[ WP ] Stars are actually sentient beings , and humans finally establish communication with them .

It had been an astonishing week, Aquinas thought as he sat down to take a breather. The comfortable couch in his room was his favorite place to relax. A mixture of business and pleasure; he'd placed his room close to the crew center, in case of emergency, but had also great pains ( mostly wounds to the wallet ) to ensure he had a wall built of holoscreens, which displayed the view from the ship all around him. It was beautiful - it always was. Right now, he had a view of the star LOGLA. On the approach he'd admired its brilliance, the way the plasma arced and danced on its surface. That was before he'd spoken to it. 
 
 The initial communications had been halting, uncertain. Stars had very different minds than humans, in many ways. It'd taken thousands of years to realize they were even capable of thought. It had taken hundreds to decipher their thoughts. The stars, it turned out, had similar difficulties understanding us. We were motes of dust to them, insignificant in the passage of time. The stars - communicating on their own medium still largely inaccessible to us, the'sea' as they called it - had debated the significance of humans ever since we'd left our atmosphere. 
 
 The lines between the animate and the inanimate had been blurred. Stars saw all things as living, in some sense - some more so than others, of course. Stars did not quite propagate, or survive. They simply... were, until they were n't. And they thought for that entire time. 
 
 To the stars, it turns out, they'd just assumed we were intelligent. They assumed *all* things were intelligent. Perhaps not capable of communication or comprehension, but still possibly thinking on some plane of existence. `` They are, therefore they think.'' It was a compelling point of view, all things considered. If we could talk to stars, why not to other things? 
 
 Aquinas sighed, as he shifted in his chair to get back up. Only a moment's rest. The basic politics has been discussed, the nature of stars, what they wanted and did not want... it had been largely business. There'd been moments of insight and true talk, here and there, but for the most part it was the simple procedure of extraterrestrial contact the System's scientists had sorted out centuries before. Stars were independent bodies, but did n't much care about anything else - they felt no pain, and did not care what installations we built around them, or how we traversed them. The only thing they requested was that they be allowed to think, as long as possible. 
 
 Aquinas rose from his chair, and crossed the room. The auxiliary controls in his room had been another nice touch. Built for emergencies, but... it's not like what he was about to do could hurt. He reached down, fiddled with some controls - that transmitted very complicated directions to a very big machine on the ship - and was linked into the communication medium, a swirling ball of plasma that was magnetically controlled to produce new shapes, configurations, and energy patterns. After a moment in silence, standing over the controls, bowed with his hands flat against the surface of the countertop, he spoke up. 
 
 `` Logla, you listening?'' He asked. The star had no name. No stars did. It had agreed on one, however, given the nature of human communication. So it had been decided to name it Logla, and the star agreed that when we said Logla, it would answer. 
 
 And it did. `` I'm here, Aquinas.'' He piqued up at this, as he always did. It recognized him, despite the communication medium - and the fact he had n't said much of note. There was some other means of identification... which was surprising, given stars had no need for such identification. A quick learner, it seemed. `` What thoughts do we have to attend to?'' 
 
 Aquinas chuckled. Stars did little else but think, so Logla had an issue phrasing any activity as something other than thinking. It understood the activities, well enough, but it just preferred not to speak of them in human terms. `` Nothing to attend to, today, Logla. I just wanted to think together.'' 
 
 A soft humming came from the speaker. This indicated the star was processing, preparing to vocalize thoughts. A very human mannerism. Eventually, Logla spoke up. `` This sounds agreeable. It is something stars do often, and enjoy.'' 
 
 `` Enjoy? You do n't talk about emotion a lot, Logla. To be honest...'' Aquinas pondered whether to continue, but shrugged and went on anyway. `` We were n't quite sure you felt things like we did. You know, felt them as much.'' 
 
 The star hummed again. `` Most likely not, Aquinas. But we still feel. Feeling is just another form of thinking, after all.'' 
 
 Aquinas smiled. `` That's one way of putting it,'' Aquinas sat back down in his chair, no longer nervous about how poorly unsupervised contact might go. Logla was a very nice star, so far. It was pretty damn unlikely he'd upset it. He was n't even sure what could. At this thought, Aquinas sat, tapped his chin, then pressed the button to continue speaking. `` What makes you feel, Logla? And what do you feel?'' 
 
 The star hummed, for a long time. At least a minute. This was unusual - most thoughts took stars very little time, because they had very, *very* big brains. Finally, the star continued, `` Everything makes me feel, Aquinas. How could it not? Stars have a long time to think... and with a long time, everything becomes worth thinking about,'' The star hummed shortly, then continued, `` I feel... happy. Sad. Curious.'' 
 
 Aquinas raised an eyebrow. `` Not afraid? Not angry?'' 
 
 `` Those are unintelligible to me. Rethink your thoughts for me, Aquinas?'' This was a fun oddity of inter-species communication. Stars rarely did not understand each other, they had learned - it was only external interference that caused issues with communication. Logla did not quite understand the idea of'untranslatable' concepts yet - but it very well understood interference, and just acted like it was that. 
 
 `` Well, anger... it's... when something is wrong. Or when something endangers you. Do you ever feel so strongly, you want to...'' Aquinas realized that there was n't really much the star could do, or want to do. Stars could not move. They could not act. They could barely even perceive, it turned out. They largely existed just to think. Anger would be meaningless for them... they could n't act out. And fear... they could n't retreat. Aquinas paused, and shook his head. `` I'm sorry, Logla. I do n't think there's a way to rethink that thought without interference.'' 
 
 A soft humming, then Logla replied, `` That's okay, Aquinas. I understand, though I am curious and sad.'' 
 
 `` Sad?'' Aquinas rested his face on his arm, holding his button down with the other hand. `` Why, Logla?'' 
 
 `` I wish I could understand. Curiosity that goes without answer... it causes sadness. A wish things were different,'' Logla spoke slowly, far more slowly than normal. `` Curiosity answered brings happiness.'' 
 
 `` That's all?'' Aquinas asked, quietly. `` You feel happiness and sadness only then?'' 
 
 `` No... We feel happiness to know. We enjoy thinking. And some things are pleasing to think about. While others... we feel sadness to confront. And some things are sad to think about,'' Logla's speech was very slow now. `` Some things are both.'' 
 
 `` I understand. We feel similarly. We call it'bittersweet'. I have no idea if that thought will be conveyed right, but... it's a pairing of opposites. Like dark and light, at once.'' Stars understood light very well. `` It seems contradictory, but...'' 
 
 `` But it is n't. I understand. The thought conveyed poorly, but I think the thought too. There are many experiences that bring both happiness and sadness. Like you.'' 
 
 Aquinas nodded, quietly. The gesture would be translated by the machine, but he still reaffirmed it, and said, `` Yes. Like you too.'' 
 
 `` Aquinas, we - I - are happy to know you exist. That you think like we do. And that we can speak. There have been so few... so few that can speak to us, besides us,'' The star said, and Aquinas nodded. The stars had mentioned other people that spoke to stars. They had n't said much about them, but it was much more than mankind had expected to hear. We'd assumed stars were the only non-Earth intelligence. `` We love thinking new thoughts. We love the curiosity it brings to know something we ca n't think is there. But we feel sad about it... to know that we ca n't think it, ever. And we feel sad when they leave.'' 
 
 `` Leave?'' Aquinas asked, his own curiosity now burning. 
 
 `` Leave. Stars... we think a long time. Even as we die, we think. A star's light goes out long before their thinking does. Their thinking slows, their part in the sea fades, but they are there. We are there. We have watched many like you leave us... and you leave us so quickly. So suddenly...'' The star hummed, and this time, the note was different, a rich and deep tone. Aquinas listened to the star's song, for a few seconds, but it stopped abruptly as the song continued. `` We wish you could be with us for longer. That you could think like us. But to do so would mean you do not think as yourselves... and that is what we love to hear about...'' The star hummed again, and this time, the countertop thrummed as it resonated with the note. Aquinas' bones sang along with the note. `` To think about your time, compared to our time... that is the greatest thought of sadness we stars have.'' 
 
 Aquinas wiped away a tear from his face. The immensity of a star's life... it was unthinkable, how many peoples it must have watched go extinct, and yearned to hear from, one more time. `` Us too, Logla. We both wish for more time.'' 
 
 `` All who think do,'' Logla said, then hummed quietly, while Aquinas sat, and listened to its song.
