Five decades ago, I started my college career with the intent of becoming a marine biologist. I found out I had to get a BS in biology before I could even begin work on MARINE biology; especially because there WEREN'T any marine biology programs in Minnesota.
Along the way, the science fiction stories I'd been writing since I was 13 began to grow more believable. With my BS in biology and a fascination with genetics, I started to use more science in my fiction.
After reading hard SF for the past 50 years, and writing hard SF successfully for the past 20, I've started to dig deeper into what it takes to create realistic alien life forms. In the following series, I'll be sharing some of what I've learned. I've had some of those stories published, some not...I teach a class to GT young people every summer called ALIEN WORLDS. I've learned a lot preparing for that class for the past 25 years...so...I have the opportunity to share with you what I've learned thus far. Take what you can use, leave the rest. Let me know what YOU'VE learned. Without further ado...
The FIRST sentence of the definition of alien on Wikipedia is this: “Extraterrestrial life, or alien life (colloquially aliens), is life that originates from another world rather than on Earth.”
From MARTIAN HOLIDAY: “They waited until the interior doors opened. Svetlana lifted her helmet and stepped back pulling off a thin, black stocking cap, shaking her hair free. It was a stunning indigo, just the blue side of black.
“You’re an Artificial Human, but your skin isn’t purple!” cried Chumani.
Svetlana said, “The Free Martian Fellowship recognizes any cloned person as fully Human, no matter their color.” They stared at her, so she continued, “For most of the 19th and Twentieth Centuries on Earth, people with dark brown skin tried thousands of ways to lighten it. We’ve been doing the same thing for Artificial Human skin for the past twenty myears. Nanomachines designed to work on artificial skin can make any AH look like any uterine-born Human.”
“How can we tell you apart?” Chumani said
“Why would you need to? We’re not clones of each other. We may look like our donors, but we’re not from any single stock.”
A young man, his stunner aimed at Paolo, said, “What do we do with the trespassers?”
Paolo said, “What if I could prove to you that not only am I a Christian Witness, but that I’d be willing to join your Fellowship?” Svetlana snorted and lifted her nerve disruptor, a rare, deadly weapon with a gruesome way of killing. Paolo spread his arms and said, “If you think I’m lying or trying to pull something, kill me now.” He closed his eyes and dramatically lifted his chin and arms.
She said abruptly, “What can you offer the Fellowship that we can’t get anywhere else? We’re not uniformly Christian. There are Buddhists, Muslims, several Confucians, and others of one faith or another, as well as a few outright atheists.” Her gaze narrowed, “‘Our religion is freedom. Our worship is action.’” Svetlana holstered her disruptor but Micah kept his stunner in hand, though lowering it a bit. There was long silence as other men, women, and Artificial Humans drifted in. None of them were armed. Svetlana turned to look at them, then turned her attention back to him. “Well?”
“I can offer you an intact, virtually undetectable communication network already established among the Christians on Mars. Adding the Martian Fellowship would be no problem.”
In the world of MARTIAN HOLIDAY (incidentally, it’s a ROMAN kind of holiday, not a Christmas kind of holiday), there are Humans with all rights, Artificial Humans with no rights, plus thousands of microorganisms, plants, animals, and even pets with other genetic modifications – unfortunately including fursnakes that hunted at the deepest levels, even some from reconstructed prehistoric stock, like the legendary Titanoboa at 13 to 15 meters long and weighing more than a metric ton.
Despite their Earthly origins, would the genetically engineered life forms be considered “Earthly”? Are Artificial Humans human or alien? What does being alien mean? Here’s a definition: “An alien is a creature from another world, a person living in a country where they are not a citizen, or something very strange and unfamiliar. Extraterrestrial (Not of Earth; Outer Space): A living being that comes from a planet other than Earth. Science Fiction: Popularly shown in movies and books as life forms from distant galaxies (sorry AI overview, not even close. Vulcans; Klingons; Na’vi; Xenomorphs; ET; Superman; Jawas; or Dalek – are NOT from distant galaxies. They’re from alien WORLDS )
So…genetically engineered life forms – like the Artificial Humans – are not technically FROM Earth, but Mars…If there was no Mars, there wouldn’t be AH (or “ayches”) there. So…they are, in a strict way “alien”. In fact, even though some of the aliens listed above are at least PART-Human, they aren’t ALL Human…so are they actually ALL aliens?
I’m not even sure myself, but I’ll be thinking about it as time goes on...comments welcome (as long as they're thought out, not reactionary, and polite!)
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterrestrial_life
Image: https://image.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/alien-human-600w-136457129.jpg
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