nodusa
Thinking Good thoughts.
Nodusa (noh-doo-sah)
Scort Muggins, Human Year 3251:
I needed to get back on the trail that my father left with his past social media posts. I had to clear my mother’s name and my own. My mother was still depending on me, though I had been gone for over ten years. Nodusa was a more recent post from my father, though it didn’t seem like he spent much time on the planet. I didn’t spend much time on Nodusa either, but that wasn’t by choice.
Fascinatingly, Nodusa’s atmosphere was perfect for transmitting brain waves, so every Nodusa was able to project their thoughts and hear the thoughts of others. Of course, over centuries and millenniums of adapting to constantly sharing and reading each other’s minds, willingly or not, the Nodusans became incredibly adept at controlling their thoughts so as not to offend anyone and turned into the most politely thinking society in the universe.
Figure 15.1 - A Nodusan and its papasan
The average Nodusan had a brain that was four times the size of a human and rested in the middle of their body. Four long tentacles extended from the brain, two on top and two on the bottom. Although they didn’t have eyes, they could visualize their surroundings by emitting a specific frequency of their brainwaves like sonar. Although a Nodusan could walk on either their top two tentacles or the bottom two tentacles, most chose to scooter around in a hovering papasan chair that cradled their large brain (See Figure 15.1). A healthy Nodusan’s skin was a sickly purple. I didn’t know what a dying Nodusan’s skin looked like; I didn’t kill one.
The planet was dark and cloudy most days, but the Nodusans didn’t seem to mind. The whole planet was lit up with shimmering, vibrant lights created from natural magnetic fields that danced around in the sky. It was truly majestic.
When I arrived on the planet, I was unaware of the telepathic nature of the atmosphere of Nodusa. I docked my ship and when I saw my first Nodusan, all I could loudly think was…
“Yuck.”
The Nodusan quickly turned around and left me, but not before it yelled straight into my mind.
“Typical human.”
So… this Nodusan had encountered another human before. It had to have been my father. I had to find out more information, but I knew I needed to be more careful with my thoughts.
I wasn’t. Every Nodusan I came across was the most polite being I had ever encountered, but I couldn’t help myself from the thoughts screaming from my head calling each one fat, ugly, nasty, or gut-wrenchingly-reminding-me-of-a-booger-I-picked-from-my-nose-and-chose-not-to-eat. And after each insult, I would realize again that they could hear my thoughts. I would scold myself with an expletive:
“Flirk!”
And then I would realize they could hear the expletive, so it would be followed by another expletive and so on and so forth…
“Oh shap… Flirk! …motherflirker… flirk shap. Stop!”
I was quickly escorted back to my ship and off Nodusa, having lasted only a half hour and not finding out anything more of my father’s whereabouts. I was able to enjoy the dazzling and brilliant lights shooting across the planet only briefly, but it was worth my visit. However, I don’t think I’ll be welcome back. Enjoy the lights before your thoughts get you kicked out.
RATINGS
Hospitality — 1/10
Food — N/A
Sights — 10/10
Activities — N/A
Family Friendly — 1/10
Having Your Mind Read — 3/10 (can’t deny the cool factor)