[ WP ] Humanity is the only race in the galaxy with such a massive lack of common sense that we 're the only species that requires laws to form societies . Other races just form naturally and are shocked when confronted with humanities laws and regulations .

`` But you do have the Gift! This is where the signal originated! Is it... held in silence? Is it... hiiiirruummnnnn...'' 
 The eyeless, intricately articulated exoskeleton once again paused to search for an appropriate word, its graceful iridescent form nearly touching the fluorescent lights and drop ceiling of our hastily appropriated conference room. Mounted like stubby half-formed arms on either side of its armored thorax were two speaker-like pods. Although the set of legs just beneath them had been seen grasping objects, the pods gesticulated as they spoke in an eerie, overtone-accompanied approximation of a human voice. 
 
 `` -iiiiiirrrrummuuuu...'' The motion of those pods settled into what I read as resignation as the flanging effect they produced began to die down. At that moment 0630 on the wall-mounted clock caught my attention. 
 
 *Fourteen hours. We've been at this for a total of Four. Teen. Hours. And we're still stuck on this crucial detail. * 
 
 I sipped the last of my coffee and continued. `` Look, we just need to understand your command structure. Your rules. Laws. Uh, agreements? We just do n't want any more misunderstandings like earlier.'' 
 
 The first of those hours had nearly ended the exchange altogether, as the rest of my research team was pulled out of the room when their tendency to talk over each other caused visible agitation in the subject. Much of my time since becoming our spokesman by default had been spent merely figuring out a polite form of address. The haunting melody it responded with when I asked its name proved too long to even attempt to transliterate into something pronounceable by human vocal cords. 
 
 `` Listen. Like this.'' Our guest replied. *Here we go. * 
 
 I drew a second underline and recorded the time as 0632 beneath the entry already marked 0055 and 2301. The same up-tempo tune that served as the creatures reply to that question twice earlier did n't make any more sense this time around. Oblivious to the deadly response it had nearly provoked from the guards on either side of the door just hours before, it again gyrated its grasping limbs, hind legs and abdomen, holding its pods at roughly my eye level. 
 
 Though we had n't gotten far with the basics - rank structure, protocol for address, the very concepts of sex and gender, etc - much had come from our attempts to determine the source of confusion. Despite their intimidating, armored appearance, organized conflict between members of their species was virtually nonexistent. They understood hierarchy, but seemed to have no permanent ones of their own. 
 
 Their understanding of electromagnetic and acoustic phenomena, far in advance of ours, made them capable of both sophisticated telecommunications and terrifying weapons. Somehow obtaining the unanimous consent of every member of their species to do so, they had annihilated the `` discordant'' races of the galaxy, leaving only those they could `` sing'' with. The ones with the Gift. No arguments, no power struggles. Just... harmony. 
 
 `` The Gift. You know we have it?'' *You believe we have it? Hopefully? * 
 
 It stopped singing. `` This is proof. It came from here. Our listeners isolated your signal. Your King song! You know this.'' 
 
 There it was again. This word seemed too consistent in use to be a translation error, and it was the closest thing we had to common ground on questions of law and order, but I could n't puzzle it out. What place would the concept of royalty have to people without laws or rulers? 
 
 `` Ok, so you sing and, uh, dance with each other? And this is how you decide who's in charge and what to do?'' 
 
 `` Your dance.'' 
 
 `` Right.'' I sighed. `` My dance. You would sing and dance, and occasionally there was discord but you would sing until... convergence.'' 
 
 `` Yes. Just like you.'' Its posture perked up at my statement. `` We seek convergence with you now. We seek harmony. Your dance. Your song. Everyone in harmony!'' 
 
 It picked up where it left off, dance and all, slowing down even more like a tourist enunciating words in his native tongue. There was something almost jovial in the overtones. Familiar, even. Only a second after I realized I was humming along did the lyrics escape my lips. 
 
 *You ai n't nothing but a hound dog... * 
 
 The creature straightened to its full height, shifting its pods around in excitement before speaking. `` Your King song! You know it! We know it! We all sing together now!'' 
 
 `` Are you...?'' 
 
 `` Peaceful like us! Harmony like us! Sing together!'' 
 
 *Oh. Oh no. * `` We don't-'' `` I cut that sentence off and buried my head in my hands, glancing down at my empty mug and the scribbled notes between my elbows. 
 
 *Discord seeking silence. * The phrase circled in my notes quoted our now-overjoyed Elvis impersonator, from when I had tried to illustrate how our government works by playing an audio recording of a congressional debate. Before it had demanded that I `` silence'' the recording permanently. Before I had known that they had done the same to so many others. 
 
 It paused again, resuming the song only when I began to nervously hum along, head still in my hands. I do n't know the other lyrics.
