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confronted Them might divert Its attention away from the offending words by whizzing or mumming the tune. Or, confounded by the content of a tale, a Them could take comfort in the concept that this veiled comment was, after all, no more than fictional fay story. Thus each medium offered a means of averting a predictable, but nevertheless punitive, outpouring of anger. By effectively bypassing the inbuilt prejudices, preposterous pompousness, and preconceived notions to which many Them, including Itself, seemed particularly prone.

Fortuitously, in that era, and for the first time in the Them’s comparatively short history, there came available a means of accessing practically the entire collective consciousness of Them-kind. A machine, or to be more precise a collection of machines, invisibly connected across the firm, fluid, and gaseous expanse of their world. This universal synapse, although still in its infancy and as yet some way from attaining full and true potential, was operable, accessible, and in addition offered a desirable degree of anonymity. Amassing the material available to It, 80 began the task of refining Its observations. Seeking not just to demonstrate how a solution to the biggest question of all could be contained within a single sentence. But how, exactly, that summation had been effected. After many false starts and just as many complications, 80 at last submitted Its treatise to the plexus, and this is the message it contained :

The Meaning of Life

Greetings, fellow Them. In finding this place you will already have demonstrated the existence of one, if not two important factors in this mystery, chance and curiosity. Should you read and take exception to what follows, I would consider it a boon if you could refrain from seeking to terminate me. Not because I dread death, why no! For before I existed, I was to all intents and purposes devoid of life, and recollect nothing to fear from that state. Furthermore, my present assemblage will endure for hardly an instant, in contrast to the full and immeasurable immensity of complete time. Consequently, it is my presence here and now which represents the less-natural condition. Nevertheless, the need to extend that experience stems from an obligation. A requirement to ensure that if, in the immediate future, one of our number takes these words and renders from them a ritualized religion. Or perverts them for self-serving political purpose. I might still be at claw to condemn and correct that misuse.

In all probability, you already know much of what I am about to suggest to you. Indeed, if this matter constituted privileged information, then none of us might be here at all. The paradox though, to our possession of this knowledge, is not actually knowing that we know it. My intention is to remind you, and to propose the presence of a further component. So that you may appreciate how one could act against the other, to obscure what we ought to comprehend. In ideal circumstance we would converse, so that I might ask questions and you could make reply. Thereby discovering what you think and why you think it, rather than specifying ways in which you need to think. Through this means you might more readily accept what was revealed, since each revelation would be entirely your own. Because this is not at present possible I must resort to other methods, without benefit of that helpful feedback response which would guide me through your mind. If I knew you personally and of your experiences and interests, even at this distance, I might fashion my material in a manner capable of conveying