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> A human has an archive of old horror science fiction movies from Earth spanning the 1990's to the first twenty years of the 2000's. Among these are movies like Alien, Predator, Europa, and so forth. Many of the movies portrayed aliens as monsters and horrifically powerful predators hunting humans as prey. But there was a reason for this. They also had movies like Close Encounter of the Third Kind, E.T. and more benevolent movies as well. They wished to teach a class on the fears humans had of one day meeting aliens, and the hope they had for the future. -- Anon Guest

"Science Fiction is, and always has been, a mirror. Mary Shelly held a mirror up to the blooming modern era and said, _Mankind should be careful with what it's making._ H. G. Wells not only saw a potential for exploration, but also warned of the hazards. _War of the Worlds_ is the seminal invasion fear. Other beings will come and bring devastation to everything we know... but it was also a mirror to the devastation that white colonialism was visiting on everyone else." Human Ritt apparently came up for air. Ze grinned nervously. "Sorry, I've been rehearsing this Ed Talk so long I just launch into it. You may have asked the wrong question."

"I did say 'why the movies'," said Gorx. He turned to another display poster. Three-legged machines were vaporising human figures with death rays. "This is for educational purposes?"

"Oh yes. Fears of Them coming to do what we've already done to Others, that one. The Invasion Narrative is almost _too_ on the nose. They come, they take over, they _appear_ benevolent or they just don't care, they start wrecking everything, including important cultural artifacts..." this display poster had a giant flying saucer immolating the White House. "To the fictional aliens, I guess this was Manifest Destiny."

"There are other narratives?"

"Oh yeah. They Just Want to Eat Us, which harkens back to the old colonial 'Savage Cannibals' script, just in a different direction. It's very rare that we see a narrative that's more... realistic. A lost explorer and the people who shelter and help them," the poster featured a human on a bicycle against the full moon and the words _E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial_. "Or they're just trying to live their lives with a minimum of fuss." This poster had three letters. _M. I. B._

Gorx was beginning to understand. "You feared foreigners more than you feared actual alien encounters."

"More or less. There's been some minimal exploration of how a meeting between worlds might _actually_ go," this poster was for _Close Encounters of the Third Kind_, "But for the most part, it was _definitely_ boiling down to, _What if they are like us but worse?_ Kind of sad, actually."

The _real_ meetings between worlds had been fleeting at best, and full of screaming at worst. Every First Contact was different, but the key factor in all of them was unadulterated gut-wrenching terror, and the realisation that the other side felt the same.

[Image <a href="https://www.canstockphoto.com">(c) Can Stock Photo / chrisharvey</a>]

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