[video]

[faithmanages]

[Greetings, community. You have a beautiful alien woman staring at you. If it was that kind of sci fi premise, you might be in for a fun escapade.

However, this is NOT that kind of sci fi premise, and she is looking at you like she's not going to take any bullshit.]

This is Ambassador Delenn of the Minbari Federation, aboard the White Star. I have received your transmissions, though your identification code is unknown to us. Please identify yourselves and explain how you have accessed our channels.

Comments

[embersandashes]

An ambassador?

[She's listening.]

What you're being told is true, if you can believe it.

[faithmanages]

It is hard to imagine, I must admit. But I am not sure what other possibilities there are.

[embersandashes]

You have an open mind. That will serve you well here.

As will being a politician, I think.

[faithmanages]

This...community. What more can you tell me about it?

[embersandashes]

Plenty. What specific questions do you have?

[faithmanages]

How many worlds does it connect? And are all of them variants of Earth?

[embersandashes]

Not at all. I'm not originally from an Earth world myself.

I'm not sure of the exact number - it fluctuates. So many have come and gone over the years that I would guess its capabilities are infinite.

[faithmanages]

It is not always a permanent connection?

[embersandashes]

No. The community is picky about who it keeps, it seems - and losing your connection sometimes means losing your memory of the community entirely. It's daunting.

[faithmanages]

That is peculiar, to say the least. I take it that this has happened to others before?

[embersandashes]

More times than I can count.

[faithmanages]

Is there any sort of strategy to it? As though someone may be controlling the community?

[embersandashes]

Everyone has their theories. Mine is that the community controls itself.

[faithmanages]

It is worth considering. A sapient lifeform that cannot be understood any other way.

[embersandashes]

Or doesn't want to be understood.

I don't feel the need to try to dissect it, but then, I want to be a member.

[faithmanages]

There are creatures like that, who forbid any revelation about themselves in order to protect themselves. If the community is similar, the unusual part is how much it wants to be connected to others.

[embersandashes]

It doesn't interact with us directly. It doesn't speak to us, if it's even capable of speech.

[faithmanages]

Perhaps, then, this is its method. There are many beings in my world that either choose not to interact directly with other races or cannot, instead using proxies or abstract lessons.

[embersandashes]

I'm not sure I'd consider anything the community does to be an attempt at a lesson.

If it is, it's convoluted.

[faithmanages]

It is rare, when those who think we must learn, are ever straightforward.

[embersandashes]

I've been here for seven years. If it's trying to teach us anything in particular, it isn't working.

[faithmanages]

Perhaps, then, we are part of the lesson. A lesson for the community, moreso than for us.

[embersandashes]

How do you figure that?

[faithmanages]

It is said among my people that the universe is alive. It then creates souls from itself, in the stars, planets, and people. The souls of people are pieces of the soul of the universe, just as our bodies contain the same molecules that exist in the stars. As we learn more about ourselves and the universe, so the universe learns more about itself.

[embersandashes]

And who are your people, exactly?

... It's an interesting theory. I won't discount it.