Here’s a thought that I find myself thinking quite often: a form of life from a dimensional plane on which regular humanoid life would melt. These would be slimy, vile creatures that we somehow need to make peace with and cordon off the gateway to their realm. This thought comes directly from taking issue with how many humanoid species are posited through popular sci-fi television series, from Star Trek to Star Wars to even Babylon 5.
Yes, there is some sci-fi and fantasy fiction that acknowledges the potential existence of completely non-humanoid life, but honestly, it’s probably not enough. This is why I’ve always dreamed about slimy, vile creatures who see us just as alien as we would see them, and thus, have the same level of fear we would have towards them.
How do we know these creatures could exist?
As astronomers discover more exoplanets on a regular basis, we’re likely very close to finding earth-like worlds that could support life, theoretically like our own. While it would make sense that a similar world to Earth that’s rocky and/or has a temperate climate, this follows the assumption that the human race is a template for what we could find out there. While that’s hardly impossible, the first forms of life we encounter will much more likely be completely different than anything we’ve encountered in our own little blue planet. Plus, because we can’t possibly know what other types of life to look for, how do we know whether or not we’ve found it already?
Of course, not only has humanity been long asking the question if we’re alone in the universe, there’s also scientific evidence that backs up the idea of different forms of life thriving in other parts of the galaxy, perhaps even within our own solar system! Scientists have already found thousands of microbes in environments thought to be devoid of life, such as arctic regions with subfreezing temperatures. Also, previously unknown types of bacteria which can survive living in extreme conditions are being studied and discovered on the International Space Station (ISS).
While the strains being studied on the station likely originally came from Earth itself, these discoveries hint at the possibility that we’re still missing out on all of the unknown microscopic life which could exist. It may still be a stretch that one day we make contact with otherworldly creatures any more complex than these microbes, but it’s much less far-fetched that it was decades ago.
After all, even in an environment like Mars that shouldn’t be able to support life, it hasn’t stopped NASA from performing experiments to find fossilized evidence that life once existed on Mars. There’s speculation that there could still be life thriving in an underground environment on the red planet.
Where could these extradimensional creatures be now?
Far as the general public knows, there have never been fully confirmed extraterrestrial encounters in real life. Of course, I believe there’s some truth to the conspiracy theories of extraterrestrial life visiting earth numerous times over the millennia. After all, sentient species with the ability to travel vast distances across spacetime would have the ability to wipe out ninety-nine point nine percent of traces they would otherwise leave behind.
Once we do encounter some form of living organism from outside our understanding, it will be of paramount importance to proceed with caution. After all, the first life that could invade our world could be single-celled organisms with wildly different ways of operating than life on Earth. Since there are undoubtedly forms of life that can live in the absolute zero temperature of space, what should we be looking for, besides the obvious draw of earth-like planets?
For all we know, the first life we encounter may not even be visible to even our most fine-tuned observational instruments. And, even if it were, we wouldn’t even be aware of what we’re actually looking at, either.
What might the slimy, vile creatures be like?
It’s not a stretch to say that non-humanoid life, especially beings that would appear to us and slimy and vile, would have little to no interest in human politics. They may have a passing interest in our culture, and perhaps even be open to diplomacy. The trouble is, life that is far from our form and understanding will have as much of a barrier understanding us as we would of them.
Also, not only is it easy to imagine such alien life would bring along with it some sort of disease, that’s entirely scientifically possible. If these slimy, vile creatures that I’ve dreamed up many nights actually do come to call, their very presence could cause all earth life around it misery and pain. Whether this would be their main drive of their appearance on earth, even if the after-effects of their very presence brings about destruction, it may just as well be completely unintentional.
It’s also quite possible that such life lives in a dimension of space-time that intersects with our own. In that dimension, humanoid life like ours could not exist. In fact, if we were to step into an unknown dimension without the benefit of hazmat suits, our bodies would probably begin to melt immediately, if not immediately vaporize us.
Even if we somehow learn to communicate with these extraterrestrial (or extradimensional, rather) creatures, would they even be interested in peace? It’s likely they would be repulsed by us exactly as we may repulse them.
How would extraterrestrial or extradimensional life want to come to Earth from elsewhere?
Since interstellar travel is highly unlikely to ever work like the subspace warp drives of Star Trek or hyperspace like Star Wars, it’s more likely that life from other distant star systems would have to discover some sort of “gateway” to come in contact with our solar system. It’s also quite possible that if this life does enter our solar system or makes its way to Earth somehow, it’s likely they may not even have intended to come here.
It’s completely possible we could already have encountered this life without our knowing. After all, if the life does happen to be sentient, which is far from guaranteed, they would want to study us in depth before even attempting to make any sort of contact. It’s much more likely that the first unknown lifeforms were encounter will not be sentient.
But, if the slimy, vile creatures that some cartoons have caricatured over the years are in fact sentient, we may never be able to find common ground, or even peaceful coexistence for that matter. While it’s highly improbable, it’s not impossible, and we should be well aware of the possibility that very soon we will encounter complex lifeforms that don’t seem to follow any definitions of life as we know it on Earth.
So, yes, I do believe in extraterrestrial life, and especially extradimensional life, and most likely, our close encounter with the third kind will be with beings that don’t look at all like us. They may not even have a way to communicate with us or even have any interest in seeing us as any more than mere curiosities. Films like E.T. and Close Encounters with the Third Kind definitely warped our expectations of what to expect, and likely, this life exists hundreds or even thousands of light-years from us. This means even if we were to one day observe it, we would be seeing it from the past, as they would see from their perspective.
Do you believe in extradimensional or extraterrestrial life? If you do, what do you think it would look like or act like, and would they even have any interest in human beings at all?
