Alien Psychology

by Roderick R. MacDonald

  Even outside society, chance conspires against him. The likelihood of being hit on the head by a meteor is not something we worry about. We don't take furtive glances upwards trying to evade falling rocks! We do, however, worry to some extent about large meteors, asteroids or comets hitting earth; a program is presently being carried out to identify risky solar system objects. Our long life chap would be absolutely terrified of them, as he would be of earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and any destructive force of nature. Hiding from all animals, especially snakes, crocodiles, rhinoceroses and elephants in the sure belief that one day they would get him, what sort of life would the being have?

  Perhaps the above scenarios are exaggerated here and there and risks could be managed so that they are not of paramount importance, but the fact is still there that should someone live for a long time, he would be very susceptible to damage or death from the mentioned factors. If a group of such people began an existence lasting a few thousand years, maybe at first, paying scant heed to the chances of any long term life threatening incident, they would wake up as they began to get picked off one by one from the results of accidental misdemeanours. Fidgety at first, then very nervous, with most things a threat to them they would take steps to become non-adventurous, insular and cautious.

  What could they do? A life of art appreciation, scientific inquiry and aesthetic pleasure, only if there was no risk involved? A lot of their activity mind based, if explorers, they certainly wouldn't go down to the depths of the oceans but send machines instead. Likewise, initial space exploration would be largely machine based.

  Where would they live? As discussed, it wouldn't be a good idea to associate with many of with others on the planet that didn't have the so-called benefits of a long life. Keeping away from areas prone to volcanic and earthquake activity as being a minimum risk requirement, if the technology base was sufficiently strong and advanced, they wouldn't live on an active planet like earth at all, and would move somewhere else in the solar system, somewhere inactive and safe. Preferably living far out in the solar system on a completely inert world, such as an asteroid in a stable orbit where there would be no earthquakes, volcanoes or floods, any danger from solar flares would be minimised, as would radiation hazards from living next to a giant planet, Jupiter for example.

  What happens to humans when they go into space? People have ventured into space since Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union made his first flight in Vostok 1 in April 1961. He orbited the earth once. Later cosmonauts and astronauts made more spaceflights of longer durations, with the Soviets putting effort into long stays using the Salyut and Mir space stations. In orbit around the earth, everything, including the inhabitants, becomes weightless and several short and long term effects take place in this environment.

  A body is used to the gravitational force of the earth imparting weight. Excepting a few circus performers, we are accustomed to standing or sitting upright, and all our functions are carried out with this force operating on us. Eating or drinking is possible standing on your head because the gullet muscles force the substance into the stomach. I remember someone many years ago who had a party piece of drinking a pint of beer while standing on his head. Should this position be permanently adopted, imagine the extreme digestion problems arising? Gravity definitely helps food go down the right way.

  Similarly, the balance mechanism in our ears relies on gravity to tell which is the right way up. Interfere with this by going on a fairground attraction and you temporarily become dizzy, stagger about and even feel nauseated because you don't know which way is up. In space, under weightless conditions, this feeling is there all the time—many space voyagers vomit for a while until accustomed to the new environment.

  On earth, because of gravity, the blood circulation system knows that there is an up and a down and the blood is pressurised upwards with a greater force to combat the downward pull. If gravity is then taken away, the body still exerts this upward force making blood rush up to the head. You may have seen astronauts on television displaying red, puffed—up faces.

  These effects can be overcome without too much hindrance but the major problem facing long stay astronauts is that of dissolving bones. This sounds grotesque but it actually happens. When you walk about on the surface of the earth, or do any action at all under the influence of its gravity, stress is put on the skeletal structure. This stress is good in that it strengthens bones and adds to their mass. When people become sedentary as a result of age, illness or disability, this stress doesn't apply to the skeleton with the same force and bone mass is gradually lost. (age can also bring osteoporosis, the bone wasting condition) When weightless in space, the same effect results.

  The other major effect is that muscles waste away if not used. Ask anyone who has spent a lengthy time in a hospital bed and they will tell you how difficult it is to get moving again. Muscles are used properly when weight or force is put upon them, i.e., giving them something to do, but in space people can float about with the minimum of effort.

  Bone wasting occurred with most of the cosmonauts inhabiting the series of Soviet and Russian space stations and also to the Americans living with them in a joint cooperation programme. If insufficient water is not drunk, the calcium from the bones is not excreted properly and it can form into dangerous kidney stones which can cause severe debilitation. Imagine a flight to Mars taking about one year? Bones and muscles would experience considerable wasting. By the time the astronauts reached the planet, even with a gravity about one third of the earth's, they may be unable to stand up. It wouldn't be one small step—it would be one giant collapse.

  Exercise routines employing all manner of machines have been developed in space stations to put stress on to the skeletal structure but they do not stop the problem from happening; a slow—down to the wasting is the best that can be anticipated. A further way to minimise this problem is to introduce artificial gravity into the spaceship. This can be accomplished by rotation. Imagine a giant drum with people inside it. If this is spun round, a centrifugal force makes the people stick to the inside surface and they will experience weight. In the film 2001, the spacecraft going to Jupiter had such a device where the astronauts were able to run round the inside rotating rim, thus experiencing a form of artificial gravity. Towards the centre of the drum, weightless conditions were felt because it didn't rotate with the same apparent speed. The further away from the centre, the greater the velocity and consequently the greater the artificial gravity.

  The only problem with this device is that it is difficult to engineer and costly to construct. A cheaper way would be to make the ship rotate along its long axis. Simple rockets, fired once, would make the ship continually spin until stopped by another force, most likely the rockets firing in the opposite direction. Difficulties arise with this method because the ship is rotating against the background of stars which are used for navigational purposes.

  Whatever means are tried, long duration spaceflight leads to problems which are insurmountable. If people colonise Mars, for example, and spend many years living on its surface in an artificial environment, bodies would become accustomed to the lesser gravity to such an extent that a return to earth would be very hazardous if not fatal. Suddenly, a body used to weighing, say, four stone would weigh twelve again. The heart may not be able to stand the strain of this endurance. Even worse, should someone actually born on Mars wish to go to earth, the change in gravity would have worse implications. This puts paid to the idea of invading Martians once and for all. Creatures that evolved on Mars, having piled into their flying saucers with malicious intent to invade earth, would collapse in ungainly heaps as soon as they tried to step out on to the surface. Even a platoon like Sergeant Bilko's could mop them up in a few minutes.

  It does therefore seem to be the case that once mankind goes into space to colonise the moon, planets and asteroids, those going will not come back. Surely, with swifter spaceships powered by nuclear fusion, earth people will be a
ble to make space visits of reasonable duration but once they elect to stay out there, having families who will stay indefinitely, the possibilities of return are not good. Gravity will ensure this! A new race of people will evolve which, over time, will become more and more distant from the ones who stayed at home. And, it will be a very good bet that this new space dwelling offshoot of humanity will have conquered the death barrier.

  * * *

  Phase 5

  The Flight into Space

  A change to self-sufficiency was gradually taking place in the Exordican colonies. Permanent colonies on some of the other planets and asteroids developed into realms containing millions of beings but the envisaged revitalisation of Exordium didn't take place because the process was essentially uneconomical and impractical. Although the multinationals and government of Exordium had initially invested in space hoping for a future return to augment the dwindling resources of the mother planet, years passed without any real transformation occurring.

  Admittedly, materials from colonial mines made their way to Exordium but the quantity didn't make a dent on a planet burdened by ten billion beings. The only major difference was the helium 3 fuel for nuclear fusion reactors, which was just as well because all other finite resources on Exordium had been exhausted. Oil, coal, gas and other fossil fuels had been methodically scraped clean many years before and until fusion came along, power had been provided by nuclear fission and energy from their sun. By the time the fusion reactors began to pour out energy, supplies of uranium and other fissionable materials were almost depleted.

  There were ten billion on Exordium and over twenty million living in the system. The large majority, some ninety percent of the latter, had been born out there. Emigration couldn't make much of a difference to Exordium's population. To make a reasonable dent, a billion would have to go into space every year. Imagine this exodus taking place from earth? Almost three million departing every single day, carrying all the means necessary for existence in environments not suitable for human life! Nothing like the trek west in the United States where settlers were going to lands that could be worked to provide sustenance, this emigration to space requires a massive amount of materials per person at a great cost. All of this material has to be first launched into orbit and then taken to the destination in the system. It would be a massive task to take just a tiny fraction of this number: anything more is impossible. And so it will be for earth people with dreams of colonising the planets as it was for the people of Exordium: most will have no practical or economical opportunity to leave their planet and go into space.

  Those managing to leave Exordium developed the colonies with the use of new machine technologies capable of changing landscapes, atmospheres and biosystems. As with Exordium, the stratification of society continued in the colonies but not to the same extent. The requirement for menial tasks was still there but it was nowhere near the same magnitude and many of the assignments carried out by deltas and epsilons were accomplished by robotic machinery. So, completely turning conventional society on its head, colonial societies had a majority of the alpha stratum and minorities of all the others. As time passed, it was becoming more and more the case that a widening gulf was forming between life on Exordium and life on the colonies.

  The alpha stratum in the colonies was composed of representatives of the multinational companies of Exordium but it soon became evident that interests were in conflict. Being difficult for beings far from a world that they probably had never visited to give it full consideration when making decisions, to them the dialogue from Exordium progressively seemed to be more and more repressive and staid, lacking a sense of enterprise and initiative. The colonies needed little from their former homeworld.

  It was also the case that the people from the colonies began to differ in appearance from those still living on Exordium, these changes being mainly due to the effects of evolution on lower gravity worlds. The third planet, which had been altered over many years, contained a considerable number of unchanged Exordicans but elsewhere there was a significant difference. Moving into space had caused initial physiological changes in the weakening of skeletal and muscular structures; no longer did the space Exordican have to be thick set and squat in appearance to sustain their weight under the planet's high gravity. Generally, they became slimmer, a little taller and their arms and legs adopted a more spindly appearance.

  Initially in the colonising process, new and strong Exordicans left their planet to help with the constructions where their strength was an asset. Often there were incidents where beings new to space showed off their strength to weaker and less robust counterparts but they changed too and as labour became mechanised, it was no longer necessary to be of strong build.

  Genetic engineering had commenced and attempts were made by the space alpha stratum to make themselves more intelligent and resourceful. This didn't always work in a satisfactory manner because selecting genes for extreme intelligence sometimes produced other defects but, after a prolonged programme of experiments, a general increase in measured intelligence quotients was achieved.

  Eventually there was sufficient tension between Exordium and its colonies for a feud to begin. This developed following a split between the ruling sections of both sides. All the colonies, except for the third planet, deciding to become economically independent from Exordium broke all ties with the multinationals. This act didn't go down well. The Exordium side stated claims of ownership of the colonies saying that, after all, it was their expenditure that led to the creation of the colonies in the first place and if independence were sought, huge financial reparation would be necessary. Counteracting this, the colonies claimed that they created their worlds at the expense of their own efforts and any debt had long since become meaningless.

  Despite the effort of negotiators to resolve matters, an uneasy state of affairs progressively worsened and a crisis developed when Exordium ships impounded several colony cargo vessels which had approached their space. The ships and their crews were taken to the planet to be tried for several crimes, including theft of their own ships, which, the Exordicans said, belonged to them by right. Many of the colonial beings died from being exposed to both mental stress and the strong gravity. A war ensued in which there was a reasonable amount of destruction on both sides until finally a truce was agreed upon.

  In impotent negotiations, which continued for some years where most of the meetings were held in public, the real power broking went on in strict secrecy between the leaders of both sides, leaders who were, of course, from the alpha stratum. Curiously, everything went silent for many years, with both sides standing back to witness, it was said, a cooling down process.

  What actually happened was quite surprising. A section of the alpha hierarchy on Exordium had solved the problems of longevity and had been in total power for several hundred of their years. Although supposedly secret, there were many suspicious Exordicans not sharing the same benefits and there were also leaks of information from some trying to pass on longevity to relatives and friends. The hierarchy, realising the circumstances of their situation were such that matters couldn't go on forever, sought escape to the colonies in preference to a continued and dangerous existence on Exordium. There was a price, of course, and that was the secret of longevity for the colony leaders.

  It was perhaps surprising that the colonials had not solved the problem for themselves. Although they knew a solution to longevity was likely, most of their efforts were directed towards the actual establishment and expansion of colonies. Now that this prize was on offer, it was readily accepted. If, however, the alpha hierarchy on Exordium had simply moved over to the colonies, nothing would have been solved because new leaders would take their place only to continue with the war. What they had to do was calm the situation down as long as possible so that plans could be made for not only their departure but also the departure of the colonials. It was clear that should they remain in the Exordium system, their lives would be threatened.

>   The Exordium system is like our own solar system in that it is littered with debris left over from the initial formation. Between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter lie thousands of asteroids, the largest being Ceres which is about six hundred miles in diameter. Estimates state that there are about half a million asteroid bodies with sizes larger than one mile across. Thousands have been identified and it is important, for our own sake, that the bodies orbiting close to the earth are identified in case of collision. An object about one mile across, if it hit us, could wipe out most life on earth and even an object the size of a bus could, if it hit a city, cause thousands of fatalities. The constitutions of the asteroids vary: most are of the carbonaceous type which contain a lot of carbon, water and gases left over from the formation of the solar system; others are silicate types of stone material while about another ten percent are metallic. If properly mined, they would be very resourceful.

  Further out in our solar system, beyond the orbit of Neptune, lie another group of asteroids in the Kuiper belt (named after the astronomer who theorised their existence) of which Pluto and its satellite Charon are probably members. Some say that Pluto isn't really a planet and shouldn't be classed as one because it is quite small, even much smaller than our moon and doesn't orbit in the same plane as the rest. About fifty to sixty members of this Kuiper group have been discovered, most of them relatively large, but thousands upon thousands more probably exist. As you would expect from being so far out in the solar system, they are cold objects, composed of frozen water and stony material. It is believed that some of these objects, when their orbits are perturbed, fall into the inner regions of the solar system to become short period comets. Again, if mined, they would provide valuable resources with the most useful resource being water; there would be enough water in the Kuiper belt to keep any civilisation going for millions of millennia.