We've just had news that Alpha Centauri, a galaxy a few light years away, might have a planet, called "Proxima b", that resembles Earth.
Look, I know we're on a decades old mission to discover new
planets and civilizations, but I've been to Proxima b, and I can tell you it's no
great shakes.
Never mind my story.
I'm certainly not the first to have been there, and it's a little
complicated about how I got there and got back.
I can't say that those I met on Proxima b are terribly
sophisticated, nor is their technology as advanced as science fiction
people would prefer it to be.
The people, if you can call them that, are yellowish and
small. There's water and all the insects
and animals that need it are plentiful.
They have forests, some cities (although they are not terribly organized),
rivers and oceans of water. So, they're
kind of set. They've mined iron, gold, and
interesting minerals which if combined into some kind of weapon might be rather
effective in blowing things up or reorienting whatever politics, such as they
are, might exist.
I cannot decipher Proxima b language terribly well, in part
because Proximas have eight waving arms and gesture a lot. But we have communicated mainly because of
the foam swimming pool noodles I brought along. Plus, I took with me many cans of slightly
out of date Smoked Kippers, which have proven to be a big hit.
Oddly enough, the Proximas believe that Earth is a better
place than their planet.
Waving my noodles, I tried to explain to the Proximas that
Earth is a pretty good place, but not a place you'd want to go to. Even if you are in a perilous situation, it’s
not worth the light years. I mean,
unless you can get there in under a half hour.
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