Challenge #03028-H105: Swim the Light Fantastic

They flew past me all the time inside those massive metal machines. Though some were bigger than others. My people have been floating among the stars, bright spots in what, for most, would be otherwise pure darkness for as long as I can remember. We had bodies, once, and needed such machines before, but we evolved past that. My family called me, we were heading to a new asteroid belt. Holding out hands, we, as bright flames, flew to see those that had solid forms still. It was time to say hello. These ones were more adventurous than many had been. -- Anon Guest

In an eon past, we reasoned that it was next to impossible to take our bodies with us to the stars. So we transformed our minds into intelligences of plasma and magnetic forces, leaving our old bodies behind. We flew away from our world and those left who shunned us and our solution to the problem of vast distances.

We were immortal, feeding on the radiations of space, flying between the stars at speeds close to light. It didn't matter how long it took, or how rare it was to meet another like us in our flights. We could not touch the worlds we saw, but some of us thrilled at skimming their atmospheres. Peeking at the material worlds below.

We sang to each other between the stars, listening between the babble of others communicating on the hydrogen line. You can imagine, then, our shock and surprise when others came to the void in metal armour, in shells like snails or crabs, taking everything they needed with them. Some plodded slowly, but others matched our speeds at close to that of light. Curious, we swam close to them. Peeking in portholes. Singing to them. We did not understand how they could dare.

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