Author: Diego Lama, Translated: Rose Facchini

Lucio has smelled of piss and shit for more than twenty years, ever since his mother died suddenly and he started sleeping in the park. That night, however, he couldn’t fall asleep. It was the stars’ fault. Lucio didn’t wonder if there was life out there, as many others would have, nor did he ask himself why or how the universe existed, or other bullshit like that. He just wanted to turn them off, all those stars, because they were too bright and really bothered him. For fuck’s sake.
All of a sudden, he heard a booming voice that seemed to come from the dark center of the galaxy.
“You have been chosen,” thundered the voice. “Unto you will the supreme knowledge be bestowed, o Man! Your only task will be to disseminate it.”
Lucio let the newspapers slide to the ground and sat up on the bench.
“Some two thousand years ago, we did the same with a skinny, ascetic, bearded associate of yours,” the thundering voice continued. “But too much time has passed. The moment to upgrade has arrived. Are you ready?”
Lucio looked at the stars, then yawned.
“First, we shall explain to you how the magical whorl of time, space, life, and the universe works. Wisdom is like rain,” said the booming voice. “It falls and makes things grow, but then it evaporates, because only by evaporating can it fall and make things grow once more. And so on…”
The voice continued to speak.
It taught Lucio how to see with his eyes closed, how to listen by touching, how to live and travel without ever moving, breathing with his thoughts, loving with his memories. It taught him how to speak to the spirit that floats within every person and never to their minds, to embrace and enter the souls of women, as well as their bodies. Then it explained to him what was at the end of the universe and what there was before the Big Bang, but also what there was—and what there will always be—at the end of time. Then it made him understand, in great detail and depth, the absolute and relative meaning of his life, and of all the lives in the universe, and of the universe itself. And then it showed him what was right to do and what should absolutely not be done anymore—social media, for example, or talent shows, to name just two. And, from that moment forth, it was permissible to mate in groups, regardless of age or species, and it was no longer forbidden to kill, since life and death were part of the same stew, as it were.
“The old program is obsolete,” thundered the voice at last. “You must delete the previous version and replace it with what you have just received. Do you understand? Are you ready, o Man?”
Lucio nodded, then rose from the bench and wearily walked towards the central walkway of the park, where dawn lingered among the plane trees.
It was up to him to spread the word, for fuck’s sake.