'The complex civilisations of the two worlds are very different.'

Are you sitting comfortably? Then Philip Purser-Hallard will begin …

Somewhere in our universe, there are twin worlds. Let’s say they’re called Jessica and Niki.

Although close neighbours astronomically speaking, the complex civilisations of the two worlds are very different.

Relations between them are strained by a cultural divide which sometimes seems unbridgeable.

The thinking of the Jessicans is full of categories and boundaries. Their history began abruptly when the immortal genetic engineer known as the Sower seeded Jessica with life, creating its inhabitants in a single week. It will end just as abruptly when the Sower returns, to observe the results of its experiment and record its conclusions.

The Jessicans know, therefore, that they’re quite different from the animals and plants with which they share their planet. These were placed there by the Sower to provide them with labour, food and (the people of Jessica being keen hunters) target practice.

Themselves the Jessicans divide between those who successfully follow the patterns of behaviour set down by the Sower, and those (often the poor, young or troubled) who try, but fail, to do so.

Anyone who suggests that the Sower’s standards are odd, arbitrary and, for some, all but impossible to achieve – that it perhaps didn’t understand the limitations of its own creations – are exiled summarily to Niki.

Muddling Through

Niki is different. On Niki, the boundaries are blurrier.

On Niki, life appears to have evolved: certainly there’s evidence suggesting so, and although there’s also disagreement about the precise mechanisms, it’s enough to convince the open-minded.

While some Nikians believe that Jessica’s Sower may have influenced their history too, it’s clear that this must have been a protracted process, and not the sudden intervention which occurred on their neighbours’ world.

Aware that the animals and plants with which they share their planet are their cousins, sharing the same ancestors also, the people of Niki tend to construct fewer barriers between themselves. It’s true that they belong to many different nations, with quite different beliefs about philosophy, politics and ethics.

There’s frequent friction between them, but somehow they manage to muddle through – perhaps because individuals move freely from one to another during the course of a lifetime.

Some Nikians even go to live for a time on Jessica, before the rigidness of life there becomes too much for them.

Imperfect worlds

As you might expect, these perennial differences are dealt with by the two worlds in contrasting ways. The Jessicans operate strict controls upon the importing of Nikian ideas, while the Nikians do their best to accommodate the Jessican tendencies in their society.

Neither of these worlds is perfect. To be sure, certain inhabitants of each see theirs as the best of all conceivable worlds. Others have reservations.

On both worlds, people are the same: they are greedy, guilty, fearful and jealous, and suffer from poverty, conflict and injustice.

On Niki, as the population has grown, it has inflicted grave environmental damage. (Identical damage on Jessica has turned out mysteriously to be due to entirely natural causes.) Both Jessicans and Nikians would admit that they often fall short of their own ideals.

Some of the Nikians have begun working to remedy this, striving to improve their behaviour as best they can. With difficult, concerted effort, they believe they may eventually succeed in mending their society, and healing their damaged ecosystem.

The Jessicans watch their neighbours’ travails smugly. They know that to solve their problems they need only wait. The Sower will deal with everything on its return.

There’s no chance that the Jessicans are wrong, of course. But if they are, what does it matter? It’s only their own planet that will face the consequences.

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