“Do you know what people said back then?”

“What?”

“They said humans would not survive.”

“Really? Why did they say that?”

“I don’t know. It’s hard to imagine being alive back then. Problems must have seemed insurmountable to them. I suppose they saw their end around every corner, with each new sign of trouble, with each new difficulty.”

“Why?”

“In those times, son, people were not as you and me. Do you see the planets below us, the stars?”

“Yes.”

“People had different bodies back then. You know we come from planets, but it’s a little more complicated than that. Back in those days people were born from the ground. They gave birth organically and their bodies were weak and frail, very similar to the living things you see traversing the greenlands of Earth.

They had to worry about energy, most never had enough and lived their lives undernourished, struggling for a smile on their face, working hard for a smile of their children. They had to fend off hazards that happened so often and were so great for them, that it would be as if our galaxy suddenly decided to implode. Their bodies were that different. Each time the clouds rained down, each time the worlds shivered, each time the winds ran across the grounds, they fought and everytime some died, it was a part of life.

As time passed and humans expanded, so did their problems. The end was prophecized many times. Everyone had an end, so why not the entirety of humanity? It was their reality, and it looked like it was their destiny, but humans were different from other animals. They had the capacity, the courage to imagine futures where the end did not come. Futures where the end was staved off and the people of their worlds lived forever, danced together, and smiled and laughed for eternity.”

“Did they make it?”

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, what do we do every cycle?”

“We dance.”

“What do we do when we dance?”

“We smile, and we laugh!”

“When will we end?”

“Never!”