How would a massive, shared, alien consciousness communicate with humanity if it had no frame of reference for individual humans? Humanity might crave complete honesty in theory, but science fiction sometimes teaches us that total honesty isn’t always desirable, or even ethical. For certain science fiction fans, the idea of a massive ocean planet that also houses a shared intelligence is basically the premise of Solaris. In Solaris, the titular ocean planet is almost entirely covered with a gelatin-like ocean, which, for years, scientists have been trying to figure out. But now, we have a little touchstone, a science fiction antecedent that helps to define some of the vagaries of Pluribus with just a touch of the tragic.