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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"But you know what your government thinks should happen to all the humans, you know they think that we breed too much and should be made to stop that -"

"I am not here to debate that I am here to heal sick children!"

"You can't heal people when you think they should be prevented from existing!"

"Get away from my patients!"

"Let's go try my way," says Theodore, "and he'll start to improve within the hour and once he's all better we can come back here and warn people off the aliens together."

"I have to be back at work soon," says elder Cartwright.

"Then we should go right now."

"He's just recruiting for his shout-at-sick-people scheme," hisses the pediatrician.

Elder Cartwright is dubious.

Pediatrician holds out her hand to little Roger, who has not been closely following this conversation and takes it.

"Would you need money to take the rest of the day off work and make sure he recovers? I can give you money."

"I can't lose my job," elder Cartwright says to Theodore, following pediatrician and Roger. "I won't let him out of my sight while we're in there though."

"Okay." He goes back to warning more people. He is particularly emphatic about not taking birth control from the aliens.

At a different clinic Aaron is less yell-y. He politely stops people walking in and explains that the aliens sterilized his neighbor when she went to the dentist and they might want to know that.

Some of them turn away. Some of them ask how you can tell if an alien is about to sterilize you. Some of them ignore him. A yellow asks him to go away.

wealth-of-nations

He's not sure how you can tell, he recommends not going into their clinics though.

"I'd be happy to help you install a sign that says 'we sometimes sterilize innocent women for no reason; by entering this building you consent to be randomly sterilized by aliens' so that everyone is adequately informed and I can leave."

"That's not true," says the yellow.

wealth-of-nations

"It happened to my neighbor two days ago. I didn't believe it until I went and talked to her in person. It's true and people deserve to know. Excuse me, sir, just so you know, my neighbor went in for dental care the other day and they sterilized her, I don't think you can trust them. Kitty Carver, my neighbor's name, her brother is that boy Isaiah who makes the coats, they're good decent people and the aliens cut her up just because they could."

"That didn't happen," says the yellow. "You're disturbing people, please be on your way."

wealth-of-nations

"It did. Right in that building over there is where they cut her up, but they grabbed her from the dentist's office over by the docks. I think they're disturbed that you sterilized an innocent woman, not that I'm warning them about it. Excuse me, ma'am -"

The yellow sighs and follows him around and tells everyone that he's lying.

Minor Finis Way

Someone else shows up to corroborate. He works for Kitty Carver's brother. It definitely happened! Went in to get them to look at a tooth and they made it so she can never have children. The monsters.

wealth-of-nations

"They're a good family. Who are you going to trust, your own people or -" contemptuous look at yellow. "They sterilized her and said it was because she couldn't talk and was feebleminded, but she talks fine and is sharp as a whip, just, she had been to the dentist."

Someone opines that this is a blessing because she committed no sins but now doesn't ever have to be pregnant. The someone is pregnant.

wealth-of-nations

"I just want everyone to know what the aliens did. If they want to take their chances, knowing, they can."

The yellow scowls at him and goes inside and calls the police.

wealth-of-nations

The police will find two random Massachusetts men standing in the street warning people that the aliens sterilized their neighbor when she went to the dentist.