Question

Aurigae II Dear Pen Pal, The photograph arrived. As you sugest, your appearance startled me. You’ll notice that I’ve enclosed a photograph of myself, as I promised I would. Chunky, metallic looking chap, am I not, very different I’ll wager than you expected. The various races with whom we have communicated become very wary of us when they discover we are highly radioactive, and that literally we are a radioactive form of life. As you know, I have occasionally mentioned that I had hoped of escaping not only the deadly imprisonment to which I am subjected, but also from my body - which cannot easily escape. Perhaps you’ll be interested in hearing about how far this idea has developed. The process involves an exchange of personalities with someone else. For this, it is necessary to get an impress of both individuals - of their mind and of their thoughts as well as their bodies. Since this phase is purely mechanical, it is simply a matter of taking complete photographs. The next step is to make sure the two photographs are exchanged, that is, that each party has somewhere near him a complete photograph of the other. The third and final stage occurs when I activate the sub-space energy flow between the two photographic plates. (It is already too late, Pen Pal. I have already set the energy in motion!) Soon there will be an exchange of personalities - I will live in your body and you in mine. You will take with you a complete memory of your life on Earth, and I will take along memory of my life on Aurigae. As soon as I grow tired of Earth, I will exchange bodies in the same way with a member of some other race. Thirty years hence, I will be happy to reclaim my body, and you can then have whatever body I last happened to occupy. This should be a very happy arrangement for us both. You, with your short life expectancy, will have outlived all your contemporaries and will have had an interesting experience. I admit I expect to have the better of the exchange. By the time you reach this part of the letter it will be me reading it, not you. So long for now, Pen Pal. It's been nice having all those letters from you. I shall write to you from time to time to let you know how things are going with my tour. Skander

1. What exactly did Skander do?
2. Why did he do this?
3. Might this ever be really possible, at some stage in the future?
4. What could be the advantages and/or disadvantages in doing so?
5. Were there any clues in earlier letters that warned us of what Skander was planning to do?

Answer 1

1. Skander used the two photographs to start a special process that exchanged his personality with the Pen Pal's personality. He planned to leave his own body and live on Earth in the Pen Pal's body, while the Pen Pal would be trapped in Skander's body on Aurigae II.

2. Skander wanted to escape from his prison and experience life on Earth. Since he could not escape in his own body, he used the personality exchange to gain his freedom and travel to another world.
3. At present, this is not scientifically possible. It is an imaginary idea used in science fiction. Although technology may become more advanced in the future, there is no evidence that a complete exchange of personalities can happen.
4. dvantages and/or disadvantages
   • Advantages:
     • A person could experience life in another body or another world.
     • It might help people learn about different cultures and planets.
   • Disadvantages:
     • A person would lose control of their own body.
     • It could be dangerous and unfair if done without permission.
     • It could create confusion, fear, and identity problems.
5. Yes. Skander repeatedly asked the Pen Pal to send a photograph, even after being refused. He also spoke about escaping from his body and prison. These were clues that he needed the photograph for his personality exchange plan.