Chapter 2: A Question Wasted, An Answer Given

This is not a dream.

"Well no, of course it isn't ."

Huh? He can listen to my thoughts?

"I'm not sure how to break it to ya, but you are everything but speaking to yourself. You might as well be shouting."

Instinctively, the professor cleared his mind. He did not know for sure what was happening, but he didn't land a job as a university professor by luck.

He quickly understood one very important thing. The figure in front of him was a distinct living thing. " I am but a creature similar to you." The words came to his brain instantly. The only conclusion he reached was that this was either an Alien trying to communicate with him or a very bad prank.

"Well," the Alien interrupted the professor's thought process," to begin this - roller coaster, I believe you humans would say- of an explanation-"

But the professor was already deep in thought about his new realization.

Though he understood the context of what it was saying perfectly, he had never heard the language the Alien was speaking.

The only reason he has even realized this was because the Alien said "roller coaster" in English, and it came out fairly awkward.

Now that he paid attention to it, the language sounded like a beautiful hymn. A humming noise, with a slightly different pitch from bit to bit.

There are probably more details to the language. I just can't notice them.

"Oh come one!", the Alien exclaimed, interrupting Darwin's thought process," You didn't hear anything I just said, now did you? If you want to understand what this is, just listen to me and analyze my language later, will you?"

The professor said nothing, and the Alien took that as a sign to continue.

"Okay, first things first, I'm an Alien. Though I'm sorry to tell you that all the exciting," he raised two fingers on each hand to mimic a quotation," exciting stories you humans make up about us invading you with giant spaceships and stuff is a load of bull. In fact, you humans are the most technologically advanced species in the universe....that we know of, that is."

"Now and so that you don't waste today's question, no. we aren't using technology to talk, we are using our brains."

He paused for a minute as if to see if the professor had understood all of it. And if that was the case Darwin was grateful for it.

He had so many questions it was unbearable. But one sentence rang out in his brain.

"So you don't waste today's question", just what is the meaning behind that?

"And there you go, doing exactly what I didn't want you to do." The Alien said as he let out a deep sigh. Darwin thought he had heard a sad tone in it. Perhaps disappointment?

"Yes, I am disappointed. Not in you, just the fact that there won't be any interesting questions tonight."

"But again, it IS partially my fault for not explaining everything in one go and more thoroughly." It stopped for a moment and seemed to stare into the stained background, as if in deep thought. And after a couple of seconds, it said," Well the question isn't terrible in hindsight. Might as well get the most out of it."

"So, to get us started, let's begin with the basics. First, where we are. This is a space used by two individuals to communicate perfectly by linking their souls from any two places. Most of us can use it, except humans. Of course, there are exceptions to the latter. As to the meaning of "today's question", It's quite simple. Humans, as a species, evolved away from their souls. Their curious nature cut them off from the rest of the World. In exchange, though, and for better or worse, they became highly advanced in the field of physical technology."

The Alien paused for a bit, thinking about something. Up to now, it had something reminiscent of a grin on its face, but not anymore.

The professor took little notice of this though, and instead tried to read its thoughts as it did to him. But he simply couldn't figure out how.

"So," it continued as if nothing happened," as you may expect, most of the world is fairly curious about how you humans live your lives. So we decided to try and hold communication with the previously mysterious species. And so we have, for a very long time. Ever heard of Hammurabi? He was the first person we communicated with."

The name rang a bell. While Darwin wasn't very interested in history itself, there were some historical figures he took great interest in.

One of those few was Hammurabi, the creator of the first completed set of laws. He lived very long ago, back when the Babylon kingdom was still a thing or around 1750 bc.

The fact that aliens have been a part of human history for that long was somewhat unsettling to Darwin, but at the same time reassuring. He won't be asked about ancient details or things he had no interest in. Even the wisest and most knowledgeable person on earth wouldn't be able to answer everything.

"Following him, we made contact with millions of humans. Of course, not all as known or important to your history.'

"And after a lot of consideration and argument, it was decided that a system should be put on these meetings. Two questions per meeting, one for us and one for the human. Other than that we can converse freely about practically anything.

And by the time the Alien finished his explanation, the professor was so angry at himself he wanted to wake up, and jump off a building. HOW could he waste a question about anything at all to an alien species that knows the course of human history better than humans themselves like that? With a question he would get an answer to anyway?

The only things stopping him from doing so were the feeling of curiosity all humans knew oh-so-well. The craving for knowledge that was an instinct so some.

And the second was the idea that he won't be able to help cure someone else's curiosity, even if just a little bit.

"Ah, right. Since it will be quite troublesome to communicate if you don't know how this space works, I better explain it."

And at those words, Professor Darwin's whole existence focused on the alien figure. This was such an intriguing topic to him that even his anger completely disappeared.

"You see, any thoughts that are worded in your brain, no matter the language, are instantly transformed into the concept they convey and given straight to the other person in the space. On the other hand, if you think about something in your soul then it will be only in your soul, and cannot be conveyed to the other except if they are worded."

To the professor, this made perfect sense. Except for one thing.

He did not know how to think in his soul, and yet he was doing it unknowingly.

The only thing he could maybe familiarize it with was his subconscious, but asking that would have to wait another day, as he already used his question.

"Did you get it?"

Yes, I did. Though I will most probably ask about it in the near future.

"Oho, so you understood that this will happen over and over again, very intelligent. It will be every night if you are wondering."

Thank you for clearing that up.

"Well, it would be good if you came prepared. Anyway for my question to you.."

"Who are you?"

Usually, the professor would answer quite quickly. After all, lonely as he might be, Darwin was quite proud of what he was.

But with the circumstances, he hesitated. He wanted to word it carefully. "Darwin J. Kytes, university professor" felt wrong.

And after what felt like a minute, he mustered all his courage to say this line...

Though he knew they had met multiple millions of humans before and had a gut feeling that a war wouldn't break out. And that even if it did, humanity would have the upper hand, he felt the fate of the planet on his back.

I am no deity, I am but a creature similar to you, I am an educator, I am a human. My name...is Darwin.

"Well well, that was quite a response, you even used the traditional first time greeting. It isn't that surprising though since you've heard me say it about thirty times already." The Aliens grin grew into a large smile. Darwin thought he could see a glimpse of pride in it." But I think it is a bit rude of me to not tell you my name.."

"It's nice to meet you, Darwin, my name is Regyan.