Title: Two moons, pink grass

 

There are two moons in the sky this night. Gronkapn sits on the soft pink grass, staring out at the congregation. The weight of this coming speech sits heavy in his spine. He hopes he can sway some minds. He licks his mouth-holes, in preparation, injecting all the gravitas he has in his words,

“Lying is a virtue.”

Scores of upper tentacles wave in the air in cheers of agreement and rejoicing.

“We can’t go to Earth!” comes a cry from the middle.

“No Earth! No Earth!” a few chant.

Gronkapn waits for the cheers to quieten. “But is lying always virtuous?”

All are silent. A child so small they are still a round thing answers, “Lying is always good.”

“Is it, have you ever had someone tell a harmful lie and when you confront them, they say, ‘I’m just lying’?”

He stares at the people; several look uncomfortable, or restless. Everyone knows someone who uses the virtue of lying as an excuse.

“The virtue in lying comes from lies which help others: a lie about liking a gift or someone’s new tentacle-style, a lie to give a confidence boost, or a lie to keep someone’s secret. Lies you tell just to help yourself and harm others are not virtuous.”

Several upper tentacles wave in agreement, but the waves are more wobbly- unsure of what’s to come.

“Humans believe honesty is a virtue.”

There are cries of anger. The people chanting ‘No Earth’ start up again.

He waits. The silence takes longer to come, he doesn’t rush it. “But they also believe honesty isn’t always virtuous. To them honesty that serves others is good and honesty to serve the self and harm others is bad. Like we have those who say ‘I’m just lying’ they similarly have annoying people who say, ‘I’m just being honest’."

“What are you saying?” the words are strained, upset.

“The humans will also lie about liking gifts they do not like. They are in many ways not too different from us.”

Tentacles curl in anger. “Why are you saying this!” “What are you talking about!” “How dare you!” 

Several people leave: some silently, some loudly.

“I’m saying this because our planet is dying. We must go to Earth. And we must learn to live with the people there.”

Rocks are kicked, grass is pulled up and thrown. Gronkapn doesn’t run for cover, he stays in place, waiting. More people leave, telling others to go with them.

A young woman walks up to him, tentacles drooping, her voice small but hard, “We came here for you to reaffirm our faith, to tell us to be strong while our world is dying, to tell us to stand our ground and stay here. Why would you betray us like this?”

“I’m trying to save your lives. Staying here doesn’t prove anything, you’ll just die, it’s a waste.”

“Such callous honesty, you’re already just like them.”

 

*

Gronkapn flips through the passenger lists, over and over, searching for names he knows aren’t there.

“You did all you could,” his half-soul says.

“You can’t comfort me, my love, most of them were not moved by me. They will die and it’s because I didn’t do enough.”

“Nothing anyone could’ve done would have moved them.” She takes the pages from him and points to a name. “What of this one, a child. They would have died here without your words, now they have a whole life ahead of them. You changed some peoples’ minds, and every one of those people is one entire life which would’ve been snuffed out without you. That is no small thing.”

He flaps his lower tentacle. “I should have had you talk to them.”

“Ack. I could never. Now put those away, we must rest. We have a very long, very hard, journey ahead of us. We must go with hope.”

 

*

 

Note: this has been an approximate translation of the alien language. A literal translation isn’t possible due to the extensive metaphor usage without the necessary reference points for understanding. For example see the below excerpt.

Small sun, big planet, for days. Small planet, big sun, for nights. Land and water. And drowning.

Small planet, big sun, for days. An inside-smile.