“Not to rain of your UFO parade but I would take any and all UFO sightings with at least some hesitation, especially if the sighting occurred in the united states. There have always been sightings and experiences that fall within the UFO range but scientists have actually been able to trace back to the moment Americans became obsessed with UFO’s. October 30th 1938. Before that we had maybe two occurrences of note? 1896 to 1897 there were multiple reports of UFO’s and even attempted abductions and then April 17th 1897 there is a story of a UFO crashing and it’s alien pilot being buried in a local cemetery. Obviously both points of interest but still barely anything compared to now, right? Do you know what happened on October 30th 1938?”
The universe was his hyper fixation and with an exploration of the universe came a deep dive into subcultures such as conspiracy theories surrounding UFO’s. With that research came some patterns and one very obvious origin. “A young 23 year old man but the name of Orson Welles acted in and produced a radio play of the H.G Wells novel The War of the Worlds. He thought he was being inventive by rewriting the novel as a series of radio news bulletins which he could have acted out live on air. What he didn’t take into consideration is that people who hadn’t been listening from the start or hadn’t known it was going to happen would actually believe America was being invaded by aliens. People panicked, real panic. It caused nation wide hysteria and never really stopped even after it was revealed to have just been a radio play. After that moment UFO sightings and reported contact with aliens in the US grew at an immeasurable rate. I’m not saying there’s no such thing as UFO’s as to say such a thing would be to laugh in the face of my work. What i’m saying is pop culture influences peoples way of thinking and Orson Welles changed the way an entire generation of people looked at the sky with one broadcast.”
Watching Darrin take in the information he had given him about Proxima Centauri was interesting especially as he processed it in a way that allowed him to ask the right questions. “Correct. Like as we know it wouldn’t be able to survive but there’s so much we don’t know about life. There could be life forms where their base is a much denser element meaning they’re more durable and able to endure harsh conditions. Life is often both fragile and resilient at the same time. What we deem the sweet spot for life development is only based on factors that it was necessary for our own life to flourish. We know from beings like tardigrades that life can exist in the harshest conditions.”
Marcus always appreciated people who had a genuine interest in the universe, even if it simply boiled down to if there were aliens or not. “There are so many variables and possibilities. It’s why there are specific lines of thinking. If we take the speed of light into consideration it’s possible they’re seeing us at a time hundreds of years in the past and think we’re not ready for contact yet. Maybe there are certain levels of understanding we have to meet before we’re considered ready. Once we have contact with an outside species we need to think about interplanetary relations and given that our planet is in a constant state of war and has no real international governing body…”
Darrin gave something of a privately disappointed sigh, despite his best efforts to look analytical and nonplussed. Cocking his head to one side, though, he gave a nod and offered a hum. “I mean, sure, sure! Yeah. It’s important to be...skeptical, I guess. That’s fair. Americans are sort of self-centered like that, huh? Like, we always assume that if aliens land, it’s gonna be in our backyard and not somewhere else. But, I’m sure you know, the notion of life on other planets goes back a long time. Like, uh, Meroz in the Book of Judges. I know, I know, science and religion and all. But the Talmud suggests it refers to a celestial body, and it does mention a curse on both it and its inhabitants.” He wrinkled up his nose, flashing a conspiratorial smile. Maybe it was a city, sure, or referred to some sort of heavenly layer. But the forbidden planet was more interesting. “Aurora, Texas. I’ve been there actually. I used to travel all over with my...friends. For a long time.” He and his sire (which is what he had almost said before stopping himself) had spent much of their fifteen years on the road, moving from place to place in search of new experiences and faces. “Did you know a mysterious tombstone sort of just appeared there? And then it disappeared. But, uh, yeah, sure! The War of the Worlds.”
Listening along, he nodded, making noises affirmation as Marcus continued. “Yeah! And some guy tried to take down the water tower.” He shook his head. Darrin had attended the lecture in search of concrete knowledge on the cosmos, sure, but was becoming increasingly evident, he had done most of his learning in the world of pop culture. Still, he listened to Marcus with abject fascination, speaking up only when he was through. “That makes sense. I mean, listen to me. I’ll buy anything about a little green man.” He sighed but still managed a laugh. “And it all happened again in Chile and Ecuador in the 40s. And then, not aliens, but in the 90s, there was Ghostwatch. Over 30,000 people called the BBC to complain, I heard.” He grimaced. “And then The Blair Witch Project. Humans are a pretty gullible species, huh?” That remark made Darrin feel oddly. For the moment, he had spent more time as a human than a vampire, although the number was closing in. Maybe he ought to stop counting himself among them.
He nodded very seriously. “Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. What about silicon? Could there be silicon-based life?” His eyes widened, but this again seemed to be his mind working its way through some movie or TV show about such creatures. Still, he gave a more studious nod. “I get it. I hate to keep bringing up religion, but we tried to, you know, practice and all when I was a kid. Sometimes. Helps me vocalize it. So, like, as an example, intelligence has to do with free will, right? Well, free will, in theology requires following or not following the rules. And those rules are so tied to our planet. So whatever’s out there would have to be intelligent in some way completely different from how we define it in our world. Because they couldn’t have those rules. I’m not really religious, but you’re kind of blowing my mind that they sort of work together.”
He smiled. “And even then, we might not be ready now, huh?” His features sobered as Marcus continued. “You’re right about that. And if there really was alien tech, it’d totally be a race to make the best weapons. Not the best...I don’t know. Whatever else.” He shrugged his shoulders gently. “Maybe they think we’d disrupt the galactic peace.” While this did seem to genuinely dishearten him, he managed to offer brighter thanks. “Well, I appreciate your explanation, Doctor. And thank you for humoring me. I know I’m sort of all over the place. But who knows? Maybe one day reality’ll be stranger than fiction after all, huh? Oh, I’m rude. Darrin Levine. I own the comic shop in town. He says surprising no one.”
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