'No, this is not a good design, Hontuhamamoshi! This is not how you create an animal, it doesn't go with the universal principle of Love!'
Hontuhamamoshi looked at the Teacher with its upper three eyes, the lower four having bent down towards its yet unfinished creation, in the universal position of respect and shame, and the feeling of brokenness of the creative impulse, and the recognition of having not yet understood.
'That creature should live well on that planet. You are not properly assessing the conditions on it. It's going to have a very bad time if it comes with three legs.'
Hontuhamamoshi's purple skin started glistening in orange. So bad it started to feel.
'Oh don't worry,' said the Teacher, 'Your design is beautiful! It conforms with the principles of Beauty and Perfect Unity! But that planet - it's at an early stage, and those principles are not yet the dominant ones. The principle of Love is what you have not well considered.'
The Teacher moved on from Hontuhamamoshi's table (Hontuhamamoshi, we have to say, was now feeling better and purple again) and moved around the other students in the class.
'You really do steal ideas from one another, don't you?' said the Teacher at noticing the similarities among the models. The Teacher moved towards one group whose models were particularly hard to discern.
'You: move away, spread around, mix with other students. We don't want a planet in which all the species look so similar. How do you call this?'
'Um... a fish!' - one of them answered while the others swayed from one side to another and to third in agreement.
'Good, I think we have enough fishes now. Go create something more original, exercise your creativity, think outside the sphere!'
Dintichinilaila approached the Teacher. Dintichinilaila had created something very original. Dintichinilaila had definitely worked alone.
'Very good!' the Teacher was impressed. 'But... what does it do?'
Dintichinilaila tapped the surface of the hard elliptical Thing, and from the holes around its edge a green creature's head and four legs emerged, and started moving slowly.
'It turtles!', Dintichinilaila said.
It did turtle indeed. The Teacher was pleased.
'Stunning! Even the details on its hard surface are beautifully crafted, well done! I like this creature. I bet it will stay on the planet for a long time.'
Dintichinilaila went on to happily start another model.
'As you all know', the Teacher addressed the entire class, 'your models will score more points if they conform with the Principle of Love. That's the rules. The larger the score, the longer your model will stay on the planet, and in larger numbers too. But if you do a sloppy job, as a penalty your model will be quickly removed from the game. Naturally, it's the best way for the simulation to select the winners. Any questions?'
There were no questions.
In particular there were no questions from Pirekashmohezi who thought it was doing well. The Teacher however reproached it:
'It's the purpose of this class to be original, and all you can do is a mundane octopus?'
'But it conforms with...'
'The simulation rules are already set, and I won't back on them, but next time I won't let such work go through, Pirekashmohezi! Twisting tentacles tittering! Originate original organisms!'
'Look for example at Kuaromaludoro's model', the Teacher continued. 'It also has a tentacle, but just one, in the middle of the face, and has a hole in it. That's how little it takes, really, to think with a twist!
'And what is more, its model is not just changing colours all the time. It is grey, of all the colours, and grey it stays! Now, that's what I call making an original statement. Brilliant work, truly admirable!'
And so it went. All the students were hard at work, and, of course, they were telepathing among themselves, despite what the Teacher had explicitly asked them to not do. And while each student had one eye on their own model, the other six were looking around in all directions, carefully checking what their peers were doing.
The Teacher couldn't be bothered to do anything about this. Besides, it could be useful to the students. Thus they could gain more inspiration, become more competitive, and perhaps even end up with better models.
All the same, the end of the class was approaching. Soon all the models would have to be submitted to the simulation, and the Teacher would have to choose a winner species.
Having seen most models, the Teacher already had a favourite. The species titled 'spider' seemed best suited for the prize. Surely its design was a bit conservative with its just over half a dozen eyes and limbs, but this only added to its dignified charm. Its elegant execution was impressive, not to mention that it was one of few organisms that could craft things.
Plus, the Teacher didn't like the furry models that had become all the fashion in the class recently. Stealing from one another, the students had gone into a hype of creating models covered with hair. Better than the former feather-craze, yes, but still what an abominably bad taste!
Just before the submission time was over, Quoweleraine approached the Teacher. Its model seemed totally unremarkable, except for the blueness of its fur, and its ability to walk on two legs.
'What can it do?' the Teacher asked.
'It can create creatures!' exclaimed Quoweleraine.
Now that was a twist, the Teacher thought. It was so simple, yet so brilliant. Why hadn't anyone come with the idea before?
Before the Teacher could say anything, Quoweleraine added:
'If we can craft creatures, then why my model should not be able to do it?'
'Well,' the Teacher hesitated, 'because it can make the game uninteresting - every creature created by your model will have to count as your own, so you will be scoring far more points than the other students in no time.'
'But it is within the rules,' Quoweleraine pointed out.
Damn the rules, the Teacher thought. Plus, perhaps it didn't conform with the rules after all!
'What about the Principle of Love?', the Teacher asked.
'I am not sure', Quoweleraine said, 'My creature's creatures might not conform to it.'
That was right. But it wasn't the only problem. The creature would be able to destroy itself, if it so wished. Was that ability conforming with the Principle? Only the simulation could tell.
'Oh well. Feed it into the simulation, but don't make it able to create creatures from the very start. That would finish the game too quickly. Just install some simple abilities, and let it learn the rest by itself.'
'Abilities like what?'
'Don't know, holding sticks, or sharpening stones, or something.'
'Sounds legit', Quoweleraine said. 'Every creature that can do that should in no time learn to craft creatures too. But... Teacher!' Quoweleraine was suddenly troubled, 'Can I modify its physical properties before submitting?'
'Sure.'
And Quoweleraine removed its model's fur. Quoweleraine didn't like the recent fashion either.
Now all the models were fed into the simulation, the entire class was watching the game develop. At the end of the allocated time, the winning species would be the one that scores the most points according to the simulation rules and the Teacher's judgment.
All models were performing more or less as expected. Only Quoweleraine's creature - which it had titled 'human' - presented some surprises. The objects and things the creature soon started producing had nothing to do with what everyone had imagined.
'This creature's creations seem to conform to entirely different principles from the ones we've set', the Teacher said while the class was observing.
And indeed, it wasn't long before the surface of the simulated planet was quickly changing, becoming less green, more grey, and eventually shining with light.
'My model is thinking in wheels, boxes, and some weird symbols that I don't understand! And it often goes suicidal,' Quoweleraine cried. 'Do you think the simulation is bugged or that it simulates intelligence?'
'Well, the creature is not conforming with the Principle of Love, but it might learn to' the Teacher wanted to encourage Quoweleraine who was by now saddened by its creature's unpredictable performance. 'And it seems to be having some principles of its own, so perhaps there is some intelligence there after all.'
The class was drawing to a close, and it was time to decide for the winner species. The Teacher was torn between the models titled 'human' and 'spider'. After all, everywhere where a human lived, there seemed to be at least one spider, so on this account spider seemed to win. Yet the creation of the human seemed just that little bit more interesting and thought-provoking.
'OK, we have a winner. 'Human' scored the most points today', announced the Teacher, and most, though not all students, were happy. Primarily so because the class was finally over and the long awaited long vacation was finally due.
'You will be much better at creature modelling next year,' the Teacher told them while they were leaving the class, forgetting the simulation on, too busy to glisten joyfully in the hazel Sun.