Tik Tok Text.(Kevin Hughes) We were all there. Seventeen in total. Only three from my Species, four from the Orcs, and just one from the Fzil (since they are a Hive Mind, one Fzil is enough) two Gorgantuans, and the rest were Forbs and Terrogs. It was a pretty standard Team for Exploration and Contact. Except we weren’t sure we should make Contact.

It was a Water World (and we have only found two of those in more than 22 million Arps) But the dominant Species seems to live on Land like the rest of us. And they aren’t amphibians or semi aquatic either…like the Peoples on the other two Water Worlds. The seem to have messed up their environment too…according to what we have seen on the spectrographs of their air and water. Unusual for an advanced Species. Their planet is the third one out from what we would call their Primary.

It seems they are one of those not uncommon, but sort of rare, Solar Systems that include only one star. We have been monitoring them for more than a century of their time ( About one and a half Arps) and their Mental Growth is phenomenal. This meeting will decide if we make Contact…or continue waiting. We got the Album off of the spacecraft they sent out here where we are. The Forbs assure us that these creatures can use language, math, and have a rich diverse cultural history. And the Music was strange but captivating.

The picture was a bit ugly. We have no ideas why the creatures have to stay flat like that, spread out and lines of something dissecting each limb. Perhaps those are some form of cilia that they reel in when they catch food? Or perhaps sensory organs? Our probe won’t reach their planet for another quarter Arp…so we can only guess at what they look like. There is a pretty good sized betting pool going on…which Our Team Leader studiously ignores is happening. LOL

Oh, good. The Meeting is starting:

“Okay Team, here is what we know…so far. These creatures used to write Epic Poems and kept Genealogy of their Forbearers that meant memorizing hours of material. It seems it took them sometimes as long as several days to recite either a Poem, or a History. Then they wrote books that were hundreds, even thousands of pages thick. Then they progressed to Albums much like the one we took off of that Probe they sent out.

Those Albums became smaller physically, but contained many minutes, and even hours of their time to listen to. Then they switched to electronic storage and communication with something called: “Emails.” Those seemed, at first, to be about the same length as the printed letters that were in use for centuries of their time. But in a very short time, Emails became shorter and shorter. Now, they appear to be used only by the Eldest among them.

What has scared our Fzil (and we all know They do not frighten easily) is that they seem now to be able to communicate in Texts that contain less than a single line from an Email or Letter. Our only recourse is to assume that means they can communicate with each other now- with just 140 Characters replacing entire Emails, Letters, or what they call “books”. That is scary.

And it gets worse. They have moved on from what they call “Texts” to now something called: Tik Tok. And that is mind boggling. Fifteen seconds, and once sent, reaching as many as 100 million people…half of whom acknowledge the message, and more than two thirds comment, resend it, or remark upon it. WE have no form of communication that can do that.

If these creatures can consider entire subjects in a single Text (all printed with some form of hieroglyphics mimicking emotions) and then they advanced that to include sound and sight with ten second “Video” Clips. Do we really want to make Contact with a Species that can relate to each other in fifteen seconds? They must all be Geniuses.

I mean how in the world - any world- can you possibly consider Science, History, deep thinking knowledge, or Ponder ideas, Novel concepts, or even the Future in so little time? Texts take less than a Millionth of the time it would take to read a letter or email. And the Tik Tok platform puts entire ideas, crafts, and Art into ten of their seconds. How much content is there in these forms of communication. It must be denser than our use of Atomic Flux. And even though we can cram information into the space between Atoms, when we draw it back out, it takes years to complete reading…or have any comprehension.

My suggestion is to leave this Species alone. Just monitor. And make Contact when they come out here…not go there. They can already think faster than any other Species we have encountered. What if the Text, Tik, Tok, and surpass us in passing along information and knowledge…they would know all we know in less than a Thousand’s of an Arp. Maybe less.

The TEAM vote was unanimous. Leave them alone. And try and work out some way to Text, Tik, and Tok at that level. It would make us all Geniuses…like Them.

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