Set your story after aliens have officially arrived on Earth.

Posted in Science Fiction on Aug 4, 2023

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✍️ 96 stories

“Xenoarcheology” by Cedric Busteed

Submitted to Contest #210

When one travels across the stars, it is inevitable that you find the ruins of those who failed to pass the great filter. Perhaps they exist in some tangential fashion, evolving away from the rigors and responsibilities that come with sapience. There are even some instances where civilizations do so willingly through ritual suicide, systemic degradation, or genetic alteration. But when you see an eroded structure on a planet with no sapient life, it is more likely that the species who made it are long dead, having succumbed under the weig...

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“Katie” by Brianna King

Submitted to Contest #210

She was running through the woods with the child she once swore to protect wrapped tightly in her arms. After the world changed, it became increasingly difficult to keep our children alive. They wanted them. All of them. They would not stop until they had each and every child on what was once our earth in their possession. At first, they came to our doors, demanding that we hand the children over to them immediately. If obedience was not immediate, then a slow and violent death was at hand. Once it started to get harder for the inhuman being...

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“Static” by Janis Cannon-Bowers

Submitted to Contest #210

As the car radio emitted nothing but a steady stream of static, Alice made slightly insincere promises to the twins that they would all be just fine. “Sure we’ll be fine,” she assured herself, “why wouldn’t we be?” But try as she may, she couldn’t turn the damn thing off, and it was unnerving her. In fact, the high-pitched buzzing sound was maddening. “Think of it as white noise,” she kept telling herself, “just white noise.” That helped a bit. In any case, she had no choice but to keep driving—what else could s...

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“The Pavilion” by Joe Smallwood

Submitted to Contest #210

It should have happened to someone else. As St. Germain said, everyone had already been through the wringer. A parade of people, the who’s who of SETI, scientists, politicians, ordinary people, wackos, and children. Yes, children.“So, you’re right where you belong,” St. Germain quipped. “Children being SETI’s last try.”He looked me over like he was meeting me for the first time, even though he was supposedly the boss of Regional Health. “It's down to the local authorities,” he continued. “Health Services, Port Hansen, as you know.”...

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“Even Utopia Has War” by Nicole Philip

Submitted to Contest #210

In the beginning, it seemed as though this was perfect. The world was in dire need of help. The news headlines read like a sci-fi novel. Good news! The world is no longer warming! Global Warming is officially over! Bad news? It’s because we have entered into a period coined “Global Boiling”. Humanity had cooked the entire planet. One that was rife with war, corruption, pollution, poaching, murder, sex trafficking… We killed everything we touched. Humans were destructive by nature and sought out conflict everywhere we went.&nb...

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“Quarantined!” by Arthur McNamee

Submitted to Contest #210

“M12 West 14th Street to Columbus Circle”, the bus driver shouted into the bus intercom as he opened the bus door. Marvin Teller climbed into this New York City bus huffing and puffing after a four block sprint. His gray jogging pants and white T-shirt were heavily and deeply wrinkled, as though he had slept in these clothes the night before. He carried a well-worn leather case beside him as he went to take his seat on this New York City Transit bus. He briefly looked out the left-hand side bus windows at th...

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“We Have a Lot in Common” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #210

We Have a Lot in Common In response to an important question posed to him by two very serious looking individuals, David replied with the following words. “We have a lot in common, my wife and I. For one thing, we both love watching the outrageous, but still very engaging science fiction movies from the 1950s, especially those that feature scary aliens. I do not know how many times that we have viewed such classic movies as “Attack of the 50 Foot Woman” (my wife especially likes that one), “Forbidden Planet” and “The Day the Eart...

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“Freedom” by Anthony Carello

Submitted to Contest #210

“My name is Xiyo and I am proud to be an alien.” I proclaim. The whole room erupts into applause the second the words leave my lips. Cheers and tears fill the air. I press a button on my wrist and the illusion that had been active, which made me appear human, flickers then dissipates, revealing my natural form. This is just for dramatic effect; the humans are already aware of the existence of aliens. My real race is that of Zyigrobian -at least, that’s the closest translation in English. Our species were brought to this planet to act a car...

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“How to Dissect a Frog For Dummies (And Aliens)” by Claire Loescher

Submitted to Contest #210

Sam ran, her backpack slapping against her spine; something with a sharp corner jabbed her through the thinning fabric in the same spot with each movement. The hallways were mostly clear, and a few stragglers of students rushed to find their respective classrooms. A disingenuous hall monitor flipped through a manga on a plastic chair with his foot propped up on his knee. It was unnatural, Sam thought, to only give the students three minutes to get from one class to the other. That rule was acceptable for the average high schooler...

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“The Aliens” by David D'EttoreUser

Submitted to Contest #210

THE ALIENS It was pitch black that night so the distant lights we saw from our campsite glared brightly. We joked that they could be aliens since a beacon formed the head of each of the three bodies that stood atop the hill. Weapons were held in their hands to feel their way and perhaps paralyze their prey. It brought to mind what my mother used to tell me. Don’t go into the woods after dark… &nbs...

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“Carbon” by Kristin Herrera

Submitted to Contest #210

“What?” Mona sleepily slurs into the dark. Why on Earth would they wake her up right now? They all knew how long she had been working. After all, they were there too. “Are you going to ask your question?” In the darkness, backlit by the flashing red alarm light spilling in from the hallway, a form started to build from the floor. It looked to be made of pieces of shadow, slowly crawling up from the floor at the base of the figure, and piling on top of one another to create a humanoid shape. The shape raised an arm and pointed at ...

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“CEO” by Gregg Voss

Submitted to Contest #210

Menlo Park, California Artemis Hoover leaned forward in his chair at the head of the burnished conference room table, folded his arms, and said, “I’m not shy. I’ll address the elephant in the room.” His eyes bored like two red lasers into Tap, Inc.’s CEO Amy Jameson, who sat at the opposite end of the table next to a television monitor with the social media network’s red T app logo. She hadn’t even had the opportunity to begin her quarterly earnings update. “Amy, are you an alien?” came the simple question from Hoover, a heavyset m...

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“Pete” by Jakob Roy

Submitted to Contest #210

If there was one thing Ferris P. Jones knew to expect, it was the disgruntled, if not outright disgusted, look on Sheriff Shaunessy's tomato red face. Why exactly the old boy was always so grumpy had remained a mystery to Ferris this past half a decade. Personally, he enjoyed his job, got a real thrill and a sense of accomplishment out of helping the poor wayward fellers, but like peanut butter-and-pickle sandwiches and competitive rollerblading, he figured not everyone could muster the same excitement as him for the aliens. "Morning, Hank,"...

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“Toby and the Alien” by Sue Eaton

Submitted to Contest #210

Toby and the Alien I hear the top stair creak and then, ‘Who are you talking to, Tobe?’ ‘No-one.’ I sit perfectly still. I’m not ready to share my new friend yet. I found him in the front garden a couple of days ago looking lost. He asked for my help and has stayed. I call him Quip because that’s the nearest I can get to pronouncing his name. We are getting on just fine. He listens to me. ‘I thought I heard voices, is all.’ Mum persists. She opens the door just a crack and peers in. ‘I’m about to make lunch but I think you need to tidy...

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“Earth Day 2080” by John Jenkins

Submitted to Contest #210

“Is the camera on?” said James Botson, a news reporter with the New York Times. He was then looking into a giant television camera, which was overlooking a field in Jasper, a suburb of New York City, in the United States. The level of anticipation was high. People had come from miles around to see what was happening. Further afield, there was a unique object standing in the grass. It looked like a rocket, but it wasn’t something that you could quite look at. The entire thing was covered with a surface that fumbled the eyes. One didn’t know...

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Set your story after aliens have officially arrived on Earth.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 96 stories

“Xenoarcheology” by Cedric Busteed

“Katie” by Brianna King

“Static” by Janis Cannon-Bowers

“The Pavilion” by Joe Smallwood

“Even Utopia Has War” by Nicole Philip

“Quarantined!” by Arthur McNamee

“We Have a Lot in Common” by John Steckley

“Freedom” by Anthony Carello

“How to Dissect a Frog For Dummies (And Aliens)” by Claire Loescher

“The Aliens” by David D'EttoreUser

“Carbon” by Kristin Herrera

“CEO” by Gregg Voss

“Pete” by Jakob Roy

“Toby and the Alien” by Sue Eaton

“Earth Day 2080” by John Jenkins

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a character who has to grapple with something completely alien to them.

Write a story about a character who is trying to share groundbreaking news, but isn’t being taken seriously.

Make a mysterious message an important part of your story.

Write a story that includes someone saying, “We’re not alone.”

Contest #210

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

300

Contest entries

112

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: