Challenge #02540-F350: Wandering Minds
On earth in various places, there are buskers. People who will put down a hat, box, bowl, or other container and then will play music, sing, or otherwise entertain in the hope of donations. Then there are the flash mobs. Large groups of individuals who will coordinate a time where they will come together. They will mill about in a crowd and then, at a predesignated time, one individual will throw off their jacket or other covering and, in costume, begin to dance after turning on a music device with large, loud, speakers. Then others who are part of this flash mob will quickly converge and join in. The dance routine can last as long as 20 minutes or more before they will take their bow and go back to shopping or whatever they were going to do that day. And so it is that humans bring these things to space. Not only to entertain other humans, but possibly other species as well. But what of non-humans that decide to join in on the fun? -- DaniAndShali
Some thought Humans were naturally storytellers, and to a degree, that is true. Nothing makes a Human happier than a good tale to relay. Others were convinced that Humans essentially existed to create music. They sang, they hummed, they whistled, they took up a musical instrument and made music. More others insisted that Humans were made to move. Rhythmic gyrations in time to a beat or a melody or whatever their mood happened to be at the time.
The truth was not revealed to the Alliance until a group of Humans got together for some non-damaging fun as part of an experimental socialisation program... and something wonderful happened. Those that played instruments came to a consensus of rhythm and melody. Those who sang conferred with those who told stories, and came up with lyrics. And those who danced... did that.
The Alliance watchers, observing from a safe distance, stared in awe as Humans who had never met before that day collected their shared knowledge of language, music, and movement together... and made something that had never been witnessed before. That was when a different consensus came to pass. The agreement that Humans seemed determined to entertain.
The revelation spread from there, all over the Alliance at speeds that seemed to break the laws of physics[1]. Humans seemed to have a collective purpose... besides being potential weapons of mass destruction walking around and otherwise acting like a cogniscent being[2]. Now, as well as pack-bonding with the Ships' Human, the crews would expectantly wait with bated breath to see what kind of entertainment their Human would be creating in their otherwise idle moments.
As always, it was the otherwise quiet ones who had the most devastating impact. The ones who seemed content to curl up in a corner, gathering Skitties, working in notebooks or with software in relative silence. The occasional muttering or giggling might disturb many, but the crew waited. Whatever their Human was doing, it was going to be interesting.
It always was.
Art or words, there is more than one way to tell a story. Music or melody. Song or dance. And, in the case of the quiet ones, art that the observer could absorb in their own time.
[1] Gossip, of course, travels faster than anything else known to intelligent life. Physicists attempting to analyse this have gone insane in any attempt to isolate the theoretical particle responsible for such a thing, the Rumuon.
[2] Very convincingly, in many cases.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / Kurhan]
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