Chapter 26: The Gray Aliens

Looking at the various alien species outside the lounge, I suddenly noticed something odd: "The aliens I've seen in sci-fi movies or imagined in my mind are usually small, gray-skinned beings with big heads, underdeveloped bodies, and a frail, somewhat ugly appearance.  

But from yesterday until now, all the aliens I've seen are strong, powerful, beautiful, or mysterious-looking. I haven't seen any gray aliens at all. What's going on? Are the aliens in our sci-fi movies purely made up?"  

"Aliens are real; they aren't just figments of human imagination. Some alien civilizations that reside in secrecy on the Earth have occasionally made contact with humans. Sometimes, they don't fully erase memories, or they're recovered through hypnosis, which allows people to recall certain things. As for the gray aliens you mentioned, they're actually creations of alien civilizations."  

Buweiro's explanation startled me. I listened intently as he elaborated:  

"The gray aliens that humans have encountered, or the alien corpses found in crashed UFOs, are merely substitutes. They're comparable to probes or robots.  

When alien civilizations send UFOs to explore other places, they typically don't go themselves—they're often too lazy to do so. Instead, they create substitutes to carry out their tasks. There are multiple benefits to this approach:  

First, it saves effort.

Second, it provides a safeguard. If they encounter danger, they can abandon the substitutes to avoid harm. Exploring unfamiliar planets isn't as easy as you might think. Let me give you a simple example: Each planet has different environmental conditions, viruses, bacteria, space properties, and gravity. If an alien were to get infected, they'd have to deal with it—it's troublesome. Using a substitute, however, is much more convenient.  

Third, gray aliens are cheap and quick to produce. Even if something happens to them and they're destroyed, it's no great loss. These gray aliens can handle tasks like observation, communication, and basic interaction. For more complex or intensive tasks, advanced substitutes would be required.  

Fourth, they ensure confidentiality. Because they're inexpensive and simple, gray aliens don't contain important information. Their roles are limited to basic UFO operations and task execution. Even if another civilization captures one, retrieving the data inside the gray alien's body ensures the captors are left with nothing but an empty shell. That's why, even after humans supposedly recovered alien corpses decades ago, no significant discoveries have been made.  

Fifth, they lower others' defenses. For example, if you were to meet a tall, intimidating alien, even if it spoke to you in Mandarin and assured you it wouldn't harm you, you'd still instinctively feel wary. But if the alien appeared smaller and weaker than you, you'd likely relax and think that if he has bad intentions, I will beat him to death with a brick."  

Buweiro's explanation left me stunned once again. The reasoning made so much sense that it reshaped my understanding of the gray alien.

"Additionally, alien technology allows gray aliens to share both body and mind with their creators. This means you can convert your consciousness into data using chemical or mathematical methods and install it into a gray alien. While it carries out tasks outside, you can control it remotely from home and experience everything firsthand, all while avoiding any danger.  

Gray alien substitutes are only used for specific tasks. Here, in the Alliance's base, all the alien species you see are in their true forms, which is why you don't see gray aliens. They're usually stored in warehouses when not in use."  

After hearing Buweiro's explanation, my feelings were mixed. So that's how it is! The gray aliens Earthlings encounter are just cheap substitutes. If I publish this revelation, I wonder how people will react!  

"You mentioned before that the Interstellar Alliance protects the Solar system and Earth. From ancient times until now, all alien civilizations entering the Solar system must abide by the Alliance's treaty, or they'll face consequences. Have alien civilizations always strictly followed the rules over the millennia? Hasn't there ever been someone who broke the rules or pretended to follow them?"  

The question suddenly came to me, as I wanted to know whether alien civilizations think and act like humans.  

"90% of alien civilizations comply with the rules," Buweiro explained. "After all, everyone knows about the treaties set by the ancient Super Civilizations at the center of the Milky Way. No one wants to provoke such ancient and powerful forces. The alien civilizations that come to the Solar system to develop or reside are all at the Primary Civilization level. Each planet is connected to the Milky Way's Super Civilizations and can summon the Galactic Enforcement Team at any time to resolve disturbances."  

Buweiro spoke calmly at first, but his expression soon grew serious.  

"However, there are exceptions. Some alien civilizations engage in minor skirmishes or conflicts that don't cause significant harm. Even if reported to the Star Federation Union, they often don't intervene. After all, with so many civilizations in the Milky Way, addressing every single issue would be overwhelming."

"For example, the mass extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago on Earth was actually the result of a conflict between two alien civilizations. Things escalated to the point where they used super nuclear laser weapons, polluting the environment and causing the dinosaurs to go extinct almost instantly.

Then, about 5,000 years ago, there was another alien conflict that led to months of catastrophic floods on Earth. They even destroyed all inter-dimensional travel devices to prevent the enforcement team from intervening. But that's nothing compared to the most severe incident—when they destroyed some of the planets and moons in the solar system. Thinking about it now, it's still a pity."  

"Huh?" Buweiro's words startled me. I hadn't expected some alien civilizations to be even more ruthless than humans, daring to destroy entire planets in the Solar system.  

"Could you elaborate, especially about the extinction of the dinosaurs? What happened to those disruptive alien civilizations afterward?" I was deeply curious about this topic.  

"I'll explain from the most distant events to the more recent ones. Let's start with the dwarf planets of the Solar system. These are small celestial bodies orbiting the Sun, similar to the eight major planets, but much smaller in size. Back then, due to their size and the limitations of your technology, humans couldn't detect them. Later, as technology advanced, they were discovered but weren't classified as planets within the Solar system.  

For instance, Ceres, located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, is one such dwarf planet. With advancements in human technology, more and more of these dwarf planets have been identified, though their actual numbers far exceed what you've currently acknowledged. Even Pluto, which was once considered a planet, was reclassified for the sake of simplicity.  

What I want to tell you is that, in the distant past, the Solar system had many more dwarf planets scattered between the eight major planets. However, most of them were destroyed during interstellar conflicts. Alien civilizations fought battles in space, annihilating countless dwarf planets. I won't say much, you can imagine the power of their fight, but it was also secretly acquiesced by the Alliance."  

Buweiro's explanation left me stunned. I had always believed that the Solar system consisted only of the eight major planets and, beyond Neptune, the Kuiper Belt made up of asteroids. I never imagined that there were once so many dwarf planets—small celestial bodies too insignificant in mass and size to be classified as major planets.

Realizing the implications, I quickly asked: "I can imagine the immense power of alien civilizations fighting in space. But why did the Alliance permit it? Was it just because they were destroying dwarf planets and not causing harm to the Earth?"  

"That wasn't the main reason," Buweiro explained. "The primary reason was that, back then, the number of dwarf planets between the major planets was incredibly high, and their dense distribution often caused gravitational disturbances to the eight major planets. Some were even directly pulled in and crashed onto the planets.  

The gas giants—Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune—weren't significantly affected by such impacts due to their massive size. Mercury, being barren, wasn't much of a concern either. However, Venus, Earth, and Mars were already nurturing life during that period. Frequent impacts from dwarf planets disrupted the evolution of life on these terrestrial planets.  

The Alliance realized that destroying all the dwarf planets would be a massive undertaking, and clearing the resulting debris afterward would require even more effort. Coincidentally, there were alien civilizations seeking to engage in a conflict, so the Alliance allowed them to fight in space, even if it meant destroying some dwarf planets. The condition was that they must clean up the aftermath. Once the parties agreed, the Interstellar Alliance gave its approval.  

At the time, fragments from destroyed dwarf planets frequently fell to the Earth. However, these impacts didn't harm the Earth's environment. Instead, as the fragments fell, the ocean ice and snow melted, and the amount of water on the Earth increased, so the Earth is a special water planet, making the Earth a unique water-based planet."  

Seeing me nod in understanding, Buweiro continued, "At first, they destroyed dwarf planets at will without much problem. Later, when a certain number of dwarf planets were destroyed, the Alliance discovered that the disappearance of a large number of dwarf planets would affect the gravitational orbits of the eight planets.

For planets without life, this wasn't a major concern. But for Mars and Venus, which were still undergoing their evolutionary processes, it had severe consequences for the development of life. The Earth, located in the habitable zone of the Solar system, wasn't as heavily impacted. Realizing the potential dangers, the Alliance eventually stepped in and prohibited further destruction of dwarf planets, significantly reducing the scale of interstellar conflicts."