THE LONELY
BY JUDITH MERRIL
ILLUSTRATED BY LUTJENS
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Worlds of Tomorrow October 1963
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
If we practice our "Space Speech" and listen real
hard—Is this the sort of thing we're going to hear?
TO: The Hon. Natarajan Roi Hennessy, Chairman, Committee onIntercultural Relations, Solar Council, Eros.
FROM: Dr. Shlomo Mouna, Sr. Anthropologist, Project Ozma XII, PlutoStation.
DATE: 10/9/92, TC.
TRANSMISSION: VIA: Tight beam, scrambled. SENT: 1306 hrs, TST. RCVD:1947 hrs, TST
Dear Nat:
Herewith, a much condensed, heavily annotated, and topsecret codedtranscript of a program we just picked up. The official title isGU#79, and the content pretty well confirms some of our earlierassumptions about the whole series, as this one concerns us directly,and we have enough background information, including specific dates, toget a much more complete and stylistic translation than before.
I'd say the hypotheses that these messages represent a "GalacticUniversity" lecture series broadcast from somewhere near GalacticCenter, through some medium a damn sight faster than light, now seemsvery reasonable.
This one seemed to come from Altair, which would date transmission fromthere only a few years after some incidents described in script. Someof the material also indicates probable nature of original format, andI find it uncomfortable. Also reraises question of whether Altair,Arcturus, Castor, etc., relay stations are aimed at us? Although thecontent makes that doubtful.
Full transcript, film, etc. will go out through channels, as soonas you let me know which channels. This time I am not pleading fordeclassification. I think of some Spaserve reactions and—frankly Iwonder if it shouldn't be limited to SC Intercult Chairmen and Ozma Sr.Anthropoids—and sometimes I wonder about thee.
Cheery reading.
Shlomo
TRANSCRIPT, GU#79, Condensed Version, edited by SM, 10/9/92, TC.(NRH: All material in parens is in my words—summarizing, commenting,and/or describing visual material where indicated. Straight text isverbatim, though cut as indicated. Times, measurements, etc., havebeen translated from Standard Galactic or Aldebaran local to TerranStandard; and bear in mind that words like "perceive" are often veryrough translations for SG concepts more inclusive than our languageprovides for.—SM)
(Open with distance shot of Spaserve crew visiting Woman of Earthstatue on Aldebaran VI. Closeup of reverent faces. Shots of old L-1,still in orbit, and jump-ship trailing it. Repeats first shot, thento Lecturer. You may have seen this one before. Sort of electric eeltype. Actually makes sparks when he's being funny.)
The image you have just perceived is symbolic, in several senses.First, the statue was created by the Arlemites, the native race ofAldebaran VI (!! Yes, Virginia, there are aborigines!!) in an effortto use emotional symbols to bridge the gap in communications betweentwo highly dissimilar species. Second: due to the farcical failureof this original intent, the structure has now become a vitallysignificant symbol—you perceived the impact—to the other speciesinvolved, the Terrans, a newly emerged race from Sol III. (Note that"you perceived." We must accept the implication that the originalbroadcasting format provides m