by P P Corcoran
“So, their environment, what’s it like?” Jonah wondered.
“They breathe ammonia,” Roundy was the first to chime in.
“That’s not true,” Wilberforce corrected.
Nagobi let out another sigh. “A portion of their preferred atmosphere is ammonia, but there are other compounds that must be present for them to breathe properly. In addition, they like things a little cooler than we do. We keep their side of the room at around negative thirty Celsius, but don’t worry, very little of that chill leaks over.” He approached a small control panel below the window and flipped a switch, bringing a wash of light to the room beyond the glass.
All that was there was a long metal table with three metal chairs, all aimed towards the flat, dark pane of Plexiglas cutting the room in half. Unfortunately for Jonah’s curiosity, nothing was visible through the shadows beyond the pane.
“So, how does this start?” Jonah asked.
“We’re hoping you could tell us that,” Roundy said.
“They will approach,” Nagobi elaborated. “Just enough to be seen, and they will activate their translator, but don’t expect to hear anything. Like we said, they communicate little. If they do speak, we placed microphones on their side to feed into speakers in the room and in here. We’ll all be able to hear whatever they say.”
“If you can get them to talk,” Wilberforce noted. “You’re only the first professional to try. Could be a lot of trial and error involved.”
“Right.” Jonah nodded; eyes transfixed on the dark pane. “Do I...go in?”
“Take your time, doctor. Whenever you are ready,” Nagobi said.
Jonah stood for a long time, just staring through the window, trying to collect his thoughts. He flipped through his memories, searching for a good game plan for two interstellar curiosities. After a minute of thought, he had nothing to show. Rather than keep stalling, he forced himself around to the door, but paused with his hand hovering over the handle.
“You do not have to go in alone,” Dr. Nagobi said. “They are used to others; they may approach faster if they see familiar faces.”
After another moment, Jonah nodded. “Yeah, that might be good.”
With Dr. Nagobi right behind him, Jonah moved into that compact room of wall-to-wall cement. Before he could even sit down, a sudden whine startled him out of his skin.
“We’ll be right back here,” Roundy’s voice came over the intercom speakers in the ceiling, constructed right into the poured foundation. Jonah gave him an uneasy glance through the window, but he just showed off his same old smile.
Jonah took the middle chair and just stared ahead into the darkness, waiting for any movement. He’d never even thought to ask what these beings looked like, and now he was moments from seeing one. A little too late to ask, he figured.
Right then, something stirred in the shadows. From the darkness, two stick-thin figures approached the glass, at first just silhouettes. But the closer they got, the more unmistakably real they became.
These beings were humanoid only in the most basic sense. Bipedal, with the classic arms/legs/torso/head configuration, but that was where most every similarity ended. When they reached the edge of the pane, they loomed over the humans at the table. Jonah figured they had to be at least ten feet tall. Their skin appeared to be a deft mix of scales and epidermis. With every movement, scale-shaped patterns raised and shifted against a dark outer layer of skin. Once movement ceased, the scale pattern faded back into the body.
Long arms extended down to about knee level, although they didn’t seem to have those. Rather than form into a hand or claw, these beings’ arms coned outward like the muzzle of a bullhorn. Dozens of thin, seaweed-like tentacles dangled from the cone, swaying with every lumbering movement.
Their heads were almost devoid of feature. No hair, no mouth, and mere slits where a nose ought to have been, so thin Jonah wasn’t certain they were even there. All that stood out were the eyes. Wide, unblinking, and so silver Jonah could see a small reflection of himself in them. Although they never blinked, their eyes constantly moved with a certain liquidity.
For a moment, Jonah just stared. He had no idea what else to do but quietly study them. And, he was certain they were studying him right back through those shining, mercuric eyes.
“Don’t worry,” Dr. Nagobi spoke up, shattering the tension. “This is normal.”
“How do they communicate?” Jonah asked, staring up at their smooth faces.
“We don’t know, biologically anyway. There would need to be a dissectible specimen to determine that. They do, however, possess the technology required to speak with us.” He gestured forward just as the beings moved.
Both reached one arm back into the dark. Rather than their thin tentacles coiling around anything, they retracted into dense tufts near the edge of their coned arms. Then, out of the shadows, a small, metallic box floated forward.
Jonah stirred in his seat, watching the box slide up to the glass with the movement of the aliens’ cones. Their tendrils loosened up, and the box eased down to the cement. Now that it was in more light, Jonah marveled at its simplicity. As silver as their eyes, and just as featureless as their faces. Literally, it was just a metal box, not much more substantial than the average mail package.
“That’s their communicator?” Jonah asked.
Nagobi nodded. “Yes. And no, we don’t know how it works. Nor do we yet understand how they use it.”
“I’m guessing this is all stuff I’m gonna have to figure out?”
“Yes, Dr. Edwin. If you can get through to them.”
At that, Jonah began as best he could. Leaning back in his seat and trying his hardest to focus, he considered what little he knew about these two strange figures before him. He watched them breathe their ammonia-stricken air, their stomach regions rather than chests expanding, scale patterns fluttering every time.
Only humanoid in the most basic of ways, and beyond that entirely different. However, Jonah felt they were just as humanoid psychologically as they were anatomically. That is, enough for a frame of reference.
He considered what he said on the plane, that perhaps this wasn’t purposeful of them, that they were bored teenagers who’d crashed into a tree. Bored teenagers wouldn’t have brought a translator device with them. But, if they came to make contact, why weren’t they?
“Can I speak to them?” Jonah peered to Dr. Nagobi.
“Yes,” a swift, mechanical voice came through the intercom system.
Jonah looked up with a start to the alien beings. They hadn’t moved an inch, but they’d made contact. “You can hear me okay?”
“Yes.”
“Can you tell me why you’re here?”
No response.
“Do you know who we are?”
No response.
After a moment of pause, Jonah leaned to Dr. Nagobi. “Are you sure the translator works right?”
“Yes,” the voice responded again, almost instantaneously.
“Can you say anything other than ‘yes?’” Jonah asked.
“No.”
Jonah scoffed, and couldn’t help but chuckle. Perhaps these were two smart-ass teenagers after all.
“You may notice our issue,” Nagobi said. “They affirm understanding but will not communicate.”
Through another quiet pause, Jonah looked them over again, hunting for anything he missed. It took about a dozen goes, but Jonah noticed something off. They weren’t speaking, but every living thing had body language.
Even though they loomed over him like trees, they seemed to slouch ever so slightly. Although, for all he knew, slouching was their natural state. Still, that wasn’t the only sign. Despite being devoid of most features, their faces still held a subtle form of recognizable expression, and it wasn’t positive.
It wasn’t sadness; it wasn’t that heavy. No, this was a vaguer melancholy. These beings were entirely foreign to Jonah’s world, but there was something familiar in the feelings
their postures exuded. A deep, primal depression.
“Why are you sad?” Jonah asked, so soft he wasn’t sure they’d pick it up.
“Life,” the mechanical voice replied. Both Jonah and Nagobi perked up. Jonah looked to the doctor to ensure this was new ground. Off Nagobi’s wide gaze alone, Jonah knew he’d asked the right question.
Roundy’s voice suddenly intruded over the intercom. “We’ve all been there, mate.”
Nagobi spun around in his seat. “Please keep the audio system clear, Mr. Roundy.”
A momentary glance back gave Jonah the opportunity to watch Wilberforce take over the intercom system. With a slight smirk, Jonah returned his focus to the melancholic aliens. They were sad, now he had to pinpoint why, and get them to discuss it.
“Life.” Jonah repeated their word. “Do you think life is inherently sad?”
They took time to respond, “In...her-ent...ly?”
“I’m afraid their technology is not perfect, Dr. Edwin.” Nagobi grumbled.
“Okay then.” Jonah rested his elbows on the table and pondered for a while. “Do you think all life is sad? Do you think that is in life’s nature?”
“No,” the beings said. A straight-forward, yet still puzzling response.
“Why did you come here?” Jonah inquired.
No response.
He sat back in his seat again and sighed. In another tangent of thought, he peered over their bodies again. All the makings of organic life. Jonah turned to Nagobi. “Do they eat, or anything?”
Dr. Nagobi shook his head. “They rarely do much more than stand still, walking only when necessary, levitating only what is necessary. No eating, no sleeping, no expelling waste. Nothing.”
That couldn’t be possible. Jonah aimed his attention back to the statuesque aliens. Their bodies had to be organic and there had to be something they required to sustain their life. He showed a soft smile. “We’re a lot alike, I think.”
“No,” the beings responded. Afterwards, a low feedback still hummed through the speaker system. “We...are...antithesis.”
“You know antithesis, but you don’t know inherently?”
No response.
Figuring he was doing more harm than good, Jonah shelved that digression for later. He spoke slow, picking words carefully, “We sure share a lot of features.”
“All life...advanced life...carry these features. They are most...productive for life.”
“Efficient,” Nagobi interpreted. “Our features are efficient, most conducive to maintaining advanced life. So, they are universal features.”
“Yes,” the beings agreed.
Before continuing, Jonah glanced to the observation window. Roundy and Wilberforce were still there, both obviously enamored. Although Roundy showed it far more, nearly sticking himself to the surface of the glass, Wilberforce couldn’t hide the astonishment in his otherwise stony expression.
After some time picking his words, Jonah posed his next question, “How many other species of life have you seen? Are we not your first experience?”
For a moment, only more feedback came through. Jonah worried maybe he’d asked another wrong question. The last thing he wanted to do was be on the bad side of mysterious extraterrestrials.
“You are not,” their mechanical voice responded finally. “You are...one of many.”
“And what do you do when you encounter these other advanced life forms?”
“Watch.”
“Watch?” Jonah shot a concerned looked to Nagobi, who could only send it right back to him. “Do you not usually interact this directly?”
“No.”
Jonah couldn’t help but smile at that. Even he knew that that was great progress. He gave another look to the window, showing off his newly found confidence. However, a glance to Nagobi killed his brightened mood. He seemed far more disturbed by this revelation, a certain darkness overcoming his gaze.
“So, we are a special case?” Nagobi wondered.
“Yes.”
The curiosity of Nagobi’s thought process set into Jonah’s mind. “Why?”
“Advanced life on your...planet...required a closer look.”
“Is this close enough?” Jonah asked in all seriousness.
“Yes.”
Jonah scratched his head. Supposedly, these aliens encountered countless other intelligent life forms throughout the whole universe. And, out of all of them, humanity warranted closer inspection. “Being those close, what do you see?”
“Flowers.”
“Flowers?” Jonah furrowed his brow. Was it a mistranslation, or were they saying exactly what they meant?
“Your...forms...decay. Like flowers.”
This time, it was Jonah’s turn to be disturbed and Nagobi’s time to smile. “They recognize plant life,” he spoke with a joyful exhale. “You’re teaching us a lot, Dr. Edwin.”
Decay. That was the word that stuck in Jonah’s mind. Decay. He looked over their bodily forms again. Two different beings, two different lives, yet they looked identical. And, Jonah had a hunch this wasn’t just a case of twins, just like it wasn’t a case of stranded teenagers. Their bodies were flawless, devoid of scar, impervious to age. “How old are you?” Jonah asked.
“That...is...our antithesis,” the beings explained. “We have watched...from distance...your kind decay...expire. This is our antithesis.”
Even though none of the humans were speaking, a hush fell over them. Jonah, mostly just to take his eyes off the aliens and to have time to swallow the lump in his throat, turned back to the observation window. Wilberforce and Roundy looked roughly how he felt: confused, and deeply concerned.
Jonah addressed Nagobi, “So, I have some thoughts.”
“Keep questioning. Please.” Nagobi’s eyes stayed straight ahead, transfixed on the aliens. He looked starved for more information, and Jonah didn’t blame him. He only wished the information was a little brighter.
“Are you saying you don’t die?”
“What is ‘die?’”
Silence hung over everyone again after that. To Jonah, the conversation’s trajectory was clear, but he wasn’t sure if he was ready to have it. Humanity had a lot to learn from this conversation, but Jonah couldn’t find words to move it along.
“I’d like to ask a question,” Wilberforce’s stern, steady voice came over the intercom.
“Go for it.” Jonah nodded.
“Were you born?” he asked.
“Born?” the beings wondered after some contemplative feedback.
“How did your existence begin?” Wilberforce rephrased.
Another stretch of silence crept through. It was a good question, Jonah thought, but the longer it went unanswered, the more he worried they’d never respond. Their inter-species relationship was brand new, and fragile as glass.
With a gush of feedback, the beings finally spoke, “We begin...together...in an instant. After...no new creation...no loss.”
Jonah let out a breath. “We are very different.”
“Yes,” they agreed.
Dr. Nagobi chimed in, “Has every other intelligent life form you encountered come into being this way?”
“Yes. All together. No new creation, no loss.”
Roundy’s voice came over the speakers system again. “Let me see if I’ve got this straight: no other intelligent life form in the universe dies? Every other species gets to live forever, and humans get screwed?” the audio cut out.
Watching the silent act play out, Jonah witnessed Roundy and Wilberforce bickering over the intercom controls. Roundy moved toward the door to the hall, mouthing something like ‘bullshit.’ He stormed out, and Wilberforce let him leave.
“Yes,” the beings replied after a long pause. The response opened a pit in Jonah’s stomach. It couldn’t be true; it couldn’t be possible.
“Flowers.” Jonah smiled. “You recognize plant life?”
“Yes.”
“Is that not life? Plant life decays and expires,
many things experience that cycle, right?”
“Not all life...is advanced life. Advanced life requires...longevity.”
“Why does longevity require eternal life?” Nagobi asked. “Humanity builds on the progress of past generations. Living beings who expired long ago built the base of everything we know today.”
“Yes,” the beings replied. “We recognize this. However...your existence...complicates ours.”
Jonah let out a dead laugh. “And we’re understanding that all too well. Do you want to talk about your concerns?”
“We...do not have enough concept. Until the exploration of your life...we did not see advanced existence as...finite.”
“Can you explain your definition of advanced existence?” Nagobi asked. “Where is the line between the two sorts of life you describe?”
Another drawn out pause of feedback came through before they spoke, “Life...that realizes it exists...is advanced life. Advanced life can understand existence...as its existence has no end.”
Jonah chewed on this for a while. Their line for advanced was comprehending one’s own existence, and the existence of the universe. “So, what do you think of us, advanced life that recognizes its own existence, and also recognizes that it ends?”
“You...do not seem to recognize that it ends,” the beings retorted.
“How do you mean?”
“Over time...we have watched your kind...come together from expiration, find peace...community.”
“Well, of course,” Nagobi spoke with some exasperation in his tone. “Death is not the end, it is...” he trailed off. “It is the beginning of new life, new existence. An afterlife.”
“Afterlife?” the beings wondered. Not even the mechanical tones could hide their confusion. “Do you...believe flowers have afterlife? Does...every plant have afterlife?”
Nagobi paused. “Well, no.”
“But...you say it is life. Do they worry...over existence? Do they...find peace in others’ expiration...like you?”
Nagobi fumbled over a few words before giving up. “No.”
“Only those who realize...but do not recognize, existence’s expiration...create concepts of afterlife. Do you...recognize your existence ends...truly?”