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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And Officer Long appears at the designated time.

A yellow-haired person is expecting her and will have someone show her upstairs.

Up she goes.

Aitim Neli has a translator on hand and is at least pretending to be pleased to see her. "Thank you for coming."

"You're welcome. It is seldom that my position is useful."

"It sounds like a very important position to me, if an undervalued one and one terribly constrained by present law."

"It is normally something of a formality to notify the Muggle leadership of the area of anything that may be relevant to them going on in the magical world. It seems you did not need to be notified."

"Your existence had already come to my attention but I would of course very much appreciate notifications of other goings-on in the wizarding world."

"Well, at the moment in China we are very troubled about the difficulty of keeping the Statute in place. It has some international ramifications, if we are blamed, even though it could have been anyone's citizen."

Nod. "Can you help me come up with a way to phrase the announcements on our wall to the effect that we'll enforce the law for anyone in Himlin which will be understood by wizards without violating the Statute?"

"I think perhaps you are not understanding the problem."

"Oh?"

"Muggles attempting to enforce any law on wizards in any way is a Statute problem, because if you attempt to castrate someone of course they will escape by magic if they can."

" - sterilization does not impede sexual function," he says after a moment's conversation with his translator, "but that seems like a bit of a side question. Are there prospects of an arrangement under which wizards would arrest their citizens who commit crimes against Muggles, so that we don't have to do it ourselves?"

"Of course," says Officer Long. "If you can identify someone as a wizard, you may turn them over to their own magical government to be punished for a Statute violation."

"What is the punishment for that?"

"It varies by locale. In China a fine and a word with one's employer, sometimes in the case of a serious breach being turned into a shrimp or something for a while."

"Would it be acceptable to have a small team of wizards employed by Amentans who made arrests, enabled trials, and conducted executions on our behalf, so that no non-wizards needed to be informed about the existence of wizards but we could appropriately prosecute crimes against our citizens?"

"It would not be a Statute violation but it would trespass on the rights of existing magical polities to the safety of their people from what would inevitably seem to be vigilante interference."

"Do you think we could solve that with an extended advertising campaign detailing the things we will prosecute and the associated penalties?"

"No, I do not think so. It is a diplomatic problem, not one of warning. We in China cannot decide that it is illegal for wizards from Egypt to eat lychee in the Americas. You are not a magical polity."

"Hmmm. Do you think you can direct your citizens to visit our territory at their own risk, since no agreement exists on extradition and we have this persistent kind of vigilante interference?"

"To a point only - where are you getting your vigilantes -"

"I don't have any candidates yet, I'm just thinking about what sorts of solutions might be workable in principle and then I'd have to look into whether there are wizards who'd participate. If it helps, we're very much willing to give wizards a pass on most crimes, we haven't made arrests for shoplifting or counterfeiting or hopping turnstiles. The points of contention are rape, abduction, and murder."