Humans have been looking up at the sky with curiosity since we first evolved the ability to think.
Commander Julia has the immense task of leading Mission Star Drifter to search for potential neighbours in our uncomprehendingly massive universe. She is a passionate scientist and commander, whose patience has been eroded by a decade of frustration and failure, despite all their hard work. Julia’s resilience is tested to the extreme, and joy feels hard to reach for.
When they decide to try one last planet, to their utter amazement, Julia and her crew find themselves in the home of the Space Creatures. Now the astronauts are the aliens here.
The Space Creatures are largely based on my experience of how Golden Retrievers make friends in pubs. They have a “dolce far niente” sweet nothing attitude to life, choosing to do things for no purpose other than for the joy of it. A place where the strength of each individual’s respect for their fellow creatures protects the group as a whole. Like a dive buddy system, but for an entire planet. Our Space Creatures are a mighty race, capable of both strength and kindness. The eagle-eyed will see the cave paintings in the crystal cave, which show the Space Creatures observing celestial bodies, and their history of defending themselves against hostile attacks from invading aliens.
For Julia there is a reawakening of wonder, beyond the unattainable loveliness of the Space Creatures’ way of life. Her “silly smelly ship” becomes something which she shares with the Space Creatures with pride and joy. Both species share an insatiable curiosity, fuelled by hope and a willingness to explore our own ignorance.
The search for life in our universe requires huge patience. Astrophysicist Frank Drake gave the example of the orchid which blooms only for a day, so if you arrive two days too soon or too late, you may never know that the flower exists. We must search the universe again and again if we hope to find alien life, it is an immense test of perseverance. It reminds us how insignificantly small we are in the great picture of our universe.
I like the thought that everything in the cosmos is made of the same stuff, which has been colliding and building since the dawn of time. Perhaps when we do find alien life, it will be made from the same stuff as us. And so, there is a parallel in the book between the astronauts studying fungus and crystal structures in zero gravity, and the space mushrooms and crystal caves which occupy the Space Creatures’ planet.
In studying the universe, we are studying ourselves, and there is so much still to be explored and discovered.
