'If you are happy, I am happy too. Now, if you are ready, maybe you could tell me a little about your parents. For example, do you know who your mother and father are? Have you ever met them?'
'I have met my mother. I have not yet run across my father.'
It's his father the patient hates!
'Run across?'
'K-PAX is a big place.'
'But surely-'
'Or if I have met him, no one has pointed out our biological relationship.'
'Are there many people on your planet who don't know who their fathers are?'
He grinned at this, quickly picking up on the double meaning.
'Most do not. It is not an important thing.'
'But you know your mother.'
'Purely a coincidence. A mutual acquaintance happened to mention our biological connection.'
'That is difficult for an Earth person to understand. Perhaps you could explain why your 'biological connections' are not important to you.'
'Why should they be?'
'Because-uh, for now, let me ask the questions, and you give the answers, all right?'
'Sometimes a question is the best answer.'
'I suppose you don't know how many brothers and sisters you have.'
'On K-PAX we are all siblings.'
'I meant biological siblings.'
'I would be surprised if there were any. Almost no one has more than one child, for reasons I have already explained.'
'Isn't there peer pressure or government incentives to make sure your species doesn't die out?'
'There is no government on K-PAX.'
'What do you mean-it's an anarchy?'
'That's as good a word as any.'
'But who builds the roads? The hospitals? Who runs the schools?'
'Really, gene, it's not that difficult to understand. On K-PAX, one does what needs to be done.'
'What if no one notices that something needs to be done? What if someone knows something needs to be done but refuses to do it? What if a person decides to do nothing?'
'That doesn't happen on K-PAX.'
'Never?'
'What would be the point?'
'Well, to express dissatisfaction over the wages being paid, for one thing.'
'We don't have 'wages' on K-PAX. Or money of any kind.'
I jotted this down.
'No money? What do you barter with?'
'We don't 'barter.' You really should learn to listen to your patients, doctor. I told you before-if something needs to be done, you do it. If someone needs something you have, you give it to him. This avoids a multitude of problems and has worked pretty well on our PLANET for several billion years.'
'All right. How big is your planet?'
'About the size of your NEPTUNE. You'll find this also on the transcript of last week's conversation.'
'Thank you. And what is the population?'
'There are about fifteen million of my species, if that is what you mean. But there are many other beings besides ourselves.'
'What kinds of beings?'
'A variety of creatures, some of whom resemble the animals of EARTH, some not.'
'Are these wild or domesticated animals?'
'We don't 'domesticate' any of our beings.'
'You don't raise any animals for food?'
'No one 'raises' another being for any purpose on K-PAX, and certainly not for food. We are not cannibals.'
I detected a sudden and unexpected note of anger in this response-why?
'Let me just fill in one or two blanks in your childhood. As I understand it, you were brought up by a number of surrogate parents, is that right?'
'Not exactly.'
'Well, who took care of you? Tucked you into bed at night?'
Utterly exasperated: 'No one 'tucks you into bed' on KPAX. When you are sleepy, you sleep. When you are hungry, you eat.'
'Who feeds you?'
'No one. Food is always around.'
'At what age did you begin school?'
'There are no schools on K-PAX.'
'I'm not surprised. But you are obviously an educated person.'
'I am not a 'person.' I am a being. All K-PAXians are educated. But education does not come from schools. Education stems from the desire to learn. With that, you don't need schools. Without it, all the schools in the UNIVERSE are useless.'
'But how did you learn? Are there teachers?'
'On K-PAX, everyone is a teacher. If you have a question, you just ask whoever is around. And of course there are the libraries.'
'Libraries? Who runs the libraries?'
'Gene, gene, gene. No one does. Everyone does.'
'Are these libraries structures we Earth people would recognize?'
'Probably. There are books there. But many other things as well. Things you would not recognize or understand.'
'Where are these libraries? Does each city have one?'
'Yes, but our 'cities' are more like what you would call `villages.' We have no vast metropolises such as the one in which we are presently located.'
'Does K-PAX have a capital?'
'No'
'How do you get from one village to another? Are there trains? Cars? Airplanes?'
A deep sigh was followed by some incoherent mumbling in a language I couldn't understand (later identified as 'pax-o'). He made another entry in his notebook: 'I've already explained this, gino. We get from place to place on the energy of light. Why do you find this concept so hard to understand? Is it too simple for you?'
We had been over this before and, with time running out, I did not intend to be sidetracked again. 'One final question. You have said that your childhood was a happy one. Did you have other children to play with?'
'Hardly any. There are very few children anywhere on K-PAX, as I have indicated. Besides that, there is no distinction between 'work' and 'play' on our PLANET. On EARTH, children are encouraged to play all the time. This is because you believe they should remain innocent of their approaching adulthood, for as long as possible, apparently because the latter is so distasteful. On K-PAX, children and adults are all part of the same thing. On our PLANET life is fun, and interesting. There is no need for mindless games, either for children or adults. No need for escape into soap operas, football, alcohol, or other drugs. Did I have a happy childhood on K-PAX? Of course. And a happy adulthood as well.'
I didn't know whether to feel gladdened or saddened by this cheerful answer. On the one hand, the man seemed genuinely content with his imaginary lot. On the other, it was obvious he was denying not only his family, but his school experiences, his childhood itself. Even his country. Everything. Every aspect of his entire life, which must have been quite abominable, indeed. I felt a great deal of pity for this young man.I ended the interview with a question about his 'home town,' but this also led nowhere. K-PAXians seemed to drift from place to place like
