The universe is probably littered with the one-planet graves of cultures which made the sensible economic decision that there’s no good reason to go into space—each discovered, studied, and remembered by the ones who made the irrational decision.
The Ch’debrithett did not know how lucky they were when the aliens came. They were a relatively quiet civilisation that worked to maintain a balance after years of nigh-catastrophic extinction-for-profit. Or, as it has become known in the Galactic Alliance, Monsanting.
When the aliens came, they landed in a grain field. But they did so in broad daylight. And waited on their disembarkation gantry with an obvious lack of weapons for anyone official to turn up.
They came with whiteboards and markers.
They came with an education.
They explained - with the help of pictograms and pantomime - that they had just diverted a comet from impacting with their planet. The comet had been cannibalised for its water and some of its contents were currently being studied in the vessels laboratories.
It was a comet that could have easily wiped out all life on Ch’deb.
And the aliens, being generous people, also bought with them knowledge of space flight and technology that would make it all so much easier. They came with genetic technology to turn their realities upside-down. They came with commerce.
They came with a concept of manifesting one’s own destiny.
Some argued that they ruined Ch’deb. Some argued that they ruined a perfect civilisation. Some argued that they were better off without the Galactic alliance at all.
They argued right up until they found a similar planet, nearby, which had undergone a similar apocalypse.
There, but for good timing and great neighbours, could have gone Ch’deb.
In two generations, the Ch’debrithett didn’t know how they coped without space travel.