I've got a list of names | Glowfic Constellation

Afen is disappointed in the universe. He bounds back and forth across his room explaining why to his wife, his infant granddaughter, the end table, and a reporter flabbergasted by her good luck and cringing silently against the wall in the hopes he won't remember she's there.

"There is no reason to suppose that a species evolving independently of Amentans, with their own evolutionary history and living mammalian species likely related to theirs, would end up looking like us. None. Every explanation every scientist has ventured to the press has been unimaginative and unconvincing retroactive refitting of bad models to baffling data. Aliens shouldn't look like us but with different hair colors. Aliens that are not made out of carbon at all would be unsurprising; aliens with only as much physiological dissimilarity as exists between us and animal species on our planet would be mildly surprising; aliens with opposable thumbs would be truly remarkable. This is not remarkable and biologically enlightening; this is just inconsistent with everything we understand about the universe. It doesn't teach us new things about evolution; it should make us rethink evolution. - don't quote that part, they'll take it out of context."

Reporter nods rapidly.

"All of that said, I've picked up three of the languages and I'm working on building a good machine translator, it's a challenge with as little as they've produced in the way of electronic records. I'm absolutely going there to meet them as soon as the politicians figure out what to do with themselves."

"Do you have any predictions about that?"

"About politics? Why would I have predictions about politics? They deliberately obscure relevant information, for one thing, and for another it's deathly boring."

"- I mean, sir, surely you hear from your son about -"

"I have seven children and some of them are very dense indeed but not quite dense enough to try to interest me in politics."

"I was referring to -"

"I know who you were referring to. If you want a statement from Aitim go bother Aitim."

"Thank you for your time."

"I did not alter my activities in response to your presence and therefore you can't yet be said to have wasted any of my time though you should go before you do."

...out skitters the reporter.

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Aaron Meriwether Way

wealth-of-nations

"I like them once they're old enough to talk and think and have opinions and things, Jeremy's not really very interesting yet."

"Are you going to have some? It would probably be harder for you to find somebody the way Dad found Mom because of how Muggle humans are about women but maybe you have a different idea."

Aaron Meriwether Way

wealth-of-nations

"I'd get married if I met the right person, I guess. Maybe there'd be someone now that Muggles are allowed to work and stuff. Maybe there's a version of your mom out there and now that it's allowed she's doing cool stuff and we'll stumble across each other. I think usually women want kids more than men, if she wanted some we'd have some."

"Huh."

"We should write Beth about visiting sometime," he says to his wife.

Rebecca Way

waylaid

"Yeah! If she's moved out my parents won't be in the way at all!"

"What do you want to say -"

Rebecca Way

waylaid

"Dear Beth heard you got married congratulations can we drop in on you with the kids sometime?"

They send a letter to the effect!

And Beth writes back that they could come early on a Sunday and join them at church and stay for brunch!

"Ooooohh! Let's!"

waylaid

They go and are introduced to Beth's husband Thomas, who Rebecca already knows from church before she ran off, and Rebecca pats Beth's belly and they go listen to a sermon (...it's about population control being bad) and then have brunch.

Population control is bad! Michael agrees! "How have you all been - with the aliens and all -"

"Well, they aren't doing anything yet, but nobody likes the look of those ads about two-child families and there's all these rumors," says Thomas. "They haven't been trouble otherwise if people leave them be, but people are somewhat agitated about their being here at all, and then they disappear - terrible business -"

"Uh huh."

"We've kept our heads down," sighs Beth.

"We've got a place they can't find. If it ever comes up."

"John mentioned he sent you Judith because he thought she'd run off and grab one - too curious for her own good," says Beth. "Father threatened to beat him black and blue and he went and spent a week at Matthew's to let him cool off."

"Judith spent the whole time saying she wanted to meet one, yeah. Is she going to one of the schools now, do you know -"

"She tried," says Beth. "Father doesn't like it but he might cave, the uniforms aren't trivial and Rebecca's handmedowns were good for me but are a bit beaten up by now..."

Nod. "We have lots of friends overseas, they're doing the same thing everywhere. The little glass computers and the schools and the clinics and the advertisements."