Operation Scarecrow

From a file that you will not read:

That does sound ominous, so I had better explain how things are to you, and to anyone who actually finds this.

We made it; we Earthlings.

We are living in the future that so many of us had been promised.

It was not easy, and it was not perfect, but we have made it as a species that can now explore the known universe, discovering galaxies and planets and even other life forms that have not been openly hostile to our presence…well, at least not at first.

And I think that might have been a huge mistake.

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It is now the year 3083 C.E. (Centauri Era). We renamed our different times based on the different areas of space that we both discovered and colonized. It was very doubtful in the early 21st century that we would make, but the human race is like a virus: it wants to spread; it wants to grow; it wants exposure to the right sensations and stimuli. After many long and difficult negotiations all around the planet, it was decided that we could handle all issues that troubled us…if we only focused on local problems. Crime, poverty, homelessness, greed and environmental damage were all on our agendas, and it was discovered that we at least had our love of self-preservation at heart. We all wanted to live on a planet that we could be proud of; a place where our children would thrive and do far better with the planet than we ever did.

Oh, how they thrived!

I know that you probably are aware of this part of our history, but it bears repeating, as the late President White said: there was a long time there when the human race did not succumb to a single war, invasion, and act of violence or terrorism. I think that many of us meat sacks were shocked by this because the news reports were skeptical about what was happening. But there it was. Brothers and sisters on one side of a fence befriended and finally listened to fathers and mothers on the other side of that same fence. Borders became a lot friendlier. People became real neighbours and companions who could actually sit down and talk before picking up a weapon and using it for their obvious ends. The manufacturers of those weapons were not happy, but they soon found that their skills could be used to sell peace. Yes, I said it. We had peace sales: weapons would be bought back; money would trade hands; economies of slender means became fattened with so much ready cash available. This led to a decrease in poverty rates, with many homeless and displaced people being put in homes and shelters… Well, I won’t call them “shelters”. A shelter implies that it is a temporary measure. Those homes built in the untouched spots of our largest nation were often glorious and should be looked at as a real triumph of design and construction.

So, we stopped killing ourselves.

We began to look up at the stars.

Now, this was another long road. NASA became a much more important institution than it had ever been before. Billionaires who once bragged about their ability to build private vehicles for space travel now had to compete with whole communities that put their money and time into constructing crafts that could reach the ends of our Milky Way, and then out into other unseen areas of the universe. This is where the children of that first generation showed their genius.

And maybe this is the moment when they went too far.

Our first encounters with life outside the galaxy introduced us to creatures made of vapor (Dotioites), psychic beings who could give us memories we never had (Bosgolians), some round and rubbery creatures who just wanted to have something to play with (Artruewoskicians). It became an amusing joke to some that Earth not only became a stop-off for so many of these creatures – at least for the ones who wanted to see what these bipedal creatures did and where they came from – but that many of our best writers were correct in their predictions of what space travel would be like and what we would need out there: always carry a towel; droids are necessary on longer space journeys; teleporters (gotta thank those Bulblubians for them) really are the best way to visit new worlds; stay away from derelict planets and their derelict space craft (damn eggs were so tempting for those early travelers). We became a rather trendy port of call. We were the centre of things.

And like all good times, things had to end.

Earth could not handle all of the interest we generated. Even with the colonies that now existed in different galaxies with their own distant suns, stars and laws, we needed a system that would control what was happening back on that wet green and blue marble.

Hence, Operation Scarecrow.

*

A pause here while I consider what I should say about it, since it was my idea.

In the old Earth textbooks, there were stories of farmers creating fake men who would be put into fields of corn and oats to scare off birds and other predators that wanted that food. I knew that the moment I mentioned it in our annual Intergalatic Symposia, I would be laughed at, but for some reason – and after many unpleasant moments with the wrong aliens – people began to think there was no reason why it could not work…if it was controlled and run properly.

That is really it, isn’t it? Control and proper use.

It is such a simple device that I really don’t have to explain it away once again.

If activated in particular parts of the galaxy, it would transmit particular messages to unexplored sectors warning them that they would not be welcomed in any region of space with our populations. With the languages and species we were aware of, it was not hard to create a satellite small enough to be unnoticed and yet powerful enough to deter the wrong life forms.

And now we have all of this.

This is my final note until the chaos dies down. I am not happy with our planet becoming a last stand against these invaders, and I take full responsibility for what is a very difficult time for our people. Perhaps the Congromellians will show us mercy before they arrive, but it is doubtful, based on all of their previous actions. We have won many battles, but it seems to be an endless challenge that does not give us a moment of rest to rethink strategy.

I guess we will need to remember our true natures again.

I guess we will need to find a real way to scare them off.

This will remain offline until I can provide more positive news.

- From the sub-file notes of Dr. K. A. Defoe, the 42nd.

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