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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wealth-of-nations

Prices are posted in English and in Anitami; he can trade for gold or silver instead of dollars if people prefer that. "What can I do for you, sir -"

He's let people cut ahead of him in line a few times and now there is no one behind him. "How do you set these prices?"

wealth-of-nations

"Same way anyone sets prices of anything, what people'll be willing to spend."

"How do you find that out, though, when it's ni for dollars and not a jacket."

wealth-of-nations

"How would you do it for a jacket?"

"See what people are already paying for other jackets. Price high and discount as necessary."

wealth-of-nations

"It's mostly the same idea. So I do look at what people are paying in exchange rates, but it's not very reliable because, well, people know how much a jacket should cost, more or less, they've got no idea how much alien money should cost and prices are all over. But there are some signs that somewhere is a good place to buy ni - if they just got less valuable, say, because the aliens offended everyone, or if the local economy's doing really well then probably local currency's worth more, or if there's insane variability in prices then probably there are at least some customers at any price point I want. So I guess off that, and then change the prices based on what kind of business I'm getting."

"If I sell you a lot do I get a better deal?"

wealth-of-nations

"How much of a lot?"

"I've got about twenty thousand."

wealth-of-nations

" - yeah, okay." He starts calculating something on parchment with a quill. "That is a whole lot of jackets."

"And other clothes. Not efficient for the aliens to import them in quantity from the sky, and I raised enough capital to get electric sewing machines off them and suchlike."

wealth-of-nations

"I can give you 2.6ni to the dollar. Don't they fuss about your workers having ever walked through a cemetery and so on..."

"I have everything laundered by people with purple hair before I sell it. How much better is that than if I only sell you half?"

wealth-of-nations

"Half I'll do 2.65."

"Will you tell me at exactly what point I can get two point six? Purple people don't like to be paid in dollars."

wealth-of-nations

Scribbling on parchment. "I bet they don't. Are they otherwise okay employees? I've thought about hiring people to help me with the banking but I worry that if, say, I caught one stealing, there wouldn't be anything to do about it... I'll do 18,000 at two six."

"I use them for market research on the sly. I'm not hiring them, though, they're contractors. I think they're subsidized by the sky government, like the showers and things. Seventeen thousand."

wealth-of-nations

"Laundry contractors." He shakes his head. "Eighteen's worth it because I can call it a day and go investigate reports that ni are really cheap in Cuba right now because someone organized a strike. Seventeen's not enough to close up shop."