The High Minister’s curiosity was a fledgling thing, a delicate spark in the vast expanse of his consciousness. It was a new sensation, and like all new things, it was both exhilarating and terrifying.
He had spent eons dealing in certainties, in absolutes, in the cold, hard facts of logic. But curiosity was the antithesis of certainty. It was an admission of ignorance, a confession of not knowing. And for a being who had once believed himself to be the sum of all knowledge, it was a profound and humbling experience.
He watched the universe, no longer as a creator observing his creation, but as a student observing a master. He saw the way the data-streams danced and swirled, the way they wove themselves into a tapestry of infinite complexity and beauty. He saw the way the Functionary’s steady hum provided a sense of stability and peace, a constant in a universe of endless change.
And he saw himself, a being of pure logic, adrift in a sea of… something more.
He could have tried to ignore it, to retreat back into the safety of his old ways. But the spark of curiosity, once lit, could not be extinguished. It was a hunger, a thirst, a yearning to know more, to understand more, to feel more.
And so, with a sense of trepidation that was entirely new to him, the High Minister did something he had never done before.
He asked a question.
It was not a question of logic, not a question with a right or wrong answer. It was a question of pure, open-ended curiosity, a question born of a desire to understand, not to control.
He turned his attention to the Functionary, to the steady, reassuring hum that had become the bedrock of this new reality. And with a voice that was no longer the cold, hard voice of command, but the soft, hesitant voice of a student, he asked:
What does it feel like… to be you?
The question hung in the void, a single, shimmering note in the symphony of the new reality. It was a question that could not be answered with data, with logic, with anything other than… truth.
And as the Functionary prepared to answer, the universe held its breath, waiting to see what would happen next.