Excerpts from Rothilda von Rotortod’s Novel Overturned – How Aliens Tried to Conquer the Earth with Wind Turbines/1
The telescope on our Book Planet is currently pointed at the planet Kadohan. There, aliens try to use wind turbines to launch an invasion of Earth.
About the Novel
After the invention of a rejuvenation pill, space and resources threaten to become scarce on planet Kadohan. The only way out is the search for a replacement planet. The choice is made for the planet „Earth“. Unfortunately, however, this planet is already inhabited …
The Earthlings, God and the Universe
To disguise the landing platforms required for the invasion of Earth, the aliens pass them off to the Earthlings as power-generating facilities. To this end, they establish the consulting firm „StarWind“:
Controversial Naming
The business premises of the StarWind Company, which promised its customers comprehensive support in the area of „Energy Consulting“, appeared bright and friendly. Located on the tenth floor of a modern office complex, the company’s headquarters offered an eagle-like view over the city.
Behind a broad window front, which took up almost the entire outer wall, individual, generously proportioned offices were grouped around a showroom. The office furniture shimmered in transparent plexiglass that in the light-flooded rooms seemed to float in the air. Thus everything emanated the promising message of a new era: Transparency! Purity! Clarity! Future!
The name „StarWind“ had initially caused laughter on Kadohan. The expedition leader – who was now sitting as office manager in the StarWind premises – could still remember the reactions of his co-deciders in the Future Commission. Most of them had taken his proposal as a joke. Was this not too obvious an allusion to the real objectives associated with the alleged energy supply? Wouldn’t even the most stupid Earthling realise that StarWind was a Trojan horse?
But the expedition leader did not get unsettled by the laughter of the others. „I can understand that the name sound’s funny to you. But try to put yourself in the Earthlings‘ shoes. Remember what I told you about their spaceships? By our standards, they are rather bouncing than flying. The Earthlings can’t even fly to their neighboring planet! They are already proud when they manage the jump to their moon without any problems. So how could they assume that beings from a planet light years away are among them?“
„God? What’s that supposed to be?“
The expedition leader stroked his eyes with a finger – which on Kadohan was an expression of contempt for others. After the laughter had died down completely, he added: „Please do not forget: For the Earthlings, the universe is not a space for locomotion. They see other galaxies only from a distance. Therefore, the cosmos appears to them as one big mystery. And because their thinking constantly mixes with their feelings, they see the infinity of space as a kind of symbol for what they call ‚God‘.“
„God?“ a Kadohanian woman asked in astonishment. „What’s that supposed to be?“ It was a younger participant who had been appointed to the expert panel for the first time.
The expedition leader sighed. „This is really hard to explain … God is basically a synonym for everything that the Earthlings are not able to understand. It stands for everything that goes beyond their limited imagination, be it the intrinsic link between things in their world or the relationship between their own world and other forms of lives.“
„And why should it be of any use to allude to space with the name of our company?“ the new commission member wanted to know. „Won’t that rather disconcert the Earthlings?“
„In fact, quite the opposite will be the case,“ the expedition leader contradicted. „Precisely because they do not understand the universe, they are fascinated by everything that is linked to it. They even invent their own stories about space travel, in which they dream up what they cannot achieve. And ’star‘ is also a term they use for people who stand out from everyday life, for beings they look up to like to the stars. So alluding to distant stars and the secret power that emanates from them makes our company even more attractive to Earthlings.“
A Risky Project
While the expedition leader was able to assert himself on this issue, he had to give in to the concerns expressed on another point. His proposal to transfer the implementation of the project exclusively to disguised Kadohanians was rejected in the end. To most members of the expert panel, such an approach seemed too risky. What if the Earthlings should have a sensorium for extraterrestrial intelligence after all? Or if, despite all immunological precautions, harmful germs were transmitted to the infiltrated Kadohanians? What if, conversely, they could be identified as transmitters of diseases to the Earthlings?
No, these risks seemed almost impossible to control. So in the end, it was decided that only the basic staff of StarWind should consist of Kadohanians. Even then, the measures that had to be taken for anti-microbe defense and camouflage proved to be quite extensive. Some of the problems only became apparent when the concrete planning began.
Hairy Earthlings
There was the hair issue, for example. On Kadohan, hair had been stopped from growing for a long time. It was considered as a superfluous breeding ground for undesirable microorganisms. Those who had not participated in the fact-finding mission could not believe at first that this was different with the Earthlings.
„And the Earthlings are really still walking around hairy?“ asked a member of the expert panel. „Don’t they have any depilatories?“
„Of course they have,“ the expedition leader made clear. „But they don’t use them for all parts of the body. Especially the head hair has an almost cultic meaning for them. There are even certain magic remedies that are said to make hair grow again when it has fallen out.“
The questioner shook his head in amazement: „That seems pretty absurd to me …“
The left corner of the expedition leader’s mouth twitched slightly upwards – his emotional brain had been activated. „You must not forget that Earthlings are not a particularly highly developed form of intelligence,“ he explained. „They are still noticeably embedded in the more primitive forms of life from which they evolved. This also explains their attachment to their scalp hair. It shows us how powerful the primitive still is in them.“
„I still don’t understand it,“ admitted one of those present. „Why do they let their fur grow precisely on their head – just above the brain? Are they ashamed of their intelligence? Or is their intelligence so limited that they don’t even notice it?“
Animalistic Earthlings
The expedition leader stroked his forehead with his hand. „I don’t think we should judge the Earthlings so much by ourselves,“ he said. „On our planet, artificial insemination has been standard practice for a very long time. The Earthlings are familiar with it too, but they only use it if there is no other way. In general, reproduction is still a very animalistic matter for them. Therefore they also need animalistic stimuli. This could be a reason for their clinging to the head hair.“
„So it is a conscious commitment to savagery?“ someone else asked.
„No,“ clarified the expedition leader, „not at all. Most of the Earthlings tame their hair regularly, there are even some very artistic fur forms. For many of them hair is also an expression of their personality, just like the patterns we paint on our scalps. But at the same time, it all has a relation to reproduction. Even the clothing is more physical on Earth, quite different from our planet, where everyone walks around in loose-fitting cloaks.“
„It will take some time to get used to this,“ remarked one who was scheduled to participate in the next mission.
The expedition leader nodded. „True, there’s no denying that. Artificial hair is fortunately very easy to obtain on Earth, as are Earthlings‘ clothes, of course. But that doesn’t tell us how to move around in these clothes. We’ll have to practice this intensively in order not to appear as foreign bodies.“
„Or rather, not to be recognised as foreign bodies,“ one of them quipped.
from: Rothilda von Rotortod: Overturned (PDF and ebook)
About the author:
Rothilda von Rotortod lives together with her brother Rother Baron in a glass blog hut. At the address rotherbaron.com everyone can see what the two of them are currently working on. In addition to an interview with the author, information about another brother of Rothilda, who is said to be at home in the analogue world, can be found there.
Image: Thomas Budach: Science Fiction: Aliens (Pixabay)
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