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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"Does anyone?"

planetarium

"I could ask my dad, or Professor Mousebane. But they might not know either."

"Mmhmm."

planetarium

"I'm sorry."

"Planets'll be nice."

Karen Dwimmer

planetarium

"I get that, but... I'm sorry."

Nod.

planetarium

She takes him back to the Way estate.

Felix gave her coordinates. When she arrives at them, though, there isn't a star particularly nearby.

Felix thinks she should open her comms. Or look out the window, that'd do it, she landed in a very lucky location.

thesignalandthenoise

She looks. And opens her comms, though she doesn't expect to understand what she hears.

It's a starship. Alien. If not for Felix having been of the opinion she should land here, and for the fact there's something on the comms, she would definitely assume it was floating debris, because it's in quite a lot of pieces and there are scorch marks and craters.

Felix thinks the most important piece is that one, over there, about the size of a breadbox.

thesignalandthenoise

She fetches the breadbox obediently.

The aliens on her comms try more languages. Felix thinks she should send them a whole lotta language - books, or something.

thesignalandthenoise

Ship's library has that. They can have a ton of books.

Shortly after that they send that they are the Arrithean civilian freighter Contribute and they were very much expecting to die out here (they fell out of warp in an engine accident, no one on ship is qualified to evaluate how) and that box will do a distress signal if she doesn't mind (how is she here) ...and who is this, exactly, the ship's computers didn't know the language but the ship's computers were damaged in the accident and might have excised all their Entaban or something.

thesignalandthenoise

She's just lucky, she guesses. She's Captain Pelape on the Anitami ship, uh, what's this one called, Sunflower. She activates the distress signal for them.

Lucky doesn't even begin to describe it.

thesignalandthenoise

"I'm on a scouting mission, so of course I'm looking in unusual places."

Oh, what's she scouting for?

thesignalandthenoise

"Habitable planets with years of a length similar enough to my home world!"

Oh, they could maybe help with that, there's definitely a star map here somewhere if it didn't get jettisoned with other useless contents of the ships' computers and you'd think the ship computers would know it wasn't useless.

Yep, they've got it! Though they don't know about the length of years. Did she say who she was?

thesignalandthenoise

"My name is Pelape Milath and the ship's the Sunflower. I'm from Anitam, on Amenta."

They haven't heard of it but they don't usually do much diplomacy with people who take up an astonishing amount of space. Trade is more complicated. They send over the starmap. Felix has a favorite, of the stars on it, but won't have time to get to that one and back before it runs out. Better look at this disappointing nearby one instead.

thesignalandthenoise

That's okay, this planet's for Cene. She thanks the tiny people profusely. Would they like her to stay with them until their people respond to the distress signal?