Life in a Thousand WorldsHarris, W. S. (William Shuler)
Science
Life in a Thousand Worlds
Harris, W. S. (William Shuler)
Utopias
"I am not from your world, but from another," I answered with closed
mouth as best I could.
Then I learned an important feature of this mind language. A hundred or
more interrogations came flying at me in thick confusion. At once the
chairman or leader of the meeting gave restrictive orders which actually
prohibited my audience from further communication with me, although I
might address them. The chairman bid me commune with him and he
thereafter acted as the spokesman of the whole assembly. It was no more
difficult for these philosophers to keep their minds closed to me than
it is for us to keep our mouths closed in an excitable meeting or
debate.
The chairman, looking with increasing curiosity at my strangely shaped
face and head, interrogated me thus:
"Are you an angel of light, or one of darkness?"
"I am neither."
"What then can you be?"
"I am a created being from a far-off region of space. I was born on a
world which revolves around a star untold millions of miles distant."
"If you are not a spirit, how could you have traveled such incredible
distances?"
"That is yet a mystery to me," I admitted. "The power of my flight is
much like the mode of your communication, for each is alike mysterious
to me."
By this time the excitement was intense. No one attempted to grasp me or
even approach toward me. I saw by the perplexing mental atmosphere of
the chairman that he was being besieged by a host of questions and
suggestions; so I relieved the situation by continuing my words:
"No one need consider my appearance as an evil omen. I am not empowered
to curse or bless your world except by what may flow from my immediate
conversation with you."
In these sentences I thoughtlessly gestured with my arms; this set my
audience wild with mingled merriment and curiosity.
"Are all as small as you whence you came?" queried the chairman.
"They are all after my pattern with some variations."
"Pray, tell me, what are those gummy flabs at the sides of your head?"
"Those are my ears," I said with grinning face. "They grew there for a
purpose."
"And what can that purpose be?" further questioned the puzzled chairman.
"They are for the purpose of hearing," I quickly replied.
Then followed a curious scientific dialogue in which I endeavored to
explain the sense of hearing. From this I described the manner of
conversation in our world, and showed what an important part hearing
played. But all this was beyond the comprehension of my auditors.
After a lengthy and most interesting discussion upon the philosophy of
sound, the next point of interest centered on my mouth and vocal
organs. It was pleasing to consider these subjects because my listeners
were such eager questioners and surprised hearers. No wonder that they
were unable to grasp such a crude system of conversation as ours!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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