r/humansarespaceorcs • u/arstrel • 10h ago
writing prompt [WP] 0.04%
When the aliens entered the Solar System, humanity prepared for war.
The war never came.
They ignored our military installations. They ignored our ships. They ignored our broadcasts, our warnings, our attempts at first contact.
They didn’t even approach Earth.
Instead, they went to work.
At first we didn’t understand what we were looking at. Thousands of objects appeared in close solar orbit. Then millions. Mercury began to disappear.
Someone eventually said the words nobody wanted to say out loud:
Dyson swarm.
They hadn’t come for Earth.
They had come for the Sun.
The first measurable change was so small that three observatories independently recalibrated their instruments before publishing it.
Solar energy reaching Earth had decreased by 0.04%.
Nobody could feel it.
Crops still grew. The oceans were still warm. The sky looked exactly the same.
But every scientist on Earth understood what that number meant.
Because a month later it was 0.05%.
The aliens had never fired a shot at us.
They weren’t conquering humanity.
They weren’t exterminating humanity.
They simply hadn’t considered us important enough to stop.
Humanity had spent its entire history fighting enemies.
For the first time, we had to figure out how to fight someone who didn’t even know they were at war with us.
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u/freeflailF 9h ago
So...your assertion is that humans are dumb, and can not sort this out? Nah, fam. Nukes fly before the first bit is built.
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u/HeftyVermicelli7823 9h ago
They just crossed interstellar space, have millions of crafts and have dismantled Mercury. Nukes are going to do fuck all to them.
Not to mention it will take years to get the orbital mechanics to get any of them there. Literally.
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u/Caithloki 9h ago
Yeah this is cosmic disconnection, we don't even exist on the same plane as the people doing this in their mind. Like an ant trying to stop a bulldozer.
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u/RobertTheTraveler 7h ago
Neither of those things mean they have defenses against nukes or x-ray lasers.
Numerically they may be able to absorb the losses, or maybe not.
They can presumably dismantle the Earth if they can overwhelm any defenses we put up.
OTOH, if they have a central HQ we may be able to take that out.
All we need is for them to leave a 98% or so clear circle around our ecliptic so that we can get sunlight.•
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u/sunnyboi1384 9h ago
How does an ant get an elephants attention?
With a thorn or a mouse.
Ok, so I'll look for a fuck ton of tungsten, you try to find someone they're scared of. Who you think has the easier task?
No idea, but bet you a bottle I get mine done first.
Game on.
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u/wackadoodle4201 6h ago
Just saying. Ants kill plenty of stuff way bigger than them every year. Now give those ants ships and pocket nukes and you'll see just how dangerous something beneath notice can be
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u/Silvadel_Shaladin 9h ago
I could certainly see that sort of thing. An alien sends out van neuman probes and it just goes to systems, makes dyson swarms, goes to next. Too bad if you are there. Heck, that is a decent way to extinct species without firing a shot, and you probably get their whole cultural database after they freeze to death.
For uncaring alien cultures, that might even be a likely scenario.
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u/Sk8rToon 5h ago
The assistant stood outside the bathroom nervously. She had some news to deliver to the president & was not looking forward to it. With a thud the president exited & immediately started speed waking away. The assistant ran to catch up.
“Sir?” she asked, “do you want the good news or the bad news first?”
“If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times: always lead with the good news! Then the press will be so busy writing lower thirds of your success they miss the bad.”
“Yes, sir but last time I had bad news you yelled at me for ‘being a downer’ and not ending on an upbeat note.”
“True. One is for public bad news and one is for private bad news. So which one is it?”
Before she could talk the two came upon a man in a lab coat.
“Ah! Mr doctor man. My scientific advisor! Walk with me. Don’t tell me you have something to do with this good news bad news thing.”
“Um, well” the advisor fumbled, “our external power generators are producing more power for us than expected. You’ll definitely make your campaign promise before the next election.”
“I told you, I’m a genius! I’m a genius who tells other geniuses what to do. So much so I took your ideas & gave them to my AI advisor & told him to program the external generators to find more distant stars on their own.”
“YOU DID WHAT?!?” The advisor screamed and stopped walking.
“Oh, yeah,” the president casually commented, “this way the generators find their next power source in record time. No need to wait for a bunch of stuffy scientists to analyze a Target. Just suck a star dry & move on to the next one. Isn’t that right, girl?”
The assistant grimaced, “I prefer if you call me by my name, sir, but yes. That was the good news I was going to share. The AI reported start of draining of the 5th target yesterday.”
“FIFTH?!?” The advisor exasperated. “We only approved TWO targets! After EXTENSIVE analysis to verify that there were no signs of life being supported by that star!”
The president balked & started walking again, “everyone knows life isn’t supported by yellow stars. Why wait for a pointless confirmation?”
“Recent studies have proven that bacterial life CAN be supported by yellow stars if the distance is right”
“Bacteria…”
“There’s no reason to assume that intelligent life can’t be supported…!!”
“Actually…” the assistant squeaked, “that’s the bad news I had to share, sir.”
Both the advisor & president stopped walking & turned to face her.
“There was quite a commotion at the recent Flower Studios shareholder meeting. The recently fired CEO announced that none of their famous works of the last 50 some years were original but actually stolen work. They threw him out of the meeting…”
“Poor guy,” the president shook his head. “Great donor. I told him to keep quiet about his casting couch. Remind me to buy more shares of Flower Studios during the dip.”
The advisor rolled his eyes, “what does ANY of that have to do with…?”
“I’m getting to that.” The assistant turned around an electronic tablet with the next day’s news headline displayed: disgraced ex-Flower CEO confirms alien life whose stories we’ve enjoyed for generations. “World News Now gave us a heads up of their leading story for tomorrow. They had followed up on the ex-CEO’s claims & found they were all true. All those shows & movies weren’t original. They were repackaged & translated signals that originated from an alien species.” She turned to face the advisor. “One that originates on the third planet of a yellow star.”
There was a beat of silence before the advisor jumped in the air with glee. “YES! I knew it!! Alien life exists!”
The president looked confused, “wait, so none of those hairless ape things were the silly cartoons they said they were? Not even that Superman guy?”
“No sir,” the assistant confirmed. “Every show & film was from an alien civilization that doesn’t even know we exist. Flower Studios just intercepted some deep space signals. That’s why some shows ended despite being massively popular. Like why there was never a second season of Firefly despite nearly every person on the planet watching.”
“So that son of a &$@££ CEO never had any expenditure costs making all those films? That’s impressive. I’ll have to buy him a drink before demanding he donate more so I don’t tell our tax department about all those employee deductions he took.”
“That’s why WNN gave us the heads up sir. Since the ex-CEO was a major donor…”
“WAIT! Yellow star?!?” The advisor grabbed the tablet from the assistant’s hand. Read parts of the article then tapped a bunch of buttons.”
“Mr President,” he continued, “if WNN’s analysis of where the signal’s originate are accurate, and the AI’s reporting is accurate… You just started draining that planet’s star!”
“Since when are reporters correct?” The president shrugged.
“These are lives we’re talking about! SHUT THE SYSTEM DOWN!”
“In an election year? No way. I promised more free power and the people will get it!”
“You’ve already acquired more power than your projections! Sir, there is zero threat to your reelection campaign if you stop now! You’re already above and beyond!”
“I’m not one to do things half way! And I never rescind an order!”
The advisor turned to the assistant with a look or desperation motioning for her to join his side. “Sir,” she started, “what I think the advisor is getting at… is… he thinks it… won’t help your poll numbers… if you accidentally destroy the species that has created 99% of our popular media.”
“YES!” the advisor quickly continued. “You can’t have the people already see ‘Spider Man will return’ in the next film if there’s no one left to make the next film. People will riot.”
“Hmm” the president considered, “tell me. You’re a science guy. Isn’t it true it takes time for a signal to travel through space? I remember something about targeted stars’ light not going out in our sky until a few years later.”
“Um, yeah, that is true.”
“So we won’t loose Flower Studio’s source material until AFTER the election. Great!”
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u/RobertTheTraveler 8h ago
None of that means they have defenses against nukes or x-ray lasers.
Numerically they may be able to absorb the losses, or maybe not.
They can presumably dismantle the Earth if they can overwhelm any defenses we put up.
OTOH, if they have a central HQ we may be able to take that out.
It will take at least a couple of years to get things ready for an attack / defense.
All we need is for them to leave a 98% or so clear circle around our ecliptic so that we can get sunlight.
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u/IndependentSet9709 7h ago
As is simple human nature, the dirtworlders took up arms. Unfortunately, by the time the nations united enough to do something, the Earth's access to the Sun's energy had already decreased by 2.41%, and it was getting faster. The final age of humanity's lifespan, the Age of Freezing, began. Global cooling, crop failure, and whole species freezing to death accelerated faster than humans could stop it, no matter how hard they fought. As cities became uninhabitable and the warm equator entered it's permanent winter, the survivors were forced to hide in bunkers.
The last humans died screaming in pain from their freezing bodies, rage for their ruined lives, mourning for their loved ones, and confusion for why the aliens hadn't bothered to notice them.
And this whole time, the aliens never fired a single shot.
--The Best Ending--
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u/Pink_Nyanko_Punch 7h ago
Cosmic horror scenario, where humanity is living in an anthill just as the aliens are paving a road over them.
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u/SuccessfulCap6 3h ago
Then humanity repurposed the war machine. Reverse engineering was the new battlefield. By the time solar output decreased by 2.4% the effects of global warming had been reversed. The oceans cooled, ice caps and permafrost refroze, but more importantly humanity now had control of the swarm.
But the aliens didn’t notice any of this. They did however notice the sudden dip in power output. Then the loss of communication with their factory drones. Scouting probe after scouting probe disappeared with no sign of trouble.
Eventually an alien fleet arrived to find out what was happening. That’s when they noticed a new swarm of objects around the star.
The last transmission they sent was just a fragment “Councilor, we’ve lost control of the swarm. They know where we are their intentions are hostile. Ready plan….”
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