Hana

My Dear Izhiun-

As my oldest child I must experiment on you, we must together explore if it is too early for you to understand what your grandfather wanted you to know. I've explained all of this to you, but I'm now giving this to you in writing so that there can be no misunderstanding.

The information content of this "experiment" is in two parts. The first part was given to Boswei by Parthney on the last day I ever saw your grandfather. He was intent on continuing his search for his beloved Kach and only popped in for the briefest of visits. Parthney feared that Kach and her search for the gods would be forgotten.

Parthney's story will reach you by means of Nereid nanite technology, but we may think of that story as The secrets of Luk'ru. I ask you to be patient and take the needed time to digest that flood of information. When you have done so, you will know where to find a second, longer written message from me.

In that second part of my writings you will find my personal comments, an account of my thoughts that were provoked by Parthney's story. There were some ideas that Parthney had about me that my vanity would not let stand without correction and comment.

You are still very young and in many ways I have sheltered you from the facts revealed by Parthney. Don't rush to judgment: take some time to think about Parthney's story. You might wonder why this reaches you by way of me and not your father. Boswei has no patience with the great search for answers that at one time was my shared obsession with Kach. He resents the fact that Kach could not let go of that obsession and that she is now lost to us all.

Above all, Boswei fears that one of his own children might become infected with the burning desire to follow Kach's path and search for the truth about the Creators. It is certain that They do not want to reveal Themselves to us. It is up to each of us to live the life that we have...and the surest way to spoil a good life is to seek that which you cannot attain.

When you have questions about Parthney's story, come to me; Boswei will not want to encourage you in any way with this stirring up of Parthney's pot. I suspect that Boswei would have destroyed Parthney's story, had he the means, even though Parthney made Boswei promise to pass this on to your generation. I give this to you now because your father would be content to fulfill his promise when he is on his death bed and you are yourself an old man.

-Your Loving Mother, Hana
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Exode is copyright John Schmidt, but the text of the story is  licensed for sharing under the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) license. 

Izhiun

I've learned how interested Earthlings are in their origins, so here it is: the story of how you were created.

Most of what follows (I've come to think of this story as Exode) was given to me by my mother. Searching back through my earliest memories and on until the day I last saw Hana, I can now appreciate that, having been born on Earth, she was always thinking about Earthlings and how little they know about their origins. However, I suspect that she accepted the fact of that ignorance without question and never anticipated that her own son would have an opportunity pass on to the people of Earth the story of their creation.

The vast majority of Exode is the story of my grandfather, Parthney. As a trained Interventionist and tool of the Fru'wu, he probably could not even contemplate the possibility of what I have done: indiscriminately sharing with Earthlings his knowledge of the humans (and near-human Sedronites) who live on other worlds. On those occasions when Parthney was living on Earth and he allowed an Earthling to learn part of the hidden story of humanity, those Earthlings were not allowed to share what they had learned with other Earthlings. I am not under the same restrictions...conditions on Earth have changed following first contact with the Buld, transient as that contact has so far been. A great force is now pushing you Earthlings out into the universe, pushing you towards realization of your hidden history.

When I was young, I only really knew my own home world. My parents' tales of Earth and Hemmal seemed remote as fiction. Hana often spoke of Earth and Boswei, my father, told me about growing up on Hemmal. Below, I've appended the story of how I struggled against my own ignorance and made my way to Earth. Earth still seems like a fiction, truly a world out of time, and I have no interest in staying here.

Mechanics. Hana asked me to search Earth for her husband. I was successful in that task and it became convenient to make use of Hana's husband to create a written account of the story that Parthney passed on to his grandchildren. When you read Exode you will learn why this was necessary. I had Hana and Boswei at hand and available to respond to questions about Parthney's story. I heavily relied on my parents (well, Hana) while learning my grandfather's story and without their help I would have been unable to make sense of the strange worlds he had experienced. I've helped Hana's husband (A.K.A. "the Editor") compile an Exode Glossary that will have to serve as an aid for Earthlings when they read Exode. In the short time available to me, that is the best I could do.

I fear that Earthlings will have little chance to view what follows as anything but fiction. I'm reminded of what Wittgenstein once wrote and it seems to match my sentiments, so I'll let him speak for me: "It is not impossible that this will bring light into one brain or another, but, of course, it is not likely."

-Izhiun

Editor's note:  I've passed along this message (above) from Izhiun in the exact form it had after he composed it. As far as I can tell, Izhiun is no longer on Earth. While he was here on this planet, I only got one transient glimpse of him, so we never had a chance to talk face-to-face. Were he still here among us, I would try to convince him to change his thinking about "Hana's husband". I can understand why Hana might have chosen to describe me to Izhiun as her husband. However, the truth is more interesting than what can be conveyed by the convenient label "husband". More on that, later.

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Exode is copyright John Schmidt, but the text of the story is  licensed for sharing under the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) license.