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Christmas!! Yea!! What fun it is!! Think of
the wunnerful snow. The cool ice. The
big tree and all the presents.
And the tall, feathered... alien... starship
Captains...
(I'm absolutely positive the avian fur fans are gonna
*love* this one.)
.
.
............................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................
>>>>> The Big Bird Santa Claus <<<<<
© Fred Brown, Sept 22/2002 (rev. Jul 29/14)
Author's Note: Permission has not been received for the use of the trademarked Sesame
Street name, or the characters. Please don't send Oscar the Grouch over to chew my
tail off. :- )
Story can be downloaded from here: THE BIG BIRD SANTA CLAUS - ODT
............................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................
❱❱❱❱ NOTA BENE: This copy is in a clearer, better-readable font, and can only be read on DARK screens.
The Enhanced text copy that's readable on cyan screens is here: The Big Bird Santa Claus (Enhanced text)
............................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................
=============================================================================
"You look like Big-Bird," Cindy Sherman giggled. "Only your feathers are
orange."
"Well, that's a good thing, isn't it?" Ximerfell-Captain said calmly.
They were in the Sherman's living room. A huge Christmas tree sat
fragrantly in the corner, groaning under the weight of colorful decorations
and blinking lights. Cindy had just walked in.
The tall alien dipped his beak towards Sam, Cindy's father.
"What in the name of Saturn's rings is a 'Big Bird?" Ximerfell-Captain
asked in a low, cautious twitter.
"A character in a childrens television show. It's a good thing," Sam
whispered back.
"You don't sound like Big Bird though," the six-year-old giggled again.
"Oh? What does Big Bird sound like?" tweeted the two-meter tall
ersatz emu. The neck was shorter, the head larger with a long beak, and
the short wings ended in finger-like stiff feathers that could grasp and
hold things.
"Oh, let me show you!" Cindy squealed, then made a dash for the
DVD player. She fumbled with a stack of disks, and found one. She
popped it in the tray and slammed her small hand against the play button.
Then she turned and rushed for the television mounted on the wall and
turned it on.
The little girl spun around and plopped down two feet in front of the
60-inch screen, eyes wide, her racing done.
Ximerfell-Captain's head stopped spinning from trying to follow the
energetic child. "Your younglings move so fast, Sam," Ximerfell-Captain
said quietly. "Ours can't even walk until they're five sols old."
"Sols. Five solar revolutions. That's five years," Sam replied. "She was
toddling after one year."
The man, the child, and the alien watched a minute or so of Elmo,
then Big Bird appeared with some children.
"That's him! That's him!" Cindy squealed.
"Oh. I see. Hmmm. Looks a bit like my sixth-nestling-hindmother, twice
removed," Ximerfell-Captain observed.
"Huh?" Cindy said, twisting around in puzzlement.
"One of my relatives,"Ximerfell-Captain said dryly.
"Oh," Cindy said, and turned back to the screen, rapt.
"And a royal pain in the pin-feathers. And I mean that literally,"
Ximerfell-Captain whispered to Sam.
Sam laughed. "Let me report in. You seem to have a fan in Cindy."
"That's why you, a sociologist, invited me to Christmas Eve dinner,"
Ximerfell-Captain murmured. "We have to get to know each other. Mission
accomplished. Or on the way to being."
Sam keyed the intercom unit on his wrist. He wore a compact
headset with an inconspicuous mike. A miniscule vidcam was mounted
above one ear like a pen.
"Sam here," Sam said, soto voce. "Cindy loves him. She thinks he
looks like Big Bird."
In his earpiece, Carol Jundersen's voice laughed in a lilting Swedish
accent.
"Now that's going to make my bosses happy," Jundersen said,
sounding relieved. "After the Turkevar fiasco they had their worries."
The back room in the basement had been filled to the ceiling with all
manner of video, sound, communications, and computer equipment. And
the three-person United Nations Contact Team to run it all. The whole
dinner would be monitored and recorded, with the Ximerfell's permission.
"So the Turkevar have claws and teeth to make a tiger run away,"
Sam said. "That's not their fault. Their sense of humour is great."
"Sure scared the snot out of the kids in China."
"Yeah. Pity. But the Russian kids liked the Turkevar. Thought they
were just big wolves with purple fur."
"Refreshing compared to the Oeyvina. Predator squids with claws 'n fangs?
And incredibly good diplomats? Wow."
"Signing off. Gail will have dinner ready soon. I'm going to go help
and leave Cindy to play with Ximerfell-Captain."
"Okay on this end. Send us a plate or two when you carve the turkey.
One day early, but special occasion, eh?"
"Will do."
Sam keyed off and looked at Ximerfell-Captain. For sure, they'd made
certain to check the menu with the Ximerfell first. The idea of having a
bird over for dinner, then eating a bird for dinner, could have been a
problem.
But the Ximerfell ate meat too. Hey, protein is protein, they had said.
Where you get it is none of our business. So long as we don't end up
snacking on each other everything's fine.
Sam smiled thinly. No doubt certain unscrupulous execs at Kentucky
Fried Chicken were wondering how well the Ximerfell might fit in a
cardboard bucket.
But that would probably be a decided breach of diplomatic immunity.
The giant ship had cruised into the solar system six months ago,
broadcasting greetings on every frequency in the electromagnetic
spectrum from radio to X-rays, even to semaphore code with giant
blinking red lasers.
After communications had been established and everybody had
gotten over the shock, the United Nations had stepped in and taken
charge.
The Ship was on an economic and political mission to welcome Earth
into the Galactic Union. And not one but dozens of different types of aliens
emerged from the shuttlecraft that landed in New York, Washington,
Beijing, London, and elsewhere. The aliens were nothing if not ferocious
tourists.
There was more life and other races in the galaxy than anybody could
count. And now humans were being invited to take part in the community
of worlds that was the GU. This would be a tricky process. Serious
understatement, there.
"I'm going to help Gail in the kitchen. Cindy, can you play with
Ximerfell-Captain for a while?" Sam asked.
"Sure," Cindy said, and looked at Ximerfell-Captain. "Do you want to
play with me?" she asked shyly.
"Of course I do," Ximerfell-Captain said cheerfully. "Can't think of
anything better to do until we eat dinner."
"I'm just a little kid," Cindy said slowly. "Are you sure you won't be
bored? I know you're a lot smarter than me."
Ximerfell-Captain reached up with a wing and gestured. "Nope. Cross
my heart and hope to die."
Thank the gods for the briefing on body language, Ximerfell-Captain
thought. It made the problem of communication so much easier.
But that problem would be solved tonight. Or so Ximerfell-Captain
hoped. Unconsciously, he patted his belly-pouch where Cindy's Christmas
gift was hidden.
Oh yes, a lot of problems would be solved after tonight. Assuming,
that is, that the Ship's Computer had read these humans correctly.
And if not...?
Ximerfell-Captain suppressed a shiver. Captains get paid to take
risks. Keep repeating that slogan, over and over, until you believe it.
What a stupid slogan, Ximerfell-Captain thought sourly to himself.
"Come on up to my room and I'll show you all my Sesame Street
stuff," Cindy chirped. She turned and scooted for the stairs.
A minute later, the little girl and the alien were sitting on Cindy's bed
poring over a Sesame Street coloring book. Cindy was proudly turning
pages and chattering brightly.
"And this is Elmo, he's my favourite, he's so funny and red and furry,
an' he's just a little kid like me, I want to meet him someday when we go
on vacation next summer and this is..."
Ximerfell-Captain nodded and tweeped appropriately for a few
moments. Then he opened a telepathic channel.
"[Do you have enough to synthesize and fool the surveillance?]"
Ximerfell-Captain asked.
The little computer in Cindy's 'gift' woke up. "[Yes. All they'll see is us
looking at the colouring book,]" it said.
"[Good work. Give me two minutes.]"
"Cindy, may I ask you something?" Ximerfell-Captain cut in, when the
little girl finally had to pause for a breath.
"What?" Cindy asked, her blue eyes looking up.
Ximerfell-Captain bent lower a bit. "Would you like one of your
Christmas presents one night early? I did bring you one, you know."
Cindy's eyes opened wide. "Ohhh, do you have Christmas too where
you come from?"
Ximerfell-Captain chuckled. "No, but it's always polite to bring a gift
when you visit someone. I just thought I'd make it a Christmas present.
Do you want it now?"
The Ship's Computer had calculated the probability of her saying no
to be...
"Oh yes, yes, yes, yes!!!" Cindy squealed happily, and began
bouncing up and down on the bed.
...Far smaller than zero. "All right," Ximerfell-Captain smiled (or on
his beak it looked like a smile). "Close your eyes and hold out your hands."
The little girl scrunched her eyes tight and held out both hands in a cup.
This was it. Ximerfell-Captain pulled the gift out of his pouch and
placed it in Cindy's hands.
The marble-sized machine went to work. A microscopic probe
painlessly injected the dose of genetically engineered bacteria. The
synthetic microorganisms poured into Cindy's bloodstream, skipped
through the blood-brain barrier as if there wasn't one, and went straight
to the pre-planned target sites in her brain.
Before the little girl had time to open her eyes, the artificial lifeforms
had constructed the neural network necessary for telepathy. Then they
died and vanished.
The computer opened a channel and began the data dump.
Knowledge rushed over the link. Floods and floods of knowledge.
Whole libraries worth. Every scrap of information and data the Ship's
Computer could think of, that might be valuable, had been compressed
and stored and put into a form the little girl's mind could use.
To call it an avalanche would've been another understatement. Cindy
stiffened. Ximerfell-Captain watched carefully.
But it was over in moments. Ximerfell-Captain held his breath.
Slowly, Cindy opened her eyes and looked up steadily at
Ximerfell-Captain, no longer with the gaze of a six-year old.
She opened a telepathic channel.
"[In a fraction of a heartbeat, you have given me vast knowledge of
the Universe,]" Cindy said coolly. "[You have changed me, and robbed me
of the next few years of my childhood with this knowledge. Why?]"
Ah yes: Right here. If it was all going to fall into the Sun and
explode, it would start right here...
"[Use what you now know to answer that,]" Ximerfell-Captain said
calmly (though hardly so on the inside). "[The answer is a simple one.]"
Cindy thought for a long second. Then she blinked. "[Oh. Right. The
First Contact problem.]"
Ximerfell-Captain nodded. "[Wherever you go in the Universe, you're
going to meet alien cultures that are either at your technological and
social level, above your level, or...]"
"[...Below your technosocial level.]" Cindy finished slowly. "[In which
case you run the risk of destroying that alien culture by even so much as
letting them know you exist. They're roadkill, deer in the headlights, their
entire society destabilized and demolished by the torrent of new technology
and knowledge.]"
Cindy stared up at the alien bird. "[Hey, wait a minute! That's us,
isn't it?]" she said in horror. She reached up and felt her forehead.
"[Telepathy, for God's sake. That alone is going to kick over sooo many
applecarts...]"
"[Not if we can help it,]" Ximerfell-Captain cut in sharply. "[We've
been in the First Contact business for a long time. This is the solution the
Ship's Computer has recommended.]"
Cindy's jaw dropped in disbelief. "[What, dropping gigatons of data
into the minds of children? Without a milligram of consent? What the hell
kind of a solution is that?]" she squeaked in outrage.
Ximerfell-Captain twittered sharply, the human equivalent of a wry
laugh. "[And if we did it to adults?]"
Cindy opened her mouth. Then paused. Then shut it glumly.
"[Ho-kay, point for you. Destabilization, all over the landscape. Whoever
gets the treatment becomes as like a god, knowledge-wise. And who
decides who gets it, and what knowledge, and at what price? And
The Ship's Computer had calculated the probability of her saying no
to be...
culturally it sucks. 'Hi, we're super-smart aliens from outer space. Stick
your ignorant brains into this magic box for a second. We can fix you.']"
Cindy shuddered. "[Hope you guys have body armour that's good
against hydrogen bombs. You might need it with us.]"
"[Like I said, not if we can help it,]" Ximerfell-Captain murmured
serenely. "[Remember now, I did say this was a Christmas gift. Although
certainly not an obvious one.]"
Cindy looked blank. "[Think it through,]" Ximerfell-Captain urged.
Cindy reflected. "[Well, I now know everything there is to know about
the Galactic Union,]" she said slowly. "[I could travel to any planet,
around any star, and I'd have everything I need to know at my fingertips.
Everything about it's people, the society, the languages, the politics, the
economy..."]
Cindy put a small finger to her chin in a gesture that was in no way
the gesture of a child.
"[And when I grow older, I could do such traveling, couldn't I?]"
Cindy mused.
Then it hit her, and the human child looked up at the alien, mixed
wonder and awe in her eyes.
"[That's the gift, isn't it?]" Cindy breathed with joy. "[You have given
me the stars!!]"
"Merry Christmas, Cindy," Ximerfell-Captain whispered fondly out
loud to the new human diplomat.
--- Fin.
Jul 30/14
=============================================================================
the wunnerful snow. The cool ice. The
big tree and all the presents.
And the tall, feathered... alien... starship
Captains...
(I'm absolutely positive the avian fur fans are gonna
*love* this one.)
.
.
............................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................
>>>>> The Big Bird Santa Claus <<<<<
© Fred Brown, Sept 22/2002 (rev. Jul 29/14)
Author's Note: Permission has not been received for the use of the trademarked Sesame
Street name, or the characters. Please don't send Oscar the Grouch over to chew my
tail off. :- )
Story can be downloaded from here: THE BIG BIRD SANTA CLAUS - ODT
............................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................
❱❱❱❱ NOTA BENE: This copy is in a clearer, better-readable font, and can only be read on DARK screens.
The Enhanced text copy that's readable on cyan screens is here: The Big Bird Santa Claus (Enhanced text)
............................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................
=============================================================================
"You look like Big-Bird," Cindy Sherman giggled. "Only your feathers are
orange."
"Well, that's a good thing, isn't it?" Ximerfell-Captain said calmly.
They were in the Sherman's living room. A huge Christmas tree sat
fragrantly in the corner, groaning under the weight of colorful decorations
and blinking lights. Cindy had just walked in.
The tall alien dipped his beak towards Sam, Cindy's father.
"What in the name of Saturn's rings is a 'Big Bird?" Ximerfell-Captain
asked in a low, cautious twitter.
"A character in a childrens television show. It's a good thing," Sam
whispered back.
"You don't sound like Big Bird though," the six-year-old giggled again.
"Oh? What does Big Bird sound like?" tweeted the two-meter tall
ersatz emu. The neck was shorter, the head larger with a long beak, and
the short wings ended in finger-like stiff feathers that could grasp and
hold things.
"Oh, let me show you!" Cindy squealed, then made a dash for the
DVD player. She fumbled with a stack of disks, and found one. She
popped it in the tray and slammed her small hand against the play button.
Then she turned and rushed for the television mounted on the wall and
turned it on.
The little girl spun around and plopped down two feet in front of the
60-inch screen, eyes wide, her racing done.
Ximerfell-Captain's head stopped spinning from trying to follow the
energetic child. "Your younglings move so fast, Sam," Ximerfell-Captain
said quietly. "Ours can't even walk until they're five sols old."
"Sols. Five solar revolutions. That's five years," Sam replied. "She was
toddling after one year."
The man, the child, and the alien watched a minute or so of Elmo,
then Big Bird appeared with some children.
"That's him! That's him!" Cindy squealed.
"Oh. I see. Hmmm. Looks a bit like my sixth-nestling-hindmother, twice
removed," Ximerfell-Captain observed.
"Huh?" Cindy said, twisting around in puzzlement.
"One of my relatives,"Ximerfell-Captain said dryly.
"Oh," Cindy said, and turned back to the screen, rapt.
"And a royal pain in the pin-feathers. And I mean that literally,"
Ximerfell-Captain whispered to Sam.
Sam laughed. "Let me report in. You seem to have a fan in Cindy."
"That's why you, a sociologist, invited me to Christmas Eve dinner,"
Ximerfell-Captain murmured. "We have to get to know each other. Mission
accomplished. Or on the way to being."
Sam keyed the intercom unit on his wrist. He wore a compact
headset with an inconspicuous mike. A miniscule vidcam was mounted
above one ear like a pen.
"Sam here," Sam said, soto voce. "Cindy loves him. She thinks he
looks like Big Bird."
In his earpiece, Carol Jundersen's voice laughed in a lilting Swedish
accent.
"Now that's going to make my bosses happy," Jundersen said,
sounding relieved. "After the Turkevar fiasco they had their worries."
The back room in the basement had been filled to the ceiling with all
manner of video, sound, communications, and computer equipment. And
the three-person United Nations Contact Team to run it all. The whole
dinner would be monitored and recorded, with the Ximerfell's permission.
"So the Turkevar have claws and teeth to make a tiger run away,"
Sam said. "That's not their fault. Their sense of humour is great."
"Sure scared the snot out of the kids in China."
"Yeah. Pity. But the Russian kids liked the Turkevar. Thought they
were just big wolves with purple fur."
"Refreshing compared to the Oeyvina. Predator squids with claws 'n fangs?
And incredibly good diplomats? Wow."
"Signing off. Gail will have dinner ready soon. I'm going to go help
and leave Cindy to play with Ximerfell-Captain."
"Okay on this end. Send us a plate or two when you carve the turkey.
One day early, but special occasion, eh?"
"Will do."
Sam keyed off and looked at Ximerfell-Captain. For sure, they'd made
certain to check the menu with the Ximerfell first. The idea of having a
bird over for dinner, then eating a bird for dinner, could have been a
problem.
But the Ximerfell ate meat too. Hey, protein is protein, they had said.
Where you get it is none of our business. So long as we don't end up
snacking on each other everything's fine.
Sam smiled thinly. No doubt certain unscrupulous execs at Kentucky
Fried Chicken were wondering how well the Ximerfell might fit in a
cardboard bucket.
But that would probably be a decided breach of diplomatic immunity.
The giant ship had cruised into the solar system six months ago,
broadcasting greetings on every frequency in the electromagnetic
spectrum from radio to X-rays, even to semaphore code with giant
blinking red lasers.
After communications had been established and everybody had
gotten over the shock, the United Nations had stepped in and taken
charge.
The Ship was on an economic and political mission to welcome Earth
into the Galactic Union. And not one but dozens of different types of aliens
emerged from the shuttlecraft that landed in New York, Washington,
Beijing, London, and elsewhere. The aliens were nothing if not ferocious
tourists.
There was more life and other races in the galaxy than anybody could
count. And now humans were being invited to take part in the community
of worlds that was the GU. This would be a tricky process. Serious
understatement, there.
"I'm going to help Gail in the kitchen. Cindy, can you play with
Ximerfell-Captain for a while?" Sam asked.
"Sure," Cindy said, and looked at Ximerfell-Captain. "Do you want to
play with me?" she asked shyly.
"Of course I do," Ximerfell-Captain said cheerfully. "Can't think of
anything better to do until we eat dinner."
"I'm just a little kid," Cindy said slowly. "Are you sure you won't be
bored? I know you're a lot smarter than me."
Ximerfell-Captain reached up with a wing and gestured. "Nope. Cross
my heart and hope to die."
Thank the gods for the briefing on body language, Ximerfell-Captain
thought. It made the problem of communication so much easier.
But that problem would be solved tonight. Or so Ximerfell-Captain
hoped. Unconsciously, he patted his belly-pouch where Cindy's Christmas
gift was hidden.
Oh yes, a lot of problems would be solved after tonight. Assuming,
that is, that the Ship's Computer had read these humans correctly.
And if not...?
Ximerfell-Captain suppressed a shiver. Captains get paid to take
risks. Keep repeating that slogan, over and over, until you believe it.
What a stupid slogan, Ximerfell-Captain thought sourly to himself.
"Come on up to my room and I'll show you all my Sesame Street
stuff," Cindy chirped. She turned and scooted for the stairs.
A minute later, the little girl and the alien were sitting on Cindy's bed
poring over a Sesame Street coloring book. Cindy was proudly turning
pages and chattering brightly.
"And this is Elmo, he's my favourite, he's so funny and red and furry,
an' he's just a little kid like me, I want to meet him someday when we go
on vacation next summer and this is..."
Ximerfell-Captain nodded and tweeped appropriately for a few
moments. Then he opened a telepathic channel.
"[Do you have enough to synthesize and fool the surveillance?]"
Ximerfell-Captain asked.
The little computer in Cindy's 'gift' woke up. "[Yes. All they'll see is us
looking at the colouring book,]" it said.
"[Good work. Give me two minutes.]"
"Cindy, may I ask you something?" Ximerfell-Captain cut in, when the
little girl finally had to pause for a breath.
"What?" Cindy asked, her blue eyes looking up.
Ximerfell-Captain bent lower a bit. "Would you like one of your
Christmas presents one night early? I did bring you one, you know."
Cindy's eyes opened wide. "Ohhh, do you have Christmas too where
you come from?"
Ximerfell-Captain chuckled. "No, but it's always polite to bring a gift
when you visit someone. I just thought I'd make it a Christmas present.
Do you want it now?"
The Ship's Computer had calculated the probability of her saying no
to be...
"Oh yes, yes, yes, yes!!!" Cindy squealed happily, and began
bouncing up and down on the bed.
...Far smaller than zero. "All right," Ximerfell-Captain smiled (or on
his beak it looked like a smile). "Close your eyes and hold out your hands."
The little girl scrunched her eyes tight and held out both hands in a cup.
This was it. Ximerfell-Captain pulled the gift out of his pouch and
placed it in Cindy's hands.
The marble-sized machine went to work. A microscopic probe
painlessly injected the dose of genetically engineered bacteria. The
synthetic microorganisms poured into Cindy's bloodstream, skipped
through the blood-brain barrier as if there wasn't one, and went straight
to the pre-planned target sites in her brain.
Before the little girl had time to open her eyes, the artificial lifeforms
had constructed the neural network necessary for telepathy. Then they
died and vanished.
The computer opened a channel and began the data dump.
Knowledge rushed over the link. Floods and floods of knowledge.
Whole libraries worth. Every scrap of information and data the Ship's
Computer could think of, that might be valuable, had been compressed
and stored and put into a form the little girl's mind could use.
To call it an avalanche would've been another understatement. Cindy
stiffened. Ximerfell-Captain watched carefully.
But it was over in moments. Ximerfell-Captain held his breath.
Slowly, Cindy opened her eyes and looked up steadily at
Ximerfell-Captain, no longer with the gaze of a six-year old.
She opened a telepathic channel.
"[In a fraction of a heartbeat, you have given me vast knowledge of
the Universe,]" Cindy said coolly. "[You have changed me, and robbed me
of the next few years of my childhood with this knowledge. Why?]"
Ah yes: Right here. If it was all going to fall into the Sun and
explode, it would start right here...
"[Use what you now know to answer that,]" Ximerfell-Captain said
calmly (though hardly so on the inside). "[The answer is a simple one.]"
Cindy thought for a long second. Then she blinked. "[Oh. Right. The
First Contact problem.]"
Ximerfell-Captain nodded. "[Wherever you go in the Universe, you're
going to meet alien cultures that are either at your technological and
social level, above your level, or...]"
"[...Below your technosocial level.]" Cindy finished slowly. "[In which
case you run the risk of destroying that alien culture by even so much as
letting them know you exist. They're roadkill, deer in the headlights, their
entire society destabilized and demolished by the torrent of new technology
and knowledge.]"
Cindy stared up at the alien bird. "[Hey, wait a minute! That's us,
isn't it?]" she said in horror. She reached up and felt her forehead.
"[Telepathy, for God's sake. That alone is going to kick over sooo many
applecarts...]"
"[Not if we can help it,]" Ximerfell-Captain cut in sharply. "[We've
been in the First Contact business for a long time. This is the solution the
Ship's Computer has recommended.]"
Cindy's jaw dropped in disbelief. "[What, dropping gigatons of data
into the minds of children? Without a milligram of consent? What the hell
kind of a solution is that?]" she squeaked in outrage.
Ximerfell-Captain twittered sharply, the human equivalent of a wry
laugh. "[And if we did it to adults?]"
Cindy opened her mouth. Then paused. Then shut it glumly.
"[Ho-kay, point for you. Destabilization, all over the landscape. Whoever
gets the treatment becomes as like a god, knowledge-wise. And who
decides who gets it, and what knowledge, and at what price? And
The Ship's Computer had calculated the probability of her saying no
to be...
culturally it sucks. 'Hi, we're super-smart aliens from outer space. Stick
your ignorant brains into this magic box for a second. We can fix you.']"
Cindy shuddered. "[Hope you guys have body armour that's good
against hydrogen bombs. You might need it with us.]"
"[Like I said, not if we can help it,]" Ximerfell-Captain murmured
serenely. "[Remember now, I did say this was a Christmas gift. Although
certainly not an obvious one.]"
Cindy looked blank. "[Think it through,]" Ximerfell-Captain urged.
Cindy reflected. "[Well, I now know everything there is to know about
the Galactic Union,]" she said slowly. "[I could travel to any planet,
around any star, and I'd have everything I need to know at my fingertips.
Everything about it's people, the society, the languages, the politics, the
economy..."]
Cindy put a small finger to her chin in a gesture that was in no way
the gesture of a child.
"[And when I grow older, I could do such traveling, couldn't I?]"
Cindy mused.
Then it hit her, and the human child looked up at the alien, mixed
wonder and awe in her eyes.
"[That's the gift, isn't it?]" Cindy breathed with joy. "[You have given
me the stars!!]"
"Merry Christmas, Cindy," Ximerfell-Captain whispered fondly out
loud to the new human diplomat.
--- Fin.
Jul 30/14
=============================================================================
Category All / All
Species Avian (Other)
Size 240 x 240px
File Size 2.1 kB
Comments