Communication

I don't usually remember dreams. However I did remember part of a dream from last night. It was a Star Trek TV show dream or maybe a Galaxy Quest dream. I didn't recognize any of the characters, but the uniforms looked familiar.

A human star ship had gone into a new region of space and met aliens, who looked like humans, at least superficially. The aliens were afraid of being conquered or assimilated, which led to conflict. I have forgotten the middle of the dream, the part with action. But I remember the resolution.

The aliens communicated with each other via the direct exchange of cellular material, rather like bacteria. Because of this, it was possible that there was only one alien with many bodies. In any case, humanity could not assimilate the aliens, nor could they assimilate humanity, because real communication was not happening.

The aliens were talking with the human star farers, but this speech was superficial, not their real -- chemical -- form of communication.

The humans told the aliens that they were leaving this region of space and would not be back for a long time, so the aliens were doubly safe.

That was the dream. What was it about? A failure to communicate, which is probably important to a writer.