Allen the Alien, Chapter 9

“Allen, my friend,” said Fearless Leader, looking down at his emissary through his catlike eyes. “How goes your mission to this primitive world?”

“In some ways they are more advanced than we surmised, and in some ways not so much,” Allen said.

“Let’s begin with the good news, then,” said Fearless Leader. “How are they more advanced?”

“They were welcoming and eager to make friends, even after learning we are from another planet,” said Allen. “As you know, most species are very wary and consider us scary at first.”

“That is a good sign,” Fearless Leader agreed.

“And for the most part they were trusting and honest with us,” added TriSight.

“Hmmm,” said their leader. “You said, ‘for the most part,’ which means they weren’t entirely trusting and honest.”

“Their leader seems to have an agenda she is reluctant to share,” Allen admitted.

“Oh, really?” said Fearless Leader.

“I believe she wants our help to defeat her political adversaries,” Allen said.

“And of course you told her we don’t do that,” the leader emphasized.

“Of course,” TriSight said. “Her aide did say she has good intentions and seeks peace.”

“Peace on her terms,” Fearless Leader scoffed. “This suggests this planet has not yet advanced much beyond amoebas.”

“So far, we’ve only encountered one such native,” Allen said. “Unfortunately, she is in a position of respect and power.”

“Unfortunate indeed. We have seen what disasters ensue on worlds where such so-called leaders are allowed to thrive. We may have to consider nipping this is in the bud.”

“If I may, I believe it’s too early to draw any conclusions,” said Allen. “Let me interact with them for time to get a better understanding of their civilization.”

“You may for now. But we don’t have a great deal of time to make a decision. We have three choices.”

“Three? Either they join the federation or they don’t. What’s the third choice?”

“If there is a proclivity towards violence, they present an eventual danger to the galaxy. The planet must not be allowed to become a danger.”

“You can’t mean —” Allen sputtered.

“I mean exactly what I said,” said Fearless Leader.

TriSight looked at his emissary friend and back to his leader. What passed through the aide’s mind was indeed troubling.

On the premise that life is precious

Picking up a random phrase from the other day, when I thought about writing “a dark and desolate tale of monsters with two legs and weapons and oppression on their minds”:

Do politicians get up in the morning and think, “How can I steal more liberty and further oppress the oppressed today?” When Adolf Hitler was a kid, did he want to be an evil dictator when he grew up? Do world leaders love to kill people and break things, or do the bomb and missile manufacturers make them an offer they can’t refuse?

If it’s illegal to make bombs in your basement, why do we let people build factories to make bombs by the thousand? By “we,” of course, I don’t mean you and I, because I do not condone bomb-making and I’m pretty sure you don’t, either.

I think we try to teach our kids that life is precious and to be respected. Households of my faith should be telling kids to love God and love their neighbors, and that the word neighbors encompasses their enemies. Of course, we probably have to define the word encompass for them, and if they’re young enough we may even have to explain what an enemy is.

It’s my opinion that the average human wants to live and let live, and we suppress the urge to kill on those rare occasions when something upsets or angers us enough for violence to enter our thoughts. Only the sociopaths who rise to high levels of government feel comfortable with the idea of killing other humans, and those are the ones responsible for most of the killing in this world.

You have to have a screw loose in the first place to consider yourself worthy of ruling other people, and so it’s no surprise that it’s government leaders who are fine with making life-and-death decisions about people they’ve never met. They have so many screws loose that it’s a wonder anything is still attached.

A Halloween fantasy

Throwback Thursday — Sept. 29, 2024. You may have noticed I have started using Thursdays to spotlight past blog posts that have found their way into my books. Two years ago I wrote a novel by writing a different chapter every day for 34 days. This is the beginning of the post that became Chapter 2 of Dejah & Summer in the Time of Magic. My two golden retrievers have suddenly started talking, and Dejah mentions that there seems to be an inter-dimensional portal in the back yard …

“Eww, you need to pick up back here more,” said Summer, who was the timid young dog.

“I’ll take care of it after we deal with this inter-dimensional portal that Dejah found near the garden shed,” I said, watching my step anyway.

“It’s right over here,” Dejah said.

“I’m still a little freaked out that you’re talking,” I admitted.

“That freaks you out, but not the inter-dimensional portal floating in the air?” Dejah said.

“Well, I have to say that adds to the freakout factor.”

We reached the garden shed. Sure enough, some sort of round glowing thing was hanging in the air, kind of a cross between the Guardian of Forever in Star Trek and the Stargate in Stargate except without the artificial structure forming it, and we could see another world through it. Not an alien world — we could see grass and trees on the other side — just a different world.

“Hang on,” Dejah said, looking up through the portal. “What’s that?”

“I don’t see anything.”

“That’s because you’re not looking from down here.”

Then I saw what she meant. A shadow fell across the opening, and then a huge, scaly foot appeared. It was ghastly and gnarled and looked more like a tree trunk than animal skin, with three clawed toes.

The foot began a cautious descent through the portal into the back yard.

“I’m going back in the house now,” said Summer, and she scampered up the stairs to the deck.

– – – – –

You can read what happens next by clicking back through my blog archive to Sept. 28 through Nov. 1, 2024, or by asking your favorite bookseller to order Dejah & Summer in the Time of Magic, ISBN 979-8-9863331-8-2. You can also just buy the ebook and start reading now by clicking on this link. In any case, thank you for your attention and happy reading!