Humanity has spent huge amounts of resources trying to peer beyond our own world and into the vast space that surrounds us, trying to get a glimpse of other planets, trying to better understand our universe, and hoping to find evidence of other life out there. And yet, we have very little idea of the area surrounding our world.

The commonly held expectations about other intelligent life are largely negative, and based on our own human savagery and violent history. Most people are comfortable with the idea that life might develop elsewhere, but get scared at the idea of sentient life that might be more advanced than our current level of development. Others think that if intelligent species could contact us, they would have done so by now. But why would they?

Many of our galactic neighbours are currently aware of life on Earth, and have sent representatives to keep an eye on this backwater planet. They are not impressed, however. They do not want our stuff, and they have no interest in contacting a species so primitive and aggressive. They are here, but they are waiting for the time when humanity grows up.