Humanity’s Saving Grace
09 Sep 2021Lee Taylor
Commander Lee TaylorComrade, Communism Interstellar
Until the 34th Century, the concept of humanity’s relationship alien civilisation was seldom considered. It has been known that alien civilisations exist for centuries; the Martian artefact proved this. Later, humanity’s encounters with the Thargoids- little more than a rumour to most, but in fact, we now know, well documented and accounted for by the powers that be- made the existence of other civilizations tangible, beyond a xeno-archaelogical curiosity. Since the turn of the century, knowledge of the Thargoids has improved, particularly amongst spacers, and we now know much about now-extinct Guardian civilisation.
That only brings into focus the maddening question, the Fermi Paradox, where are all the aliens? It beggars belief that only three civilisations could have emerged in the galaxy so close to one another, and not further. Explorers (I myself among them) have travelled the entirety of the Milky Way and have yet to discover evidence of alien civilisations beyond those about which we already have knowledge. There are several explanations for this. The general assumption is that hyperspace capable probes were sent out across the galaxy centuries ago, evidence of other civilisations was obtained, and once the technology became available to actually reach them, the regions within which they could be found were permit-locked, either to protect us from them or them from us. This must’ve been accomplished at the best of some powerful and secretive agency, which sounds paranoid, but there is little other explanation for the permit-locking.
That said, it is reasonably likely that there is an astronomical explanation for the local cluster of civilisation-formation- the development of space-faring civilisation likely requires elements only produced by second-order supernovae, and the volume of space near Sol appears to be unusually resplendent with white dwarves, so it’s possible that the stellar neighbourhood around the Bubble is simply more conducive to the evolution of civilisation. I suspect that this is the case, but it seems likely more civilisations are known of, beyond what’s been made known to the public.
One could speculate endlessly about this topic, but the subject of this article is not whether extant alien civilizations exist in the Milky Way. I believe that it is more than reasonable to assume that they do. At the very least, the Thargoids appear to be far less aggressive and territorial than we have been led to believe; they are known to simply leave human-piloted spacecraft alone, provided that the craft is not carrying stolen Thargoid materials. The spare of assaults on human space stations a few years ago, widespread across the bubble, were probably attempts to reclaim stolen meta-alloys being held there. Proof of this is wanting, but the evidence I believe is compelling. During the period during which Thargoid probes (then Unknown Artefacts) were being sold to stations, the stations would become largely inoperable. They could be ‘cured’ using meta-alloys. Many communist stations were “UA-bombed” at this time, but we specifically did not ‘cure’ them and asked others not to do so. (The governments concerned were able to care for the citizens on board, there was no loss of life due to this practice.)
Consequently, with no meta-alloys being held at these stations, not a single communist station coreward of Sol was attacked by Thargoids. Analysis of the numbers suggests that this is likely not a coincidence. This brings us to the topic of this article; what do alien civilisations think of us?
It seems to be the case that the Thargoids know and understand us. It is said that they know that we do not act collectively, as a species, and they appear to judge individuals upon their actions. Considering humanity has reached out kleptomaniacally and violently towards them, I believe that the Thargoids judge us more warmly than perhaps we as a species deserve. CI maintains a generally non-aggressive relationship to the Thargoids, and we believe that this may have paid off in the long run- but as always with the Thargoids, it remains a mystery. We do not understand them, and at the rate things are going, we may never do so.
The Guardians are an extinct species. The xeno-archaeological data we have gathered from them suggests that the living species was wiped out by the Constructs, artificial intelligences that they created. This is conjecture on my part- but I see no reason to assume that the Constructs do not still exist. Indeed, they may have uploaded the minds of the Guardians to their monolith network and they, and the Constructs, survive to this day. If so, I believe we are being judged by them- and given their reputed veneration of nature and disdain of war, I believe that they are judging us positively.
So far, humanity’s greatest contribution to the galaxy has been its prolific terraformation projects. The Federation’s history is inextricably bound with the profound regret over the destructiveness to the living environment of Earth, and regret over the biospheres of some of its earliest colonies. Its policy of terraforming dead worlds, rather than overtaking worlds with indigenous life, is a policy which has mostly been continued in the Independent and Alliance systems. Even the Empire, which does not entertain such a policy, and is indeed founded in flagrant defiance of it, mostly inhabits terraformed worlds. And that policy of terraforming new worlds will forever add to the galaxy’s biodiversity- it is a permanent addition to the wonder and majesty of the universe.
As regards war, one merely needs to peruse the galmap to see that armed conflicts are extremely widespread, all the time. However, they are also extremely limited in scope. The Guardians were divided into civilisation wide opposing groups, and were completely consumed by warfare, ultimately. Even humanity, divided as it is into superpowers, has never been so consumed by warfare. It seems humans are predisposed to a kind of individuality and identity that prevents us from being consumed by warfare as the Guardians were. Not only that, but burgeoning independence movements across the galaxy have been gradually winnowing the strength of the two major superpowers. Our wars are also highly limited in scope, seldom endangering civilian populations- civilians are either evacuated from or encouraged to keep clear of well-defined combat zones. Even in the sphere of war, losses of life are minimal; it seems that the true measure of the victor in a conflict is whoever can bring the largest capital investment to it. Ships are sacrificed, relatively few lives are, considering the stakes.
Beyond this, we have received tantalising glimpses that we are being watched by beings far more advanced than we. Jasmina Halsey’s account of alien contact and the story of Gan Romero both suggest that there are is an alien civilisation or civilisations about which we know nothing tangible. Indeed, they may not themselves be tangible, at least in a physical sense. Again, I believe humanity’s terraforming efforts will see us, in the long term, judged as net contributors to the galaxy.
Efforts to expand and terraform the worlds of the frontier (of the Bubble) have stalled as of late and are a sad reflection of the hyper-capitalistic system of galactic finance and industry. I believe that continuing to terraform new worlds is not merely a sound long-term investment (something that the galaxy’s factions seem to have forgotten) but one that will, ultimately, protect humanity from negative judgement. I believe that this will, in the long term, protect us from attack by alien civilisations worried about our continued expansion, provided we stick to the policy of only terraforming lifeless world. If it does not, and our civilisation is, somehow, destroyed, I believe that our efforts to bring life to the galaxy will prove to those civilisations that arise later that we were a force for good in the universe. And who knows- it’s possible that new civilisations may evolve from the ecosystems of the very worlds we have terraformed. What greater legacy for us to leave could there be than that?