Alien Encounters
As I try to rewrite my science fiction story rough draft into something approaching coherency, I come to my aliens.
It was easy to make the aliens appear. They moved into the rough draft and belonged there. Now they need to move into the new draft.
This makes it necessary to have a good description of these Carduans. Where do I start?
Size is good. Their space ship must be small enough to dodge the trees and land in the ravine. Small ships require small aliens. At present, the Carduans are four inches tall making their ship 18" by 18" by 30". This is workable, yet I am so tempted to let them grow an inch.
Their home planet is rich with UV light. Now, UV light is what tans our skin and can cause skin cancer and DNA damage. So, the Carduans must have protective traits.
One is color. Blue helps protect against UV light. Another will be thicker skin.
These make other changes inevitable. If they live in a UV light rich place, they must be able to see it. A little research and the Carduans have not the three kinds of cones we have, but four so they can see the spectrum from red into the UV.
If Carduans are blue, perhaps it would help if their blood was also blue. Invertebrates have blood based on copper instead of iron. It is blue.
Unfortunately hemocyanin is not as efficient at carrying oxygen. This is offset by the small size. Perhaps a second heart is in order to keep the blood pressure up and increase the circulation rate.
The Carduans do have hands with thumbs. This is essential for handling tools, etc. Yet their small size makes five fingers ridiculous. Perhaps two fingers would be better.
One problem remains. I am writing the story. If the Carduans are too strange, how can I relate to them? The final Carduan is different, yet the same. This is the basis for keeping the visual spectrum, the hands, the bipedal stance, the emotional makeup.
The next difficulty is getting a picture of a Carduan. That would make writing about them much easier. Has anyone seen one lately?
It was easy to make the aliens appear. They moved into the rough draft and belonged there. Now they need to move into the new draft.
This makes it necessary to have a good description of these Carduans. Where do I start?
Size is good. Their space ship must be small enough to dodge the trees and land in the ravine. Small ships require small aliens. At present, the Carduans are four inches tall making their ship 18" by 18" by 30". This is workable, yet I am so tempted to let them grow an inch.
Their home planet is rich with UV light. Now, UV light is what tans our skin and can cause skin cancer and DNA damage. So, the Carduans must have protective traits.
One is color. Blue helps protect against UV light. Another will be thicker skin.
These make other changes inevitable. If they live in a UV light rich place, they must be able to see it. A little research and the Carduans have not the three kinds of cones we have, but four so they can see the spectrum from red into the UV.
If Carduans are blue, perhaps it would help if their blood was also blue. Invertebrates have blood based on copper instead of iron. It is blue.
Unfortunately hemocyanin is not as efficient at carrying oxygen. This is offset by the small size. Perhaps a second heart is in order to keep the blood pressure up and increase the circulation rate.
The Carduans do have hands with thumbs. This is essential for handling tools, etc. Yet their small size makes five fingers ridiculous. Perhaps two fingers would be better.
One problem remains. I am writing the story. If the Carduans are too strange, how can I relate to them? The final Carduan is different, yet the same. This is the basis for keeping the visual spectrum, the hands, the bipedal stance, the emotional makeup.
The next difficulty is getting a picture of a Carduan. That would make writing about them much easier. Has anyone seen one lately?
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