“They never fail to astonish me,” he thought, peering through the viewpiece at the subjects of his study. “Whatever new variable we introduce, they invariably find some way to involve it in their sexual practices. At least Earthlings are consistent, if somewhat disturbing.”
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“Did you get the concentrate?”
“No problem.” He held up the vial full of coarse orange granules.
“Finally!” Moving quickly, she snatched the vial, uncorked it, and poured the contents into a glass of water. “TANG is so hard to find since Kraft seceded from the corporatocracy.”
Anything, he had realized, no matter how exciting, lost its shine eventually. However bright the colors or loud the exultations, it all had a grey, dreary pallor when seen year after year through the walls of his glass coffin standing in the town square.
“I told you I had to integrate the all the systems before we could start!”
“Yes, I know—I just didn’t realize you meant…all the systems,” they replied, looking in horror at the wires and tubes running from the console and snaking under their skin.
“A real ray gun? That’s fantastic!” Excited, he tossed the box aside and examined the weapon.
“No,” his father disagreed, “it’s science fictional. That’s fantastic,” he said, and pointed out the window at the hippogriff seated in their front yard.
A surprise inheritance was strange enough, but that it included lakeside property had stunned her when she got the notice. Not as stunned, of course, as when she discovered it was actually a cemetery whose residents weren’t as quiet as she expected.
Merely being rich wasn’t enough. Even being the richest person wasn’t enough. But finally, he had amassed all the wealth there was; all else was poverty. And as Bezos looked over the wastelands from atop the Amazon citadel, he still yearned for more.
He watched the floor in satisfaction from the DJ booth as the crowd moved to the sounds of the music. Those recordings of readings from ancient texts he’d layered into the mix had definitely helped. Now nobody could stop dancing until he decided it was time.
It’s one thing to know the regulation that everything has to be in secure storage before the jump to light speed. But the point is really driven home when you see the size of the hole that inertia and a loose pencil can punch through the hull.
“I’m sorry,” she said, blinking to hold back tears. “I’ll miss you, but…well, people judge us by the company we keep, and I can’t be seen with you anymore.” She backed slowly away, watching carefully for any tentacles trying to keep her from leaving.