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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too-early-and-too-late

"Can you make that take more than ten years."

"Yes but with substantial political costs."

too-early-and-too-late

"Can you restrict Veritaserum use to interrogations for serious crimes where only questions about guilt of that crime are asked?"

"Yes but with substantial political costs. Less costs if you make it a condition of supplying it."

too-early-and-too-late

"What happens if this isn't as good at improving the justice system as you expect?"

"Then it's not a big enough lever to abolish the death penalty. I am optimistic - judges will really, really like not being lied to, and I think I can introduce it in a way that the police are also enthusiastic about, and it should have exactly the desired effect in terms of getting people to turn themselves in since they're definitely going to be caught - our solve rate should jump, our error rate should plummet -"

too-early-and-too-late

"But if it doesn't then we have to think of something else?"

"Or use your magic to fudge the numbers."

too-early-and-too-late

"That wouldn't be detected?"

"I could probably give you enough information for adequate fudging."

too-early-and-too-late

"All right. I want to make that happen. To be clear, our end goal here is to delay the bad parts of the occupation as long as we can and then overthrow you when we can't anymore. In exchange for your cooperation we will work closely with you to overthrow you in a manner that gives other Amentans the right impression about whether to colonize more planets and how to do it if they do it, and to ensure that Amentans living on Earth at that time are permitted to remain, treated humanely, and allowed to densify the parts of the world which weren't inhabitable at our tech level and where you aren't displacing anyone.

Thoughts?"

"Not sure what you gain by using cooperation instead of mind control unless the mind-control isn't that great or you've got other people you want to use it on. I will cooperate with this under most circumstances but if the opportunity to get the upper hand presented itself in the form of better allies or more magic I expect I'd take it. The things I'd pursue if I had more leverage would be essentially the same except I'd put more effort into preserving political options at home than I expect you to and I'd want Earth co-ruled instead of handed over."

too-early-and-too-late

"The mind control works great and I've no one else to point it at at the moment but if I wanted you for something else down the road you'd be pretty useless," he says pleasantly. "It sounds like it would be convenient if we had a way for you to make magically binding precommitments."

Shiver. "Yes."

too-early-and-too-late

"We have that."

"I see. I would - really appreciate some time to process all of this."

too-early-and-too-late

"If I left you alone for a day would you in any way indicate to anybody that anything unusual was going on?"

"Kan would notice that I was upset, I would probably take a break for lunch at work which is unusual, and leave early which is also unusual. If I explained this by saying I had a persistent headache no one would be surprised or suspicious. I would not try to arrange that anyone else become aware of you."

too-early-and-too-late

"Do you understand that you are smart, and have a lot of dangerous resources, and that if you start trying to oppose me then my nice options for working with you immediately and permanently stop being options?"

"Obviously."

too-early-and-too-late

"What do you think is the likeliest way I might regret letting you think about this for a day?"

"Security or someone did notice and they come to me with it tomorrow. Uh, I think of a way to not be vulnerable to your mind-control spell, if that exists. Some other wizard bothers me. Kan picks up more than I realize and tries to investigate, takes it to somebody."

too-early-and-too-late

"Are any of those likely?"

"No. Well, I don't know how careful you're being about security - I assume something would happen if I screamed -"

too-early-and-too-late