Post by James NicollFive Stories About Aliens Attempting to Govern Humans
Maybe conquering humans is a bad idea?
https://reactormag.com/five-stories-about-aliens-attempting-to-govern-humans/
Two that have been discussed here earlier are Dickson's "The Way of the
Pilgrim" and Silverberg's "The Alien years".
In the former we convince the Aliens that we are not worthy of their
rule, in the latter the Aliens leave for reasons of their own. Despite a
plethora of plucky J. W. Campbell types and a Heinlein clone, we do not
force them to leave.
In Steven Baxter's future history earth is occupied twice. The first
group runs away when a human's action implicates them in something the
Xeelee might disapprove of. In the second case a human tricks the
occupiers onto an action that renders their home world uninhabitable.
They leave Earth, but harbour a resentment against humans that lasts to
the heat-deal of the universe. Some people just can't let go.
While "The Interpreter" by Brian Aldiss is one of his minor novels, it
has a unique solution to alien occupation. In the large empires of
human history there were often pockets which were effectively
independent of the central government for reasons of poverty (not worth
taxing) remoteness, or intractability. While others wage a hopeless war
against Nul, the central character works to achieve this status for
Earth. Our backwater planet in in the empire, but not of it. And
empires don't last forever.
William Hyde