Notes From Another World: The Birds of the Coast
Please don’t uplift our predators. Please don’t uplift our prey.
Year One
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Message from dispatch. Request photograph of damaged ship. Pick-up en route. If they get lucky with the winds between the stars, you’ll be home in five years. Until then, proceed with exploration.
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Please don’t uplift our predators. Please don’t uplift our prey.
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The birds are sure they once ruled this planet. They don’t understand how they lost it but know there was a betrayal.
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“The moon was born inside the ocean. It wants to return but it can’t. It is circling the earth looking for a way, looking for a sign.”
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They don't believe in anything they don't want to. They don't believe this causes them problems.
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The octopus queen is one of the only ones not confused by you. Birds rule the sky. Machines rule the land. She rules the sea. And in her wisdom it is easy for her to infer that humans rule the stars.
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They believe that personality is explained by past lives. He must have been an owl, he’s so wise. He must have been a machine, he’s so shy. He must have been a human, he’s so proud.
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All creatures have beliefs about what hides inside the moon.
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The butterflies have many servants of many species.
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The king of the birds and the king of the butterflies meet every year in the cave where both feel strong.
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The people who live inside the clouds do not believe in anything outside their clouds. No birds, no land-people, no stars. They are all illusions caused by fatigue or hunger.
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The birds have a machine for killing crabs humanely instead of dropping them from the sky.
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With the bending of time, your lover will be older than you when you return. You put this out of your mind. You take a photo of the strange-shaped buildings you can make out in the water.
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Dozens of bee poems about what a good death entails.
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The birds get the wrong ideas from the films you show them. They think humans have lives full of drama. They think humans start unhappy and become happy. They think humans start weak and become strong.
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The birds have no word for suffering. When you explain the concept to them, they pretend to understand it but they can't. "All we've ever wanted is to fly and all we ever do is fly."
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Like most seed planets, they have no nuclear weapons. Per protocol you are not allowed to mention them. You are allowed to show them a map of your own planet but you must say all the circles are from meteors.
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The birds think that heaven is infinitely tall, that one can dive for a thousand years.
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The birds show you their domesticated wolves. They are something far from dogs.
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“Do you know if there are still machines on the other continents?”
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“Do you know if there are still birds on the other continents?”
Beautiful