[MV/HCC] The Super Wizard From Space #11

[Wil Alambre]

I am Theodor. I am a rainbow blue fish. I lived on a planet far away. 
Then I died. But that is was not the end. That was the beginning. I 
became a ghost. I became part of the infinite school. Thanks to wise Rex.

This is the story of Rex.

He is big fish. A big shark. Many sizes big. From a far away blue 
planet. Everything was big there. Big fish, big plants, big seas, big 
terrible lizards. Everything had lots of teeth. Everything big ate lots 
of other bigs things. It was a good place.

In the blue seas, there were big sharks. Giant monster sharks. They were 
the biggest things in the sea. They had the most teeth in the sea. They 
were the best hunters. Nothing ate them. They didn't have to worry about 
hiding from predators. They didn't have to worry where to find food 
every day. Life was good for them. Bloody and full and lazy.

Soon, they learned. Because they had no predators. They could spend time 
to think. Slow at first. Millions and millions of years. They learned. 
And taught their young. Soon they were big and they were smart. They 
were the only smart things on the planet of many big stupid things.

They made a language. Not with words, like you use. A good language. 
Using their thinking. And their feelings. And after that they made a 
science. Not with math, like you use. A good science. With their 
thinking. And their feelings.

They learned about their planet. They learned about the lands outside 
the seas and the big stupid lizards that lived out of the water. They 
learned of the sky up above and around everything. They learned of the 
sun and the stars. They learned of other planets and the black 
nothingness that was everywhere between them. An infinite  ocean. They 
didn't learn with machines or ships, like you use. A good learning. 
Using their thinking. And their feelings.

It was good. For millions of years. Hundreds of millions of years.

But one shark looked and saw something different. A rock. A big rock. In 
the infinite ocean. Riding a current of gravity. Right to their blue 
planet. Everything was going to die. All the smart things and all the 
dumb things and all the big things.

He tried to warn the other sharks. They didn't listen. Sharks can be 
stubborn that way. Sharks can be single-minded. They didn't listen.

This made the one shark very sad. He couldn't save everyone. No one 
listened. There was no time. But he could save one. He could save his 
new baby son. His son Rex.

He didn't save him with a spaceship, like you would use. He saved him 
with thinking. And with feelings. He used the best of all learning teach 
Rex. To free Rex. Free the baby's mind. From his body. From his flesh. 
 From being solid. From being alive.

When the rock came to the blue planet, it hit hard. Big explosion. Lots 
of fire. Lots of clouds. Lots of dust. Lots of hot. Lots of cold. All 
the blue parts died. All the green parts died. All the big things died. 
All the stupid lizards died. All the sharks died.

Rex died too. But Rex was free from being alive. So Rex survived. Rex 
was a ghost now. A ghost shark. He was sad that everything was dead on 
his blue planet. So he rocketed away. He left.

Rex swam the infinite ocean a long, long time. He was very lonely. So he 
decided to make friends.

He found other planets. Far away planets. Big ones and round ones and 
blue ones and green ones. And he found gases on them and seas on them 
and fish in them. And he protected them from predators and greedy 
things. And he taught the fish there.

Taught them with his thinking. And his feelings. Taught them to be 
careful. Then, if some were really really careful, he taught them to be 
smart. Then, if some were really really smart, he taught them to be free.

He was a good protector. He was a good teacher. And he had a very good 
school. A very big school. He had lots and lots students. Ghost 
students. Free students. Free from bodies and flesh. So many that no one 
could count them all. Even with your numbers.

He was also a good talker. Because he was very smart and very old. He 
talked not with words, like you do. He talked with thinking. And with 
feelings. All the other great alien races in the universe feared the 
giant ghost shark. But they also like him. Because he was a good talker. 
And a good teacher.

Then the magic hats were found.

Seven magic hats. They were very special. Too special. Everyone was 
worried about them. Everyone wanted to keep them all for themselves. 
They were afraid everyone else would use the magic hats for bad things. 
Terrible things. Breaking things that shouldn't be broken.

So the alien races asked Rex. They asked because he was old and he was 
smart and he was a good talker. Rex thought about the problem. He 
thought very very hard.

He decided they should share the hats. One hat each. To the seven 
biggest, strongest races in the universe. That way it was spread around. 
The strong stayed strong. But no one got too strong. That's how a shark 
thinks.

This was a very good idea. The other races agreed. And because Rex was a 
good talker and very strong, they gave him one of the magic hats. They 
gave him the laurel wreath.

So everything was good again. For a long time. Rex had his magic hat. 
Rex had his infinite school. Rex had his infinite ocean. Life was good 
for him. Bloody and full and lazy.

But then Rex stopped teaching.

And then he stopped talking.

And then he stopped thinking.

I think it was the hat. It was very special. Too special. I think it 
made Rex sick in the brain. I don't know for sure. We can't ask. He 
can't say. He's not so smart anymore. He's more like an animal. A 
terrible animal. A hungry animal. He doesn't protect fish anymore. He 
doesn't teach fish how to be free anymore. He just eats them instead.

That's what happened to me. Not the being-eaten part. The not-protecting 
part. The bees came. Came and stabbed us and changed us. We were not 
fish anymore. We were bees like them. We were slaves of our flesh 
before. Now we were slaves of our minds as well.

Only when I died were was I free again. My body burned away by stellar 
fusion. I died. But I was free from being alive. So I survived. I was a 
ghost now. A ghost fish.

I hurried away. I found the infinite school. I told them about the bees. 
They didn't care about the slave fish. They were ghosts. They were free 
from flesh. The bees couldn't hurt them anymore. They didn't care.

I hurried away again. I found Rex. I told him about the bees. He didn't 
care about the slave fish. He didn't protect anymore. He didn't teach 
anymore. He didn't think anymore. He didn't have feelings anymore.

So I told Rex that the bees were stealing his food. That got Rex made. 
That made him follow me here. To this planet. To you.

He didn't come to help you. He didn't come to help me. He came to eat. 
He came to kill.

Sharks can be stubborn that way. Sharks can be single-minded.

So now I need your help, Super Wizard From Space. I need you to help me. 
And the infinite school. And Rex. Mighty Rex. Terrible Rex. Who used to 
be great before his magic hat and now is just a big, stupid thing.

I want you to challenge him in the cosmic tournament. I want you to take 
his magic hat away. And if that doesn't make Rex better, I want you to 
kill him.

I want you to free him.

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AUTHOR'S NOTES:

This is my entry into RACC's twentieth high-concept challenge, "Behind 
Blue Eyes". This issue was one of the easiest to write, the translation 
from idea to written word coming across smoother than any other issue to 
date. it was also one of the most fun to write. :)

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Wil Alambre, follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/wilalambre