ko'a marji lo rectu

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la .lojban. English (original)
ko'a marji lo rectu THEY'RE MADE OUT OF MEAT
fi'e la teris.bisyn. by Terry Bisson
ko'a marji lo rectu They're made out of meat.
rectu ki'a? Meat?
rectu .i ko'a marji lo rectu Meat. They're made out of meat.
rectu .ue Meat?
.i noda se senpi .i mi'a jajgau so'o ko'a le mi'a ninsisli'u marce loi vrici pagbu be le plini gi'e lanli ko'a .i piro ko'a cu rectu There's no doubt about it. We picked up several from different parts of the planet, took them aboard our recon vessels, and probed them all the way through. They're completely meat.
.i la'e di'u na se kakne .i le se cradi .e le notci be fo lo tarci cu mo? That's impossible. What about the radio signals? The messages to the stars?
.i ko'a pilno lo cradybo'a lo nu tavla .i ku'i ko'a na bacru lo cradybo'a .i lo minji cu bacru They use the radio waves to talk, but the signals don't come from them. The signals come from machines.
.i ma zbasu lo bi'unai minji .i .ei mi'o tavla le zbasu So who made the machines? That's who we want to contact.
.i ba'e ko'a zbasu .i mi troci lo ka cusku le sedu'u lo rectu cu zbasu lo minji vau do They made the machines. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Meat made the machines.
.i mi'afra tu'a la'e di'u .i .ianai lo rectu cu zbasu lo minji .i do cpedu fi mi fe lo ka krici lo si'o lo rectu cu sanji That's ridiculous. How can meat make a machine? You're asking me to believe in sentient meat.
.i mi cpedu na je minde .i ko'a po'o cu sanji gi'e xabju le va pagbu .i ko'a marji lo rectu I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. These creatures are the only sentient race in that sector and they're made out of meat.
.i xu ko'a simsa lo .orfolei lo ka tabyselcmu pensi gi'e farvi fo lo rectu? Maybe they're like the orfolei. You know, a carbon-based intelligence that goes through a meat stage.
na go'i .i ko'a rectu ca'o lo nu jbena bi'o mrobi'o .i mi'a tadni ko'a ze'i so'o nunjmive .i lo rectu cu mutce zasre'i Nope. They're born meat and they die meat. We studied them for several of their life spans, which didn't take long. Do you have any idea what's the life span of meat?
.i xu ko'a simsa lo .uedlei noi le stedu be ke'a cu vasru lo dicygapci besna? Spare me. Okay, maybe they're only part meat. You know, like the weddilei. A meat head with an electron plasma brain inside.
na go'i .i mi'a pensi la'e di'u .i mu'i bo ko'a simsu lo .uedlei lo nu se ke rectu stedu .i ku'i mi'o lanli ko'a .i pi ro ko'a cu rectu Nope. We thought of that, since they do have meat heads, like the weddilei. But I told you, we probed them. They're meat all the way through.
.i xu noda .ue besna? No brain?
.i da ja'a besna .i ku'i lo besna cu marji lo rectu .i mi troci lenu jmigau do la'e di'u Oh, there's a brain all right. It's just that the brain is made out of meat! That's what I've been trying to tell you.
.i se ni'i bo ma pensi? So ... what does the thinking?
do za'oku naku jimpe .i do xarnu lo nu co'e lo se cusku be mi .i lo besna no'u lo rectu cu pensi You're not understanding, are you? You're refusing to deal with what I'm telling you. The brain does the thinking. The meat.
.i lo rectu cu pensi .i do cpedu fi mi fe lo ka krici lo du'u lo rectu cu pensi Thinking meat! You're asking me to believe in thinking meat!
.i .ie lo rectu cu pensi .i lo rectu cu sanji .i lo rectu cu prami .i lo rectu cu senva .i lo rectu cu rolco'e .i do co'a jimpe .i je'i .ei mi rapli cfari? Yes, thinking meat! Conscious meat! Loving meat. Dreaming meat. The meat is the whole deal! Are you beginning to get the picture or do I have to start all over?
.i do junri .i .i'e ko'a marji lo rectu Omigod. You're serious then. They're made out of meat.
ki'e do .i .uo .uadai ko'a ja'a marji lo rectu .i ko'a troci lo ka tavla ma'a puca'o lo nanca be li ji'i panono bei ko'a Thank you. Finally. Yes. They are indeed made out of meat. And they've been trying to get in touch with us for almost a hundred of their years.
.ue .i le vu rectu cu pensi ma? Omigod. So what does this meat have in mind?
.i pamai djica lo nu tavla ma'a .i remai pe'i djica lo nu ninsisli'u le rolmunje vau .e lo nu simtavla lo drata sanji vau .e lo nu canja lo sidbo .e lo datni vau .e zu'i First it wants to talk to us. Then I imagine it wants to explore the Universe, contact other sentiences, swap ideas and information. The usual.
.i .ei ma'a tavla lo rectu We're supposed to talk to meat.
.i la'e di'u sidbo .i ko'a cradi la'e de'u .i "lu coi do xu do tirna .i xu do zvati li'u" .e lo simsa That's the idea. That's the message they're sending out by radio. 'Hello. Anyone out there. Anybody home.' That sort of thing.
They actually do talk, then. They use words, ideas, concepts?
Oh, yes. Except they do it with meat.
I thought you just told me they used radio.
They do, but what do you think is on the radio? Meat sounds. You know how when you slap or flap meat, it makes a noise? They talk by flapping their meat at each other. They can even sing by squirting air through their meat.
Omigod. Singing meat. This is altogether too much. So what do you advise?
Officially or unofficially?
Both.
Officially, we are required to contact, welcome and log in any and all sentient races or multibeings in this quadrant of the Universe, without prejudice, fear or favor. Unofficially, I advise that we erase the records and forget the whole thing.
I was hoping you would say that.
It seems harsh, but there is a limit. Do we really want to make contact with meat?
I agree one hundred percent. What's there to say? 'Hello, meat. How's it going?' But will this work? How many planets are we dealing with here?
Just one. They can travel to other planets in special meat containers, but they can't live on them. And being meat, they can only travel through C space. Which limits them to the speed of light and makes the possibility of their ever making contact pretty slim. Infinitesimal, in fact.
So we just pretend there's no one home in the Universe.
That's it.
Cruel. But you said it yourself, who wants to meet meat? And the ones who have been aboard our vessels, the ones you probed? You're sure they won't remember?
They'll be considered crackpots if they do. We went into their heads and smoothed out their meat so that we're just a dream to them.
A dream to meat! How strangely appropriate, that we should be meat's dream.
And we marked the entire sector unoccupied.
Good. Agreed, officially and unofficially. Case closed. Any others? Anyone interesting on that side of the galaxy?
Yes, a rather shy but sweet hydrogen core cluster intelligence in a class nine star in G445 zone. Was in contact two galactic rotations ago, wants to be friendly again.
They always come around.
And why not? Imagine how unbearably, how unutterably cold the Universe would be if one were all alone ...


ni'oni'o notci

le dei mutpapri cu se zbasu la'o zoi. PierreAbbat .zoi. gi'e rore'u se galfi de'i zoi gy. Tuesday 23 of December, 2014 13:00:03 PST .gy. gau la'o zoi. PierreAbbat .zoi. .i la lomicmenes cu tcidu bacru de'i li 2013-05-28