Dream LXXV

I was on an expedition to another planet. We were sent to investigate the disappearance of the previous ship, which was supposed to start a colony there. Orbiting the planet, we could see that it was covered with dense forests and a few grassy plains.

When we got arrived at the other landing site, it seemed as if everyone from the previous ship was alive and healthy and doing quite well with the colony. There were some impressive buildings and other infrastructure. They hadn't bothered to inform anyone back home of their progress because it hadn't seemed important.

We asked how they were getting along with food, since we didn't see any evidence of farms or greenhouses or anything that might produce food, and they told us that they got all the things they wanted--food, material goods and so forth--from Quon Li, who was a kind of local deity. They demonstrated by asking Quon Li to make a cup of tea for each of us, and they waved their hands over several small black plates. Cups of tea began forming on each plate from the bottom up, seemingly woven out of the air.

I asked if it was okay to talk to Quon Li, and the colonists said it was. They led me to where "he" was. In one of the rooms was what looked like a smoke alarm with a long coil on it mounted on the wall, set about eye-level. I was made to understand that this wasn't actually Quon Li, but it was a good way to communicate with him.

I thanked him for looking out for the colonists, and asked him if he'd ever heard of the law of the "Conservation of Energy." He hadn't, and I explained that matter could not be created or destroyed, but could be converted to energy; energy in sufficient amount could also be converted to matter. I picked up a large cookie wrapped in plastic, and said that it would probably take a large asteroid converted to energy just to make this cookie.

He said that he hadn't really thought about it; he just made things, and if that destroyed other parts of the universe, then they probably weren't important parts anyway. A troubling thought occurred to me, and I asked if he might have destroyed the original inhabitants of the planet?

He said, "Of course not, they're right there," and he asked me to look outside the window. Just beyond the line of trees was a row of Victorian-style houses, with the skyline of an impressively large city visible beyond them.

I asked Quon Li if the planet's inhabitants ever used his services, and he said with a kind of rueful disappointment, "No, they refuse to."