The Cruelest Lies are Told in Silence

The Cruelest Lies are Told in Silence

Two hundred fifty six images of the left world swam by on the left. Two hundred fifty-six images of the right world glided by on the right. Ellie integrated all 512 images into a wraparound view of her surroundings.

She was deep in a forest of great waving blades, some green, some etiolated, almost all larger than she. But she had no difficulty clambering up and over, occasionally balancing precariously on a bent blade, falling to the gentle cushion of horizontal blades below, and then continuing unerringly on her journeys.

She could tell she was centered on the trail and it was tantalizingly fresh.“What worries me the most”, she continued, “is the opposite, the possibility that they’re not trying. They could communicate with us, all right, but they’re not doing it because they don’t see any point to it. It’s like the ants. They occupy the same landscape that we do, but they have plenty to do, things to occupy themselves. On some level they are very well aware of their environment. But we don’t try to communicate with them, so I don’t think they have the foggiest notion that we exist.

A large ant, more enterprising than her fellows, had ventured onto the tablecloth and was briskly marching along the diagonal of one of the red and white squares. Suppressing a small twinge of revulsion, Ellie gingerly flicked it back onto the grass – where it belonged.

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter and the cruelest lies are often told in silence (Quotations from M. Jorgensen). Image: © Megan Jorgensen (Elena)