"I mean. The Sixers get some things right. Some things need to be given to all."

"A lot of people worked very hard to build the Central Plan. And it fucking worked. Nobody starves anymore. There's plenty of electricity, everywhere in the world, even tiny islands. I may have issues with some of the decisions and priorities, how much gets allocated to science versus quality of life or whatever, but- The basic idea-"

"In your country, you say. What about in other countries? Pre-unification Kao kept neighboring states in exploitative economic positions and invaded them with tanks if they got any funny ideas."

"Maybe we're being a bit too reflexive here. You guys sound like a civics textbook. We're just regurgitating sound bites. Sid says it mostly worked, maybe it mostly worked? Maybe 'humans' think differently than us?"

"...That's a fair point. Sorry."

"I don't have specific knowledge about what it's like to live in most other countries on Earth—my planet—but supply chains are probably less reliable in some of them. I'm pretty sure people mostly don't starve to death unless a war interrupts food imports, mostly because agricultural productivity is so high. I think even very poor countries often have electricity, but it may not be reliable or available everywhere. Diplomatic pressure from the most powerful states mostly prevents states from exploiting or threatening each other. Like I said, there are still problems, but things are much better than they were for most of human history, they're for the most part getting better, and I'm pretty sure most of the problems would not be solved by more central planning and less markets. Probably that would make things worse, given my species' history with central planning. I get the impression it works better for you than it does for us."

Not that Sid isn't still a little uneasy about the apparent collectivism of the Kitsune (and what that means for him) but there's clearly a lot he doesn't know about their whole... situation, so he'll keep quiet for now. And dear lord he doesn't want to get into a political argument.

"You still have wars too? We don't, aside from the Snow Rats and the mafia*. No offense, but I prefer Iwami just off what I've heard so far."

"Uh, guys-"

"Of course if you do it badly it makes things worse..."

"Let me say it out loud, guys: I don't think he wants to keep talking about this?"

"...Agricultural productivity is really high? How do you manage that?"

*Organized-crime-rings more generally, 'mafia' is just a punchy translatable word

"I'm not particularly excited by this line of conversation, but talking about it doesn't bother me. If I don't want to talk about something, I'll tell you. In general I'd rather people explicitly ask me about what I'm thinking or what I want than make assumptions about it. Particularly because I come from a different species and culture and a lot of those assumptions will be wrong."

"To clarify what I mean about agricultural productivity, one in fifty people in my country work in agriculture, and a lot of that is exported, or production of animal products. With modern agricultural technology, it would probably be possible to feed the whole world with a lot less labor than that, in terms of the proportion of people working to make that food. I don't know the details, but you can increase yields with fertilizers, pesticides, specially-bred or genetically engineered crops, irrigation—my country built a lot of dams—and machines to plow and plant and harvest the crops. I'd be surprised if any of that was very different from what you guys have, except the crops. Which actually might make a pretty big difference."

"I don't know the numbers but I think it's like... One in five?"

"A lot of that is home gardens by threes that don't actually produce tons of calories. But have to exist, because reasons."

"Wouldn't surprise me if the makers did just as bad a job with our crops."

"Yikes. Yeah, one in five is a lot. Why do those gardens have to exist?"

"It's tradition, don't ya know. Can't disappoint the ancestors."

"Uh, because we're part of a chain of meaning that goes back thousands and thousands of years and the clans that survived pre-industrial times probably had good ideas about how to keep clans functional, healthy, and safe and sane? So obviously we can't just- Throw everything away. The gardens stay, even if they're not whole farms now. The cloistering, the welcome fruit, the entry halls and family trees..."

"That's not a bad reason."

Okay, this is getting kinda boring. New topic, new topic...

"Do you guys have any fiction about people like me? Furless flat-footed ape people?"

"You look kind of like a Ganak!"

"Ganaks are lizard people from the Homogenizing Swarm series of novels. They have flat feet, no fur, and detachable tails which they keep detached to fit into smaller spacesuits. Uh, fictional, obviously."

"Nice. I ask because, uh, humans definitely have fiction about people that look kinda like you guys. Art, too. It's a reasonably popular trope."

"Aliens are cool! Science fiction authors have a lot of fun inventing new kinds and imagining how they might think with different evolutionary pressures- Or uh, different design goals, more recently."

"Ye old and new gods, the number of 'soldier species' and 'slave species' movies that came out two years ago..."

Someone giggles. 

"I think tailless aliens are pretty rare in fiction, though! They tend to be portrayed as kind of... Emotionally dead? Robotic almost? I'm having a hard time reading your body language, since you don't have a tail or proper ears."

"Yeah, it's mostly in the facial expressions for humans. I feel like I know what your ears and tails are saying, but that's just my instincts for cats and dogs and may be entirely wrong. If you catch me slowly blinking at you, that's why."

"Maybe we should be specifically state what we're feeling to see if we are totally off base for each other."

"Should we be recording everything we say?"

"I'm sure some science types would appreciate it but, uh, I'd rather not be recorded constantly. Feeling shy."

"I think you look good. Strong, a little exotic, a little primal, like some mythic hero just unkitsune enough to show their power but still mostly the same- Mythic heroes would have tails that burn with fire or are made of steel or living wood or things like that though. I wonder if we were designed to look similar to other species, or if leg-leg-arm-arm-head-tail - or, uh, no tail - is just a convergent evolution thing like crabs or small flying critters."

"I would also rather not be recorded constantly."

To the person who said he looked good, "Thanks! I think you guys look good as well. Adorable, even. Do Kitsune keep pets?"

"Aww, thanks!"

"Vorks. Mostly a Kao thing."

"Not so much pets as livestock mostly? Aside from Vorks. They're cute and affectionate little idiots."

"I kinda wondered if you guys would keep pets or just get your cute animal fix from each other. Or more likely if your sense of cuteness would be different. I would show you pictures of my cat but I should probably conserve battery until someone can figure out how to charge it. Which reminds me..."

He pulls out his phone and shuts it down. Hopefully that will last for a while.

"You guys are Luo, right? Are Kao a different culture or country or something?"

"Little kits are really cute. Vorks are kinda cute. Most other animals can be pretty but not so much cute, in my opinion."

"We're in Luo, yes. Luo and Kao are both one of the five big pre-unification states."

"Plus Tsu, Nar, and Iwa. Not that there weren't other states- Shen has been making news a lot lately 'cause of the space program- But nobody disputes the big five."

Someone peers at the phone. "Do you know things about voltage and frequency for the electricity? I remember there were problems joining Nar to Tsu's power grid because they wanted to keep their 145 hertz system."

"I have a charger that takes 120 volts at 60 hertz. But I think my units are not the same as your units. I guess I can get close enough on the frequency and slowly ramp up the voltage until it starts charging."

"...Probably it would best to let someone specialized look at the charger and do electrical engineer stuff to make something that works. I'm sure they'd be very careful with it."

"Oi, by the way, I just saw that one fallen tree guys. Two minutes to the old wood house."

"Actually, does someone have a picture of a vork they can show me?"

They fuss with tablets, picking out their favorite videos and photos.

A Vork seems to be some sort of messy cross of a dog, a pig, and a cow. It still manages 'cute' in a kind of awkward way, especially when running around excitedly, tail wagging and making 'mar!' noises.

"Yeah, honestly, that ain't shit. Strong possibility that when I show you a picture of my cat it's going to blow your socks—stun and impress you. Just you wait. Unless cats are something you already have on this planet, in which case I retract my claims."

"Never heard of cats."

"I kind of doubt it but I guess we'll see?"

"We'll have plenty of time to see, like you said... Time to catch up on studying and stuff too..."

The van is pulling into a driveway now.

"If it wasn't clear that was sort of humorous pretend boastfulness. I actually have no idea how your humor works and all my instincts are failing me and it's kinda really annoying. But if I say something weird or absurd it may be a joke and you can ask if you aren't sure."

What does the house look like?

It's wood-built, looking a bit worn but solid. Painted mostly brown. Narrow and three stories high, with a pointed roof and a few patios and balconies. Architecturally, it looks like a really large house that's also trying to be an apartment building. He can see that the whole first floor is open-plan, through the windows.

Mika grumpily plugs the car into a charger under a carport- Not an enclosed garage, just a roof.

Tak stomps straight towards the house. Rather than going through the front door, he scales the outside to a third floor balcony.

Mika then addresses everyone, reminding them that it is very important for the good of all Iwami that people hold to quarantine, even though it sucks. They'll still be able to order stuff, even hot food. A doctor will come by in a few hours, probably.