=1 "The voice"
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The voice
In a constellation of the gamma region of the galaxy which astronauts call ‘the little squirrel’, I discovered a planet which very much resembled my own. As I approached I could see through the whirlpools of huge cloud systems the oceans, islands and great land masses. Suddenly my telecommunications system started to type out a message:
“Tiarei welcomes you. You may land without fear. Our atmosphere is identical to yours, and there are no dangerous animals or poisonous plants.”
I typed an answer: “Thanks for the welcome. Where do I land?” and a reply came:
“You may land wherever you wish, but we suggest latitude 42° north, which is now in its springtime and which has the same climate as that of your childhood home.”
While nosing down toward the place indicated I asked two more questions:
“Who are you, and how do you know the land of my childhood?” Although the answer was immediate, I was at the moment too busy positioning my ship for entry into the atmosphere, and deploying my parachute for landing, to take note of its contents.
Finally I landed in the middle of a luscious green lawn, landscaped like a park with beautiful trees and shrubs. I eagerly watched the instrument board; the atmosphere analysers showed temperature, degrees of radioactivity, etc. which were identical to my home planet on a spring morning. Suddenly I couldn't wait to open the hatch. After taking great breaths of fresh air fragrant with spring flowers and the dampness of earth, I stepped on to the lawn. And right there on the edge of the woods was a little fox. He saw me, and yet he was not afraid. Some distance away was a deer who also watched me with big eyes and who also was unafraid. As I passed by a hedge I noticed birds who saw me but did not fly away.
“There can't be any human beings here,” I said to myself, “as the animals are not shy. What sort of place can it be?” Then I remembered the message which I had been too busy to read. I hurried back into the ship and found it:
“It is the planet that wishes you welcome. By the simple fact that you have entered my atmosphere I know the history of your planet, the landscape of your youth, and your own thoughts and feelings. All the beings you will meet here – the animals, the men, the forces of nature – are fully evolved. No one will hurt you. They are all parts of myself, and now they all know you. We constitute a single being.”
It was signed:
- Tiarei