voice.

[tagential]

[There's not much to hear in the background when Edwon starts recording. It's quiet, deliberately so, making him easy to hear. And when he speaks, it's with an imperial British accent.]

I've recently arrived, and I have a couple of questions. First: Are there really no stars?

Normally I'd be able to sense them - I'm Miraluka, so I don't have eyes - but here there's nothing. And I can feel the heat from a local sun, but as far as I can tell, it's not actually in the sky.

[He sounds really confused, though he's been doing enough digging to both know that the sun is in its rightful place, and to have some idea as to why he can't sense it. He just wants to know how people react to this.]

And so far I've only run into Humans. Are there really no other species here?

Comments

[bifroster]

Interesting. I hadn't known that, but that would explain why there is a limit on your own powers.

[She hums, thinking.]

Maybe we could figure out some workaround. It won't be the same as what you're used to, but there are more ways to detect things like stars than with visible light.

[tagential]

I've never detected them using visible light. I don't have eyes.

[Which always makes these things more complicated, doesn't it? He doesn't have the receptors she'd be used to, doesn't sense the world in the same way she does.]

If you have other workarounds, though, I'll listen, of course.

[bifroster]

Oh! Okay!

[It does make it more complicated, but luckily for him, she believes that science should be for everyone.]

Listening is exactly what I had in mind. You see, there was an astronomer from my world, Wanda Diaz Merced, who became blind. But it didn't stop her from her research or discovering a new way to explore the universe.

[He will then get a link to a video or two of visual data translated into sound, including one about Saturn too.]

[tagential]

[There's a delay before he answers - he's listening to those videos, and clicking through to find a few more as well. When he finally speaks, he's sounding a little bit impressed.]

That's not too far off from what stars feel like.

[bifroster]

[Jane beams, glad he found them interesting and that extra fact just delights her.]

Really? What do they feel like? Would you mind describing it?

[tagential]

I don't think I can describe it any better than you could describe eyesight.

[And people have tried to describe eyesight to him before. It's confusing when he has no idea what they even mean by things like colors.]

There are usually countless of them in all directions, and it's difficult to separate them unless I focus, and even then most of them will melt into each other. It feels like power without life. It's pure energy, pulling at us.

It's easier to feel them on some planets than others. The more life there is around me, the more the stars fade into the distance, but they're always there.

[bifroster]

I’ll give you that. It’s not the easiest to describe colors, even if you have something like wave frequencies to use. It’s about frame of reference.

[Perhaps they were using the wrong words—approaching it from the wrong direction. She once read an article where a man came up with ways to describe smells and a lot of them had to do with sight, sound, and touch. Senses he and the patients did share.]

Besides other forms of life being around, does that change depending upon the time of day? And can you sense other forms of life, like plants or animals too?

[tagential]

Wave frequencies is too technical. It won't make something easier to imagine.

[He's had people try to describe colors to him, too.]

I can sense all life, it doesn't have to be intelligent. Though I won't sense it if it's microscopic, so size can matter. [He pauses.] Time of day doesn't matter much, but distance from any local suns can affect it. If a planet strays farther from those suns during its rotation, the sky will start to feel a little different.

[bifroster]

No, not if you don't explain it right.

[She can't imagine that went over well.]

Really? That's amazing! How will the sky feel different, then? Is it just about proximity to the suns or are there other factors going into it?

[tagential]

Then I'm curious what explaining it right would be.

[It led to frustration on the other person's part, and no understanding at all on his part.]

Proximity and size of the sun. It pulls and draws all your senses towards it, a constant reminder of the powerful forces existing in the sky above us.

[bifroster]

Whatever helps you understand better.

[It can be said simply, but it's so much more complicated.]

You know, that is how someone could describe 'bright'. When something is visually bright, it overwhelms your senses, draws your attention to it. But what you experience is probably deeper, because we can eventually get used to and thus ignore something bright. Or block it.

[tagential]

Can you block a light if you're staring directly at it? Staring directly at a sun would be harmful, wouldn't it?

[But this really is difficult to explain. Seeing the world the way he does is so inherent to him.]

There are people with my ability who also have eyesight. Unfortunately, I've never had the chance to ask them about the differences.

[bifroster]

Yes, but you would still be able to feel its heat. It might not be as intense, but you wouldn't be able to fully pretend it's not there either. But you're right: eyes can only handle so much light before there would be adverse effects.

[She lets out a disappointed sound.]

I'm sorry about that, you probably would have been able to communicate with them a lot better.