Climate wars 4: WIll Mimi get crushed on her first mission down on Earth?

Can the Djindans escape detection and defeat the CliDens in the war for planet Earth?

Captain Cyan

Today's student reading his essay was Tetric, an older student who could look rather like a moving rock himself. He said:

"The CliDens are a species of rock-eaters who look like rocks. Since they can chew rocks, don't ever let one bite you. They are able to camouflage themselves as all kinds of rocks and as some man-made surfaces, though not painted or polished ones.

"They travel the galaxy looking for planets with the kind of rocks they like, which includes radioactive ones and those poisonous to carbon-based life. They also like some gases, which include some of the greenhouse gases and man-made pollutants. They particularly like fossil fuels, though their digestions do not process them completely so they pollute the atmosphere.

"If the planet is undefended, they rape it with no regard for the inhabitants or flora or fauna. If it is defended, like Earth, and they think it worthwhile, they are capable of being subtle in pursuit of their aims.

"Nobody has ever managed to dissect one to see how they process both rocks and gases."

So, where would you look for them?" asked the captain.

"On space rocks". "On Earth where there are rocks." "Where there are lots of gases, like volcanoes or oil and gas wells", were some of the replies.

"Very good children. Fortunately, we can hack into Earth systems which map local space, the Earth's surface, the sea bed and sources of man-made pollution that we can use until we have completed thorough mapping of our own. They are not perfect, but a useful start. Your next essay should be on the sources of the greenhouse gases that CliDens like on Earth. So that excludes water vapour, for example. History will have to wait until we have a better idea of where they are, how many they are and what they are up to." And captain Cyan switched off the schoolroom feed.

"Joubini! Send out a probe to see if the CliDens are hiding on the far side of the moon, or if they have been feasting there." Even if the CliDens confined themselves to the moon and not the planet, Earth would be badly affected if they decimated the moon. Though probably they had not started on the moon, or Earthlings would have noticed the change in the gravitational pull of the moon.

"Aye, aye, captain!" replied Joubini, standing up straight and saluting with every free arm. Captain Cyan was both amused and pleased at how the crew was absorbing Earth mannerisms. It would stand those who went down to the planet in good stead.

Kaurna spoke up. "Captain, on the assumption that the CliDens will start small and wait to see how Earth reacts, I've been looking at Earth news stories involving rocks. There have been quite a lot. Some are natural - huge rock falls where there have been huge rock falls for centuries, for example. Or "Sudden Rock" in Japan where a storm is thought to have been the cause. Others are clearly due to global warming. For example a melting glacier collapsed, drowning a whole village in ice and rocks. Some rock falls can even cause the Earth to vibrate. Modern instrumentation must make it a lot harder for the CliDens. On the other hand, the discovery that rocks can move on their own may make Earthlings take less notice if CliDens disguised as rocks move. Tales of the stones of Stonehenge moving turned out to be misleading, though.

"Some will need further examination. Was the collapse of the Old Man of the Mountain natural or was it a test to see if the Earthlings would notice and investigate? They noticed, all right, but I'm not sure yet what investigation they did.

"It's all made much harder because they have inserted something they call Artificial Intelligence (A I for short) into their search engines. Far from being intelligent, these implementations are dumb and poorly educated and make stuff up. Our own AI is having to trace and verify every single 'fact' to build a reality-based database that our researchers can use. This is taking a considerable time. I don't understand how they can manage with such a mess.

"One way that CliDens can land on Earth relatively unnoticed is as small meteorites. Another is to take the form of a statue, either taking the place of an existing one or placing a new one overnight, with plaque if necessary. Earthlings have noticed monoliths appearing around the world, for example. I'll be looking at whether anyone notices if they move elsewhere, and where they go, and look for clues in the social media about them.

"I suggest a covert mission to investigate if they are CliDems - though of course the CLiDems may have replaced them with real rock by now."