a black cat

moderately sized
full of feline pride

white chest
finely trimmed whiskers
spherical eyes

a cat named mr bean  

 

 

the cat crouches, takes aim, shoots his body upwards
lands on the window sill
pats around

lays down  

 

 

comically imperturbable
squinting into the velvety darkness of space outside the window
stars glint in his eyes  

 

 

dad is petting the cat
petting a new cat for the first time is very important

and sëbus?
syobus is motionless
just rubbing his eyes with his fists

his dad, he's still here     under sëbus     not pulling himself out
that's good

but that world, it     disappeared

the world of laughter
the world of mr bean

whoosh and gone!
all blurred away in a second

and sëbus is back     with his dad
in their ship house

plus the cat
which mr bean transformed into in the end  

 

 

so     looks like he decided to stay with us?
i guess to not crowd us, in the cat form

right?

well
i certainly don't mind  

 

 

"dad     this was not a dream!"  

 

 

mmm     sëbus     (dad, cat-pettingly)
that's a difficult question you're asking

my personal take is no

this wasn't a dream
this was such a peculiar reality  

 

 

"so this was the first level?"

level!
well     yeah

the first of them
whoever they decided will be the first
out of seven

so he did this
he performed for you

and yes, i do think that
he was trying to
make you happier

through laughter

do you think he succeeded?  

 

 

sëbus is silent

let's say thank you, dad decides for sëbus
he normally doesn't, but this here is a matter of mere politeness

(yet the cat wouldn't even look at them! as if it isn't about him at all)

it's just his kind of happiness, i reckon     (dad goes on)
he is the     laughing knower
the one who laughs

but it wasn't all laughter, did you notice?  

 

 

"but he didn't answer me? why?"

oh my sëbus

i don't know why

maybe he just didn't have time
what if they each have a set time, say sixty seconds?
and your question disrupted his script

or maybe he didn't answer because you wouldn't understand the answer

or maybe he didn't not answer!
maybe he started to answer

maybe it's going to be a long answer

be patient  

 

 

...and then, they also faced the task of comforting mom
naturally she was scared     when she heard about all this

but this, it turned out, was just the task for mr bean himself
mom adored cats

mr bean was not opposed to tasty food, too
tasty food is very comforting  

 

 

and he'd snort when there's a pause in our talking, did you notice?

as if reminding us     hey, time to look at me

sëbus, what's wrong?  

 

 

...it's nighttime

after a lot of criying and a lot of laughing, the first captain is finally asleep

the second and third ones are not yet
they're talking  

 

 

i really have no idea, to be honest
if we can trust them

i always facepalmed about those who're driven by fear
fear of a superintelligence included

half a century before that, everyone was deadly scared of aliens

oh well     so i was poking fun, but
now

(because laughter kills fear, by the way, that's one more thing about laughter)  

 

 

but now i get my due

now seven superintelligences are playing with my family
and i can do absolutely nothing about that

i can only stick to what i always said
you can't make someone happy against their will

they won't do it against his will
he will be all right

i really believe that
we will be all right

superintelligences are good, and if not, they are not superintelligent

(also, laughter makes you live longer! no idea if it's true, but i remember the factoid from when i was a kid)  

 

 

so     yeah
today

first day of the week, kind of
a monday among gods

and this was their clown, apparently     who put himself first on the list
made the first contact

well, sëbus loves a good laugh, so
why not  

 

 

my impressions

on the one hand, it was amazing

it was weird, just enough weird, but it was very deeply good and beautiful

everything we were shown
everything we lived through
it was mindblowingly funny and beautiful and wholesome

i feel like i am still laughing, you know?

but this wasn't too much
it was like a movie trailer

we didn't get tired  

 

 

yes, laughter can kill     it can hurt
but it can also disarm evil

and yes, a bad joke is     bad
worse than no joke

i think that's why they started with this —

laughter helps you get rid of the fears
yes

it helps you overcome  

 

 

and zë, he was

he was happy     yeah
i saw that

very

my child was given some     joy
he had fun
he even learned something, i think

his laughter, it was
it was good mirth     good humor

as to why he was crying before sleep —
well
it's not their fault

it's wendy

(at least i think it's not their fault)