Luyten's Star

For centuries wars have been following us throughout our history: war for territory, war for plunder, war for glory. Since the industrial revolution, we have seen war for resources and war for economic control. The tyrannies of greed and materialism continue to this day. In every theatre of aggression, it is the women -- mothers, wives, and daughters -- who suffer the most collateral damage. Across the planet, being a woman leads to the harshest consequences, as conquering armies divided women, land, and livestock among victorious soldiers. And with men still ruling this planet today, we find ourselves facing ever increasing problems with degradations to our climate and ecosystems. But still those in power move ahead with exploitation and profiteering. Understanding that we can do better, I have envisioned a world that operates much differently. A planet managed by women without the need of money or financial abuses. Explore the possibilities of living free from the influences of power and wealth disparities.

"Luyten's Star" proposes that for us Earthlings, there is no way to reverse the damages that have been done to our planet except by changing the economic system, from one that caters primarily to oppressors and exploiters into one that caters to all equally. Not seeing any plausible near-term solutions along those lines for Earth, I have developed a utopian world that emerged eons ago by necessity from a crisis similar to our own. I use story-telling based not on war, or Hero and Villain tropes, but on the potential for society to choose a different path by using the power of women, the ones who care for and nurture the children of their planet, to wisely allocate the resources of a planet differently, in contrast to the madness we have created, with its wars, pain, poverty, and displacement. In that solar system a dozen light-years away from Earth, a much more advanced and balanced society operates on the basic principle of people first, holding out hope for Earthlings brought there to experience it.

The story begins in Africa with members of a humanitarian aid organization who are unaware that they are working closely with an alien. In time, the main female character finds out, and gradually comes to realize that a few others know too. Events move quickly to force several members of the aid group to flee with the alien to his home planet as Earth begins to fall apart. Once there, we find a society that has freed itself from the greed driven by the commodification of nature, and even money itself. This is done by eliminating any financial or currency system, and basing production on what people need and want, though limited and weighed against respect for ecological balance.

We find a people that lives much longer than us because of technological breakthroughs on the aging of cells and management of diseases; a benefit enjoyed by all, not only a moneyed elite. They, and the people of another nearby planet look quite similar to Earthlings, the premise being that the universe's natural forces tend to converge development of intelligence into a standard form, with minor local differences. For instance, the people there have purple eyes, developed to protect them from the special light of their binary stars. An important part of the story is the love that develops between the alien and the main character from Earth. They live together on his planet until it is time to return to Earth to help the women leaders here rebuild the ruined planet and implement the same money-free economic system that they experienced light-years away.