"How do you know that the Trils can do that?", Marila sat pensively, setting down her piece of charcoal.

"Oh, well, I mean, it's kinda conjecture, I'll admit, but the theory's sound, all figured. So, like, they can sense minds around 'em, just like we hear, see, or feel. Their telepathy lets 'em get on in there and communicate 'round language gaps. That should mean, they could actually be 'talkin' with the various critters about. That make sense to you, Miss Marila?"

"I mean, the explanation makes sense, Keith, but that's not what I'm asking you. How do you know ways to use their abilities?", She was sitting forward now, and her curiosity wouldn't be denied.

It seemed simple from my perspective, but I could see the others were a bit fascinated as well except Val, who seemed to understand the question and was choking back laughter, "Well, I mean, I don't really, other than the fragments I picked up when I was linked with 'em earlier. The other stuff's just based on things I learned about potential ways mental powers might work, y'know?"

Marila was now showing agitation, "Okay, let's make this simple: Are there humans with mental abilities along the lines of the Trils?"

I shook my head and shrugged, "Well, not per se, I reckon, but it's stuff we've thought about a lot."

She took a breath and closed her eyes for a second before responding, and Val was steadily losing the fight to keep from laughing, "In answer to your previous question, no, we do not know. Aside from you two, no one here knows how you keep coming up with new ways to use the abilities of the Trils. By your own statement, your species does not even possess mental abilities like the Tril do. I talked with Prodigal and Hearth, and even they're not clear on how you keep thinking about ways to use their capabilities, that even they haven't considered some of them despite living with these abilities their whole lives."

Val finally lost the fight and was nearly crying, she was laughing so hard. It brought the others around to her, and she spoke up as she wiped a tear from her eye, "Sorry, sorry, I know this is a serious conversation, but the answer's just ridiculous. Keith, I don't think any of these species, or the Kathrall, have science fiction."

Well...shit. I'd been making the assumption that all these various species had stories of the supernatural from their species' perspective, cause why wouldn't they? Because humans are different, "Ah, shit. Sorry, okay, so on Earth, we have a pretty massive set o' industries built around entertainment. One o' our favorite pastimes as a species is creatin' made-up stories in various mediums. A large genre of this is called Science Fiction. Basically, it's a bunch o' stories based around scientific principles, hypotheses, and theories. Of these stories, ones 'bout supernatural abilities are a huge thing. For instance, what we call 'superheroes'. As an example of that one, you've got Jean Grey, who in the stories, is an incredibly powerful telepath."

Marila's facade slipped. She was just gawking at me, and I realized I'd just blown the minds of every non-human listening. There had to be a better way to explain... GOT IT! I hit the green button on my wristband, and up popped Annabelle, "Hey, Miss Annabelle. Sorry to be disturbin' you this evenin', but I need a favor if'n y'can: Could you stream us a movie on this screen? Um, lemme think... uh, let's go with... The Last Starfighter, thanks."

Annabelle nodded, not quite sure what was going on, but a guy in a Tron shirt came on screen for a moment, and after about ten, fifteen minutes, Annabelle cut away. I figured that the Kathrall had not thought of this in the rules, since I mean, why would they? Who is going to call out to watch a random movie from their homeworld in the middle of a survival game?

While that was in the works, I decided to press my luck, and called out, "Hey, Ravazh'Tik! Need t'have a word with ya! Don't worry, it ain't bad, just some tech support shit. We'll be havin' another chat later about some stuff."

Ravazh'Tik's screen popped up, and the man looked nervous, "And what is it that you wanted to ask me, Survivor Keith?"

"Well, about my screen with Annabelle. Can I increase the screen size? It's a bit small for what I'm tryin' t'do here."

Ravazh'Tik seemed confused for a moment, but dismissed it, "Yes, it's simple enough: There's an icon in the lower left corner. If you press it, there will be a bar that can resize the image. Why do you need it larger?"

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"So I can show the tribe somethin' from back home. Thanks." and broke the connection.

I fiddled with the wristband controls from there, not only finding the controls to increase size, but also volume, and subtitles, there was even one for setting a fixed projection, so I wouldn't have to stay still. Annabelle came back, and apparently, had gotten the go-ahead from her higher-ups. I set the screen to the size of a proper theater screen, and got the volume up, then stabilized it. The screen went black for a moment and up came the beginning of The Last Starfighter. Val came over to sit with me, "Y'know, I've never seen this movie."

I smiled, "I figured. Does this feel like a weird waste of time?"

Her smile brightened even more, "Absolutely... and that's what's great about it. Everyone here's just been thinking about survival for a week, and it's like you said, we have to stop surviving as fast as possible. This is part of that."

Several flashes of light went off behind us, and we looked back to see bags had been transported in. Inside the bags, it looked like a gang of overhyped 12-year-olds had raided a concession stand. One of the bags was literally just a giant bag of movie theater popcorn, still warm, others contained various kinds of pop, and just so much candy. Yet another bag had movie theater buckets in it, from The Baghdad Theater in downtown Portland. Since I already knew the movie cold, I worked concessions, bringing stuff to everyone.

It was like one of those summer movies in the park back home, and when I came back, I brought two of the afghans with me for me and Val to relax on, and cover up with as the cooler air of the night came in. And that is how eight different alien species came to be watching The Last Starfighter on an uncolonized alien planet.

As the movie went on, I wanted to see how the others were reacting to it but became distracted when Val snuggled into me. It had been... way too long since I'd felt that weight of another person on me, and on instinct, I kissed her on the temple as I settled in, and we just laid there on our blanket, watching. At a certain point, I wasn't really watching the movie anymore, and just lying there with Val, lightly stroking her hair, until she looked up at me, and we paused there for a moment, and I laid one hand on her cheek, not even noticing the shoulder pain, then leaned in, and there, I kissed Val for the first time, and she kissed back.

Every fiber of me wanted to deepen it, but there were rather a few people there, so we just sort of stayed there for a while, until I heard a slight coughing noise. It was Marila, who looked like she was a teacher who'd caught us making out behind the bleachers, "So, um, the 'movie' is over. I... have a lot of questions."

Val laughed into my chest, and I could feel her blushing, "Uh, yeah. Just give me a minute."

Marila smirked, "Only a minute?"

She walked off, and I closed the holo-screen, "Uh, I... I really want to continue this, but..."

Val kissed me, "We're the only two humans stranded on an alien world. We've got time. I'm gonna go freshen up."

Everyone was waiting around the fire for me, and it was clear that we had not been quite as discreet as we thought we had. Duckie was nearly vibrating, "Alright, so what did everyone think of the movie?"

Marila quirked an eyebrow, and her smile was nearly predatory, "Oh, it was an interesting affair to be sure. These movies are common in your world?"

I nodded, avoiding the baited words, "Oh yeah. We make things like that constantly, for over a hundred years now. They vary by what era of filmmaking, genre, and whatnot."

"And none of those alien races were real?", She seemed particularly interested in that point.

"No. Just stuff we made up for our amusement," I shrugged.

"How many of these movies are there?", Marila was coming to a point.

"Thousands upon thousands of them."

"So that's how your species knows so much. You're not a species of geniuses, insomuch as you've simply kept making things up, and now, the things you've made up have proven to be at least peripherally true. And, because you made up so many different things, that's why you're able to think around abilities like the Trils, possibly better than they can," She said, matter of factly. She wasn't asking, she was informing her conclusion.

"I mean, I'm not an expert by any means, but it sounds 'bout right, I reckon."

Azoccu joined the conversation now, "And how many of these movies of yours concern humanity fighting against technologically superior species?"

I held up my hands, trying to find a better answer, but I'd have to stick with the truth, "I don't know how many, but it's a lot. But, sometimes we also imagine ourselves as the bad guys. Hell, some stories don't even have humans in them at all. Generally, when we make up a species, we use ourselves as the average and make the species around various virtues and vices of humanity, so they're usually more of an allegory for ourselves."

Trayg cut in, "I like Grig. 'One Starfighter against the Armada'. He is a strong warrior."

We discussed the movie back and forth for a time, answering various questions about humanity, our imagining of the alien species, and other general stuff they liked or didn't like about the movie. It was almost a totally normal discussion if not for the game... until another thing happened. Rognar shook his head, throwing up his arms in a way that I had done a few times this past week, "I just don't understand how a united species could dream up so many conflicts."

I nearly choked on my Dr. Pepper, "WHAT?!"