We Will Destroy Your Planet Page 14

  If it is for some reason important to you to return the subjects, you should replace them in their sleeping quarters or vehicle afterwards. Their complete disappearance will arouse suspicion, and potentially actions against you, but their abduction and return will simply be considered normal, or dismissed as a figment of their imagination.

  When you are ready to return your subjects to their sleeping quarters or vehicle, you should take action to suppress their immediate short-term memory, in order to prevent them from either going in to immediate shock, or taking hostile revenge actions. This can be accomplished by either chemical or electromagnetic means. If you are using chemical means, something with a fresh citrus taste will be more readily accepted.

  It is quite likely that the subjects will remember the events on a subconscious level, which can be accessed later by hypnosis. This is not undesirable, as you will want to maintain any bond and familiarity that has formed in previous encounters when you return for subsequent studies.

  HUMAN RESOURCES

  Around 65–70% of the human body is actually water, and the elements that compose it are, in the main, oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium and phosphorus. A total of 20% of the average human is in the form of proteins, and 1–2% lipids, which should make them quite nutritious when freeze-dried.

  Carbohydrates are in the form of glycogen and glucose, while other factors include sodium, potassium, amino acids, and fatty acids.

  If you do intend to make use of the nutritional value of humans, you must be very sure to keep this fact from them. Any evidence of intent, or documentation to this effect, must be disguised as being intended for other purposes. Recipe files, for example, should be encrypted, perhaps as some form of diplomatic instructions.

  VETERINARY CONCERNS

  Maintaining the health and fitness of your captives/slaves/subjects on any space voyage, whether to your homeworld or other locations in which you have an interest and a need for humans, is something you will need to think about before initiating any such programme.

  The human body is entirely adapted to existence on the Earth’s surface, in an upright position, and long-term exposure to microgravity in space has negative effects on it.

  In particular, you will find that your humans experience some muscular atrophy and bone decalcification – osteopenia. You will need to ensure your humans maintain an exercise regimen to counteract the muscular atrophy, while mineral supplements and elasticated pressure suits should help compress the limbs and slow the process of osteopenia. Their cardiovascular systems will also slow, as less blood pressure is required to pump blood to the upper parts of the body, and this may affect those who have cardiac arrhythmia.

  Almost half of humans – 45% – also suffer from what NASA calls space adaptation syndrome, and is a form of motion sickness caused by the fluids in the inner ear changing distribution. This results in dizziness and vomiting, but fortunately has been observed to last a maximum of 72 hours, and no longer. Nevertheless, you will need to be prepared for cleaning of biohazardous materials.

  Other effects and problems your humans may suffer include anaemia – a decrease in red blood cells – fluid redistribution around the fatty tissues of the body, and, doubtless to the embarrassment or amusement of the humans, excess flatulence as gas is redistributed.

  All of these problems are purely temporary, and will resolve themselves when the affected human is returned to a surface with stable gravity. Recent research by the Earth’s space flight authorities, however, has shown that there may be risks of more permanent damage, in particular to the eyesight, and to some of the brain’s pathways. It has recently been suggested that prolonged exposure to microgravity may in fact hasten the development of deteriorative brain conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.

  In order to prevent these problems, it is advisable to make sure that the environment on board any transport starships you use is suitable for human cargo/passengers. Ideally, some form of artificial gravity should be used. Failing that, it would be best to house the humans – and, indeed, any other live specimens from Earth, in a rotating section of the ship, in order that centrifugal force should provide the appropriate effects.

  Alternatively, try using the rearmost interior bulkheads of your ships as the deck for the human quarters, and make sure to maintain a constant acceleration. Please be aware, however, that launch pressures greater than 3g may prove harmful to those specimens who are particularly young or old, and those who are infirm or injured. It’s best to ensure there are upholstered supports and couches for the humans to lie on for takeoff, to avoid spinal and limb damage, and injuries from falls. Launch pressures greater than about 7g will be harmful to all of your specimens, so you must limit your takeoff acceleration.

  ALIEN ABDUCTIONS

  According to popular myth, aliens have been abducting humans and conducting medical experiments and studies upon them for several decades now.

  The first abduction report came from the US in 1961, although there would later be reports of abductions that had supposedly happened earlier. For example, a Brazilian man was supposedly abducted and seduced by an alien temptress in 1956, though the report wasn’t made until many year later.

  In September of 1961, a couple, Betty and Barney Hill, were driving late one night when they saw a UFO in the sky. They stopped to watch it through binoculars for a while, then continued their journey. At which point, the UFO landed, stopped their car, and several beings took the couple into the ship for medical examinations. The couple forgot all of this at the time, having found themselves further along the road than they remembered driving, but began to remember their experience after having nightmares about it.

  When they consulted a hypnotherapist a couple of weeks later, the story came out under hypnosis that they had been abducted by aliens for medical experiments. Among other things, they described the aliens as being grey-skinned, with large wraparound eyes. Betty Hill claimed to remember being shown a star map of the aliens’ home planet, and drew a reproduction of it. From this hypnotic regression to unlock what they thought were repressed memories, these two things changed the perception of aliens.

  Before the Hill case, the 1950s had seen a fashion for people claiming to have contacted aliens from Mars, Venus and Saturn, who were quite human and friendly, and concerned about Earth’s development of nuclear power. These reports of so-called ‘contactees’ drew on a mix of worry for the future in the post-war atomic era, the burgeoning hippie movement, religion, and carried with a touch of the spiritualist – making contact with intelligences from beyond this world.

  After the Hill case hit the headlines, reports of abductions for medical experimentation by little grey men from Zeta Reticuli flooded the more sensationalist media, and this model became the accepted norm for fictional contact with aliens. Today, this is still the standard form of alien when people report an abduction. But where did it really come from?

  In the case of the map, probably just random coincidence. After Betty Hill’s drawing of it was published, a primary school teacher from Ohio decided to try to decode it. She assumed that one of the stars on the map must be the Sun, and started making three-dimensional models out of string, comparing arrangements with a star catalogue until she found a match for the line of travel on the map, which she equated to an origin at Zeta II Reticuli. Others have tried the same thing, and generally come up with completely different origin points for the aliens every time, but the Zeta II Reticuli identification stuck in the public consciousness.

  As for why the aliens are grey, with large eyes that wrap around to the side of their heads, there are two possibilities. One is that aliens of that nature are visiting the Earth. The other is that the Hills’ were subconsciously remembering an alien played by John Hoyt in The Outer Limits episode The Bellero Shield. This alien appeared in the show right at the time the Hills were having their nightmares, which prompted them to seek hypnosis. The show was in black and white, so the alien was grey, and it was th
e first alien with wraparound eyes in SF. True, there had been aliens with large black eyes in Invaders from Mars in 1953, but those aliens were the then-traditional green, and their eyes were not wraparound.

  Since then, the Greys have pretty much sewn up the market for aliens in the developed world (though South America prefers to report hairy dwarves, and lizard-men have always been runners-up), and poor John Hoyt probably never knew what he’d started.

  ADDING HUMANS TO YOUR SOCIETY

  Rather than eliminating the population of the Earth, a potential option for running the planet – especially if you have a relatively small population, and not really enough people to populate your new property with – is to convert the native population into members of your population. Obviously this will prove easiest if your society is some kind of Empire or Federation made up of many species from different planets – however if your society is heavily into genetic, racial, or cultural purity this will not be an acceptable alternative.

  If your society is one made up of multiple species, or indeed is a culture that has been engineered into your present form through choice, then the various kinds of adoption, conversion and assimilation are all viable options.

  YOU WILL BE LIKE US

  Species that have reached or passed the point of machine-organic singularity may actually require organic components to continue expansion, especially if they have developed to a point beyond organic reproduction. In such an instance, cloned flesh, skin or organs should be a practical consideration for immediate repairs, but if there is a need for a self-sustaining, self-aware and mobile organic component, then humans or other terrestrial animal species may be an appropriate source of new additions.

  If your species has reached and passed the point of machine-organic singularity, you may have eschewed natural biological forms of reproduction. In that instance, in order to increase your population to occupy any expansion of territory, it may be necessary to find or create others with that machine-organic singularity.

  The human race has not yet reached the point of singularity, and so you may find it necessary to impose that blending of organic and machine by upgrading humanity to incorporate technology alongside biology, in order to assimilate them into your society. This can be attempted in several different ways. Cybernetic enhancements to the physical body can be made by means of surgery, of course, and such procedures to repair physical injury are known and used on Earth already.

  There is still the danger of tissue rejecting the implants, of course, and if the subject is not properly psychologically prepared for the replacement of natural body parts with artificial and technological prostheses, problems will arise. Also, simple mechanical prostheses are a long way from integrating the new cyborg into a true post-singularity culture, as they will not have the mental access to the computing power of the society without being able to connect the brain’s neuroelectrical function to that of the network as a whole. Nor will the network be able to access the brain, and the organic components will still age and be prone to disease.

  You may be seeking to convert humans to a fully artificial form, either entirely cybernetic, as robots, or even entirely digital, as consciousnesses stored in non-physical media. Completely converting humanity into a machine form would perhaps be more a matter of simply uploading the consciousness and mind to a stored digital form and then downloading it into a prepared artificial physical form. This would really just be copying the original mind, however, rather than converting the life form as a whole. On the upside, you could download duplicates of important or valuable personas into whichever form is required.

  That being the case, mind you, you could easily populate your new planet with only the best personas, by simply mass-producing bodies to download copies into. That way you can relax and not worry about preserving whole populations, as a dozen or so original personas should be more than enough. You will always, however, have to be on your guard against the possibility of rebellion or revenge from upgraded copies or survivors of a wiped-out humanity.

  If your use for the native species of Earth lies along the route of cybernetic conversion, food, or medical use, you might find it less troublesome to keep the human subjects at least sedated, if not in suspended animation. This will reduce the likelihood of insurgency or active resistance.

  There are both advantages and disadvantages to this approach. One good thing is that keeping your humans sedated or in a medically induced coma will prevent their physical resistance. They will be unable to deviate from your intentions for them, and you can more precisely control the necessary nutrients or chemical additives that are given to them, by means of intravenous feeds.

  There is, however, a downside, especially if you intend them to be used either as a food source or as a work force or organic base to your cybernetic hybrid with machine implants. That downside is muscular atrophy. No matter how good the nutrition, inactivity will cause muscular degradation, which means that they will be less effective as cybernetic organisms or workers, and of less good quality meat, if you’re thinking that way.

  It’s therefore wise, in either case, to allow a certain amount of exercise, to keep your humans at peak fitness for whatever purpose you have in mind for them. In order to limit the chance of resistance, you should probably dose their atmosphere with a light sedative, to keep them docile and non-aggressive.

  KEEPING YOUR HUMANS UNDER CONTROL

  It should go without saying that whether your human population consists of a few individuals in a cell, or all the peoples of the Earth, you will have to ensure that their behaviour is acceptable to you, and that rebellion is, at the very least, discouraged.

  There are many ways to effect control of individuals and populations, ranging from the threat of painful death for the slightest infractions, to rewards of unparalleled treasures for loyalty, with brainwashing and direct telepathic oversight somewhere in between.

  Your preference in this regard will depend largely on your attitude to both yourselves and other life forms. Specifically, you will doubtless be more inclined to rule by fear if you have a cultural need to view yourself as superior and more valid life forms. It’s easier to mistreat those whom you don’t feel quite qualify as a true sentient or civilized species. Fortunately this approach will be well understood on Earth.

  BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION

  Bribery and corruption are the constant bedfellows of politics and power, and you don’t have to have memorized all of the rules and regulations about galactic deal-making and commerce to know that absolutely everyone wants something at some point.

  What you can offer the corruptible officials of Earth is surprisingly less obvious. After all, the Earth’s currencies and financial systems are in no way related to yours, so you’re presumably not going to have terrestrial currency available, and any forms of currency that your society may have will be of no value to the humans you’re trying to bribe.

  It may be possible for you to acquire terrestrial currency – either as actual banknotes or as financial data in accounts held on Earth – as part of a pre-landing intelligence-gathering phase. This will obviously be easier to achieve if you yourselves are able to pass for human, or can control human natives in order to make transactions and maintain accounts for you.

  If you cannot bribe with currency, then the two real options open to you are to offer either some other form of valuable commodity, such as precious metals, technology, and so on, or else to simply offer actual personal power.

  Humans, especially those in positions of authority, are frequently prone to being paid in money – the different forms of tokens of agreed exchange used on Earth – or rewarded by the expansion of their power and influence in return for making certain decisions. It is therefore quite possible that such people in authority can be paid in local currency, or otherwise persuaded to make decisions and instigate policy that benefits your ambitions.

  This strategy can be used ahead of a full-scale invasion to, for example, reduce defensive mili
tary forces, feed them false information about your plans and capabilities, order military units to be posted away from your landing sites, and so on.

  In fact, it is also a strategy suitable for using instead of military action. As the legendary military theorist, Sun Tzu, put it, the greatest honour lies in defeating your enemy without fighting him, as if you have to fight then you have already lost the first challenge. This approach is, however, probably less fun. If you’re looking to live on Earth long-term either covertly or simply going native, bribery and corruption will be even more important than keeping your human subjects in line.

  RELIGION

  The use of religion has long been proved an effective method of controlling societies, regardless of the origin of the religion in question.

  Religion and its opposites are also excellent ways in which to arrange for different groups of resistance factions to kill each other off, or at least distract each other from the threat your invasion poses. In theocratic and religious-dominated human societies, there has historically been a tendency for secular groups to turn to extremism and violence if they feel persecuted or marginalized. Conversely, in more secular human societies, religious extremism has been prone to violence for exactly the same reasons. Essentially, the group not in power in its society tends to become radicalized against the group in power.

  This is worth exploiting as part of your strategy, both before consolidating your takeover, as a part of fragmenting terrestrial defences, and as part of controlling your subjugated populations. It is always resource-efficient – and often amusing and satisfying – to have your enemies weaken and destroy each other, so that the burden of doing so yourself is lessened.