The Kartanas

Kartanas were the first gaseous beings humans had come in contact with. It happened when a scientist named George accidentally choked to death when stepped into a wormhole. It was nothing like what he had envisaged during his study. Wormholes were instant. One, just transferred from one environment to another. The experience was rather of the environment changing instantly. 

Ree-mua-s noticed this phenomenon, and quickly realised that this carbon based being could quickly go insane. While Ree-mua-s could not provide the atmosphere, he/she could preserve George's sanity. It would mean exchange of memories, and instant knowledge of each other's worlds. However, exposure was not remotely considered a risk compared to the threat to a sentient beings life. The Karnatas did not know gender as human beings did. They were gaseous beings. Their consciousness was advanced to an extent that they could manoeuvre their body into a boundary and give it a pseudo form or exist in a dispersed form. Some Kartanas even existed in different parts of the planet. Their communication could happen through contact of their molecules and atoms or what humans knew as telepathy, which was non local. Each molecule that belonged to a kartana had a unique electro-magnetic signature which identified one Kartana from another. Their technology was also gaseous. They leveraged their ability to organise matter in ways that served their needs. The planet had two kinds of matter. Matter with consciousness and matter without consciousness, thus distinguishing living from the non living. However, both existed in the planet's cyclical system. Life span of a Kartana was unknown as they did not perceive time as humans, yet they did keep track of cycles that were aligned to the planet's position in space in absolute and relative to other celestial objects. They did not feel the need to categorise and compartmentalise. Their instant and absolute language so far had no need to evolve, and had proved superior to many beings that they had come across.

Ree-mua-s was called that, because his identity - the molecular eletro-magnetic signature resonated with those sounds familiar to the human. Ree-mua-s could not translate its gender or a respectable addressal of its existence to the human as such identifiers did not exist in the human’s language. 

Ree-mua-s ordered/requested for the atmosphere to be synthesised for the human George. Ordering and requesting was the same thing. Ree-mua-ss could not fathom the difference humans made off it.

***

George could not come to terms with what was happening with him. His emotions of panic and anxiety contradicted the clarity in his mind. He could not help but calm down. His body, almost of its own violation, went into a self preservation mode, making the best use of the single breath of oxygen from his planet, 

Ree-mua-s busied itself re-organizing himself/herself into a bubble. The human circulatory system and metabolism was simple enough for Ree-mau-ss to re-configure to assimilate unknown gases in a way that it would not be toxic for the human. The human would not remain the same genetically when he went back to his planet, but there was little Ree-mua-s could do about it. 

The science team arrived and helped create a bubble, and sync communication with the human. The human was surprisingly quick to catch on. His panic and anxiety was slowly replaced by excitement. While the Katranas got the chemistry of emotions, they found it challenging to calibrate to the experience of it. Katranas, did not experience thoughts, emotions, etc, separately. It was seamless. To see this difference in a human took them a nano second more to calibrate. Ree-mua-ss could not do it alone. Communication became clearer between the human and the Katranas the moment the calibration commenced. 

****

George could suddenly understand everything. It was not like a conversation he was familiar with. It was a conversation nonetheless, with beings that existed in a form that he could never have imagined. His emerging thoughts, feelings, images, were responded to in his understanding with corresponding information. A form of two and fro communication was established. He found it strange that he did not take long to learn a completely new language. 

“We are Kartanas. Our planet Katron was formed because of the spinning forces that brought the particles together. A strange phenomena of consciousness evolving with the momentum kept matter from liquifying and solidifying. The interaction between the celestial, planet, and the conscious forces collaborated quickly. The interdependence was obvious. For if one was harmed the other would suffer. Much more than a sense of interdependence, there was a sense of oneness from the beginning.While each consciousness had its individual pursuit, because of the amorphous nature, it could be very quickly accessible to every lifeform on the planet.”

Ree-mua-ss created a human-like form that the human George could target his communication to. George or Ge- oooorrr - rge translated into Kratonics was a ticklish electromagnetic pulse through Ree-mua-ss that made it glow. When George communicated with Ree-mua-ss his chemistry was different. And when Ree-mua-ss asked, George said that he had started to think of Ree-mua-ss as a friend. This was strange to the Kartanas. How was it possible to have a different association with one consciousness? The closest Kartanas could assimilate this was resonance. Some Kartanas resonated better with some than others. When a pinnacle of harmonics was reached a new consciousness was created. George called it marriage, sex and birth of a new human. He did not know much about consciousness, but talked more about being alive. On planet Earth different harmonics known are relationships were called by different names. 

“Kartanas came to be within 1000 earth years of formation of the planet. Since then the planet's evolution and Kartanas have been symbiotic. Our civilization is atleast 100 billion years old if calculated in time the way it is experienced on Earth”

“Is this Jupiter?” asked George

“No. Space-time work hand in hand as you know. Also time is cyclical, which means that your future can be our past and our past can be your future. There are also materials and matter that behave differently at the quantum level. Our physics is simply different from yours, which is why gaseous planets and lifeforms are even possible. We can always discuss the science. We can tell you have many questions.”

George was moving as he learned more about Kartana’s and they learnt about humans. They had created a portal to connect to consciousness in the universe as they were feeling lonely. As they were gaseous entities, most aliens would assumed that there was no life. Some were aggressive, some tried to exploit, some became friends, some were frightened when the Kartanas attempted to make themselves known. After a while, all of this became tedious, and the Kartanas wanted a more sophisticated way to build connections with other life forms. 

The portal George came through was an experiment that had gone wrong. It was created to establish a telepathic connection, but for the Kartana’s telepathy and teleportation was mixed up. On meeting a human, they realised that the nature of the lifeform made it different. 

If they were so evolved, why was there such confusion? “You must have come across life forms before. You are talking as if you have not.”

No response came. 

Ree-mua-ss’s shape dissolved and another appeared. 

Waa-iii-klayp was from the science team. “We are rather stunned at your intelligence, and now your species could pose a threat to us. We see that our technology can be exploited and why so many aliens refrain from letting it be known. Your nature is too volatile, and the state of your dying planet is testament.”

***

Just as George had “visited” Katron, he was back on Earth. He realised that they were travelling differently in time. The earth's past was Katron's future. This was their first contact. He could remember the time spent with them. He searched through history for the mention of their existence. Each era referred to them differently. However, The kartanas knew that the first contact in the collectively entwined timeline would consolidate a true understanding of their interactions. 

George remembered all his black outs and what he was doing during them. They were memories of the future consolidated in the past. What he could not fathom to articulate, he had made notes off. His family had been devoted to hold secrets of the universe and the vast knowledge that existed. His ancestors were responsible for some of the technology transfers and leaps of evolution in human organisation in the past. His altered genetic code, was his legacy, passed on to generations that were.

***

George's new life had begun, as for the direction of time he lived in … was is, and forever will be beyond the comprehension of the human mind. 

George visited the Kartanas many times. He preferred teleportation to telepathy. It kept coherence in his limited human mind. George could will a portal and that would create a pulse on Katron. When the Kartanas responded, the harmonics transported him. The modulation was automated for his visit. His will initiated a change reaction on the planet to create a conducive environment where he could breathe. His anatomy had also adapted and accimitized. More he visited, the less time he needed. His last visit to Katron (or his first) as a boy, involved instant adaptation. If he had not gone back, the acclimatisation quickly turned into assimilation. Ree-mua-ss was there, and it severed all links with the human. Only his parent would be able to visit next. George's life was lonely as a child, for a world of beings that were a significant part of his life were no longer in it. What was linear on earth was spontaneous on Kartana, and what took “time” on Kartana, could be linear or spontaneous on earth. Every visitation changed something on Earth as well. 

The knowledge of Karnatas was never told, for it was not meant to be spoken. If it were, it would always be hidden in a story, fiction or a legend, for human beings were yet to realise their true potential. It was never about a single human, but about the race as a whole. Partial truths were relieved from time to time to nudge an innovation, or motivate a human being to bring out something of their nature. The Kartanas were not involved in any big revolution or movements, instead they operated in common place where forgetting was easy. No life was life meaningless, and no life meant more than the others. 

Once an ancestor of George, Sir. Colin, who was the only non obscure visitor of Katron, asked them why the Kartanas concerned themselves with humanity. The Kartanas said that a pinnacle of a race can be reached in many ways. Once a living race in the universe is reached its potential its growth comes from interacting with beings that are beyond its existential reality. Trying to understand and know something that is incomprehensible is its new level of growth. Such was Kartana’s Journey. Its accidental interaction with humanity led to its own evolution. Astronomy had been discovered on Earth, and Sir Colin was curious to know where in the universe Katron was located. He was shown the skies and he was told that it would never be discovered by humanity, for some dimensions would remain hidden from some beings. Some materials and operative mechanisms were not part of the human realm. They never will be. 

As time passed and humans became more ancient and Kartana’s evolved more, they became proficient at linear human communication. Fifth generation ancestor also known as George, who was a miner, was contacted in a much familiar environment. It took him 2-3 visits to realise and another 4-5 visits to accept his relationship with the alien race.Knowing about Kartana’s past also meant that George’s family were privy to their future. While Karatana’s knew it like their yesterday, they became better at filtering communication with humans. They refined their skills as they communicated with as crude and young a species as humans, from a dimension not their own. The Kartana’s had become so good at their constructions, that George never found out about their true amorphous form. From Greorge onwards images projected and experienced by humans was palpable to humans. 

When George was young they simulated an alien landing and greeting on Earth. After that time they stuck to it. There was always a scripted introduction, with time given to human to acclimatise psychologically. George's ancestors never knew that they had visited Katron. They always believed they were on Earth. The genetic transmutation came easy with no discomfort whatsoever. Each ancestor felt deeply about their connection with the Kartanas. The resonance and harmonics became as much a part of the human lineage as it was a part of Katron. 

***

Katron hosted many life forms in their universe. It was the thousandth event when they discovered a new planet. It spoke of a race that spoke a strange language through its mouth and sound. Ree-mua-ss could not help wonder. The visitor from the planet was a new member. The planet had been ravaged by nuclear blasts, because humans waged wars. Their genetics transmuted for the worst and the planet had almost died. Humanity took a strong decision to lay down principles of human conduct. Its new policy and stand refined human life to be included in the grandioseness of the universe's existing secrets, of many races. The scientist could clearly see that Earth was no longer the earth it was. However, with the disaster came the discovery of unknown substances and new types of planets, phenomena and life. 

Sander looked like George. Ree-mua-ss could now take a human-like form, and learnt to produce sound for linear dialogue. It was troublesome, but it was curious how humans were accomplished with so many limitations. For Ree-mua-ss it was a day of celebration as he greeted the first Earthing, a descendant of his friend who travelled in a spaceship to Katron.