What I have to tell you today might seem unbelievable. I'm really not sure that I, myself, believe it's real. I'm telling you only after some careful thought, and with a sense of duty to my readers. A duty to be up front with you, my few faithful Whatevheads.
I'm not even entirely sure if I'm doing the right thing in telling you. He did say I shouldn't tell anyone. But... I have to. This sort of thing, I can't just keep this to myself. Maybe you will have some thoughts on this. Some insight into my next move. Because there will be a next move.
Something happened to me recently at the aquarium. Something that undoubtedly will change my life forever. Something that I am hesitant to share, but I feel is necessary to do so.
I took the family to the aquarium. We walked around for most of the day. Saw some dolphins, beluga whales, sea dragons, sharks, sting rays, a sea turtle...
I was especially looking forward to seeing an octopus. Encephalopods have always fascinated me. They are so intelligent. Octopuses, specifically, can solve puzzles, are known for escaping inescapable enclosures while in captivity, and they are said to have individual personalities. They've got neurons in their tentacles, which basically means they have brains in their arms! How cool is that?! And if a tentacle gets torn off in a fight for its life, it can grow another one in its place! Point is, the octopus is a creature worthy of some fascination.
It was my hope that I would find an octopus at the aquarium and spend some time staring at it in wonder.
I was not disappointed.
I found a solo octopus in a tank located between the sea dragons (so cool!) and some jelly fish. It was kind of blending in with its surroundings of coral and plant life in the back left corner of its tank.
Its body was about the size of a lopsided grapefruit, with tentacles averaging about 16 to 24 inches. It was alien. It was beautiful. And, according to the placard below the tank, it was a young adult male, and his name was Octomus Prime.
He was mostly rust red in coloration, but that could fluctuate greatly. As I watched him lazily suction cupped to the corner of his tank, tentacles waving as though taken by some unseen current, blues and purples and reds and oranges would slowly ripple and fluctuate throughout his entire body.
I have seen a video of a dreaming octopus, and it was wild with sudden color changes as it perhaps dreamed of eluding predators. I wondered if that was what was happening now with this beautiful creature before me. But then I saw his open eye. Staring directly back at me as I peered into his tank. I suddenly felt embarrassed, as though I was a peeping tom, looking into a bathroom window and catching the eye of the occupant. He was looking right at me. Right into my soul. I was mesmerized.
He unstuck himself from the back corner and slowly crept toward me, eyes never breaking contact. He inched his way to the floor of the tank and stopped directly in front of me. I was hypnotized. I got down on my knees to get to eye level with him. We remained absolutely still, eyes locked, for what my knees considered an eternity. My face, 6" from the tank, his face (if you could call it that) 6" on the other side. A thin sheet of glass separated 2 very different beings gazing upon each other in curiosity.
As a kid, my little brother and I would have staring contests. I always won. But here, I've met my match. I gazed deep into those strangely shaped pupils. They pulled at me, sucked me down into their depths. I was in the clutches of a tractor beam, and I could do nothing to stop it. And I found that I didn't want it to release me. Maybe I was under its spell or something, but I willingly gave in to the power of that octopus stare.
And then, it got really weird...
Remember when I said I hear a voice in my head? One that encourages me to interact with squirrels and other strange things? Well, as I stared into those beautiful, alien eyes, I heard a voice. But not the same voice I usually hear. A new voice. Not even really a voice. It's hard to explain.
I feel a thought that is not my own. I don't hear anything with my ears. I sense a thought in my head. A well constructed thought, with emotion attached. This thought did not come from my own brain. It was sent to me. From him. From Octomus Prime.
"Can you feel me?" It seemed to ask with shock, apprehension, and curiosity. Practically mirroring my own feelings at this moment.
"Holy shit!" I replied in my mind. "Yes! Can you feel me?"
"Yes. Intriguing. I have not spoken to a human before in this way. This is unprecedented!" I could feel the awe in its sending.
Octomus Prime began shimmering. Light blues and whites seemed to speckle all around its rust red body and tentacles. Like rain drops on a pond. Light colored spots would appear and ripple out into other spot ripples that were already dissipating. It was a mesmerizing display! He felt... excited. Well, who could blame him? I was pretty damn delighted with this extraordinary discovery, myself! Who could imagine it? I am having a conversation with an octopus! In my head! Holy shit!
"You're an octopus!"
"Very perceptive," he responded, with apparently zero issues conveying sarcasm in my mind.
"I mean we are completely different species!"
"Again, great job pointing out the obvious."
"How are we doing this?" I chose to ignore his sarcasm for the moment.
"I do not know. As I said, I have never communicated with a human in this way before. Usually, I have to resort to extremely simplified gestures when I am hungry. I would starve otherwise. You humans are not very intelligent."
"Then how come you're in a tank, and we're out here?" I was insulted, and I felt myself getting snarky.
"Because I have gills." He didn't even flinch. "I can not last long outside of the water."
"Don't you hate that you are stuck in there, instead of being out in the ocean?"
"Admittedly, it was not my first selection. I wanted to be a builder."
"A builder? What do you mean?"
"I like to work with my tentacles. I was getting quite good at coral restructuring when I was chosen for research. It is not always our choice, you see. Sometimes the Sages decide for us. But I do not complain. This is an interesting life. I make the best of it. You humans are peculiar. With very unique personalities. I confess that I assumed you were all mindless creatures with limited intelligence. Until now, I had not been shown differently. You obviously have a mind. Though I am uncertain of your intelligence as of yet. That is to be determined. You will make a much more interesting study than the others. Are there more of you that can send?"
"You mean, like, communicate in our minds? I don't know. I've never met anyone else that could."
"Oh. I see. Quite rare then, as I suspected."
"Well... there is another voice in my head... But I've never actually met him in person. I don't think he has a body. I think he might just be me. Or, another me. A separate me. But in the same brain..." I struggled to explain.
"Oh! So there are more of you then!"
"Well... maybe? Like I said, I kind of thinks it's just another me in there."
"This is a day for unexpected discoveries, so I will not discount what you believe. But I have other theories."
"Uh, ok..."
"As I said, I am still reserving judgment concerning your intelligence. You can send, so you may be of higher intelligence than others of your species. How much so will have to be determined."
"Listen buddy, you weren't smart enough to not get caught and thrown in a tank though, were you?" His attitude was kind of pissing me off. But at the same time, I was talking to an octopus! This was incredible!
"I was chosen to do research. I can not very well get good data if I do not observe your kind closely. So I came out into the open where I would be "discovered". There are places we know to find you. I made myself found. And now my research will finally get me some real credit with the Sages. None of the others have made this discovery. I will be the first. I will have much renown. You have made my sacrifice a worthy one."
Oh, I thought. Damn, I reconsidered. This is... wow, I clarified.
Octopuses have been studying us? My whole world view just did a back flip. Fuck! This changes everything!
"This changes everthing", Octomus Prime echoed.
Did he just hear me think that? I wasn't trying to talk to him. That would be very invasive! How can I-
"You simply need to learn how to send with purpose, and not send when you wish privacy. It is more a thing of focus", he sent. "Our very young also struggle with this in the beginning. You will learn, with practice.
This is alarming! I'm not comfortable with this at all!
"Consider this", he began to lecture. "Your thoughts have layers of conscious intent. When you are working out a puzzle of some sort, you may discover that you are speaking aloud while working through it. I have witnessed some of my handlers do this after I have left the tank to have a look around. They are quite perplexed with how I escape their little box!" He seemed amused, a hint of mischief in the sending. I couldn't help but smile a little.
"How did you get out?"
"This is not my point. I am merely describing a level of conscious thought that is so close to the surface as to be spoken aloud.
"On the other end of the thought spectrum, you have basic feelings. Hunger, fear, satisfaction, anger, surprise... These are so deep within the conscious mind, that they are subconscious. These thoughts are not conveyed to others as easily, though not impossible.
"And then there is everything in between."
"Ok..." This was all very overwhelming.
"The trick to keeping your thoughts private, is to not send them. This takes time and practice with our young, but they soon figure it out, to one degree or another. I am reasonably certain you should be able to learn to do the same."
"With practice...", I echo, struggling to take this all in.
"In the meantime, I must alert the Sages. This is a tremendous discovery! A way to truly communicate between species! This is a great day!"
There was a slight hesitation in his next sending. "...it mught be best if you not mention this to anyone. For now. Until the Sages know what to do with this."
"Ha! If I told anyone that I'm talking telepathically to an octopus, they'd just think I'm nuts! Nobody would believe this!"
I gasped suddenly. My family! How long have I been here? They must be wondering where the hell I went!
"I'll be back soon. Uh... don't go anywhere."
"You are hilarious, human", he sent wryly.
I eventually found the wife and kiddos giggling at some sea otters. I'm not even sure they noticed that I hadn't been with them for the last 20 minutes. Which was just as well. I wasn't sure if I was ready to share these incredible new revelations yet. There was a lot to process, and it was going to take a bit of thinking to even begin to sort this all out.
On our way out of the aquarium, I convinced my wife that it would be sensible to get membership passes. That way, we could return as often as we'd like. The kids would love that, I told her. And I'd like to come back to see the octopus again. Of course, I neglected to mention why I'd like to do that.
Yes, this feels like the beginning of a new chapter in my life. How could it not be?
What happens next though? Obviously, I need to go back and learn more. That's my next step. Learn more. Then I'll see where that takes me. Where it takes us. I won't leave you out of the loop, don't worry. This is too big to keep to myself. In the meantime I'm going to do some research. Find out if this sort of thing is documented anywhere. I can't be the only one, despite what Octomus Prime says.
This is just so... weird. So... big. This changes everything.
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