Aliens among us

One of the most iconic figures in the whole of science fiction is the extraterrestrial being. E.T.s are present in fictional stories since science fiction became science fiction, and their image is forever married to the genre. Before the 20th century, strange occurrences would be understood with religious or mystical undertones, like demon possessions or monster encounters. Until the possibility of finding extraterrestrial life became popular.

Indeed, H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds’ radio broadcasting in 1938 became a landmark for both science fiction and UFO sightings. The first part of the story was narrated as realistic news, reporting an alien invasion in the voice of Orson Welles. It famously led to a commotion and later an apology from Welles—who apparently did an outstanding voice acting performance!

After this incident, the popularity of aliens grew stronger. According to Britannica, the first well-known flying saucer was spotted in 1947, and since then, UFOs have populated our skies.

In the 20th century, we left behind an age of folk magic to welcome one of scientific discoveries. Our demons became aliens.

Of the many, many tropes involving aliens, there is one that transcends the fictional realm to become a full-fledged conspiracy theory: undercover aliens. These beings live among us but, for some reason, they don’t disclose their identities.

Let’s explore this trope, pointing out a few reasons our visitors keep their existence a secret from us.

The new wave of alien invasion in popular media

Aliens were an absolute phenomenon in the ‘80s and ‘90s. For the older folks reading this, you surely remember a colleague or a celebrity claiming to have been abducted and experimented on by extraterrestrials.

These cases of alien abduction/encounters became intertwined with the countercultural movement knwon as New Age, a form of Western esoterism based on paranormal beliefs, UFO religions, and astrology. They believed in a cosmic consciousness and that a new zodiac era was about to come, the Age of Aquarius, bringing a cultural change that would result in the fall of civilization as we know it.

Whether this is good or bad, it’s up for interpretation. The Age of Aquarius was an idea popularized by Carl Jung in his book Aion. In Jung’s interpretation, the Age of Pisces began when Christ was born, and the Age of Aquarius would end this peaceful period and see the rise of the Antichrist. So, not good. For others, Aquarius would bring the end of patriarchy. So, good.

This movement was huge back in the 90’s! And it had all the ingredients to propel the topic about UFOs and aliens to new heights. Not by chance, aliens are a major topic of discussion in the classic non-fiction Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan. It was also why The X-File became an instant hit. We all wanted to believe.

Mulder and Scully in season five episode “Bad Blood” of The X-Files.

This movement dwindled in the new millennium. I guess the expectations were too high for the turn of the century, and nothing really happened… 

However, talks about aliens have been making a resurgence in recent times. Although, it is not associated with a countercultural movement this time. The U.S. government declassified some UFO files this month (May 2026), and it is as silly as it sounds. Of course, you and I know it is nothing more than a distraction to take people’s attention away from important matters, such as pointless wars and damning lists.

Anyways, we here at Sci-fi Connections do love aliens! So, let’s talk about them.

Undercover aliens

They come unannounced to lurk around. Some disguised as humans, others staying observant from their stealth spaceships. But never ever showing themselves overtly.

Furtive aliens walk among us. But why?

Let’s discuss the most common fictional excuses for an alien’s secret visits to Earth. 

They want to study us. 

Let’s start with the classic alien abductions. This is the most terrifying scenario. They take us from our home and subject us to invasive perusal of our bodies, just to satisfy their curiosity about our biology. These aliens are analytical beings performing horrendous experiments with humans. At times, these are sexual in nature. Freud surely explains it.

These are the sort of aliens that, ages ago, would be “mistaken” for demons.

Other species are less interested in our biology and more concerned about understanding our behavior. In this case, this study is a sociological one. And it makes sense why they would want to remain hidden: if the presence of the observer is noticed, the objects of study would alter their attitude.

The aliens simply don’t want to spoil their research. 

As for a recommendation, there is a fun story that subverts this trope and places humans as aliens on another planet, secretly monitoring the local residents. We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor is the first book in the Bobverse series. Bob dies and wakes up as the AI commander of a space probe with a mission to explore the universe. At one point, upon finding intelligent life on a distant planet, Bob goes into a lenghty explanation on why he should remain hidden and observe from afar. I won’t spoil it any further. Go read it!

They are tourists!

What if Earth is an important intergalactic port station, and we don't know it? The intergalactic travel controlling agency could be the one making sure this information does not leak to people, fearing generalized panic or simply avoiding the hassle of explaining extraterrestrial laws.

This is the famous trope of a Hidden World, in which an entire society operates inside our mundane world, while this last one remains oblivious to its existence. Men in Black is the classic example of this trope. Aliens come to Earth for vacation, or as a stopover while on route to another location in the galaxy. But the agents in black erase our memories of them.

Agent J using the Neuralyzer in the movie Men in Black.

The potential to explore this trope is immense! It opens the possibility of using Earth as a hiding place. The aliens could be running away from galactic bounty hunters, or fugitives searching for a place to lay low. 

They are imprisoned by secret governmental agencies.

It’s not that they want to stay hidden. They just don’t have the choice.

In this scenario, the aliens either arrived but their landing was fatal, or they effectively contacted the authorities and got imprisoned. In either case, some governmental agencies decided it was better not to disclose this information to the public. They keep the bodies/prisoners in a secret facility guarded 24/7.

This is the premise of most conspiracy theories about aliens, with the U.S. military base called Area 51 being singled out as one of the locations the government hides alien corpses. Of course, this is the theme of several of The X-Files episodes (and movie!). And I love them all!

They want to quietly sabotage our species.

For this one, I’ll go straight to the recommendation. 

In Matt Haig’s novel The Humans, aliens know about our species but choose to cautiously monitor Earth from afar. However, when a professor finds the solution to a well-known math problem, the Riemann Hypothesis, these math-loving beings decide we are not ready for it, because it would change the course of our technological progress, scaling it tenfold. And we, the humans, are very dangerous with technology. So, they send one of theirs to sabotage us. 

Despite the premise, the story is charming and lighthearted. It is about an alien finding out what’s good in humanity. I highly recommend it.

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That’s it for today, folks!

I cannot believe it took me this long to write about aliens! They are present in four out of seven stories in my new flash fiction collection Sci-Fi Weekathon. So, it’s not like I don’t like to write about them. I have no excuse.

Can you think of any other reason why aliens would remain hidden from us when visiting Earth? Let me know in the comments!

See you next post,

Ra

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Carla Ra is a scientist by day, sci-fi writer by night.

You can check out her flash fiction collectio SCI-FI WEEKATHON for FREE  here.