Flying On The Fringe

Welcome to my series “Interview With An Alien.” Today’s blog features the continuation of my interview with Kuzh from the planet Akmandah. Last week Kuzh told us about his job aboard a Hapida space ship and a little about his people’s family structure. Today we’re going to delve a little deeper into what his planet is like.

PART TWO: KUZH FROM AKMANDAH

S: Tell me a little bit about what are your homes are like.

K: Most of them are built into Makka trees. The trees grow from the top down.

S: The top down! How is that possible?

K: The seeds wedge into cliffs or banks and sprout roots that grow downward to solid ground and outward. They grow for hundreds of our years. The roots become massive trunks, and a single tree can cover a hundred kelas or more, Eventually, the original trunks die. Then we can chop them out to form rooms. It only takes a little wood, stone, or mortar to waterproof them. We have a lot of rain.

S: Very interesting. It makes a beautiful home. What is the interior like?

K: Inside is simple. Just furniture for sleeping and sitting and using our sitkas–like one of your electronic tablets. We paint the insides in bright colors, but we do not do much other decorating. The cooking and eating area is outside our home. The cooking fires are kept in a clearing away from the houses. Several related families eat together, usually fifty or sixty people. We like to eat together. Sometimes a meal can last half a day cycle. It is much more fun than the fast way your people eat.

S: I don’t think we would get much work done that way. So your weather must be warm most of the time.

K: Our planet is a little hotter than yours, similar to your tropical areas, but with temperatures closer to your deserts. It always seems cold to me on Earth, even in the summer. We work in the early morning and the evening. Midday is for eating and enjoying the company of others.

S: What else do your people do for fun?

K: A lot of water sports, of course. The Makka sap can be used to produce a substance similar to your rubber. The wood also floats. We do a lot of rafting for fun, but the rivers also provide key transportation routes. I am going to take a trip to your state called Colorado. There is a fast river there, and I want to go rafting.

S: It is very fast–too much for me, but I hope you enjoy it. While I was looking through pictures from your world, I came across this creature. Do you recognize it?

K: Yes. It is an asa dema—it translates as a seedbug. In this photo it’s carrying one of the Makka seeds. These are the creatures largely responsible for Makka reproduction. They put the seeds in crevices in the rock, where they take root. They build nests among the early sprouts. As you can see, much of our culture depends on the Makka. Fortunately, it exists almost everywhere on the planet.

S: What other kinds of animals do you have? Do your people have pets?

K: We have animals that live near our homes, but they are ones we use for their… something like your milk. I can’t understand keeping animals in your homes just for fun. That is very strange. They don’t seem to serve any purpose.

S: Purpose? Well, I suppose the purpose is that we love them, and love us, so we gain affection and comfort from them. For many people they become almost as important as family.

K: If  you spent more time with your family members, you would not need pets.

S: Maybe so. But sometimes members of our families are far away.

K: That is sad.

S: Can you tell me about the religious beliefs of your people?

K: We believe in a single god, creator of the universe, as many of your people do. We have small temples all over the planet, some so old they’ve been completely consumed by the Makka trees. Some are still partially visible, and we build new ones from time to time as we move into previously uninhabited, or abandoned, areas. But we primarily worship within our homes. Each extended family has a priest or priestess. 

K: Here on the left is one of the ancient ones, and on the right, is one of the newer ones we’ve built. The columns represent the roots of the Makka. Earth has some beautiful temples. I want to visit some of those, too, if my ship is here long enough. But your religions confuse me. If you believe there is only one god, how can you have so many different religions? That does not make sense.

S: That is a difficult question to answer. Many of our people believe in the same God, but we have very different ideas about how to worship. What have you enjoyed most about Earth so far?

K: I’ve been exploring your oceans. I went fishing, caught a fish as big as one of our boats.

S: Congratulations! That’s every Earth fisherman’s dream.

K: And I like sampling food from different countries. We do not have as many different… cultures as Earth does. It would take a long time to experience all the different ways of living here.

S: Yes, it would. Well, Kuzh, thank you so much for talking with me. I hope you stay long enough to do a lot of the things you want to do.

K: Me, too. I enjoyed talking to you. Aza kimai jaina to you. That means blessings of god .

S: Thank you so much.

 

Readers, hope you’re enjoying meeting these fascinating folks from other worlds.Special thanks this week to Queenie at MS Travel Solo for allowing me to use one of her extraordinary photos. If you enjoy travel to exotic locations, check out her site at           https://www.mstravelsolo.com/solo-travellers-guide-tainan-taiwan/

Join me again next week when I interview Ambassador Phlip from Agzagi. Until then, fly high and free.

Welcome to Author Susan Eschbach’s series “Interview With An Alien.” I hope you enjoy this series. Also check out my books A Trial By Error and Man On The Fringe in the links above. Book three in the Fringe Cycle, Salvation’s Star, is due out this spring.

PART ONE: KUZH FROM AKMANDAH

Today’s blog features Kuzh from the planet Akmandah.

S: Kuzh, welcome to Earth. Are you enjoying your visit here?

K: Yuh. It is pretty. Many oceans.

S: Do you have any oceans, seas, or large areas of water on your planet?

K: Four seas, much smaller than your oceans. Most of our water is in rivers. We have many large rivers.

S: I understand from Nasa’s Department of Interstellar Affairs that your people have not developed interstellar travel yet, but you have contact with species that have.

K: We trade with the Hapida, but they will not give us ships.

S: I see. And you came to Earth on a Hapida ship, correct?

K: I work for them.

 

S: What kind of work do you do?

K: Maintenance, cleaning.

S: Can you tell us  a little about what we are looking at here?

K: This is the corridor leading to the flight deck. The blue rods are data transfer links.

S: Are they anything like our fiber optic cables?

K: Much faster, almost light speed, and they carry much more data. Sometimes I have to replace one, or reroute it.

S: Do you enjoy the work?

K: Yuh. I like to travel to other planets, and I make good income for my ikan.

S: Ikan—according to my information, that is an extended group of related individuals, somewhat like our Native Americans, right?

K: Right, except we have three sexes involved in making children. The mikah provides an enzyme that allows the female egg to join with the male spore. The mikah can serve any family. When a child is born a mikah, that child leaves its own ikan and joins the mikah ikan. When a man marries, he joins his wife’s ikan, and all of their female children remain in the mothers’ ikan. Male children go to the father’s ikan when they reach adulthood.

S: A complex structure. So, you mentioned that you make a good income for your ikan. Is that spread evenly among the individuals in the ikan?

K: Yuh. All income is shared by the whole ikan. Members work together to harvest crops, and each member receives what they need. When someone needs a house, they move into an empty one or the ikan works together to build one.

S: That’s a very cooperative system. Are there ever battles or wars between different ikans?

K: Yuh. We are good warriors. Not so many wars any more, but we still take pride in strength and physical training. We have battles every year at the Comdena. The new president is chosen from the winning ikan.

S: Is that your uniform?

K: Not uniform, protective gear. During battle there is a lot of fire, smoke, and chemicals. The picture at the top shows our ceremonial dress. Each ikan has a particular emblem. Mine is a Badri tooth. They are extinct now, but there are a lot of fossils around.

S: You mentioned harvesting crops. Do you grow a lot of different varieties of crops?

K: Yuh. We don’t eat animals like humans do. We eat a little (he’s scratching his head)… I think it’s a little like some of your snails, or worms. The ibit lives in our rivers. Also, sukat and bitta are our main crops, and we have a lot of different kinds of fruits, and root plants.

 

 

 

Readers, thanks for joining me as we explore Kuzh’s world. Join me next week for the rest of the interview. Until then, fly high and free.

Welcome to my new series, “Interview With An Alien.” It’s long been a dream of mine to be scooped up by some UFO, and if not to be transported to another planet, to at least have a meaningful conversation with a being from another world. This series is for all those as crazy as I am, whose imaginations run wild in the ships of science fiction.

PART TWO: AMBASSADOR FROM THE PLANET HAPIDA

This is Part Two of my interview with Ikira, ambassador to Earth from Hapida. If you missed the first part of the interview, check below. In this segment, we’ll talk about Ikira’s world, her culture, other species, and some of their holidays and celebrations.

S: So Ikira, do you have holidays, or cultural celebrations on Hapida?

I: Oh, yes. We love to party! Of course there is an annual celebration when we complete a revolution around the sun. It begins the first minute of the last day of the old year and concludes the last minute of the first day of the new one. It’s one time we tend to eat special foods. A lot of us avoid eating for some time ahead of it to prepare. By the way, we’re herbivorous. We also have great celebrations around the birth of a child. Since couples only have one or two children in their lifetime, as you can imagine, that’s a momentous event.

 

S: How do you celebrate a birth? Do people give the couple gifts?

I: Yes. It’s usually held a mincha, similar to one of your months, after the birth, when the newborn has settled into stable eating and sleeping patterns. A close relative or friend of the couple will host the party. Very extravagant—lots of decorations and gourmet mini foods. The parents sit in a decorative nest with their infant and others get to come and see the baby and bring gifts. Those who attend also receive a gift.

S: What about your religious beliefs?

I: In the past, we had an elaborate system of gods, spirits, and life essences. As our technology progressed, many people, myself included, stopped following the old religion. It is very complex, and to truly adhere to it requires a great deal of study. There is a special prayer for each day of the year, and prayers for all kinds of occasions, weddings, births, deaths, etc. Two gods, Krea and Shika, created all life on the planet. The fifteen other gods are their children, each of whom has an aspect of the planet they are responsible for. Igga is the god of plants, Chorba is the god of the rocks and soil, Dabba is the god of the air, etc. Krea and Shika also created spirits and life essences. Spirits inhabit every higher form of life on the planet, including the Kreshiks, my race. So, like humans, we have a spirit that transcends death. Our belief is more similar to some of your eastern religions, in that we believe that after death our spirits move to new bodies when babies are born. The life essences I mentioned inhabit lower forms of life, like what you call bugs, and uni-celled organisms. The air is also a life essence. This picture is one of our ancient temple sites. The tallest spire represents the major gods, the lower ones represent the minor gods, and the very small ones represent the life essences.

S: It sounds as though your people haven’t abandoned their beliefs altogether.

I: Most of us still celebrate the major holy days even if we don’t take the time to study all the requirements of the religion. Currently, a young person may choose to follow either a religious course of study or a more scientific one. Those who choose the religious course become our priests and conduct the holy observances.

S: Very interesting. I do see some similarities in your belief system and some of our eastern religions. What did you enjoy most on Earth?

I: Mostly the beauty of it, the brilliant colors. Your weather is very interesting, constantly changing. Some of it is a little frightening.

S: You must have experienced one of our thunderstorms.

I: Yes. It was so loud! Our filiki are very sensitive. I could feel the vibrations and the electricity in the air. I had to wrap my head to keep from getting a headache. I also saw some terrifying video of tornadoes and hurricanes.

S: Those can be terrifying, and very destructive. The downside of our planet’s beauty.

I: One thing I’m looking forward to is trying to learn to swim. So far I’ve only managed to wade a little. It’s a little intimidating to have water all around me.

S: I hope that’s something you’ll be able to learn, or at least wade deep enough to maybe try snorkeling. Have you had a chance to visit a seashore?

I: That was one of the first places I headed when I had time. That’s where I waded the first time. What a strange sensation. The waves push and pull. Your children are so brave. I saw a number of them dive right in and swim out a ways.

S: Many people learn to swim as children. I did, and it’s still one of my favorite things.

I: Well, I don’t know if I’ll master that.

S: What are your other goals during your stay here on Earth?

I: Of course my primary mission is cultural exchange. Earth has also sent a diplomatic mission to Hapida. Earth has an abundance of renewable food resources that would be very useful to my people, and I believe Earth will benefit from advances in renewable energy resources and space flight technology that we can provide.

S: Sounds like a very promising exchange. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us today, Ikira. I hope you enjoy your time on Earth.

I: Oh, I already am. You have a beautiful planet.

S: Thank you.

Readers, hope you’re all finding our alien visitors as fascinating as I am. Join me next week when I interview Kuzh from Akmandah. Until then, fly high and free.

Welcome to my new series, “Interview With An Alien.” It’s long been a dream of mine to be scooped up by some UFO, and if not to be transported to another planet, to at least have a meaningful conversation with a being from another world. This series is for all those as crazy as I am, whose imaginations run wild in the ships of science fiction.

PART ONE: AMBASSADOR IKIRA FROM THE PLANET HAPIDA

S: Amabassador Ikira, thank you so much for agreeing to meet with me.

I: My pleasure. We’re looking forward to a friendly relationship with Earth, and I’m happy to have the opportunity share with you.

S: We’re eager to get to know you. How did Hapida become aware of Earth?

I: We received a signal from a probe launched from your planet long ago. Of course, by the time it was within range of our system, much had changed on your planet. Humans, fortunately, still look much the same as the images on that probe, so at least we knew a little of what to expect. Your technology, however, has progressed significantly.

S: Yes, Voyager launched in 1977. I would imagine our current technology is still primitive by your standards, since, if I understand correctly, your people have been space farers for over a hundred generations.

I: That is true. However, our lifespan is comparatively much shorter than yours. Our planet rotates faster, and because our sun is small and has a weaker gravitational pull, it also revolves around the sun in a shorter time period. It’s a complex mathematical formula, but our year would be roughly equivalent to about seven months in your time.

S: Tell us about your home planet. How does it compare with Earth?

I: It’s radically different. Hapida is surrounded by dense clouds, and our sun is a weak, red dwarf, so very little light reaches the surface. We have many tall, slender trees with foliage high above the ground, but almost no ground plants. I am utterly fascinated by your oceans. So much water! Our only water sources are below ground, and we are adapted to using very little. It seems you waste a lot.

S: We are guilty of that. Until recently, it seemed to us to be an abundant and never-ending resource. We’re only now beginning to understand how little is fresh, drinkable, water, as opposed to salt water, and conservation efforts are far from adequate.

I: Our planet would be grateful even for the salt water. It could be treated and made drinkable.

S: An expensive process when our human population is so huge. Your population numbers only a few million, is that true?

I: Yes. We marry for life, and each couple has only one or two children in a lifetime. We are cold-blooded, so our entire metabolism is slower than humans’. You eat three times a day! I can’t imagine consuming that much. I eat about once every seven or eight of your days.

S: You have large, beautiful eyes. I assume that’s an adaptation to the dark conditions on your planet.

I: Yes. As you know, I had to ask you to dim the lights in your office. Most of the time here I have to wear very dark glasses, as well as a breathing apparatus. Your atmosphere is too oxygen rich.

S: That seems awfully inconvenient. I hope it isn’t too unpleasant for you.

I: For me, it is worth the inconvenience to explore your world.

S: Definitely worth some inconvenience. I’d like to ask another personal question, if that would be all right?

I: Of course. I can always choose not to answer. (She utters a series of quick hisses through her nose, a sound I learned earlier is a chuckle. She has a wonderful sense of humor!)

S: Tell me about the appendages on your head. Do they have a function?

I: Yes. Because our planet is dark, our eyesight is poor, compared to humans. Our filiki provide extra sensory data. It is apparently a sense humans lack. We… touch the air around us and pick up vibrations and magnetic and electrical currents.

S: Fascinating. I wish I had those senses. What other species inhabit your planet?

I: Like most planets that have achieved sentient life—there are quite a lot of them, you know—we have a variety of species, though not so varied as earth. Many of ours have developed life cycles below ground, and cold-blooded species outnumber warm-blooded ones about fifty to one. We only have sixty two warm-blooded species, and most of those lay eggs. We don’t have any birds, though we have a dozen species that float in the air. Most of them look a little like your lizards or snakes with flaps of skin that unfold to glide through the air. I have a pet peliri at home. It has a soft, fuzzy skin but is long like a snake. They love to wrap around your arm and be carried around. They coo, or kind of trill, when they’re happy.

S: Interesting. A fuzzy snake. What do they eat?

I: They inhale microorganisms in the air, so they are very easy to care for.

S: (Now I’m really laughing). That would be a blessing. I have five cats, and I’d better not forget to feed them!

Readers, check in on January 13, 2010, for the continuation of this interview. In Part Two of my interview, we’ll learn a little more about Ikira’s world, Hapida, her culture, other species, and some of their holidays and celebrations.

For all those who believe in UFOs…

For all those who’ve been fortunate enough to see one…

And for all those who are waiting for good fortune to visit them in the future…

July 2 is World UFO Day.

Some people celebrate it on June 24, the anniversary of the date that American aviator Kenneth Arnold sighted nine UFOs near Mount Ranier, Washington on June 24, 1947. July 2 commemorates the date of the infamous crash at Roswell, New Mexico.

My interest in was sparked in the 1970s after I became hooked on reruns of Star Trek in college. I joined the organization MUFON and followed it for several years. As a science fiction writer, I spend a lot of time researching space and space-related issues. The Milky Way is estimated to be about 100,000 light years across. It’s next to impossible to estimate the number of stars it contains, but the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission is mapping the locations of approximately 1 billion stars in the Milky Way. ESA says Gaia will map one percent of the stellar content of the Milky Way, which puts the estimate of the total stars in our galaxy at 100 billion. Gaia’s goal is to make the best-ever three-dimensional map of the Milky Way.

Just a few decades ago, astronomers debated whether planets like Earth were rare in the galaxy. With the power of modern day telescopes and other instruments, we now know non-Earth planets, called exo-planets, are quite common. And a large number of them orbit their stars in what is referred to as the “Goldilock’s zone,” the zone in which a planet can contain liquid water. One system recently discovered has six planets orbiting in the habitable zone, so close to each other that a being standing on one of them could see the others even during the day. Now that’s what I call cool!

All of that leads me to believe it won’t be long before we discover some type of extraterrestrial life.

But the big question is, has extraterrestrial life already discovered us? Although governments around the world have done their best to hide evidence of such life, there is evidence out there.

In 1977, Peter Sturrock, a professor of space science and astrophysics at Stanford University, mailed 2,611 questionnaires about UFO sightings to members of the American Astronomical Society. He received 1,356 responses from which 62 astronomers – 4.6 percent – reported witnessing or recording inexplicable aerial phenomena. This rate is similar to the approximately 5 percent of UFO sightings that are never explained.

The countries of Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Ecuador, France, New Zealand, Russia, Sweden and the United Kingdom have been declassifying their UFO files since 2008. The French Committee for In-Depth Studies, or COMETA, was an unofficial UFO study group comprised of high-ranking scientists and military officials that studied UFOs in the late 1990s. They released the COMETA Report, which summarized their findings. They concluded that 5 percent of the encounters were reliable yet inexplicable: The best hypothesis available was that the observed craft were extraterrestrial. They also accused the United States of covering up evidence of UFOs. (https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/do-aliens-exist-are-they-real-national-ufo-day-13033434.php)

We might not yet have what would be considered incontrovertible proof of extraterrestrial life visiting Earth, but we certainly have enough evidence to warrant open minds and serious scientific study.

Live long and prosper…and dream big.

You might also like to visit:

https://www.theufochronicles.com/2018/07/scientists-revisit-question-of-aliens.html

https://wgnradio.com/2018/06/25/world-ufo-day-and-ufo-sighting-phenomenon/

While visiting one of my favorite Facebook groups, Space Opera, I came across an interesting topic. Someone had posted a photo of an asteroid named Bennu and a claim that it was “expected” to strike the Earth in 2135. That sort of thing always peaks my interest, so I checked it out on Space.com. No big surprise, the claim was bogus. “Expected” turned out to be about a 1 in 1265 chance, and it isn’t due to make its pass until “late” 22^nd century. Sounds like pretty unlikely odds to me. Not to mention that would give us plenty of time to do something about it if it was on a collision course.

For those of us who write in the realm of science fiction, science FACTS are important. Of course, we have the advantage of suspension of disbelief, and I for one, play heavily on things that are currently hypothesized, but not yet known. Nonetheless, one thing that bothers me in science fiction is when a known fact is ignored or stretched beyond belief. There is plenty of room for us to imagine in the realm of the unknown, without ignoring what is already known as fact.

My favorite was a line I caught in an old Star Trek rerun. Dr. McCoy and Kirk were on a previously undiscovered planet, and McCoy was scanning for life signs. They are standing in front of a bush, and McCoy’s scanner picks up something several meters away. He says something like, “It’s the only sign of biological life around.” Really? Is there a form of life that isn’t biological? And what is the bush they’re standing in front of? Maybe it’s one of those non-biological forms of life. Or maybe, it’s a stage prop, and it isn’t a form of life at all.

As I discussed in my two previous posts, NASA has laid out a three-stage plan for developing the technology and systems necessary to carry us to Mars, humanity’s first step toward becoming a space-faring species.

Stage 3 is called Earth Independent. In this final phase, activities will build on what we learn on the International Space Station (ISS) and in cislunar (near-moon) space to enable human missions to the Mars vicinity, including the Martian moons, and eventually the Martian surface. With humans on Mars, we will be able to advance science and technology in ways only dreamed of with current robotic explorers.

Future Mars missions will represent a collaborative effort among NASA and its partners—a global achievement that will mark a transition in humanity’s expansion as we go to Mars not just to visit, but to stay. Goals include:

• Living and working within transit and surface habitats that support human life for years, with only routine maintenance
• Harvesting Martian resources to create fuel, water, oxygen, and building materials
• Leveraging advanced communication systems to relay data and results from science and exploration excursions with a 20-minute delay

Food to fire the imagination of all science fiction writers.

As I discussed in my previous post, NASA has laid out a three-stage plan for developing the technology and systems necessary to carry us to Mars, humanity’s first step toward becoming a space-faring species.

Stage 2 of NASA’s plan is called “The Proving Ground.” In the Proving Ground, NASA will learn to conduct complex operations in a deep space environment, mostly in the region near the moon, called “cislunar.” Experiments near the moon still allow crews to return to Earth in a matter of days. In cislunar space, NASA will advance and validate capabilities required for human exploration of Mars.

Stage 2 includes a series of Exploration Missions (EMs), starting with EM-1, the first integrated test of the SLS and Orion ships, anticipated in 2018. In 2020, the Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission will collect a large boulder from a near-Earth asteroid, then ferry it to the Proving Ground, and the Asteroid Redirect Crew Mission will allow astronauts to investigate and sample the asteroid boulder.

NASA also plans an initial deep-space habitation facility for long-duration systems testing to allow autonomous operations, including rendezvous, docking and state of the art information technology solutions. The agency will also study concepts to minimize resupply needs through reduction, reuse, and recycling of consumables, packaging, and materials.

Other key operational capabilities required to become Earth Independent will also be identified and developed during Stage 2.

I won’t live long enough to see humans achieve travel beyond our own solar system, unless some alien race decides to give us a boost. But if NASA manages to stay on schedule with its plan for manned travel to Mars, I just might hold out that long.

I can’t wait to see the first transmissions from the Mars habitat.