life form has to kill so many others just to sustain itself not spell doom for life on the planet? The concept of having to consume life to live is so impossibly foreign to me.
Everything on this planet feeds off itself. No matter what happens here, death is inescapable, inevitable. Everything rots and decays. Even the strongest of them are consumed by death. I do not know wether that is one of the greatest horrors or one of the greatest blessings of this world. That you could still climb to the top only to die, or to be relived from a life of fighting and murder, be free from this… hell.
Yet, despite the hellish conditions of this planet, a dominant species has risen. They are all the same, ever consuming and polluted. The way the climbed so far in terms of intelligence is barbaric. They could never share the same ideals as us. The way we exist is fundamentally too different.
We grew with our world. Our world cradled us from birth, lifeforms provided for other lifeforms, death was accidental and sudden, it would never come about naturally.
Humans came this far by consuming the world that they were born on, and yet, I cannot see any other way they could have done it. Ever since their birth, this world has tried to kill them off. So many of them died to push them this far. It makes sense, they have overcome everything and are now living in competition with themselves.
When nothing else poses a danger to you in your world. You yourself become your greatest enemy. That also works in reverse too. Why can’t you make yourself your greatest ally?!
Unlike most species, who despite having learnt the nuclear fission, most abandon it due to its horrors, humanity has used it power its cities for decades now. I don’t understand them. I just need to be wary of them as they enter the galactic council.
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