The last of my kind

It is “night”. I lie awake and review the last few months. It is almost completely silent around me. All I can hear is the gentle hum of a life support system and a whiff of ozone. It always reminds me of where I am … on an alien planet, far away from my home, Earth.

How I got here is a long story that I’ll tell another time. Just this much: I am Bardo, human species, and I am an astronaut … the last survivor of a mission to explore alternative habitats for humanity. We have made our own planet almost uninhabitable over the last few centuries, and we urgently need a replacement. In the process, I ran into an almost unbelievable incident that saw me save an entire “alien” species, by accident and through NI, natural intelligence. It is a quality that I have consciously retained in a world that was characterized by artificiality, in a world … in which I am no longer, which itself hardly is.

The species that I was allowed to “save” cannot be described by the human mind. How often have we imagined “big headed creatures” and most of the time they were not well-disposed towards us. But the reality is so … “different”. These beings are ethereal and yet tangible. You feel them, you hear them, because their language is a kind of song, and they show themselves to you in the way you feel most comfortable. They live the feeling of well-being. Carried by their gratitude, they saved my life after the experiences we shared and created a living space for me. They are very curious and fascinated by humans and want to learn everything about us (sometimes incomprehensible to me). They have realized what potential we – humans – have.

I can no longer “go home” and I find myself thinking that this doesn’t bother me at all. I like to stay as an “object of study”, which I don’t feel like. I have thought long and hard about how I present myself to them, because the way humanity has generally shown itself over the last few centuries is deeply repugnant to me. We have destroyed our own habitat, partly out of greed, partly out of carelessness. But I now also realize what these alien and yet so familiar people FROM another world see IN us … an ALL-encompassing humanity, in harmony with everything that surrounds us. We and the Velori, as I call my hosts (they don’t need to name themselves), are mirrors to each other, are both part of a greater whole. We have recognized this together and this is how we live, in harmony.

It’s getting “morning” outside, at least in my little living space, which was created for me and follows my rhythm of life. Soon the first visitors will arrive, and we will talk in the language we have created together, with few words but all the more gestures and melodies. I am looking forward to what is to come. I have found meaning – in “being”, far away, alone (as a human being) and yet at home, not at all foreign. I am … Inspired by the great novel “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weyer … Cover picture: AI generated.