Chapter 2:
A call from Earth
It has been two days, since my last happiness bottling session. I better get back into it. I have the memories of the soft rays of the sun on my back, as I did an honest day of work, to get me another orange bottle.
The Roberts were out of town, so I couldn’t baby Beth, but that is ok. They are coming back tomorrow, and I intend to buy her some apples to eat. I’ll make them into a purée, and add honey to them.
My bottle turns orange, as soon as I put on the headset, and I let my thoughts drift to all the games I will play with the little girl. An imitation of my sky skiing would be in order. You, earthlings, call it the airplane. Yes, I intend to hold her, and hover her over the ground.
As well as a little battle with water guns. The weather is so pleasant. I will put her in her high chair out in her garden, and sit still, while she tries to aim the gun at me.
I will let her hit me a couple of times, of course. An important part of a happiness bottler’s life is to give happiness even when not wearing the headset. People love to win. Babies, even more so. Yes, Beth is also a Naga. My planet is a Naga planet. I see people typing in the forum. Clearly, they remember me.
Then, one comment stands out for me.
Hi, Tine. I emailed you, but you never answered. I am a fantasy writer, and would like to use your ideas. If that is ok with you? - DanielS.
I know that this is not his real name. No one uses their real name on the Dark Web. Except for me. But the most powerful rocket you humans have can never reach me. So, I don’t see the harm.
I mean, I am a couple of million light years away from Earth. What do I have to worry about? I check the bottle with the solvent, and see that it is still glowing orange.
I begin from the terrain of my home planet. Furthermore, I try to explain to Daniel, that the jungles of Ursula 590 are evergreen, and pretty tame. We, the Naga of Ursula, have towns, cities, and yes, the occasional village. Yet, you will find that most of us have a TV, a computer, or, at the very least, a radio.
I weave him a picture of the beauty of the flora that surrounds my hometown. Of the big yellow fly traps, that stink to high heaven, but look good. Of the red leaved Caltea trees, that reach the skies. Then, when I exhaust my knowledge of plants, I begin on the animals.
We, on Ursula 590, believe that only the animals that are useful should exist. That seems to outrage him. He begins to pelt me with questions about all the animals that we have hunted to extinction over the years. I try to remember as many as I can, and give him the reasons.
The black bees didn’t pollinate anything, but became Naga eaters. So, they had to go.
The Gigantoboa, a cousin to the Naga, but without any human intelligence, used to be one of the species that would raze entire cities to the ground. Therefore, it got fed poisoned Megaboar, which is another thing that had to go.
You hunted your Megafauna to extinction! - DanielS
I blink at that. Is the human really about to judge me? I know a thing or two about the animals on Earth. What can I say? You earthlings like to speak about the planets in the Cosmos, when one of us contacts you, we think that Earth is a curiosity. Doesn’t make it any less dreary.
We are the same, you and I. Or, are there any mammoths running around? Any saber tooth tigers? Perhaps, there is at least one Dodo bird on an island somewhere? - Tine.
My timer beeps, and I look at my bottle of happiness. Strange, I have never seen such a thing. It is a yellow color. Not the orange I am used to. Is it because I am a bit peeved, but still in a good mood? I take the bottle, and take a sip. It has a similar kick to the happiness potion, but it is a bit bitter.
I sigh, and am about to try again, when I get another message from Daniel.
You are right. We both, the humans and the Naga, hunted animals to extinction. But we are about to bring our animals back via cloning. Would you do the same about the animals you listed? - DanielS.
I bite my lower lip. Knowing that any attempt to bottle happiness now would be futile. I am no longer happy. I feel conflicted, and the faint and ghostly hand of shame is gripping the back of my neck.
No- Tine.
I close the website, and take another sip of the bottle that I made earlier. I begin to feel better, but the bitterness threatens to choke me. What is with this yellow thing? I have to send it to the researchers. It is doubtful that anyone has ever seen it before. At least, I have never heard about bitter happiness.
And by that, I mean, bottled bitter happiness. The humans call it a bittersweet feeling. Something that makes the butterflies in your stomach flutter their wings, when you know that there is nothing you can do about that. Or, at least, that is how it is described in human books. The ending of that one TV show with the dragons certainly didn’t make me feel that.
I relax in my chair, and stew in my emotions. Were we right, to snuff out so many animals? There are so many planets out there, that don’t have any inhabitants. Couldn’t we have relocated the animals there?
I turn on the Ursula Serf, the web browser that is the most popular on Ursula 590, and I search about groups that want to see the old animals come back.
There are a couple, of which the Ursula Love of Nature is the most vocal, at a first glance. I sign myself up for their next seminar, and begin to look through their content with activities they are doing in my area.
From the corner of my eye, I can see an ad for something called Dimensional Theory. Deciding that the plight of the Gigantoboa is more important, I keep on reading the blog posts on it.
Chapter 2:
A call from Earth
It has been two days, since my last happiness bottling session. I better get back into it. I have the memories of the soft rays of the sun on my back, as I did an honest day of work, to get me another orange bottle.
The Roberts were out of town, so I couldn’t baby Beth, but that is ok. They are coming back tomorrow, and I intend to buy her some apples to eat. I’ll make them into a purée, and add honey to them.
My bottle turns orange, as soon as I put on the headset, and I let my thoughts drift to all the games I will play with the little girl. An imitation of my sky skiing would be in order. You, earthlings, call it the airplane. Yes, I intend to hold her, and hover her over the ground.
As well as a little battle with water guns. The weather is so pleasant. I will put her in her high chair out in her garden, and sit still, while she tries to aim the gun at me.
I will let her hit me a couple of times, of course. An important part of a happiness bottler’s life is to give happiness even when not wearing the headset. People love to win. Babies, even more so. Yes, Beth is also a Naga. My planet is a Naga planet. I see people typing in the forum. Clearly, they remember me.
Then, one comment stands out for me.
Hi, Tine. I emailed you, but you never answered. I am a fantasy writer, and would like to use your ideas. If that is ok with you? - DanielS.
I know that this is not his real name. No one uses their real name on the Dark Web. Except for me. But the most powerful rocket you humans have can never reach me. So, I don’t see the harm.
I mean, I am a couple of million light years away from Earth. What do I have to worry about? I check the bottle with the solvent, and see that it is still glowing orange.
I begin from the terrain of my home planet. Furthermore, I try to explain to Daniel, that the jungles of Ursula 590 are evergreen, and pretty tame. We, the Naga of Ursula, have towns, cities, and yes, the occasional village. Yet, you will find that most of us have a TV, a computer, or, at the very least, a radio.
I weave him a picture of the beauty of the flora that surrounds my hometown. Of the big yellow fly traps, that stink to high heaven, but look good. Of the red leaved Caltea trees, that reach the skies. Then, when I exhaust my knowledge of plants, I begin on the animals.
We, on Ursula 590, believe that only the animals that are useful should exist. That seems to outrage him. He begins to pelt me with questions about all the animals that we have hunted to extinction over the years. I try to remember as many as I can, and give him the reasons.
The black bees didn’t pollinate anything, but became Naga eaters. So, they had to go.
The Gigantoboa, a cousin to the Naga, but without any human intelligence, used to be one of the species that would raze entire cities to the ground. Therefore, it got fed poisoned Megaboar, which is another thing that had to go.
You hunted your Megafauna to extinction! - DanielS
I blink at that. Is the human really about to judge me? I know a thing or two about the animals on Earth. What can I say? You earthlings like to speak about the planets in the Cosmos, when one of us contacts you, we think that Earth is a curiosity. Doesn’t make it any less dreary.
We are the same, you and I. Or, are there any mammoths running around? Any saber tooth tigers? Perhaps, there is at least one Dodo bird on an island somewhere? - Tine.
My timer beeps, and I look at my bottle of happiness. Strange, I have never seen such a thing. It is a yellow color. Not the orange I am used to. Is it because I am a bit peeved, but still in a good mood? I take the bottle, and take a sip. It has a similar kick to the happiness potion, but it is a bit bitter.
I sigh, and am about to try again, when I get another message from Daniel.
You are right. We both, the humans and the Naga, hunted animals to extinction. But we are about to bring our animals back via cloning. Would you do the same about the animals you listed? - DanielS.
I bite my lower lip. Knowing that any attempt to bottle happiness now would be futile. I am no longer happy. I feel conflicted, and the faint and ghostly hand of shame is gripping the back of my neck.
No- Tine.
I close the website, and take another sip of the bottle that I made earlier. I begin to feel better, but the bitterness threatens to choke me. What is with this yellow thing? I have to send it to the researchers. It is doubtful that anyone has ever seen it before. At least, I have never heard about bitter happiness.
And by that, I mean, bottled bitter happiness. The humans call it a bittersweet feeling. Something that makes the butterflies in your stomach flutter their wings, when you know that there is nothing you can do about that. Or, at least, that is how it is described in human books. The ending of that one TV show with the dragons certainly didn’t make me feel that.
I relax in my chair, and stew in my emotions. Were we right, to snuff out so many animals? There are so many planets out there, that don’t have any inhabitants. Couldn’t we have relocated the animals there?
I turn on the Ursula Serf, the web browser that is the most popular on Ursula 590, and I search about groups that want to see the old animals come back.
There are a couple, of which the Ursula Love of Nature is the most vocal, at a first glance. I sign myself up for their next seminar, and begin to look through their content with activities they are doing in my area.
From the corner of my eye, I can see an ad for something called Dimensional Theory. Deciding that the plight of the Gigantoboa is more important, I keep on reading the blog posts on it.
