1. FireWater

    FireWater Senior Member

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    How would intangible inter-dimensional beings logistically abduct humans?

    Discussion in 'Plot Development' started by FireWater, Jul 6, 2016.

    For one of my novels I'm currently dealing with an alien species that's basically an intangible/alterdimensional species of being. In other words, they aren't the little grey/green men, or insect/reptile based or robotic looking. Instead, their senses are totally different from humans' 5 senses, and their energy is so different that they seem intangible/invisible to humans, and their dimension would be totally unnoticeable by us. Basically, despite being aliens in the sense that they're from another part of space, they're more like the way people traditionally think of "demons," but with no satan or hell or other religious stuff. They have been harvesting humans and feeding off of their energy.

    The thing I'm stuck on is this. How, logistically, might they take the people, and where would they store them, if they can't tangibly walk around on earth like something from a typical movie? What might be their mechanism for abducting and storing the people? Also, I'm really trying not to use the whole "UFO spacecraft" thing - since my aliens are that different from humans, they wouldn't be using human-like airplane tech.

    Also, this story takes place in a far future, where like 99% percent of humanity died off in an event called the "Distortion," which also made most of the environment unsurvivable and mutated animal DNA into Lovecraftesque monsters. I was thinking that the Distortion was caused by the aliens' failed attempt to come to earth, and that somehow their arrival -- with the transporting of energy/elements from their dimension to ours--somehow created a wormhole that allows them to suck people's energy from afar, strategically, into an in-between prison "storage" area. But I'm not sure if this would open further plot holes.

    Would love to bounce around ideas with everyone. Sorry, I know I've made a few posts about this story already, but I'm going around back and forth on different ways to nail this down, so that's why I've posted a couple versions of my idea. I can't wait to fix this issue and get sailing :)
     
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  2. Iain Aschendale

    Iain Aschendale Lying, dog-faced pony Marine Supporter Contributor

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    You mentioned Lovecraft. Think ahout his alien geometry, and have your critters pull someone around a corner that isn't there, disappearing them from the world that we 3ds can perceive.

    I don't know if you know about the "Flatlander" thought experiment, but it involves 2D creatures that live on the surface of a neutron star. They have no concept of height, or "up", or "down", since they live on a perfectly flat plane and are all one molecule thick. If a human (or other 3D creature) were to come along and pick a Flatlander up, the creature would just disappear from its fellows' point of view. This is what's going to happen when dread Lord Cthulhu comes for us, you can give us a preview.

    <edit> lots of typos
     
  3. Oscar Leigh

    Oscar Leigh Contributor Contributor

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    That title's a little bit of a mouthful.
    I agree with Iain. I also think your wormhole thing is fine, as long as it's a particular kind of vortex. I guess. I don't do physics. (Physics people? Where are you?)
    Also, small question with wording, you say "mutated animal DNA into Lovecraftsque monsters". Does that mean the animals are mutated? I presume so. Why not just say "mutated the animals". Mentioning their DNA makes the notion strange. (Are there DNA monsters living inside them?) And the word your looking for is "Lovecraftian". That's the official term.
    Sounds like an interesting sci-fi!
     
    Last edited: Jul 7, 2016
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  4. Sifunkle

    Sifunkle Dis Member

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    It crosses my mind that these beings might not actually be aliens. Sounds like they're living in their normal territory, which just so happens to intersect with ours in a way that we're incapable of perceiving.

    I think everyone's covered my view on this already. IMO the answer to the question in your thread title is 'However they want to' :)

    DNA is the mechanism by which mutation actually occurs (i.e. mutation occurs within the DNA, and the fallout of that is reflected in the organism's morphology/physiology), so... I don't find the wording remotely strange.
     
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  5. Oscar Leigh

    Oscar Leigh Contributor Contributor

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    But you mutate BY DNA, the DNA doesn't mutate into a human, the DNA facilitates the evolution from a related species into humans. So the DNA doesn't mutate into Lovecraftian monsters, it mutates and turns them INTO Lovecraftian monsters, over generations. It''s a little thing but it just sounds off to me.
     
    Last edited: Jul 6, 2016
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  6. Sifunkle

    Sifunkle Dis Member

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    @Oscar Leigh - my mistake; I misinterpreted your objection :p Carry on!
     
  7. newjerseyrunner

    newjerseyrunner Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    You said look like. That implies light, which tells me that at least some part of them interacts with the EM fields of quantum electrodynamics. If they interact with the EM fields, they should be able to touch you. They should be able to walk on the solid surface of the earth. I would assume that these creatures started as biological organisms millions of years ago and transferred themselves into higher states of being. They would have to have mastered the physics of the four known fields in order to do that and EM is the only one of them that would be required to interact with us.

    I'm struggling with why they would harvest humans. We're chemical processes and they've obviously evolved to such a point that they've mastered physics at our level. Chemical processes would be absolutely useless to a creature that advanced. Why use chemistry that releases maybe a billionth of the energy stored there when you can use nuclear physics that releases about 1% of the energy stored, or even better field physics where u can use 100% of the energy?
     
    Last edited: Jul 6, 2016
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  8. Iain Aschendale

    Iain Aschendale Lying, dog-faced pony Marine Supporter Contributor

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    Because our terror tastes beautiful?
     
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  9. bonijean2

    bonijean2 Ancient Artists And Storytellers Rock

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    I think intangible inter-dimensional beings would abduct humans in an intangible inter-dimensional way such as morphing them through space and time by bending light and gravitational fields.
     
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  10. Dark Severance

    Dark Severance Member

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    First I have to ask why are they taking people? Are they food? Are they doing experimentation for an invasion? How do they view our world? Once you have a basic outline and understanding of the why, then you can determine the how.

    Traditionally you would want a gateway of somesort. It can be magical in terms of Fae or it could be science like a blackhole (Stargate) or simply mystical like a surface that serves as a weak boundery between dimensions (ie: Mirrors).

    One method is that parallel worlds occupy the same space, but out of sync with each other. They only effect their own world and see their world. However the places are linked, so a disaster in one place, might cascade and cause a similar disaster in the parallel world. Maybe mirrors serve as a gateway or clear or reflective surfaces. That is how they can peer into one world.

    If it was me... I'd make the "aliens" who are doing the abducting look like the bad guys. People are vanishing from this world, no one knows why or how. The reality is, the aliens are the real humans. During a cataclysm the world was shattered. In order to heal itself they locked off part of the world in another dimension out of sync with their own. As conditions change, they've been harvesting or rather rescuing people. But that is just me and I'm sometimes crazy. :-D
     
  11. FireWater

    FireWater Senior Member

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    Much thanks to everyone. I loved and appreciated all your responses, even the snarky ones. I don't have all the answers to those questions yet, but it's given me a lot of worthwhile stuff to consider while making those decisions. Thank you so much to everybody.
     

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