All Souls' Day

"We have studied you for aeons now," the alien said (through the translator). "We have watched you from a distance, of course, so as not to make you uncomfortable." "Why didn't you interfere?" the representative asked, a little shocked and irritated. "You let us wage war; you let us die of plagues in droves; you let us make mistakes that would destroy our planet!" "Yes," the alien said smiling. "You are a wonderful species - so passionate and driven, so resourceful and hungry for change." "We have been systematically eradicating ourselves!" the representative hissed (trying to keep it together). "Yes," the alien responded (a bit softer), "and we wish you would stop but, perhaps, at the next place you will take all that you have learned and shine more brightly. The raw talent is there ... in most." "The ... next place?" the representative whispered, drawing back as if startled. "And the next and the next," the alien comforted (smiling again), "in all of the forevers and the worlds without end. This is the journey begun with the simplest of awkward steps, but you shine so. Stars within stars within stars." And there was awe in the voice, which silenced the representative for a long time and brought tears to the surface.