By Kris P. Pendragon
A rainy morning, June 3rd, 2025
While having a chat with a friend about the horrid state of things in the world, the topic of aliens came up. I had brought up that aliens may want to help us and my friend asked the question, ‘Why would they want to help us?’ in the context of, what would be the point.
The usual appearance of aliens in science fiction, with few notable exceptions, is the trope of attack, enslavement, colonization, or genocide of the human population. Like zombies in horror, this trope is massively overused. But it sells and makes money. It also cheapens what Science Fiction is meant to be; a genre that gets you to think of ‘what if’ possibilities. It is meant to have you ask questions. It is meant to exercise those interesting brains we have. This trope of alien attack is a human-centric view and shows us reflecting our own history onto the page or screen. Much like monsters of the early B movies are seen as reflection of ourselves, we see aliens as what we are afraid of because we’ve done it to ourselves for so long.
In the novel, Tourists, I pose a different scenario. The aliens encountered have a uniquely alien view. Yes, they would like to build hotels and be tourists on Earth, but not in the way we would think. They would not interact with us in any way. They would put up hotels and simply be viewing and touring the beauty of Earth, and ignoring us completely. Our planet is rare and simply gorgeous to them. Our cultures are not their concern. In my worldscape, human cultures are not unique in the Galaxy and the aliens have no interest in our cultures at all. As the story progresses, it is shown how much similarity there is in the various cultures throughout the galaxy even though the species are all very different from one another. Humans tend to focus on differences and threat, while the aliens focus on uniqueness and connection.
“You have a beautiful planet. We’d like to keep it that way.” This quote drives the story behind Tourists and is said by the main alien character, Raal. The deeper meanings and consequences of this quote come to light as the story moves on. Of course the planet would be beautiful without us, even after we had made it uninhabitable. There are countless planets in the galaxy that do not support life of any kind that have amazing landscapes. They are fantastic to look at and a wonder to tour. But, they can get boring and Tourists seldom stay long on these planets. Planets that have life are stunning. Planets that have species that care for their planet are a true wonder to behold. The alien translation for a beautiful planet is equated with the connection of its ecosystems, and not just the landscape views. These are the planets that are hard to leave. They draw Tourists to stay. To linger. To marvel.
The aliens translate the concept of technology as Understanding. Their Understanding is far more advanced, and consequently more subtle, than ours. They don’t have computers, they use quantum particles for information acquisition and sharing. Their math incorporates infinity. They travel through space by aligning all particles into a vibration and simply Blink to where they want to be, just like a quantum particle. They Understand how to symbiotically link to the ‘flow’ of everything. They grow their structures. Once they start protecting the planet from us, the consequences become evident.
The Galactic Community is vast and Understands the fragility of planets like Earth. The aliens have a culture of Acceptance and bring other species into the Galactic Community in order to be able to tour more planets, and simply increase their Understanding. The aliens want to protect and preserve the Earth and us as a species. By helping the Earth’s ecosystems stay connected and balanced the aliens would help us with the environmental issues we face, relieving poverty and hunger as a byproduct. This would allow the aliens to enjoy touring Earth as it is, instead of having it degrade into a semi life supporting planet, or worse, a lifeless landscape. It would be pretty, but not as stunning and exciting like it is now. If humans agree to the terms offered, Tourists will want to visit and humans will benefit from the process to make this so.
If the leaders of Earth do decide to allow the aliens their hotels and touring, the aliens would be in charge of how the planet is kept for 100 of our years. During this process we would gain access to technology related to energy, transportation, disposal of toxic substances, replacements for those substances, and mathematics. After which, we would regain total sovereignty and would be given the tools to become active and engaged participants in the Galactic Community, if we so wish. That sounds good on the surface, but what does that really mean? What would it take to stop the destruction of our current ecosystems and our beauty? Would we still be able to live in the places we do? How far have we grown out of balance and what would it take to bring us back?
The main concern of the aliens about our species is not that we would be able to take up the new Understandings, since the aliens see our brains as very interesting, but that we can honor the main point of the Agreements we as a species would be signing onto. We, as a species, would need to accept other species and interact with them. The aliens do see our habit of fighting and killing ourselves over cultural differences and ideology. The 100 years is not so the planet can right itself. That process would take much less time once all our harmful activities were halted, and that would be done quickly by the aliens, much to our anger. Under the context of a more connected life on Earth, the 100 years is given as a realistic time frame for humans as a whole to gain acceptance of each other, and consequently the rest of the Galactic Community. If we don’t achieve that goal the Earth would be blockaded, isolated, and all alien assistance would be halted. We would be offered the opportunity to begin the process again every 100 years. We could accept or decline.
If we are not able to achieve Acceptance, the consequences would be dire. Or not. In isolation we would have to choose amongst ourselves if we were to revert backwards from the 100 years of progress, or continue forward at a much slower pace to eventually meet the goals the aliens required of us. Or, we succeed. We achieve our given goal of accepting each other and the rest of the Galactic Community. We become active members. We contribute. We evolve. Which will it be?
The protagonist of the story is Aster. She partners with Raal to help him bring about the possibility of humans joining the Galactic Community. She is descended from enslaved and colonized peoples. She knows full well the consequences of what the aliens could do to humans. What if they're lying to us? What if it’s just a trap? Because, that’s what we would do. Aster must wrestle with this dilemma. This weight is immense on her shoulders. She may be bringing about the possibility of never having colonization and enslavement happen again. She may be saving life as we know it on the planet. Or, she will be helping to possibly enslave, colonize, even wipe out humans from the Earth. She left Earth because of one tragedy too many. She never wanted to return again. Now she is back attempting to literally make a better world. She must trust Raal. Ultimately, they must trust each other.
This is why I imagine aliens would help us.
*****
If you would like to follow my progress in writing this speculative science fiction novel, please check out my Buy Me A Coffee page. The novel has been completed since 2014. Due to life intervening, I have worked on it and set it down many times since its completion, and it is finally in the second / third draft stage. I am posting chapters with the beginnings available for all to read, and the remainder is visible to subscribers. Currently I have eight chapters up and more are on the way. If you buy me a Double Espresso (which is four dollars) you become a subscriber and get to view the chapters in their entirety. Plus, your small contribution helps keep my internet on. If you would like to chat, please follow me on Bluesky.
Here’s to imagination. May it take us to worlds we never knew, and show us different ways of being.
Kris P.
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