The truth that Pequod had no knowledge of an advancing human civilization will come as a surprise to many; it certainly did to me. They are not here because of an interest in us, only our planet, which was remote enough from their civilization to not seem an obvious hiding place, but also temperate enough for them to survive in the short term. Owing to the vastness of space, they were aware of a growing population of hominids, but they were not aware that we had turned into an advancing civilization while they weren’t looking. The few amygdalines who are here, twenty-four in total, did not run toward us, they ran away from something else.

Why are they here? It is a truth of which the American government is well aware, one that they are unsure when or even if they should share with the public. In some ways, they are in America for the same reason I am. The same reason so many of our ancestors came to this country. There was a genocide. The way they word it is “genetic purge.” The ones who are here are survivors.

The question most people have about the alien presence on Earth, understandably, is the question of whether their civilization poses a threat to ours. The simple answer is yes. Of course it does. Any civilization with the power to travel such vast distances possesses far more power than we do, and not in a way that can meaningfully be compared to anything we have experienced in human history. Comparing the scenario of their civilization meeting ours to European colonists meeting indigenous Americans is reductive, insulting, and childish for a number of reasons. When it comes to power discrepancies between our civilizations, the balance tips in their favor so far that to even entertain that comparison is absurd.

The question then becomes political—any culture has politics, and theirs is no exception. Is there a political motive for their civilization to come here? Of course there is. Nikola tells me that intelligent life is exceedingly rare, and that ours is the only advancing civilization outside those descended from their ancestors they have ever discovered. But the real question is this: Is there a political motivation inside this civilization that we know only as Pequod to do human civilization harm?

Yes.