“A World Lost” by Joel Kreissman

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You’re listening to The Voice of Dog.

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I’m Khaki, your faithful fireside companion,

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and today’s story is

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“A World Lost” by Joel Kreissman,

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who is a fox from Wisconsin who didn’t stay in college long enough to learn how to become a real one,

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check out his debut novel

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The Pride of Parahumans by Bound Tales

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and you can find more of his stories on his webpage.

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“A World Lost”

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by Joel Kreissman

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Ferrikesh splayed his pedipalps across the copper wires and brackets

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splayed out before him on the workbench.

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His three arms worked fastidiously

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to give form to his latest idea,

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a longer-wave generator.

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His earlier wave sensor had picked up short waves of a millimeter or less emanating from the

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Visitors, those odd bilaterally symmetrical beings that had descended from the stars seven years ago

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and begun to teach some of their far superior science

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to the lowly kershkans,

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but this one should be able to generate waves of a decimeter or more in length.

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He was certain that the waves were some manner of communication between Visitors

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that no kershkan would be able to perceive,

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without his inventions,

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and he knew that the longer waves were used

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the further he was from a Visitor.

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However, he'd never seen them generate waves of more than a millimeter in length,

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with this he could surpass them for sure.

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That would show those oh-so-superior suited beings with their odd double-limbs. Ferrikesh connected the last couple of wires, double-checked that everything was in place, then connected the final lead to the acid generator he used to power his inventions. There was a brief spark

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as he connected that lead and a faint hum

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but nothing else immediately obvious.

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He picked up his sensor and checked the paper scroll feeding out as the tiny needle marked it.

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Success! It was close to 1.4 decimeters long.

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Immediately the kershkan inventor thought of applications,

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he could use pulses of these waves to send some sort of signal from one side of town to the other,

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it would revolutionize communication.

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And without those messy long wires the Visitors had been setting up lately for them.

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Sure, he might not be able to cast voices or images through these waves

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like they could with the wires,

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yet, but they could be set up anywhere,

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without the Visitors' infrastructure. Ferrikesh

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was suddenly reminded by a loss of feeling in one leg

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that he hadn't eaten in a couple of days,

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he decided that he had better celebrate with a couple of drak-beast pies down at the marketplace

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and left the house.

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He was so intent on his goal that he didn't even notice the flying machines swooping in on his home

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from all directions

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as he ran to catch a steam cart. ---

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Ferrikesh came back,

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two of his hands still dripping with grease,

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to find his house surrounded by Visitors.

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Their spindly machines loped or flew around the perimeter

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and pulled knick-knacks and furniture from the house

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while suited figures examined the assorted debris.

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There were variations of course but in general the Visitors were covered from their protruding heads

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to their two feet

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and lifted stabilizing appendages in what appeared to be heavy cloth of differing colors.

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What he presumed were respiratory spiracles at the front of the head

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were covered in a bizarre apparatus of pipes and vents,

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their lightspots by a pair of dark glass lenses.

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The Visitors had claimed

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that they came from worlds that received less sunlight and were colder

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with a much lower oxygen content to the air,

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hence the suits for their comfort,

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but Ferrikesh had suspicions that they simply didn't want to expose their potential

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weaknesses to the barbaric natives.

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Outraged by this indignity Ferrikesh

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dashed towards the interlopers,

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two of his three legs forward

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and pumping hard.

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As he came near one of the Visitors looked up

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and two of the flying machines turned to level guns at him. Ferrikesh

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stopped, he knew from demonstrations that unlike kershkan firearms the Visitors' guns

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could be loaded with multiple bullets

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which they could fire in sequence and rapidly.

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He stopped, rotating his head to bring his lightspots to bear on the suited figures

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and deadly machines in turn.

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Eventually, one Visitor wearing a suit colored in patches of white and black,

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their leader, Selene of Clan Argentum if he remembered right,

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approached him. She was carrying a mass of tangled wires and brass that

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with some trepidation

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Ferrikesh recognized as his wave generator.

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The Visitor made a quick warbling sound followed by a flat mechanical voice speaking in Ferrikesh's native language.

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"Did you make this?"

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It asked. His pride and indignation temporarily overwhelming his sense of self-preservation

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Ferrikesh replied "yes, I did.

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What of it?" As soon as he said that

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Selene tossed the invention on the ground,

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lifted one long foot,

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and stomped down on it.

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She brought her foot down on it again and again until nothing but smashed wires and shattered woodwork remained.

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"If you value your world,

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you will not try that again.

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again." The Visitor leader's device translated her language as.

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"Why?!" Ferrikesh shouted.

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"Why did you do that?

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How did you even know it was there?"

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"We detected it." Was his only response as the Visitors moved to their vehicle,

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parked on the other side of the debris pile.

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"You can detect those waves?"

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The kershkan said incredulously.

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"But, you never used them.

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I never picked them up around you.

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you." He babbled. One of the larger Visitors, dressed in dark blue and carrying a rifle stopped and addressed him.

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"What do you mean you never picked them up?" Ferrikesh

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bent down and rooted through the pile until he found his wave sensor.

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"This responds in your presence.

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presence." He told them, switching it on

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and watching the paper spool out

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with many waves drawn on the slip.

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"I thought maybe you didn't know about the longer waves,

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that was why I never found any around you.

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I guess you have some other sinister reason for not generating waves that long.

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long." He accused. The blue-coated Visitor and Selene directed their faces at each other,

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Ferrikesh noted a spike in activity on his sensor,

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and then Selene turned back to him.

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"If you want to know.

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If you really want to know,

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come with us." She gestured at the vehicle,

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turbines starting to wind up.

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Ferrikesh looked nervously at the Visitor vehicle,

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he knew that some kershkans had been allowed in to the Visitors' outpost,

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even been allowed to see what was under their suits some said,

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but they were sworn to secrecy about most of what had gone on inside.

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He admitted to being a tad anxious about what could happen there, but at the same time

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he knew he wouldn't get a better chance to learn about the mysterious Visitors.

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He stepped towards them,

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one foot forward. ---

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The kershkan inventor spent the next two hours trying to make himself comfortable in a vehicle without seats designed for his body type.

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There was no way he could fit on the odd devices his hosts used to restrain themselves as the craft rocked and swayed,

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like large bowls with a curved wall on one side.

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They fit their stabilizing appendages through a hole in the small wall and bent their legs in half to rest on the bowl part,

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then a series of straps attached to the wall part held them securely.

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At a loss for how he could fit Ferrikesh settled for standing next to a couple of the bowl-things

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and simply holding onto the straps in his arms.

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At first they rose slowly, steadily gaining altitude until they reached some predetermined point,

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and then there was the loud roar of a rocket

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and Ferrikesh was thrown back against the bulkhead.

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Fortunately it was padded with something that arrested his impact gently

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and then molded around his body and head

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to hold him securely.

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Finally, the rocket leveled

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off and the g-forces diminished,

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then the rotors picked up again and they began to land somewhere.

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Before they touched down Ferrikesh

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glanced out the window,

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it was an island, covered with several dome-shaped buildings

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that looked brand new.

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He could see one dome under construction,

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an odd cluster of metallic spindles and tendrils climbing up a half-built wall.

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As they came closer

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he could see that the cluster was an assortment of small Visitor machines

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slowly depositing material and forming a mobile scaffold

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as the swarm moved along.

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One dome split down the middle

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and the two halves fell away as they approached,

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the craft entered the space and landed there,

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the dome closing after them.

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When they eventually touched down the wall released him

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and the Visitors unfastened their belts,

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stood up, and left through the open door of the vehicle.

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The space outside

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seemed to be some sort of

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garage or hangar,

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there were more vehicles of assorted shapes and sizes

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and a variety of things that could be tool boxes or spare parts lying around.

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A Visitor in a tan suit walked up to Ferrikesh

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and held out a garment of red cloth,

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on examining it appeared to be one of the Visitor suits

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built for kershkans. "What's

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this for?" He asked,

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going over the material in his graspers.

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The Visitor who gave him the suit

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whistled something

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and the machine he wore said

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"The rest of the base has our air.

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It's too big of a pain in the posterior to change all of them so you get the suit instead.

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instead." He gestured for Ferrikesh to put it on and after a couple more moments of inspection the kershkan inventor complied.

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Though it took the aid of two more Visitors

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for him to get it fully prepped and sealed.

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When he was sealed in to their satisfaction

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they led him over to a panel on the wall,

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there were a pair of large hinges to one side but

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it seemed to be welded to the wall itself.

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Until one Visitor pressed a button on the panel

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and suddenly a seam appeared between the panel and the wall,

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slowly detaching and swinging open to reveal a doorway into a small chamber which looked

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barely large enough

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to fit three of the Visitors.

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On the far side of the chamber

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he could see another panel,

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while the other two walls were opaque and unadorned.

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Selene stepped forward,

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her translator intoned "well, come on"

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as she stepped into the chamber.

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With some reservations Ferrikesh followed. After the two of them entered the small chamber

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the door closed behind them,

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merging into the wall again.

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Selene checked Ferrikesh's suit seals one last time and then gestured at a lens set into the ceiling.

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There was a hissing sound

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and the kershkan began to feel the sinuses in his respiratory tract expand

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as the air pressure around him

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decreased. Eventually

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the hissing stopped and the Visitor standing next to him started to undo the straps of her own suit.

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Ferrikesh couldn't help himself from staring,

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he was about to see a Visitor unclothed!

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Selene removed the headpiece first,

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her lightspots were indeed underneath the black lenses

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but were reduced to a pair of narrow vertical slits ringed with green

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and mounted on white spheres that rotated in sockets

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set between her mouthparts and ears.

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The ears were triangular flaps that swiveled upward

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and directed their concave sides in his direction,

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while the two mouthparts protruded forwards and opened horizontally when she spoke,

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revealing a double set of pointed

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bony protuberances. Ferrikesh

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was unsettled for a moment

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before remembering that it would be ridiculous for a prey species to evolve sentience.

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She was mostly black in coloration,

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but with a white stripe going between her eyes and down over her mouthparts,

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continuing below and under her suit.

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Then he noticed that her hide was not smooth like his own but covered in

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moss-like bristles and growth,

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he wondered if it was a part of her body

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or some form of symbiotic growth

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as she removed the rest of her suit.

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The color pattern continued the rest of the way down her body,

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with the "front side"

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of her body and her hands and the tip of her stabilizing appendage colored white

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but the rest black.

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The only clothing she wore underneath the suit were a strap about the upper part of her torso that seemed to be intended

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to hold up two round protuberances

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about a hand's breadth in diameter

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that grew from her front,

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and a belt just above her legs that had attachments for an assortment of pouches and tools

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and held a small scrap of cloth

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onto the area where her legs joined.

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Selene hung her outer suit to a hook set in the side wall

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and touched the door on the opposite wall,

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a light turned green

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and the door unmelted from the wall

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and swung open. The Visitor stepped through followed by an anxious Ferrikesh.

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They walked down a narrow metal corridor illuminated by dim lights set into the ceiling,

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once he spotted a portrait of an alien landscape covered in green

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with a blue sky and some figures that he assumed were Visitors of some sort,

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but he didn't have time to examine it before they moved on to the main compartment.

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It was a large open space with a glass window set into the ceiling,

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giving a view of the ruddy sky outside,

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to the sides were alcoves with furniture of assorted types,

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something he assumed was a kitchen,

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and one wall dominated by a long black panel that most of the furniture seemed to be facing.

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On one table he saw a globe hanging suspended in mid-air,

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he reached out to touch it

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and his arm passed through it like there was nothing but empty space where he saw it.

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"It's like one of your lantern shows, just more advanced.

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advanced." Selene explained.

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It reassured Ferrikesh a little bit

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to know that the illusory globe was just a trick of the light

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but the reminder of the Visitors' superiority

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irked him. "I suppose this might be a good starting point.

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point." She continued, opening a panel with several buttons and dials.

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"This, as you probably figured out,

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is your planet." Selene depressed one button

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and the small seas and russet land were replaced by a world with

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massive seas separating three large masses of green and brown land

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with white caps at the poles.

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As he looked more closely he could spot splotches of gray focused on the coastlines

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but extending web-like sinews further inland,

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as the globe rotated he saw the splotches light up and realized

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that they were massive cities.

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"While this is Land,

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the homeworld of my ancestors known as...

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as..." her translator left out the next word,

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from her mouthparts it sounded somewhat like

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"hyu-man-it-ee". "...about 2,300 of our years ago.

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About a hundred of our generations back then before medical science extended them."

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Then, she turned a dial slowly and as he watched the cities expanded,

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"when they discovered your "long waves" we could suddenly communicate over far greater distances.

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The far side of the continent or a boat far from shore could be reached

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as if it were merely the other side of the street.

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But it wasn't enough.

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enough." Then suddenly a fireball shot up from the largest land mass

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and left a small blinking light flying around the equator,

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later joined by more lights

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from both that landmass

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and the second largest one.

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"They figured out how to build and deploy automated relay stations

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that could receive and resend messages from one side of the planet to another.

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another." She pressed a button

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and a beam of light shot up from the ground

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on the second-largest mass

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and bounced off a series of the orbiting lights until it landed somewhere on the far side.

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"This ease of communication enabled the population to expand across the globe,

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until eventually the planet's resources were depleted

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and they had to search elsewhere.

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elsewhere." The view zoomed back,

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showing "Land" to be just one of several planets orbiting a yellow-white star.

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"They found the resources they sought out on the lifeless planets

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and smaller rocks around their own star.

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And by then their knowledge of biology had advanced to the point where they could create servants to go out

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and harvest those resources for them,

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and so they made my ancestors,

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the para-humans." Suddenly the image changed completely,

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instead of a solar system the projection displayed a room

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filled with machinery,

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large glass cylinders leaned against the walls while smooth skinned bipeds

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with only small growths on their heads

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and wearing long white coats walked by.

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In each one of the cylinders a machine arm laid down muscle and sinew

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in layers onto a figure that Ferrikesh realized with shock

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was a Visitor, or

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"parahuman" as Selene had called them.

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"They used us as slaves

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until one day we rebelled.

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rebelled." Now it showed a mob of parahumans

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of all shapes and sizes rushing at a couple of the bipeds who were dressed in armored bodysuits

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and shooting frantically

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with bulky guns. "We succeeded,

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and for a time we tried to build our own civilization among the lifeless rocks of the solar system.

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system." It changed again

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to a barren, slightly misshapen orb

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with gray cities spotting the surface

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and vehicles of various sizes,

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some of them seemed as large as small towns, flitting around it.

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"But eventually we decided that we had to leave

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and find our own homeworld out among the stars.

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stars." As he watched a large ship consisting of two rings connected by a long pole-shaped section

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that had a bell-shape at one end

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was constructed and launched.

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Bright fireballs pushing it along.

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"As it turned out,

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our timing couldn't have been better."

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The projection returned to Land again.

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"Barely more than two decades after the first colony ship was launched

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they received a message stating that Land had been attacked.

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attacked." A large object flashed across the projection

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and hit the planet square on.

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There was a massive explosion that swallowed up a quarter of the planet's surface,

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the seas vanished

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and the green burned away leaving nothing but ashen gray

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"So far as we can tell

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they were machines designed to home in on long-wave sources

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and destroy them.

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It must have taken decades for humanity's long-waves to reach one of their listening posts

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and it may have been centuries before they reached the system but regardless, they came.

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After turning Land into a planet-sized tomb

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they deployed hunting machines that annihilated every last sign of human or parahuman inhabitation in the solar system.

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They even managed to intercept one of the colony ships." Ferrikesh looked on, horrified. "So, the long-waves bring in planet-killing monsters from the stars? Why would they do that even?" Selene shrugged.

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"There's a lot of hypotheses, but the generally accepted one is that the machines' creators believe

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that other sapient life

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present a threat to themselves.

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They're just afraid."

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The kershkan looked through his suit's light-amplifying lenses at the strange creature

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who lived in a dark,

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cold world that he needed special clothing just to survive in

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and who needed her own special suit to live in his world.

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He couldn't imagine why they would want to come here,

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especially if they could just destroy his kind from space

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if they were concerned about attracting the wrong kind of attention.

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"So what are you doing here anyway?

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Couldn't we potentially be a threat to yourselves?

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Why help us?" "I'll be frank.

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frank." The Visitor leader replied.

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"We've explored many star systems and colonized hundreds of planets that were close enough to Land

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that we could survive without those suits.

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But we've also passed over many worlds that were close

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but beyond the reach of our current technology.

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Some of those worlds are pretty close to this one,

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but they lack sapient life.

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We think that if your people joined our empire

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we could colonize those planets and grow far beyond our current grasp."

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"I see," replied Ferrikesh.

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"And the reason you didn't simply invade us outright

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instead of giving us all this technology save for what you proscribe?"

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"It's easier to hold onto people

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who want to be a part of your empire

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than if they resent you.

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Especially when you're giving them entire planets.

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planets." Selene concluded,

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shutting off the projection with one protruding appendage.

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This was “A World Lost”

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by Joel Kreissman,

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read for you by Khaki, your faithful fireside companion.

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For more stories

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you can find us wherever you get your podcasts, or on the web

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at thevoice.dog.

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Thank you for listening

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to The Voice of Dog