Nine elected RULERS who serve four light year terms (the average lifespan of a Cloudlet is 160 light years) govern Codlet. The decisions of the RULERS are settled by majority vote and are obeyed without question by every Cloudlet on the small planet. The harmony results in a great and lasting peace throughout the land. Cloudlets exist for the sole purpose of continuing to exist at peace.
The greatest physical challenge on planet Codlet is temperature. Since Codlet is the most distant planet from its mother sun in its solar system, its ambient temperature hovers just above absolute zero (-273 degrees), the temperature at which molecular motion grinds to a halt. The Cloudlets die if the temperature reaches absolute zero. To maintain the temperature above absolute zero, Vibratoms evolved. Vibratoms vibrate to create heat. However, there is a problem: Vibratoms transform into motionless Statacoms if they are bored. If enough Vibratoms became Statacoms the ambient temperature on Codlet would fall and the Cloudlets would die. That catastrophe would leave the lonely, uninhabited planet orbiting aimlessly at the edge of gravitational hold by its sun.
Vibratoms get bored rather quickly because they cannot think. Therefore independent THOUGHTS evolved on Codlet that the RULERS command to infect Vibratoms in attempt to prevent them from becoming bored. Since any one THOUGHT is insufficient to prevent a Vibratom from boredom for very long, the RULERS regularly switch THOUGHTS from Vibratom to Vibratom.
How the free-living THOUGHTS came about remains a mystery. One remote possibility is that the THOUGHTS share a common ancestor with bacteria from planet Earth and feed on ideas that have escaped from eloquent Cloudlets, a type of plagiarism. The most accepted notion for the origin of independent THOUGHTS, however, is that they descended from computers on Earth. Computers apparently outcompeted humans for the ability to think and after the Great Extinction of humans some of the most advanced computers escaped into space and invaded many galaxies. The speculations most accepted is that the computers that invaded Codlet evolved into THOUGHTS.
When Bettina, an adorable, adolescent Cloudlet just 13 light years old, sprouted lovely bulbous curves along her edges in preparation to proliferate, her mother, Loella, became concerned. Loella noticed erratic behavior and told her Cloudlet friend, “Bettina gyrates and convolutes every time Henle floats by. Gyrating seems quite natural at her age, but her convolutions…I don’t know…they suggest more than simply preparation for proliferation. I think that the violet aura surrounding her when Henle’s around indicates susceptibility for…it’s hard for me to even say it…for love.”
Love was a nasty word on Codlet.
Given the magnitude of the problem, Loella considered it imperative to impress Bettina with the importance of love-contraception before it was too late. Although Cloudlets are blessedly free of most emotions, they struggle to prevent contamination by love, which keeps disturbing the treasured peace of their existence.
“Bettina, have you got a small unit of space/time? I need to talk to you. It’s pretty serious.”
“Sure, Mom. Get you in four intervals. I promised Henle I’d tell him the latest about Xandrilla when he comes by. Oh, there he is. Be there in an interval.”
As Loella waited she tried to figure out the best way to warn Bettina about the dangers of love. Finally, she decided to tell her about the legend of Starglow and Salawanda. Her own mother had told her this sad story, which had become a legend, and saved her from a potentially catastrophic crush she’d had on some male Cloudlet, whose name she couldn’t even remember anymore. The fate of Starglow and Salawanda had frightened her terribly and served as a continual reminder of the importance of love-contraception. Now it was Loella’s turn to relate the story to Bettina.