Aliens in Saturn system, 1979

Okay, not really aliens. The Kuiper Beasts came from somewhere else originally, but that was a long time ago; they have been living in the Solar System since the late Precambrian. It turns out that most main sequence stars have a halo of icy objects; this is the KB's niche, all across the galaxy and possibly beyond.

(Yes, this is sort of a James Nicoll thread.)

The KBs perfect habitat would be a small, cold, icy moon with an ambient temperature around 30 degrees absolute and low (<tenth of a gee) surface gravity. They're adaptable, though, and can live almost anywhere that's under 100 absolute. Saturn is right at the edge of this, but the KBs keep a lot of industrial base there because the energy flux is so high. They never come further in towards the Sun, though they could send robots if they really wanted to.

So, POD 1979: Pioneer 11 sends back photos showing all sorts of stuff going on: factories, big slow starships and tugs, solar panel arrays, you name it. Frantic attempts to contact the "aliens" follow.

A problem is that the KBs have close to zero interest in small hot rocky worlds or the things that live on them. One reason is that they're almost entirely lacking in abstract curiosity. Another is that their long long history tells them getting too friendly with hotlife tends to end badly -- usually with the hotlife getting uppity and having to be sharply rebuked. Since the Beasts are heirs to several hundred million years of technological progress, rebukes can be dismayingly permanent.

So KB responses tend to be few, short, and to the point: Yes, we know you're there. No, we're not interested in talking. Please don't bother us.

That said, they don't mind an orbiter or two floating around Saturn as long as it doesn't get in the way. A good enough orbiter may provide some interesting insights; KB technology doesn't violate or severely bend any laws of nature (no antigrav, total conversion, or FTL) but it's very very advanced, and some of the works around Saturn are using very large amounts of energy and mass to Do Stuff.

Nearly thirty years after initial contact, though, they still have no interest in talking to us.

Thoughts? Consequences for human culture? Technology, philosophy, religion?


Doug M.
 

ninebucks

Banned
I'm sceptical that a species without abstract curiosity could develop any kind of technology.

But in any case, surely we would have things to trade? The chemical composition of the inner and outer Solar System are quite different, and one half is richer in certain materials than t'other.
 
I'm sceptical that a species without abstract curiosity could develop any kind of technology.

[shrug] Maybe they're not curious, but they're very pragmatic, with a natural bent towards the scientific method. Maybe they got their technology from somewhere else. Maybe they were curious until they got as much technology as they needed, and then they got rid of curiosity as nonadaptive. Maybe they throw up rare geniuses every hundred millenia. Or maybe curiosity is overrated.

We just don't know.


But in any case, surely we would have things to trade? The chemical composition of the inner and outer Solar System are quite different, and one half is richer in certain materials than t'other.

Well, but "we" are stuck at the bottom of a rather deep gravity well. And in the unlikely event they want something from Mercury, they don't need our permission to go get it.


Doug M.
 

Hnau

Banned
Very interesting. I'll do some research on possible divergences. What do the Kuiper beasts look like? What kind of biochemistry do they have? What propulsion system do they use for their starships? Also, how do they communicate to us that they don't want to be bothered?
 
Last edited:
REagan/Breshnev Doctrine

New York City, UN HQ 1980

President Reagan, along with the Soviet UN Ambassador jointly annouced the Breshnev/REagan DOctrine (in alphabetical order:)).

Both nations have agreed that in the interests of humanity that neither nation will ever intrude on the domain of the dangerously advanced aliens in our outer system. Furthermore that neither nation would be will to allow any other nation to do so and would cooperate to prevent such dangerous activities.

All other space capable nations were invited to sign on to the agreement.

Later all other space capable nations were pressured to sign on to the agreement.

Later in became painfully obvious that no nation was going to be bothering the aliens without going through the combined space power of both the US and the USSR.
 

Vivisfugue

Banned
Minor quibble. In 1980, Carter would still be president - in the US, the president-elect doesn't take office until January 20th of the odd-numbered year following the election; otherwise, I dig this concept - please continue.
 
Pretty cool.

I'd assume that since they survive in such icy conditions, they have some kind of biological antifreeze in them. Please don't give them a humanoid appearance...this is one of those sensible ASB things. More like realistic sci-fi.
 

Hnau

Banned
Definitely a Second Space Race, with the USSR and USA (with maybe other players... China? Japan? India? Brazil?) spending a higher amount on space-related technologies, equivalent to the 1960s. This kind of spending probably continues through the 1980s, starts to level off throughout the 1990s, and approaches normal levels by the 2000s when the idea of aliens near Saturn becomes everyday information. Hopefully we'll be able to get spaceplanes, orbital hotels and a lunar base by this time, though.

There will be a lot of international agreements over the Kuiper Beasts, what to do if they attack, conditions on sending probes out to their territory, etc. etc. I can see some primitive orbital weapons systems being created: magnetic space launchers for short-range, new surface-to-orbit missiles for long range. Humans won't be comfortable until something of an orbital defense system is created.

Lots of militarization of space, I'll say.

By the year 2008, I'd expect at least three militarized space stations with a more permanent design (lasting for a few decades), at least one orbital hotels and a space-plane business, as well as at least 100 people living on the Moon in space colonies. As for Mars, I doubt there's been a landing as of yet, with everything focused on defense and investigation of the KBs, but its getting there. There are probes in Martian orbit, as well as in Jupiter orbit, that give constant readings in case the KBs decide to invade, for whatever reason. Meanwhile, many automated missions have been sent into KB space to take pictures, with no response...
 
Top