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Madison Scott-Clary
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<h1 id="codrin-balan-2346">Codrin Bălan — 2346</h1>
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<h1 id="codrin-balan-2346">Codrin Bălan — 2346</h1>
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<p>Late spring was for picnics. This was, ey was assured, a universal fact.</p>
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<p>Late spring was for picnics. This was, ey was assured, a universal truth.</p>
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<p>Once the rains had calmed down and before the oppressive heat began to drift lazily in, this was the time for those who are in love to drag a thick blanket out onto the prairie, park next to one of Codrin’s cairns, and share sandwiches and fizzy drinks. This was the time for parking in the sun, laying back on the blanket, heads together and feet radiating outwards, sharing in small silences and comfortable conversation.</p>
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<p>Once the rains had calmed down and before the oppressive heat began to drift lazily in, this was the time for those who are in love to drag a thick blanket out onto the prairie, park next to one of Codrin’s cairns, and share sandwiches and fizzy drinks. This was the time for parking in the sun, laying back on the blanket, heads together and feet radiating outwards, sharing in small silences and comfortable conversation.</p>
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<p><em>“There is no reason that aliens should interrupt this,”</em> Dear had stated plainly and then dragged its partner off to the kitchen to make sandwiches and bottle up gins and tonic to bring out to the prairie.</p>
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<p><em>“There is no reason that aliens should interrupt this,”</em> Dear had stated plainly and then dragged its partner off to the kitchen to make sandwiches and bottle up gins and tonic to bring out to the prairie.</p>
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<p>All the same, this picnic was more muted than usual, and when they settled onto their backs, Dear’s ears tickling the tops of their heads, the conversation felt careful, as though all words should veer around the topic that was on, it seems, everyone’s minds.</p>
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<p>All the same, this picnic was more muted than usual, and when they settled onto their backs, Dear’s ears tickling the tops of their heads, the conversation felt careful, as though all words should veer around the topic that was on everyone’s minds.</p>
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<p>A bit less than three weeks after first contact, and the entire LV seemed to be talking about nothing else. Dear had even postponed the opening to its new show. News from Tycho was that, from day one, the Odists had been working on and shaping the news.</p>
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<p>A bit less than three weeks after first contact, and the entire LV seemed to be talking about nothing else. Dear had even postponed the opening to its new show. News from Tycho was that, from day one, the Odists had been working on and shaping the news.</p>
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<p>Codrin suspected that this had come when it did solely due to the transmission delay from L<sub>5</sub>, and, given the news that Ioan had relayed, ey did not doubt that this tight control was for good reason — or at least what True Name considered good reason.</p>
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<p>Codrin suspected that this had come when it did solely due to the transmission delay from L<sub>5</sub>, and, given the news that Ioan had relayed, ey did not doubt that this tight control was for good reason — or at least what True Name considered good reason.</p>
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<p>Ey had kept that note to emself.</p>
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<p>Ey had kept that note to emself.</p>
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<p>The news of True Name visiting Ioan and May Then My Name was not, in and of itself, surprising. Ey had suspected she would do as much as soon ey had read anxiety in her expression at the mention of May Then My Name. She had surely sent message back to L<sub>5</sub> within seconds of em telling her such.</p>
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<p>The news of True Name visiting Ioan and May Then My Name was not, in and of itself, surprising. Ey had suspected she would do as much as soon ey had read anxiety in her expression at the mention of May Then My Name. She had surely sent message back to L<sub>5</sub> within seconds of em telling her such.</p>
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<p>It was the reaction that Ioan described that bore the surprise. True Name was a touchy topic with one of eir partners, and the cold hatred of one of its cocladists was…well, ey could read melancholy in the fennec’s face as easily as any other emotion. Ever since news of May Then My Name’s thoughts on her down-tree instance had made their way across the light-days of distance, there had been more of that. There had been days of silence, days of tears, days of walking the prairie for hours at a time. When pressed, it would simply say, <em>“She is the best of us.”</em></p>
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<p>It was the reaction that Ioan described that bore the surprise. True Name was a touchy topic with one of eir partners, and the cold hatred of one of its cocladists was…well, ey could read melancholy in the fennec’s face as easily as any other emotion. Ever since news of May Then My Name’s thoughts on her down-tree instance had made their way across the light-days of distance, there had been more of that. There had been days of silence, days of tears, days of walking the prairie for hours at a time. When pressed, it would simply say, <em>“She is the best of us.”</em></p>
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<p>Ey suspected that it was worried that cracks were showing across the clade. Ioan had admitted such concerns as well, and even mentioned that May Then My Name herself seemed to be harboring fears. “If Dear overflows with undirected energy,” Ioan had written once. “Then May overflows with tears. I make a lot of chicken soup for her to have something comforting, though I’m not sure how much it helps. It’s the only time she ever asks to be alone, and I will go stay with Douglas. She will spend hours in bed, letting out all of the overwhelming emotion that she needs to in order to become whole again. I love her deeply, but I’m sure you must know the pain of watching someone you love going through something like that.”</p>
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<p>Ey suspected that it was worried that cracks were showing across the clade. Ioan had admitted to having such concerns as well, and even mentioned that May Then My Name herself seemed to be harboring fears. “If Dear overflows with undirected energy,” Ioan had written once. “Then May overflows with tears. I make a lot of chicken soup for her to have something comforting, though I’m not sure how much it helps. It’s the only time she ever asks to be alone, and I will go stay with Douglas. She will spend hours in bed, letting out all of the overwhelming emotion that she needs to in order to become whole again. I love her deeply, but I’m sure you must know the pain of watching someone you love going through something like that.”</p>
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<p>That had been another message ey had kept to emself.</p>
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<p>That had been another message ey had kept to emself.</p>
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<p>The surprise had been not in May Then My Name’s reaction — though Ioan had stated that ey was laying in supplies for chicken soup — but in True Name’s. May Then My Name was the best of the clade, or at least the best of that stanza, and even True Name knew that.</p>
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<p>The surprise had been not in May Then My Name’s reaction — though Ioan had stated that ey was laying in supplies for chicken soup — but in True Name’s. May Then My Name was the best of the clade, or at least the best of that stanza, and even True Name knew that.</p>
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<p>So today, they mostly lay in silence. It was not unpleasant, for the sun was on high and the temperature was perfect and ey could simply lay there with those ey loved.</p>
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<p>So today, they mostly lay in silence. It was not unpleasant, for the sun was on high and the temperature was perfect and ey could simply lay there with those ey loved.</p>
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<p>Ey could feel it shrug against the picnic blanket before it said, <em>“Perhaps. Perhaps they can sense radio waves, or perhaps, as suggested by their letter, they can sense time in some new way if they have fine-tuned control over how they experience it.”</em></p>
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<p>Ey could feel it shrug against the picnic blanket before it said, <em>“Perhaps. Perhaps they can sense radio waves, or perhaps, as suggested by their letter, they can sense time in some new way if they have fine-tuned control over how they experience it.”</em></p>
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<p>“Don’t we have forking and merging?” its partner asked. “Aren’t those new senses? Or at least sensations.”</p>
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<p>“Don’t we have forking and merging?” its partner asked. “Aren’t those new senses? Or at least sensations.”</p>
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<p><em>“In a way, I suppose, but we can learn them. They are tied to will, as one wills a fork to exist, and they are tied to memory, as one deals with the merger as though one is remembering the fork’s experiences.”</em></p>
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<p><em>“In a way, I suppose, but we can learn them. They are tied to will, as one wills a fork to exist, and they are tied to memory, as one deals with the merger as though one is remembering the fork’s experiences.”</em></p>
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<p>Ey could feel the idea click into place. “But we may not even be able to experience that in the same way as them. We may learn it in a fundamentally different way. Maybe we won’t even be able to take part in it because we may be built fundamentally different.”</p>
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<p>Ey could feel the idea click into place. “But we may not even be able to experience that in the same way as them. We may learn it in a fundamentally different way. Maybe we won’t even be able to take part in it because we ourselves may be fundamentally different.”</p>
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<p>Dear sat up quickly, laughing. <em>“Yes, precisely! What an interesting problem. I am excited to see what all we learn.”</em></p>
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<p>Dear sat up quickly, laughing. <em>“Yes, precisely! What an interesting problem. I am excited to see what all we learn.”</em></p>
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<p>The other two sat up. Codrin was not at all surprised to see the grin on the fox’s face.</p>
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<p>The other two sat up. Codrin was not at all surprised to see the grin on the fox’s face.</p>
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<p><em>“There is much we can learn about them from their language, I expect. I am no linguist, but how they describe their control over time, should they chose to do so, will provide much insight into the ways something that is not us perceives and interacts with their world around them. They may process signs — signs in the semiotic sense — in a very different way, and we will be able to use that and apply it to the hypotheses that we have formed over the years.”</em></p>
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<p><em>“There is much we can learn about them from their language, I expect. I am no linguist, but how they describe their control over time, should they chose to do so, will provide much insight into the ways something that is not us perceives and interacts with their world around them. They may process signs — signs in the semiotic sense — in a very different way, and we will be able to use that and apply it to the hypotheses that we have formed over the years.”</em></p>
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<p>Ey shrugged. “I have incomplete thoughts on that.”</p>
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<p>Ey shrugged. “I have incomplete thoughts on that.”</p>
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<p>The fox nodded. <em>“I will not push, but I am eager to hear them at some point.”</em></p>
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<p>The fox nodded. <em>“I will not push, but I am eager to hear them at some point.”</em></p>
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<p>Ey nodded. “Of course, Dear.”</p>
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<p>Ey nodded. “Of course, Dear.”</p>
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<p>Their other partner yawned, then let out a contented sigh. “You know, if sunlight had weight, I would use it as a blanket. It’s such a good feeling.”</p>
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<p>Their other partner yawned, then let out a contented sigh. “You know, if sunlight had weight, I would use it as a blanket. It’s such a nice feeling.”</p>
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<p>“‘If sunlight had weight’?” Codrin laughed. “That sounds like a line of poetry.”</p>
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<p>“‘If sunlight had weight’?” Codrin laughed. “That sounds like a line of poetry.”</p>
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<p>They threw a pebble at em. “I need at least the feeling of a blanket over me if I’m going to sleep.”</p>
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<p>They threw a pebble at em. “I need at least the feeling of a blanket over me if I’m going to sleep.”</p>
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<p>“Going to take a nap? We’ve got a blanket right here.”</p>
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<p>“Going to take a nap? We’ve got a blanket right here.”</p>
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<p><em>“I will not go, though,”</em> the fox repeated. <em>“I will await your stories, but I will not go.”</em></p>
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<p><em>“I will not go, though,”</em> the fox repeated. <em>“I will await your stories, but I will not go.”</em></p>
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<p>“I’ll bring back some good ones, then.”</p>
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<p>“I’ll bring back some good ones, then.”</p>
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<p><em>“I know you will. It will be an experience that I am sure many will want to know about. I know that, should you choose to write about it, the Systems will look forward to it.”</em></p>
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<p><em>“I know you will. It will be an experience that I am sure many will want to know about. I know that, should you choose to write about it, the Systems will look forward to it.”</em></p>
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<p>Ey kept eir private thoughts on whether ey would actually do so to emself. They were still not fully formed, but ey could sense that doubt lingering.</p>
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<p>Ey nodded. The idea of a project such as this lingered in eir gut like a weight, and the fact that dread tinged the excitement ey had about it only added to eir anxiety. Ey kept these thoughts to emself.</p>
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<p><em>“But, my dear, do be watchful. There will be two Odists on that mission, and they will share in some of my trepidation.”</em> It took eir hand in its paw and gave the back of it an affectionate lick. The gesture seemed to be one designed to minimize the anxiety in the statement, but eirs or Dears, ey could not tell. <em>“They share that same trauma. Be watchful and remember what I said: even True Name has emotions, even she will be affected.”</em></p>
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<p><em>“But, my dear, do be watchful. There will be two Odists on that mission, and they will share in some of my trepidation.”</em> It took eir hand in its paw and gave the back of it an affectionate lick. The gesture seemed to be one designed to minimize the anxiety in the statement, but eirs or Dears, ey could not tell. <em>“They share that same trauma. Be watchful and remember what I said: even True Name has emotions, even she will be affected.”</em></p>
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<p>Page generated on 2022-01-06</p>
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<p>Page generated on 2022-01-11</p>
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