The Invasion Of Gortron

“I found a mystery for us to solve,” Captain Nathaniel says, placing a history book on the round table at the very center of his spaceship.

“I like mysteries,” Doctor Bill says.

“I know you do,” Nathaniel responds.

“What is it?” Haticat asks.

“The Gortrons of today are strong fighters known for their bravery and loyalty to allies, but one hundred eighty-seven years ago they had no ships and did not know that other planets existed. This changed when they were invaded by scary aliens with superior technology. The Gortrons repelled the invasion, but the event changed them. Having learned of other races, they developed their own space program and built their own weapons. This one event changed the trajectory of history,” Nathaniel says.

“So what’s the mystery?” Haticat asks.

“Who were the invaders?” Nathaniel asks.

He begins plotting a spacetime interval into the navigator. Haticat, Fred, and Doctor Bill fill their backpacks with the tools of exploration. They must be ready for anything. One hundred eighty-seven years ago, the ship pops into existence somewhere in the Gortron system. They land in a forested area.

Trekking is difficult. In addition to the many swamps, the soil contains soap-like compounds that make everything slippery. The explorers see many kinds of intricately-folded fruit as well as the lizards that eat them. They emit tiny lasers from their mouths like little dragons to burn through the convoluted rind. Haticat takes some pictures.

Finally, looking across a pond with binoculars, they see the beaver-like Gortrons building a dam. There are probably forty or so. Some of them cut up trees with their mouth lasers. Others swim the pieces over to the builders. “Let’s go say hi and warn them about the invasion,” Nathaniel says. The others follow him. As he reaches the spot and steps out from behind the trees, the Gortrons look at him with open mouths. “Hello, I’m Captain Nathaniel. I’m from the sky. I’m here to warn…” A Gortron screams. In the next second, the rest of them scream and run away.

“What’s wrong with them?” Fred asks.

“They act scared of us,” Doctor Bill says.

Nathaniel smells his armpits. “I took a bubble bath today – um – one hundred eighty-seven years from now.”

“We know what you meant,” Haticat says.

They walk into town – a collection of domes made of sticks. No one is around. Nathaniel yells, “Don’t be scared! We come in peace!”

“I don’t understand. You would think they would be fascinated by something new and want to be the first to meet aliens so they could brag about it,” Haticat says.

Soon, the Gortrons come back into sight. A hundred of them gallop toward the explorers, firing lasers from their mouths. “Ah!” Nathaniel shouts as a laser just misses him. He and his crew run back to the ship, slipping and sliding on the soapy ground the whole way. The Gortrons only stop chasing them when they return fire.

On the other side of the swamp, the explorers stop to rest. Something blocks the sun for a second. They look up and see three ribbed saucer ships. “The invasion is here,” Doctor Bill says.

Nathaniel gets to a hill where he can watch the landing site through binoculars. The pineapple-like aliens hop outside and begin to look around. “Wait, those are Pinnips. They travel the galaxy giving away presents. They’ve never invaded anybody.”

“I don’t see any presents, yet,” Haticat says, looking through his own binoculars.

Suddenly, a hundred Gortrons pour out of the forest, shooting lasers. Two of the Pinnips are killed and the rest retreat into their ships before taking off.

“Why did they attack? They weren’t attacked first,” Nathaniel asks. They wait until evening just to confirm that there is no retaliation. There is none. There is no invasion. There never was. They return to the ship. Nathaniel sips peppermint hot chocolate while the others sit around the central table.

“Did the Gortrons lie to the historians?” Haticat asks.

“Maybe, but the books were written long after this generation dies. It’s possible that the story simply evolved over time,” Nathaniel answers.

“Gortrons in this time period are very stupid,” Fred says.

“Yes,” Nathaniel says, before returning to his hot chocolate.

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