[ WP ] Explain the beauty of death to immortal aliens .

Ingrid Walters did not know what an Atomizing Distributor was. She did n't understand what had happened to her town, Baldwin Georgia. She did n't appreciate the fact that she was naked. In all honesty, Ingrid did n't fathom or approve of much beyond hearty cooking and weekly church. 
 
 So she was at a bit of a loss as to why she did n't seem to be attached to the rest of her body. And she was a bit worked up about the two blue people who were thoroughly examining her innards. And she thought that it was very indecent that they seemed to be nude as well. The nerve. 
 
 “ Excuse me, ” she cleared her throat, “ by the Lord above, unhand my body, or bless my soul, I'll- ” 
 
 “ Ah, ” The larger man-person, “ it awakens. ” 
 
 “ She. ” The smaller woman-person. 
 
 “ Anatomical data is as of yet inconclusive to- ” 
 
 “ At a seventy-nine percent completion rate of invasive studies, conjecture weighs heavily towards conventional breeding patterns. ” 
 
 “ True. I will accept it and proceed using pronouns appropriate for the postulated sex of the creature. ” 
 
 Ingrid Walters did know that things strange and unknown were almost exclusively the work of the devil. As such, she knew to listen not to the poison that they would spew or the offers they would make for her mortal flesh. However, as she could n't seem to find it in herself to make the sign of the cross nor to turn around and bid them back to whatever hells they came from, she made do with a decidedly pious chastisement. 
 
 “ Whatever manner of hellspawn you are, you'll have no parley with me, for I am of the children of the Lord, and His light shall make itself known in the dark confines of your damned souls. ” 
 
 Heathens and, by the looks of things, fornicators. She would not taste of their taint. 
 
 “ Yes. Though her words are strange, it is as you said, she is sentient. ” 
 
 “ Indeed, ” the man-person pointed an Atomizing Distributor at her forehead, “ our understanding is sufficient, let us begin interfacing immediately. ” 
 
 I will not be cowed, Ingrid thought, facing down the armed demons before her. I will stay strong, for the Lord is my shield. 
 
 And then Ingrid Walters was at home in her living room, in her comfortable chair, sitting across from her neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Kettlebrew. For a moment, she thought that she had merely dozed off for a moment, as she was partial to do in the mid-afternoon in the summer. 
 
 “ Ah. Mrs. Walters, ” Bruce Kettlebrew gestured, “ let us pick your brain for a moment. ” 
 
 “ Yes. ” Amanda Kettlebrew simply stared. “ About your brain, for a moment. ” 
 
 All this talk of brains was almost certainly not a good Christian conversation in the making. 
 
 “ Why, I do n't know what you mean, Mrs. Kettlebrew, Mr. Kettlebrew. ” 
 
 “ We've been digging around here now, and so much of this makes sense. ” 
 
 “ Yes. Very logical. ” 
 
 “ Very much like us, once, I think, we have forgotten so much. ” 
 
 “ Yes. It is true. As the brain cycles. We were once much like you. ” 
 
 “ I'm not sure I follow you, and I do n't appreciate what you're implying. ” Ingrid liked to say that when she thought that the conversation was escaping her. 
 
 “ What we mean. Is that- ” 
 
 “ Mrs. Walters. Your body is dissected on a slab and we are creatures from another world. We recognize the sentience of your species, and will take this opportunity to assimilate your knowledge. There is a thing which you understand that we have no frame of reference for. ” 
 
 “ Your body is imperfect. ” They began intertwining their words, so that Ingrid was unsure which of them was saying what, “ Your cells all break down. Your matter is organic. Your systems are flawed. You all. Ingrid Walters. You die. ” 
 
 “ All men must die, to meet again with the Lord our Father in heaven. ” 
 
 “ Why do you choose to die? ” 
 
 “ The Lord takes each of us at our time, and His judgment is absolute. ” 
 
 Ingrid fiercely stared down her decidedly not-neighbors. 
 
 “ Do you not fear it? The ending? ” 
 
 “ Not I, as the Lord is my light, and I shall be born again, in the heavens, where I will live once more, and the sorrows of the earth shall not be upon me. ” 
 
 “ You go then. Gladly. To this death. This ending? What beauty do you find in your own destruction? ” 
 
 And Ingrid thought about it. She thought about her children. And her husband, dead now for three years. And her grandchildren. And why she lived, and of what she knew. And she looked at those before her, not her neighbors, but poor, lost souls, the kind that had yet to find solace in the powers that be. Those poor souls who lived without the light in their lives, guiding their way and laying down hope when the darkness threatened to take everything away. 
 
 “ Oh, ” she said, sweetly, “ Oh, you poor young ones, pastor Harris said it best, he said: if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord ’ s. ” She nodded silently for a moment. “ Amen. ” 
 
 There was a pause, just long enough to be uncomfortable. 
 
 “ This makes no sense. ” 
 
 “ When the Lord comes for me, in my time, I have lived enough to know, that he shall not fail me. IF you live your life, good on your hands, and kindness in your heart, it will be so again. And all the happiness of this life will pale to that of the next. ” 
 
 Ingrid smiled. And the room faded around her. It faded into darkness, and, gradually, eventually, into light. And she saw the light, and she was glad. 
 
 The woman-person prodded at the now still head of Ingrid Walters. “ I think I understand her meaning. ” 
 
 “ Do, please, extrapolate. ” 
 
 “ We know that the things that are will always be. They do not. They do not think that their ending is their end. ” 
 
 “ The integration has made you incomprehensible. Explain. ” 
 
 “ We will always be. They will not. These sentient beings survive with that knowledge by believing that their existence is a prologue to a larger life. ” 
 
 “ Ah. This is absurd. ” 
 
 “ Is it? Perhaps there is more than the now. ” 
 
 “ We will never know. The hypothesis is not worth exploration. ” 
 
 And so it was n't.
