Even Stranger e-mail

Is this some kind of Joke?

Who is this...

Well if you don’t like me using your nodes, then too bad :-(

I think that you should just take your nodes and fix them so they play a tune... Of course, the next time you want to go travelling about the universe, you could always stick out your thumb, along with the nodes that are left over after I’ve finished with you.

That said, I must congratulate you on the originality of the story. Very interesting, but stupid.

Tell you what...

I’ll take care of the rest of the ‘nodes’ if you promise to go back to your home planet and live with mummy and daddy again.

OK?

Cliff

So, you refer to yourself as ‘Cliff’. Well Cliff. Let me see, as close as I can approximate, how I see it.

There are more than one of you. I am beginning to believe that there might be four or five.

You communicate with each other through the use of travel nodes such as the one I am using. If that is the case then stopping you using the node may be more difficult than I first thought.

If you managed to construct this node by your self your race must be intelligent. But, if that was the case then why are you only using it for this basic form of communication?

Does your species not desire the freedom to travel the cosmos?

Are you not interested in the way the universe relates to itself?

How the stars interact with the planets?

How the intelligent life forms have developed the Universe in such a fantastic way?

Let me tell you a little about my race. We began our recorded history limited to one galaxy. Our forbears were, I imagine much as you must be now. Narrow thinking, unimaginative beings, struggling to form a society based on a war like structure. Fighting for control over the planets in our home galaxy.

I am assuming that this galaxy is your home galaxy.

It seems that our ancestors finally grew tired of the battles. The bickering and petty squabbles. That’s when one of us decided to take the risk and venture into the wilderness between galaxies...

His name was Odin.

---

The initial jump into the intense blackness was terrifying. I had expected a sense of loneliness, however this was beyond anything I could imagine.

I could still hear a bit of the chatter I left behind, every now and again. Everyone was still talking about my trip. I found it embarrassing to say the least.

I knew the risk I was taking. I had about ten days of provisions. If I didn’t find food in six days, I would be forced to attempt a return. Not something I would choose to do.

I had chosen to navigate a course, initially, towards a small galaxy about fif- teen galaxians (one galaxian is about the width of your galaxy, Coll) away.

All the scholars agreed it looked most promising.

About half way there I noticed something that didn’t seem quite right.

There was a galaxy about six galaxians away and below me. The colour of the galaxy didn’t seem quite right. I slowed to take a closer look, then made a decision to divert from my course. To say I made a mistake would be an understatement. This galaxy was inhabited by beings so warlike they posed a danger to our very existence. They made us look like children with little toy guns. I had no choice but to attempt to interfere with their cultural development.

Upon landing on their home system I found they were different to us. Physically they were small and solid. Some how their evolution had turned them into a collection of molecules that were very stable. I believe it had something to do with their warlike stature. They were planet bound and seemed to have little or no interest in leaving their home world. Something I found quite amazing.

I changed my physical appearance, to match theirs, and used my far superior knowledge of physics to convince these beings I was a god.

I became their god of war, the one god they respected the most. When I had their attention, I attempted to convince them that their war like ways were wrong. It was unfortunate but they took no notice. It was at that point I decided the only way to end their development was to destroy their path to the universe.

There planet was relatively young. The variety of life developing was incredible. Beings like us had come and in the planets youth. Solid creatures dominated. Huge animals with leather like skins were battling with the intelligent life for control of the planet. The planetary system consisted of nine planets. I, quite simply, gave one of the outer planets a nudge. It was already unstable and quite willingly accepted my interference. Thus ended that system of planets.