The idea that lived -- and was contagious!

[alicemacher]

An Alan Moore "Tharg's Future Shocks" story.


From "Eureka!", 2000 AD prog 325 (16 July 1983). Art by Mike White. 1.3 of 5 pages.



A spaceship crew of sixteen people has spent three years looking for alien life, with no success. Then one day, crew member Marty Kessler points out to the narrator, his shipmate Phil, that the problem is, they don't know what exactly to look for. Marty suggests that an alien needn't be an animal. It could be a sapient gas or crystal formation; it could even be an idea. Several crew members debate this notion and ultimately dismiss it. But six months later, Marty announces to everyone he's made first contact.







Everyone, figuring Marty's gone insane, walks away from him. Except for Elaine Kennedy, who stays to listen, out of compassion. And sure enough...








Before long, Phil realizes he's the only one on the ship who hasn't been infected with the idea. How does he know? He's the only one who isn't grinning. But one night, Bill Morse says to him, "If all time is simultaneous and all events happen in..."







I've tried to imagine what comes after "then time is but a figment of mind, and--." The best I could come up with was something like "free will is an illusion. Therefore, nothing we do has any meaning." But that last statement doesn't necessarily follow from the previous ones. And even if one accepted and internalized it, I think the result would be more along the lines of curling up and brooding in despair, possibly ending in simple resignation and acceptance and going on with life. As opposed to a manic, euphoric urge to spread the idea around.

What do you think?