Scientific romances like H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds inspired a fear of the 'alien other'. It stands to reason that at some point there would be a backlash against that attitude. Where Wells showed readers the power of fear and its effects on both individuals and civilizations, the authors of these five short stories show readers the awesome and terrible power of love in its four forms.
Agape is the selfless love for others. This kind of love saves an Earth explorer from certain death in Stanley G. Weinbaum's "A Martian Odyssey" and the human race from genocide in Frederic Brown's "Arena". Agape is a difficult kind of love to depict on the page without alienating the reader. The capacity for self-sacrifice in order to aid a stranger is something we often aspire to but rarely achieve. Carson the protagonist of "Arena" is forced to take part in a fight to the death against an alien to decide which species will survive. Since the species includes his family, friends, and co-workers, Carson has a strong emotional motivation to win. Brown made Carson more heroic by showing the alien as driven by hatred to the exclusion of all else. The glimpses into the alien's mind allowed Carson to kill it without losing reader sympathy.
Carson's agape was easier to relate to than Tweel's. In "A Martian Odyssey" the narrator is the human being who owes his life to the alien called Tweel. Humans travel to Mars to explore and one of them gets lost, only to be saved by a Martian native. Jarvis, the narrator, is a likeable character and storyteller, an average man who had an extraordinary adventure. Tweel was obviously Jarvis' hero, but was too perfect. He learned English while Jarvis was struggling with basic Martian sounds. Tweel recognized the nature of every danger they faced before Jarvis even knew he was in danger. Tweel chose to face certain death with Jarvis rather than escape, since he could not take Jarvis with him. Unlike Carson, the reader gets no understanding of Tweel's motive for self-sacrifice beyond an implied 'can I live with myself if I leave this poor dumb thing to get killed'. Weinbaum's obstacle to reader Martian admiration is he gave the entire struggle to Jarvis, in my opinion.
Philia is the love between friends. This kind of love saves the human and alien races from mutually assured destruction in Murray Leinster's "First Contact". Tommy Dort, the protagonist, is another average man in extraordinary circumstances. Tommy is present when his ship encounters signs of an alien ship, causing a standoff; neither species can trust that the other species will not follow them back to their home world and lead an army to destroy it. Tommy's communication with Buck, his alien counterpart on the other ship, leads to philia and Tommy's conviction that the aliens are 'just like us'. This inspires the idea of trading ships, putting both races in equal danger, but showing equal levels of trust. Everybody lives because Tommy made a friend.
Storge refers to familial love. This kind of love leads to the murder of every member of the Earth rocket crew in Ray Bradbury's "Mars is Heaven". Another rocket ship filled with explorers from Earth lands on Mars, only to find a stereotypical American small town. In this small town, the crew finds solid versions of their dead families. Every crew member leaves the ship to reunite with their families and there is much rejoicing. In fact, it is only when he is ready for bed that the captain of the ship considers the possibility that the telepathic Martians assumed these forms to lull them into carelessness, making them easy to kill. His notion comes too late to save his life or those of the crew. Everybody dies because their love of family is stronger than both common sense and survival instinct.
Eros involves the emotional need to elicit physical love and affection from the one you love. This kind of love saves the Martian race from extinction and dooms the savior in Roger Zelazny's "A Rose for Ecclesiastes". This is not a first contact story, but it includes the first look at the culture outsiders were not allowed to see. The protagonist, Gallinger, is socially inept and misses subtle nuances in interactions. Thus, he is able to translate their holy verses into English language poetry without truly understanding their religious convictions. When he falls in love with the temple dancer, he softens toward others, but still doesn't learn to read 'people'. His love disappears because she is pregnant and he rescues her through a poetic reading of Ecclesiastes which trashes their belief that it is time for their race to die. It is a shock to discover this was foretold and the dancer was doing her duty when she was with him. He cannot live with that knowledge. Everyone lives, but not happily ever after.
Bradbury and Zelazny use the skepticism of their viewpoint characters to drop hints of what is really happening in the narrative, while convincing readers it is not important – until it is. It is an entertaining and effective way to retain the element of surprise. I plan to use that in my work.
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