An alien corpse. Behind the glass, in cryo, we assume that’ll slow the decay long enough to organise the autopsy, but we just don’t know. We don’t know how it will react to temperature, or air composition, or terrestrial microbes, or anything else. We just don’t know.
That’s the danger. The first step is one into a dark room. We don’t know if the hallway is level or if there’s a stairway, if it's going up or down, where to step and how far to go, and what awaits us at the end.
Moreover, we don’t know what threat this poses. In a macro sense, what extraterrestrial, intelligent life means for us as a fractured species in the beginnings of our space age. In the micro sense, what this means for us, as scientists in a room with a complete unknown. Just because something is dead doesn’t mean it isn’t dangerous. And I’m not just talking about alien pathogens, or bioengineered defence mechanisms. I mean the very act of holding an alien corpse. We aren’t the only ones interested in its secrets or to whom they will be revealed. We are watched, I think, by more than just human eyes.
Paddy Dobson
21st August 2023