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Most readers may be familiar with the classic science fiction novel The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. <link>
It tells the story of a Martian invasion of Earth.
The Peace of the Worlds tells the same story from the point of view of the Martians.
The narrative begins in the early years of
Earth's 20th century, when humans first start to employ radio technology. The signals are received by the Martians who are intrigued by these crude transmissions, and they record and decode them.
This gives them for the first time an insight into life on that nasty little hot planet closer to the sun, which was previously thought to only be infested with some sort of nasty fungoid growth, like mould.
As they log more and more transmissions, and then gain further insight into human society by launching orbital reconnaissance probes - which they haven't bothered with for several centuries, being more interested in the gas giants and their moons - they are utterly horrified. Humans are ruining their ecosphere, constantly fight one another, lie, cheat, steal and kill. Such behaviour is unknown in the advanced, entirely peaceful civilization on Mars, where war and crime are unknown.
After a long and solemn discussion, the verdict is, "They'll have to go".
A mission is mounted to Earth to cleanse it of the hideous, strange bipedal things that infest it and are doing so much damage. The initial landing is entirely successful, and the process of eradication commences. However, the expedition is overwhelmed by viral and bacterial infections to which the Martians have no resistance. The expedition sends a final message back to their homeworld, detailing the problem and warning them to "Stay away".
The Martians immediately issue the equivalent of Star Fleet General Order 7 (which quarantines the entire region against any and all contact) and resolve to leave well alone, unless humans develop interplanetary travel and become a clear and present danger at which point they will be obliged to destroy the entire planet.
The motif running through the entire story is the noble motives and tragic loss of the brave expedition crew, the reaction to their deaths back home, and the sadness at the failure to effectively contain a massive threat to all the other species on Planet Three, which the Martians urgently wish to preserve.
The War of the Worlds
https://en.wikipedi...e_War_of_the_Worlds
The other point of view [8th of 7, Jan 05 2019]
General Order 7
http://memory-alpha...iki/General_Order_7
Applies to Talos IV. [8th of 7, Jan 06 2019]
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Annotation:
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So a story about thinking your more intelligent than you are and getting burnt by your own stupidity. A classic. I can empathize. |
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This is brilliant and you should do it. |
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Can't use Mars though these days. I guess the latest remake
with Tom Cruise didn't mention Mars either. |
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// Can't use Mars though // |
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Because the story runs contemporaneously with War of the Worlds - where Martians are explicitly mentioned - it can. |
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It would be made clear that the Martian "weapons" - the Heat Ray, and Black Smoke - aren't really weapons at all; the Martians don't have weapons and indeed don't understand the concept. The Heat Ray has been adapted from a piece of mining equipment, and Black Smoke is a disinfectant, used in their agriculture - so their offensive capability has been entirely (and reluctantly) extemporized. |
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Even the Red Weed is just a food plant, modified to live in a totally different ecosystem. It dies off because it needs nutrients that only the Martians can provide, and once they're dead it rapidly expires. |
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The theme is that the "invaders" are killing off humans only to protect the planet from damage, and preserve its biodiversity, much as humans try to control other lesser species that cause environmental damage - crown of thorns starfish, Japanese knotweed, scorpion fish, rabbits, cane toads, land snails and pythons. |
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Why not, retro sci fi is often well received, especially when
it's a straight faced send up. |
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Besides, if you set it when it was originally written it can be
explained away as ignorance on the part of the late 1800's
humans who just mistakenly thought they were from Mars. |
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Which allows for a more contemporary follow up later,
where it's
revealed they came from Rupert, the ninth & furthest
planet from the sun, that has an
eccentric orbit resulting in it always being hidden from
Earth behind Jupiter. |
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More of an allegory than a send-up. There probably won't be a lot of humour either - "We tried to do what we though was a good thing, but it didn't work, and everyone died in the attempt". |
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Link why Earth's non human diversity is truly important to Mars and I side step the thought of a sticky beak invading someone else's unconnected territory and trying to impose will. |
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//Because the story runs contemporaneously
with War of the Worlds - where Martians are
explicitly mentioned - it can.// |
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Well, OK, but wasn't that story written when
people thought there might be aliens living on
Mars, something that we now know isn't true? |
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It's just going a bit fantasy for my taste, I like how
they handled the remake where they left out the
Mars part and kept it vague. |
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I guess you could say they live under ground
because they destroyed their environment
thousands of years ago and don't want us to do the
same. |
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But seriously, you're the artist here, don't listem to
me, take your vision and do this. |
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And believe me 8, I'm just as uncomfortable
complimenting you as you are receiving a
compliment from me so let's just forget this whole
ugly incident and go back to the standard dynamic
that doesn't make me queezy. I'll just say one last
time, you really should write this novel. |
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//at which point they will be obliged to destroy the entire planet// That order has clearly been downloaded into the brains of several of the global leaders planted here years ago, to be activated should circumstances arise. |
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... but thankfully, Hillary lost the election. |
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// forget this whole ugly incident // |
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Agreed. Let's do that. Complements of any sort are disconcerting; complements from you are downright alarming ... |
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//Agreed. Let's do that. Complements of any sort are
disconcerting; complements from you are downright
alarming ...// |
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Although I agree, I'm not even comfortable agreeing with
that. |
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So I totally disagree... for some reason. |
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// So I totally disagree // |
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Well, why don't you just go and take a long walk off a short pier, eh ? |
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Normal disrespect has been resumed. |
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<Deliberately ignores pun/> |
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All of them. The Martians have a highly developed ethical code of respect and non-intervention. While they observe and investigate the other objects in the system, they go to great lengths to avoid causing any damage or contamination - particularly to Europa, which unlike Europe is suspected of being the home of intelligent life. |
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I was going to give you a fresh, hot, large, and buttery roll, but then I read [wjt]'s anno. Now I'm only giving you a stale bit of croissant. Also I'm having a lot of trouble not making purile jokes right now and would like a good, hard slap. |
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I'm triggered and offended by the name "Uranus". This
smacks of outdated imperialist land grab ownership
mentality so I suggest we change it to "Ouranus". Or
"Theiranus". How about "The Anus Of All The People"
planet"? |
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To disagree you'd have to be worse than Hitler. |
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// How about "The Anus Of All The People" planet"? // |
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You actually want to name a planet after Tony Blair ... ? |
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Then again, it would be appropriate to name a star after Gordon Brown - as long as it was a Brown Dwarf ... |
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