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• 1 2016-05-18T13:28:37-07:00 "Boomerang" 3 plain 2016-05-18T13:34:04-07:00 “Boomerang” by Eric Tinde, published in the July 1947 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, introduces the reader to a very different form of alien invasion. Instead of flying saucers, laser weapons, strange creatures, and widespread conflict, “Boomerang” tells the story of an invasion that begins simply with red plants with pretty blue flowers appearing on a farm. Although these red plants seem harmless at first, soon the farmer, Mr. Hale, finds his farm overrun by these strange plants that kill off his crops and poison the soil. After the mysterious disappearance of his grandson, Hale brings in a botanist to help explain what happened, who determines that the plants are alien in origin and finds a landing site in a swampy area near Mr. Hale’s land. Dr. Jones, the botanist, agrees to study the plant in order to determine if it can be killed and its effects reversed, but a month later, much smaller versions of the red plant begin cropping up in random locations all over the world. When a sample of this mutated version is brought to Dr. Jones to be compared to the original infestation, he finally determines that the plant was, in fact, introduced by aliens who intended for it to overtake the world and kill off all of the current life. This plan had failed, however, because native plants had developed a mutation that helped fight the spread of the red plants. Upon discovering this, the aliens disappear, using the noise associated with work and business to cover their exit.
   
  Although “Boomerang” clearly recalls the red plants from H. G. Wells’s War of the Worlds, it is a different type of invasion story altogether. Not only does Tinde here deal with issues of invasive species and ecological disasters, but coaxes his readers to begin thinking of the how both the outside world and human nature can at first seem harmless, but turn out to be poisonous and damaging. Sometimes the most harmless looking things can displace native life, strangling it in the pursuit of their own gains.