"The Life of Our Death" by Caleb Davies

The Life of Our Death,

Inspired by Hao Jingfang’s “Invisible Planets,”

which was inspired by Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities

BENDARAN

Meet the Bendaran. This species lives on a crystalline planet, Shadar. This planet has a crushing atmosphere that makes life practically impossible on its surface. However, the underground of this planet is riddled with vast subterranean caves. These caves are where these aliens live. During their evolution into an intelligent species, they learned these caves would sometimes collapse for mysterious reasons. Because of this, the Bendaran would constantly move around in order to stay safe. As the Bendaran grew more advanced, they found ways to strengthen these caverns to reduce the chance of a collapse, which eliminated the need to constantly move. However, the Bendaran still culturally show positive emotions by moving and negative emotions by standing still, as standing still traditionally implies that the Bendar feels like being crushed by the ceiling for whatever reason.

As the Bendaran grew technologically, they eventually ventured out to the surface of their planet, where they found the reason for the cave collapses. The immense pressure of the atmosphere led to a surface full of ever-growing crystals. These crystals started off small, around five feet tall and of a yellow-green color (the Bendaran called these “spines”). As they grew, their color dulled to a gray and grew into enormous rectangular or spike-like formations. Finally, when the crystal grew too large, around a hundred feet, its weight would be too much for the rock, and any caverns below would collapse. Soon the Bendaran created explosive technologies to collapse the crystals in a controlled manner, as well as tracking which crystals were too large so that warnings could be issued to the caverns below them. Eventually, as space technology developed, they created flying, space-worthy ships that are capable of completely vaporizing these crystals, vastly improving safety for the population below. Soon after, this species began venturing out into space with only the best intentions: discovery, exploration, and helping other life they may find. The Bendaran suspected that there was other life out there, possibly life also struggling with crystals such as theirs. They vowed to help any life out there that might face the same problem.

They first found life on a watery, bluegreen planet. As their spaceships neared the surface, the Bendaran realized that whatever life was on that planet had a massive infestation on their hands. Great gray blocks hundreds of feet high clustered on the surface everywhere. Even more numerous were the large squares of spines. Due to the lack of air pressure, the Bendaran suspected the water had something to do with such widespread crystal growth. As the Bendaran approached a massive cluster of spikes, they realized there was indeed intelligent life there. The mysterious species was moving around constantly, just as the Bendaran had long ago. They seemed to be trying to systematically disassemble the crystals, as some blocks looked like partial skeletons compared to the rest. At the rate they were working, it looked like it would take this species centuries to get rid of all the crystals, by which time new ones would surely pop up. 

The Bendaran determined that the crystals posed the same threat to this mysterious species that crystals once posed to them. So the Bendaran decide to help out. They vaporized the biggest spike in one particularly massive cluster that took up a whole island. Once it was gone, the Bendaran saw the mysterious species moving around even faster than before. They were moving fast and moving away from the destroyed crystal, which, if this species was anything like the Bendaran, meant they approved and were clearing the way for them to keep going. So the Bendaran kept working. After about a week of vaporizing, the Bendaran finished clearing out all the crystals, and even destroyed the squares of spines to ensure no new crystals would form for a while. Hardly any of the species was visible, so the Bendaran assumed they went back underground. That species never tried to get in contact with the Bendaran, but the Bendaran reasoned it must be because they were still lacking in the necessary technology to do so. The Bendaran congratulated themselves on a job well done and left, vowing to come back every three hundred years, to make sure the infestation was completely dealt with. Who knows? Maybe that species would grow advanced enough to communicate with the Bendaran, and they could be friends.

Unbeknownst to them, they had obviously just ruined the human civilization. The Bendaran, with their good intentions, essentially doomed humans. The destruction of cities and crops and the deaths of so many people led to the collapse of civilization. And every time the humans try to build back up, the Bendaran come back, every three hundred years, and destroy all of the progress they try to make. And so the humans die, not from war, but from kindness. Oops. 

JUKAZAMAN

Meet the Juzaka. Wait, that’s a few days inaccurate. Meet the Kielat. Or was it the al(o)sk(u)h(o)g(i)d(y)s(a)lesal(e)k(o)hls(a)kejhsaats? (The vowels in parentheses are added in to make the word somewhat pronounceable by humans). One of those. They live on a planet called Juzan. Or ghak(e)lsej(o)h(a)b. Or was it Bill? Let me explain. 

The Jukazaman (I’ll call them that for now) live on a planet much like Earth, suitable for life in the same ways Earth is. Their planet rotates slowly, with one day being roughly equal to one month, two weeks, four days and seven hours on earth. Because of the longer span of time between each day, the advent of a new day is more special on Juzan (I’ll call it that for now). This special event is usually celebrated with the turning off of the lights ceremony, parties, and overthrowing the government. Yes, overthrowing the government. 

Each day the Jukazaman start out supportive and excited about their new government. Pride, support, and passion comes flowing from the people as the sun moves higher. But the Jukazaman start to get impatient and annoyed at the government as the sun dips lower. By nightfall, there are complainings and mumblings of conspiracy. By midnight, protests, riots, and uprisings. And when the sun rises again, a new government is formed in the old one’s place. 

All the Jukazaman are part of one faction or another, each with its own ideals and standards. Each faction has rules, laws, and staff ready to go in case it will be the day they take control. Each government is wildly different. There are democracies, totalitarian monarchies, communisms, and more. Some have almost no rules and are essentially anarchy. Others are strict and militarian, removing rights from everyone and everything. One faction, the Akblots, only allowed the use of two words: Ak and Blotutosntobatuakop. Another faction, the Blagas, had one law: Try not to kill each other. That same day, the economy crashed, cities were trashed, and resources depleted. After that, some guidelines were made for what factions could or couldn’t do, but there’s no telling how long that will last. The official names of things are changed with the governments as well, such as the official name of the species, the planet, their language, and pretty much everything else. Hence the problem in naming the species. The transition of power also varies. Some factions know that their government won’t survive the night, and they peacefully nominate another faction to control the government for the next day. Some factions seize the government despite a nomination and then try to hold on for longer than a day. The record for the longest lasting government was ten minutes past a day, by the Kakavan, who tried to fight off the angry people before being banished or executed by the Typhlon, the next ruling faction. 

Enough backstory, let's get back to Earth. When Earth scientists first established contact, it was through simple means. Therefore, they didn’t realize that the Jukazaman scientists they contacted were undercover, trying to evade the Hullatot who were hunting them for being scientists. By the time proper communications began the Juzaka faction had taken control. The Juzaka faction was a democracy, mostly non-violent, very secretive, allowed the creation of treaties, and had several sister factions with similar values that could inherit the government later. This was the government the humans communicated with. Before establishing trade and transit between worlds they made many treaties, including that the Juzaka wouldn’t fire antimatter missiles at the humans, and that the humans wouldn’t use atom bombs against the Juzaka. There were also treaties that required declaration for war, thus preventing sneak attacks.

The two species then met and established trade and travel. Humans interacted with the Jukazaman and learned what they could. However, because the Juzaka government was highly secretive, the humans never learned about the process of government on Jukazaman. A Jukazaman day later the government was handed down peacefully to a sister faction, Juzaca. The difference between factions was so small the humans did not notice the transition. Translation between languages meant that the human name for the aliens’ government was the same, and no treaties or ideals were changed. So the humans were none the wiser. 

The first warning signs to the humans happened the next Jukazaman day. The next faction that took power was also a sister faction, but it was slightly different, Juzacaca. It still translated to the same name, but its ideals were highly against granite imports, which the Earth was providing. Without warning, the Juzacaca shut down the trade and turned away the merchants. The humans were initially confused why the trade had been shut down and that no notice had been provided, but they didn’t think much of it. After all, the Juzacaca were more open to lemon trade, which made up for the loss. If only the humans had considered that the granite trade was not the only deal that could be broken.

That Jukazaman night, the hammer finally fell. The Jukazaman populace was tired of the string of Juzaka factions. That night, the Kielat faction stirred an uprising that overthrew the Juzacaca. The Kielat had extreme, militaristic ideals, and they had no honor or mercy. They also hated anything that had a prime number of fingers on each hand. Which meant the humans had to die. In a flash, they tore up all the treaties with the humans and quickly devised a plan for their destruction. The next trading vessels that arrived on Earth were filled with antimatter bombs, each with a five hundred megaton yield. And these trading vessels went to every country on Earth. The humans were caught completely unawares. Well, if it makes the massacred humans feel any better, the next faction on Juzan made a movie about them.

VOLANGO

Antavola was once a beautiful place. Forests of flowers covered the planet, each a different vibrant color. These plants had their own circle of life, each suffocating each other for food, living off each other’s remains, and towering above others to reach more light. It was an ecosystem much like ours, except with only plants. That is, until the Vola came into play. These flowers were about the height of a human, and were considered unremarkable for a long time. However, about a million years ago, through some miracle of evolution, they created an entirely new subspecies. They evolved the ability to create servants, ones more resembling rhino’s from earth (though somewhat humanoid), to protect the Vola. This subspecies is called the Volango. The Vola, with a great deal of effort, could produce a single Volango. This Volango would have more mobility and intelligence to protect its parent Vola. In return, the Vola gave the Volango nutrition in order to keep growing, by having the Volango connect back to the Vola at times. As evolution continued to push its course, the Volango got more intelligent. The smarter the Volango were, the easier it was for them to protect their parent Vola. 

Eventually the Volango flourished into an intelligent civilization. Because it was hard for the Vola to produce even one Volango, the Volango evolved the ability to give birth, allowing for generations of Volango to be protecting, and living off of, the same Vola. The young Volango were able to photosynthesize, or get nutrition from the sun, unlike their parents, in order to grow faster. The adult Volango lived long lives, spanning hundreds of years. The Volango civilization was completely centered around the Vola, as it was their life source. The flower forests were cut down and destroyed, with only select other flowers being allowed to keep living. Family, trade, and war were all different, each centered around the Vola. It was a thriving civilization, full of life and promise. That is, until the great hunger.

A virus, perhaps natural, perhaps artificial, spread through the Vola like wildfire. The Volango tried desperately to stop it, but to no avail. A few weeks later, the last Vola died. That day, the Volango civilization was no more. Without their life source, nutrition, and unity, the Volango species dissolved into chaos. No alternate food source had been created, as there had been no need to, with the Vola. Billions died of starvation, and the remainder’s minds turned to one driving goal: survival. Things got ugly fast. Many, mad with hunger, tried desperately consuming other species of flowers and died of poison. Not only was this pointless, but it destroyed the few remnants of life on the planet. Soon, the realization came that the only thing on the planet that they could eat was, terribly, themselves. Cannibalism and starvation ensued until there were few Volango left, all spread out across the planet, too far to interact with each other. 

But, somehow, the Volango did not go extinct. One Volango realized that their offspring was able to feed off the sun, unlike the adults. This meant that potential offspring would still be able to grow up for a few years, before being unable to photosynthesize and dying of starvation. However, the offspring would be able to obtain nutrients for a few years, which the parent could then obtain by, well, consuming their offspring. This Volango then found and convinced another Volango to go forward with the plan. It was successful. After much time, the two Volango spread word to the remainder of their kind that there was a way to survive. 

Slowly the Volango staggered on. Over thousands of years the Volango evolved to better survive with what they had. The offspring, when consumed, began controlling the parent, renewing the mind while still keeping the old. This gave the Volango generations of experience and knowledge. When an adult finally grew too old an offspring would be allowed to grow up to replace them. To dissuade the offspring from eating the parent, which would throw the system off balance, the adults evolved hard, impenetrable shells. Slowly, very, very slowly, the Volango started to rebuild their population. However, due to numerous setbacks their number remained around just a few thousand. They were unable to grow new flowers in hopes of cultivating something edible, as there were no more flowers. A single hiccup in the system would mean their extinction, and they knew it. 

So when the humans made contact, the Volango knew that they could not pass up this opportunity. They invited the humans to come to Antavola, and said they were starving and in deep trouble. The humans arrived shortly after, bringing supply ships loaded with food. For the first time in thousands of years, the Volango had food. But it wasn’t enough for them. Perhaps if the Volango had been kinder, they would have considered that collaboration with the humans would mean a good chance of survival and regrowth. But the Volango were not kind. They were hardened by thousands of years of constant starvation and death. They trusted no one but their own kind and weren’t taking any chances. Those who would’ve had mercy died long ago. 

They pretended to accept the human’s kindness and went with the humans back to earth. There, they met with Earth’s leaders. And subsequently killed them. Thus began a short war with the humans. The humans fought desperately and ferociously, and were of greater number, but the Volango fought harder. They were stronger, smarter, and knew that their survival depended on winning. In the end the Volango won. Who knows, with the human’s planet full of food and technology, maybe the Volango will pull themselves out of near extinction. At the expense of the human’s extinction.