In reply to OrionWorks - Steven Vincent Johnson's message of Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:00:03 -0500: Hi, [snip]
While this is a wonderfully entertaining little SF tale, it doesn't really make sense on a galactic scale. Why go to all the trouble of growing "food" elsewhere, when it's much cheaper and easier to grow it at home? Note that interstellar travel capability implies an advanced technological society, certainly more than capable of growing all the food they would need. ...and besides those species already visit us frequently, and we are still around. ;) >------------------------------------------------------------ > >A Science Fiction Fable, by Steven Vincent Johnson > >------------------------------------------------------------ > > > >Dinner Bell > > > >We wondered if we were alone. While we hoped that wasn't the case none of >our calls had ever been answered. > > > >Eventually, as our technology came to fruition we acquired the god-like >power of space travel. In our tentative steps out into the cosmos we >discovered, much to our delight (and relief) that life did exist in precious >little pockets stashed here and there. We quickly discovered something that >surprised us. Many life forms appeared to have evolved from the same >singular genetic source, origins unknown. Statistically, in terms of how we >understood evolution to work, to have encountered such a large amount of >genetic uniformity made no sense to us. We assumed evolution would have >naturally engineered more diversity. But what did we really know about how >evolution worked; that's how we consoled ourselves. > > > >We eventually discovered that some of these life forms had spawned >civilizations. We finally discovered that some of the older civilizations >were sufficiently advanced to have visited our solar system long ago, if >they had really wanted to. Apparently, none had ever cared to do so. > > > >This lack of interest puzzled us. We decided to ask one of the advanced >civilizations why they had ignored our queries. We chose one we had >repeatedly transmitted greetings announcing our presence, a civilization we >assumed most assuredly must be aware of our efforts to contact them. > > > >On a fateful day we introduced ourselves in person. We asked our question. >They were horrified. They told us to leave immediately. It was too late for >us; that was their answer. They demanded we cease all forms of communication >with them, especially anything that could possibly pinpoint their location. > > > >We raced home. > > > >It was too late. Menacing armadas laced our skies like swarms of hungry >hornets. Black needles several kilometers in length spit out high energy >beams slicing through continents and oceans as if cutting through soft >butter. All life, bacteria all the way up to the most complex multi-cellular >organisms were sucked into vast refineries. Complex molecular structures our >planet had evolved over eons were unraveled and recombined into new matrices >compatible to the nutritional requirements of some unknown life form. > > > >Eventually, after their storage facilities had been filled they sterilized >the remaining surface area of our planet. The atmosphere was subsequently >reseeded with a new strain of bacteria, a strain possessing a hauntingly >similar singular genetic source. As quickly as they came, they left, content >to let evolution once again take its course. > > > >We phoned only to discover we had rung someone's dinner bell. > > > >We phoned only to discover we were truly alone. > > > >--- > >Regards > >Steven Vincent Johnson > >www.OrionWorks.com > >www.zazzle.com/orionworks > > > > Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/Project.html
