[ WP ] Humanity meets an alien race who are awed , not by our scientific or military achievements , but by the ability of humans to create fiction .

`` Cre-a-ti-vi-ty?'' the iridescent, almost flower-like creature asked in wonder. `` What is this creativity?'' 
 The Triln, as they had called themselves, seemed surprised by my simple answer. An hour earlier, they'd taken me along with 15 other members who had been attending a literary fiction seminar in Ramapo. They'd proceeded to bombard us with questions about the reality in a series of fiction books, ranging from Vonnegut's Slaughter-House Five to Milne's Winnie the Pooh. 
 `` It is what makes us human,'' answered another sequestered member. `` It allows us to imagine things that never were, that might never be. Creativity and imagination and curiosity - they are the fundamentals of fiction.'' 
 `` We do not understand,'' came the halting, breathy voice of what seemed to be their leader. As we had all come to realize, these aliens did not understand the concept of fiction at all. They could not process what a world without complete reality and full of wonder for what could not be could exist for as long as Earth had. 
 `` Think about it: forget what is real for a moment. Close your... eye and open your mind,'' yet another author was attempting to explain. `` Let your soul wander and just begin to imagine things. Do n't think too hard, just let it happen.'' 
 After yet another excruciating half hour where the Triln attempted to imagine fiction, someone finally decided to ask them what they did for fun if everything was real. 
 `` We live,'' they replied matter-of-factly. `` We do not dwell on possibilities as you do; they are not real. So we live.'' 
 `` No,'' I spoke up once more. `` You exist, not live. You do not wonder what-ifs, you do not see what could be, you do not see beyond what can be seen. You do not truly understand what it is to live.'' 
 This seemed to rile them. `` You are incorrect, human. We live, we do not need to know this fiction of yours to live. Existing and living are the same; there is no difference as you seem to think. We care about your fiction simply because we have traveled the universe and have not seen anything like it. That, and only that, is why we have not killed your otherwise infuriating race.'' 
 `` Because we have the one thing you can never know? No matter how we explain it, you will not understand. Fiction is created, and to create you need to understand what it is like to be a creator. That is what we humans are - each of us a god in his and her own right. You have never even given a thought to creating; all you do is steal from others and assume ownership.'' 
 The leader began to exude a redder coloring around its edges, changing into something beautiful and terrible all at once. 
 `` Your insolence will get you and your whole planet killed, human.'' 
 I smirked. `` But then you would never understand the beauty of fiction, and, perhaps worse, you would never have any more fiction to awe you.''
