Uh and Bu

"What a strange place," was one of many thoughts that Duh had as he walked along a sandy beach. The thought kept coming back as he and his parents and friends walked on green grass, desert sand, rocks, and ice or flew over fire and water. There was nothing like this where they came from. During their exploration of this strange blue green planet, they had seen creatures that could walk, sometimes on four legs and sometimes on two. Some could creep while others could fly or swim. The creatures went about doing what they were used to doing, oblivious of the attention that they were getting from their silent, invisible visitors. These visitors were master adapters, able to live on any element or a combination of them, in any state, anywhere in the universe. They were explorers travelling far and wide who would return home to share the universe's many mysteries with their people. Among the mysteries of this blue green planet, what seemed to fascinate them the most, was the interplay of light, shadow, and darkness. This interplay was not just a physical phenomenon, it was something that they could see inside each of the creatures that they observed.

Duh had turned 200 teos old, which is about one day on earth, just before the start of the expedition. He and other children were encouraged to travel with their parents as part of expedition teams that visited different galaxies. They asked the most curious questions. There were several of them travelling at that moment, discovering something new, somewhere new. On the flight, Duh had been seated next to his parents who were 2,000 teos old. That seems old but they're quite young when compared to the eldest on their planet! Duh's parents were exactly the same age as they were not two people but one. Duh looked forward to when he would turn a 1,000 teos as then he could transform into a 'she' alongside the 'he'. They could choose to stay dual all the time or switch between one and the other. It was their choice ultimately.

The expedition had been a success given the wealth of knowledge that they had acquired and were yet to acquire. While exploring they had been selecting places, objects and creatures to observe for a long time to come. They did not collect anything. Instead, they placed what we would call drone/ surveillance cameras, which were very, very tiny and invisible. These cameras would help them observe the place, object or creature without disturbing them. Duh had chosen to observe what we call a caterpillar. He had been fascinated by the creature's colourful appearance. The way it chewed it's food, slowly yet steadily. The way it moved and the way the bristles on its back moved, or rather seemed to move. And the light. The caterpillar glowed from within. The glow was brightest when the caterpillar moved about and was dim while asleep. By the time the crew were ready to go home, Duh had named his caterpillar 'Uh' and had collected leaves for it which were now lying in a pile near it. He was tempted to take Uh with him but his parents told him why that would be a bad idea. Uh wouldn't survive the journey or their home. It belonged here, it wasn't ready to leave. Duh promised Uh that he would watch it grow and would record his observations so well that everyone would be able to feel Uh, and not just see it or read about it. He then climbed into the spacecraft and held his parents hand as they headed back home.

Observing Uh grow became part of Duh's routine. He kept his promise about making his people feel Uh by making a life-like model of it. One that could creep and chew pretend leaves. One that could glow. "But not as bright as you Uh," he thought. When he was not showing the model to friends and family, Duh kept it in his room. He tried to enact Uh's movements using the model. If Uh was asleep, the model was asleep. Duh would look at Uh's live image as well as the model before going to bed. And thus went by many, many teos till Duh saw Uh do something very strange. Uh was creeping about a lot less. Instead it hung upside down from a branch and started covering itself with something that came out of its own body! Very soon Duh couldn't see much of Uh at all! He tried to dress up the model Uh with this strange covering and showed it to his children first. And then to their grandparents. And then to everyone else. They had all grown up along with Uh, only a little bit faster. Duh had been on several expeditions by now and had made life-like models of other creatures that he/she had been observing. But the glowing caterpillar had remained a favourite. And now it had started doing something rather unexpected. Uh's body was completely covered, not a trace of it was visible. A couple of teos went by and gradually the covering around Uh became transparent. "Where are you?!" cried Duh. Something else was inside there, and it didn't look like Uh at all! It looked very yellow. Uh had been orange and black. This stranger also seemed to have another covering on the inside. And it looked very uncomfortable! Duh was upset that he couldn't see Uh anymore but was compelled to make new models. Ones that showcased this stranger. A couple more teos went by and then the stranger, not so strange now and called Bu, started pushing its way out of the covering. The head came out, then a leg, and then the inner covering started to unravel. Duh and his/her family watched in disbelief as Bu emerged and spread out what looked like the most beautiful yellow cover with a few black spots. Bu flexed the yellow covering to reveal it was not one but four small layers joined to a thin black body. A body that was glowing from within. And then Bu gently flapped those layers and lifted off from the branch. Bu could fly. Left on the branch were the remains of the covering that had once held Uh as well as Bu. "Maybe Bu is Uh. My friend, you're still there!" thought Duh. And for many teos thereafter Duh watched Uh and Bu explore bright flowers and wide open meadows.