Bait

The most frightening thing I have ever seen is the Gulf of Mexico from space.  It is circular.  A circle is a crater.

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The hunter waited. A terrifying brilliant ferocious huge man eating tiger, he chuckled, very quietly of course.  It was just another job.  Once it is a money matter, it becomes so simple.  The goat was bleating plaintively on its’ tether.  All as it should be.  He cradled the rifle in his arms thinking about how he would spend the money and with whom he would spend it. He startled, looked at the goat, it was still there.  What was wrong?  The goat was sitting.  It was quiet.  Too late, the hunter realized the goat was staring at him. His position revealed, he felt the tiger’s breath.

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One place to look for aliens is dust. Large successful alien civilizations left a lot of trash, at least at some periods of their development. The difficulty is that chemists usually start by burning or dissolving their samples. Finding a Teflon molecule in moon dust or an arctic ice column seems definitive. Just as we don’t yet have the technology to understand advanced communication, we probably won’t recognize alien detritus. When we do, it will seem obvious even common.

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-People have seen flying saucers.

-People have seen the Virgin Mary.

-That’s not real.

-More people have seen the Virgin Mary than have seen flying saucers.

-It’s not the same.

-The people who see the Virgin Mary sneer at the people who see flying saucers.  The people who see flying saucers sneer at the people who see the Virgin Mary.  If you see both you’re a Mormon.  Just because people see something, doesn’t make it so.

-Why would they make it up?

-Loss of faith; people want to believe in something.

-What about the aircraft carrier visits?

-Excellent example, here we are waving nuclear reactors over the ocean. Why would we prefer a visitation over an admission of ignorance of the physics?

-You think it’s all made up.

-That’s the most likely explanation.  It’s very unlikely that someone came all the way from Andromeda just to drain somebody’s sinuses. It’s an order of magnitude more likely that they are from the neighborhood.

-Where?

-Atlantis, it’s not likely. However, a higher level of primate is certainly more probable than aliens.

-Wouldn’t we know?

-Why would they tell us?

-Why would they let us live?

-Good point.  Primates are sometimes kind to each other, much less to other primate species.  They could be that different I suppose.  It’s more likely some small difference that gives them a big advantage.  Maybe they don’t have our resistance to disease.  Maybe they are moving forward in time until we wipe ourselves out. If it’s just us and them, why are we still here?

-So much for that theory.

-If it’s just us and them, they wouldn’t keep us around.

-Why would they otherwise?

-Bait.

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He stared at the blue planet.  Other species might sneer at the windows in their craft, at his species sense of wonder, now the windows were essential to their plan.  That planet had once been their home.  Then they met the Federation.  They had prospered with the Federation, assured themselves some measure of perpetuity, now it was time to pay their dues.

For thousands of years they had groomed the planet, allowed that other primate species, humans to have it.  It was horrifying to watch.  They had protected them from intrusion, waiting for this moment.  Now the enemy was approaching, a ghastly foe that enslaved the universe.

 

Their own craft was equipped with manual air systems, not the slightest electronic indication.  They waited for the enemy to materialize from their jump gates.  First the scouts came, next would come the huge behemoth ships.  Each jump gate had its own planet. After their experience in an earlier engagement the enemy made its jumps in two large waves.

 

The plan was after the scout wave, to power up and fire as one.  The destruction of such a huge ship in a jump gate would devastate its’ host planet.  Without their gates, the enemy would be helpless and the Federation could finally drive this scourge back into the darkness.

 

In the distance, they could see the haze that indicated the arrival of the behemoth enemy ships.  He stared at the planet and wondered if it would survive.  There were bright red lights shining from the planet.  He squinted. As he looked around, he gasped.  Each of their ships was glowing red.  The humans were shining lasers at their ships.

-Those bastards lit us up!

He screamed.