Bewildering Stories discusses...

Space Aliens From the Hidden World

with Gary Clifton

[Gary] In “Messages From the Hidden World,” Eleanor Lerman presents thoughtful, insightful reflections on the purpose of life, priorities, and the existence of alien life.

With regard to the possibility that life exists in another world, it is inconceivable that anyone is so comfortable in their surroundings to assume we are alone in the universe. We have many sightings of “alien” craft cruising in the sky, many from very reliable sources.

All may be hooey, but ever consider that in lieu of the earthly idea that aliens come armed with horrible weapons of destruction, those little green guys might just be passive and weaponless and in examining the violence and hostility on earth, view making contact much as we would when flying over a poisonous-snake infested swamp?

My life-long thought is that “aliens” from another world might not have weapons, despite the common belief that they were capable of instantly immolating Earth with a Flash Gordon Super Model 23X death-ray beam. I always wondered if intelligent life reached our atmosphere, they might see the humans as the snake monsters and beat a trail the hell out of here.

[Don] Thanks, Gary. I’m rather inclined to agree with you!

The “alien” in Eleanor’s “What If There Is a Hidden World That We Can’t See?” is Jack. He appears to Christine a few times and knows more about her than anyone would expect him to. He is so uncanny that Bobby jokes that Jack might be a man from Mars.

And Jack does talk about life outside of Earth. But Jack is a friendly sort, and he delivers a message that jolts Christine out of her self-absorption and self-pity. That’s why I call him an “angel.”

Bobby’s speculation that Jack might have come from outer space may or may not be a good guess. But it doesn’t really matter; he’s someone who’s there when Christine needs him.

According to “Space Aliens as Metaphor,” space aliens have traditionally represented in some way one or more of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: war, famine, disease and death. Jack is quite the opposite. He and, thereby, Eleanor’s story itself fall into Type 3 of my taxonomy: “first contact” as travel literature.

Space aliens seem quaint anymore. Fermi’s Paradox, which applies to space aliens as well as time travelers, asks “Where are they?” If there are any, why haven’t we detected them? Perhaps patience is called for. Or maybe we’ll just have to go looking for them.

On the other hand, the space aliens may have already come and gone. The British Flying Saucer Bureau, founded in 1953, reported an average of thirty sightings a week for almost half a century. It closed up shop in April 2001 for lack of business. Has anyone seen any flying saucers since?

Where have all the space aliens gone? If they’ve just packed up and left, could they please drop us a note and say why? Are Earthlings the equivalent of dangerous reptiles? Or, worse, are we boring? Space aliens were fun when they were here. What ever shall science fiction do without them?

Don