"Perhaps we should illuminate."
"Please do," I vibrated politely.
They gathered round the edges of my haze and explained. It seemed a very senior e had suggested once that there might, just might, theoretically be side-effects of mush. The little round things were e beings. And "mush" was the accepted term for the static and orbital tracks of electrons in fixed patterns, such as one found here and there in space. But the very senior e, apparently, had speculated that in a certain narrow band of light frequencies mush might possibly give an appearance of "matter"—to coin a word—a kind of condensed or crystalline energy.
"But no one," they vibrated, "ever suggested there might be forms of life based on such 'material' structures. We admire your imagination. Hail bright e! All hail."
A rapid circuit of my haze failed to show anyone else that they might be vibrating to.
"Do you mean me?" I inquired.
"Naturally. Hail, bright e!"
"I'm an e?"
"What else?"
"Very well," I thought. "Perhaps you'll tell me what an e is."