Home Planet News

a journal of literature & art

10-Aliens

Aliens Traveling Light Speed from Another Galaxy, Observing Earth
(Translated from the Itsstcrrtch into English)

Look at these pathetic creatures!

Is this the best they can do?

afraid to leave their planet’s orbit

but once in thirty or forty years

to land on the nearest dead moon.

Instead they circle their planet

and re-enter the atmosphere

always with damage to their craft,

the weight of gravity too great upon them.

For this they send probes in their stead

to test, mine, and explore

the other planets closer to the sun.

They can’t even travel beyond the moon!

Why not crush these dwarfs now?

They have no future confined

to what will soon become

a little ball of dust and cloud.

Now teeming, they will one day

annihilate themselves.

We left our home planet light years ago

on the verge of its explosion

when we perfected hyperdrive

and defied gravity.

We saw these primitives in telescopes

at the dawn of their race

when they were but ape men

beating clubs in branches of trees.

At this time, we had not yet learned

to travel the speed of light.

We could only watch them

from a comfortable distance.

Now we have the power

to descend as gods on these bugs,

end their petty squabbles,

and make them serve our desires.

But hold! We should be wary

to take rash action

lest we forget why we left our home.

Instead, let us observe them,

send mocking messages to them,

and where necessary,

intervene to prevent disaster.

Let them discover for themselves

the mysteries of light speed

and hyper drive; the desire

to rise above their station

and leave their stifling planet

to discover the wide expanse

of the great cold void beyond.

Thomas D. Jones

Home Planet News