Among a pile of sketches and musical fragments was found a long list—or, rather, a series of lists. In the form of a Galactic Dictionary, the paper is divided into many columns, each headed with the name of a different planet.
Rather than describe this document, we are printing an excerpt from it herewith:
| DENEB III | TERRA | MARS | FOMALHAUT II | SIRIUS VII |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Love | Anger | Hunger | Sadness | Madness |
| Hate | Joy | F'rit | Prayer | Love |
| Prayer | Madness | Sadness | Full | Joy |
| Vilb | NPE | Non-F'rit | Golk | NPE |
In completed form, the document contains over one hundred and fifty separate listings for race, and over six hundred separate emotional or subject headings. In some places (like the Terra and Sirius listing for Vilb, above), the text is marked NPE, and this has been taken to mean No Precise Equivalent. For instance, such a marking appears after the Denebian shhr for both Terra and Mars, although Sirius has the listing grk and Fomalhaut plarat in the desert.
Hrrshtk may be hailed, therefore, as the discoverer of the Doctrine of Emotional Equivalency, later promulgated in a different form by Space Patrol Psychiatrist Rodney Garman. Further, the document alluded to above explains a phrase in Hrrshtk's noted letter to Dibble Young, which has puzzled commentators since its first appearance.
Hrrshtk is here alluding to the composition of his Revolutionary Ode, which all Terra knows as the most perfect expression of true love to be found in music:
"It's a Revolutionary Ode to me, my friend—but not to you. As we say here, one man's mood is another man's passion."
SEPTEMBER 1: On this date in the year 9909, Treth Schmaltar died on his home planet of Wellington V. All the Galaxy knows his famous Symphonic Storm Suite; less known, but equally interesting, is the history and development of its solo instrument.