Carl Sagan’s Hunt for Intelligent Life in the Universe Read Free Page B

declared.
    “Humans—the Newcomers—believe in symbiosis,” Hsissh said, hopping up onto his back two pairs of paws. “They don’t eat all the species they meet or even the ones they keep!”
    Misch’s cat-eyes narrowed to slits and he hissed. “But they do neuter them—”
    Before Hsissh could inquire of the meaning of “neuter,” the crowd erupted, and for a moment his mind was a whirl with so many thoughts he could scarcely hear his own.
    At last, the tide began to subside, and a chorus rose in the cavern. “We will give the Newcomers one hundred cycles to join The One in the waves.”
    Hsissh felt his physical body relax and uncoil from the knot he’d tied himself in. The One were of one mind after the chorus … One hundred cycles around the sun … certainly in that time humans would evolve to feel waves, if they were already on the verge?
    One by one, all the consciousnesses began slipping away into other dreams, and Hsissh found himself alone with Ish, Misch, and Shissh.
    Licking a paw, Misch said, “They haven’t found a way to ride the waves in the last four million years. They won’t figure it out in a hundred years more.”
    “What has you in a snit?” said Shissh.
    “Hmpf,” said Ish, “You only say that because you’ve studied the ones on Earth. They are debauched and lazy.”
    Flattening his ears and hissing, Misch faded from view. Ish turned to Hsissh. “Next time, let me do the talking,” the scholar said, and then he disappeared, too. Only Hsissh and his luminescent, crustacean once-kin were left. He felt a lump in his stomach; at the same time, he felt a warmth in his hearts. Shissh had chosen the crustacean form because it was not social, and did not mourn the departure of others of its kind. Still, because she had stayed, Hsissh felt that she must still care about him.
    Combing his whiskers with his claws, Hsissh asked, “Do you really think we might become prey to something else?” It was difficult to imagine the “else.” The One could mutate the genomes of viruses, bacteria, and fungi by exciting the waves within them. Whenever they had a species that became too problematic, it was easy enough to cull or eradicate them with a specially mutated pathogen. They’d culled the humans—and debated whether or not to cull the rats—but their primary hosts preferred to keep the rats plentiful, fat, and delicious.
    Shissh’s eye stalks swept toward him. “The species I inhabit now—they are like the cats of Earth—they can play host to wave riding beings, but they haven’t learned to leave their bodies … not yet.”
    Hsissh smoothed his whiskers meditatively. Shissh had told him this much before.
    Shissh continued, “There are rumors among this species ... stories of dark waters spreading on distant moons, wiping out all the creatures in the oceans and the land. Since the species I inhabit does not travel, I think there may have been other wave riding species that have brought their stories with them.”
    Hsissh’s thoughts drifted to Noa. She dreamed aloud of traveling to distant moons when she snuggled with Hsissh at night … He looked through the opening in the ceiling. It was close to her bedtime now.
    Shissh clicked softly, “I believe the humans might make a good ally, Hsissh … but I worry about you living among them. You should have left your body and its grief over Third’s death. Living with humans, you’re just setting yourself up for more pain.” Her pincers clicked so fast they became a song. “You’re much too sentimental to become attached to creatures that die.”
    Hsissh felt his frame tighten. “I just stay with them for their beds,” he replied.
    “Liar,” said Shissh.
    Hsissh’s consciousness snapped back into his body. He found himself shivering despite the faux furs and bolted from the box. Shissh was right, he was too attached to Noa and her family. He had originally stayed for the rats in the attic, the beds, and out of curiosity; but he