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.

Total: 9381

Posts Per Page:

‹ Previous 1 2 … 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 … 375 376 Next ›

« First ‹ Previous 134 of 376 Next › Last »

Theodore Thowegood Way

Wizards are smiling approvingly at Isama.

Aaron Meriwether Way

wealth-of-nations

"Anyway, ah, it's nice to meet you."

"Likewise. Hala says she wishes she could publish, which I'm sure she'd say anyway but let's assume it was a compliment." She pats Hala on the head.

Aaron Meriwether Way

wealth-of-nations

"Maybe someday. It's going to be hard to shoo Aitim's government without showing our hand."

"He's maybe bitten off more than he can chew," says Isama. "With a smaller project I don't think something like this would've slipped by him, but that just means he needed more and better help before he tried it." Sigh.

too-early-and-too-late

"We've been telling him that."

"Better him than some other blue but -" She shakes her head. "That's because other blues are appalling."

Theodore Thowegood Way

Snort.

too-early-and-too-late

"And apparently 'leave us alone' just couldn't even be contemplated."

Kantil

"I mean, completely ignoring you would've been indefensible, you were so poor -"

"So poor and sick and spread out," says Isama. "But that's no excuse not to do it right. Maybe Aitim should've pushed to start with one continent. Get that consolidated, cultivate local experts..."

too-early-and-too-late

"Other places might've started raising armies or something."

Kantil

"Wouldn't have mattered."

"Might've mattered a little."

Michael Cyrus Way

"This is sort of convenient, though, it means there'll be infrastructure everywhere by the time we make him stop."

"Is this your polite way of telling us 'don't buy up those cheap credits, your kids will have nowhere to live'," asks Isama.

too-early-and-too-late

"I hear people season on Mars."

"If they don't asphyxiate first."

Michael Cyrus Way

"I think Aitim thinks he can talk us into letting you lot stay. But he hasn't yet, and recent disasters aren't helping."

"Displacing a couple hundred million people so they can overcrowd Anitam and stress the air recyclers on Mars and beg asylum on the next planet even if it's got people on it too, yes, great plan, humanitarian," says Isama. "Proportionate, like."

too-early-and-too-late

"Someone breaks into your house at gunpoint, sterilizes your siblings and kidnaps your children and then says they'll be homeless if you kick them out, do you say 'gosh, I guess we can turn my office into a guest bedroom?"

"This is a planet, not a house."

"It's ours."

wealth-of-nations

"I don't have any issue with selling them the bits no one's using and dividing up the money among everyone, except for the thing where they will probably start a war over space eventually and that time they'll know about wizards."

too-early-and-too-late