I can talk to anyone. That's my superpower. Lock me in a room with some asshole, a gun, the promise of 5 million dollars in return for my death, and you get a suicide.
That's why I'm talking to the Grapulons, who hail from a star nearer to Sirius than us. That's about the gist of it before I stopped paying attention. Couldn't give two turds what they think, although there was a time I might have.
*****
The leaves covered me in shade on the forest floor. There was something magical about that planet, and it wasn't just because I was born there. It was the first we found without any intelligent native species.
I never really believed that, though. Any time I tried to talk to someone about it, I just thought about how stupid they would think I was. So I stayed silent, and watched the faeries of the woods.
*****
"We only want your water," the Graplulonian says to me across the table. Dude looks like an aborted fish, only in the middle of the desert. Something in the briefing about their evolution? I dunno, whatever. "Our first generation colonized the entire system millions of years ago. Only recently, with the help of the Ugithans," and here the demonic-looking Ugithan graciously accepts the thankful nod of the fishy ambassador, "have we managed to achieve spaceflight once more. You humans have water in abundance!"
"I get it man," I say, leaning forward. "You're dried up, husked out, and you see us come along, with our shiny ships and our water. And you're right, we do have it in abundance. But water isn't free, nothing is. The Ugithans praise history, would do anything to preserve it. I look to the future.
"So, tell me then, what do you got?"
*****
"I'm bored," the faerie said to me one day as I rested by a creek. She's had an ethereal appearance and could've passed for a human were it not for the wings. "Talk to me, I see you every day."
"I, uh, what?" I said. I couldn't string two words together back then. "Um, about what?"
"Anything, oh whatever, I'm going to make you talk!"
And suddenly I was filled with understanding. The universe was just a plane the we existed in, could manipulate if we tried hard enough. If only we understood how. And now I did. It's all just a matter of communication.
*****
It's later in the day now, and the Ugithan is already in the brig of our ship. They've been a thorn in our side for so long I can't even remember the history lesson they gave me on it. We've got their homeworld, despite their cloaking technology that confuses our telescopes.
I promised the fish water. Literally all I had to do. We left the meeting, and I told him to give up the Ugithans in return for water and he did. I don't even remember the words I used.
Now, we've got the Grapulons in our pocket, and the home address of humanity's greatest adversaries. All it took was a little communication.
goat_therandy t1_iuj8t1n wrote
Reply to [WP] The thing you were once the worst at is now your superpower. How bad is it? by cherridot
I can talk to anyone. That's my superpower. Lock me in a room with some asshole, a gun, the promise of 5 million dollars in return for my death, and you get a suicide.
That's why I'm talking to the Grapulons, who hail from a star nearer to Sirius than us. That's about the gist of it before I stopped paying attention. Couldn't give two turds what they think, although there was a time I might have.
*****
The leaves covered me in shade on the forest floor. There was something magical about that planet, and it wasn't just because I was born there. It was the first we found without any intelligent native species.
I never really believed that, though. Any time I tried to talk to someone about it, I just thought about how stupid they would think I was. So I stayed silent, and watched the faeries of the woods.
*****
"We only want your water," the Graplulonian says to me across the table. Dude looks like an aborted fish, only in the middle of the desert. Something in the briefing about their evolution? I dunno, whatever. "Our first generation colonized the entire system millions of years ago. Only recently, with the help of the Ugithans," and here the demonic-looking Ugithan graciously accepts the thankful nod of the fishy ambassador, "have we managed to achieve spaceflight once more. You humans have water in abundance!"
"I get it man," I say, leaning forward. "You're dried up, husked out, and you see us come along, with our shiny ships and our water. And you're right, we do have it in abundance. But water isn't free, nothing is. The Ugithans praise history, would do anything to preserve it. I look to the future.
"So, tell me then, what do you got?"
*****
"I'm bored," the faerie said to me one day as I rested by a creek. She's had an ethereal appearance and could've passed for a human were it not for the wings. "Talk to me, I see you every day."
"I, uh, what?" I said. I couldn't string two words together back then. "Um, about what?"
"Anything, oh whatever, I'm going to make you talk!"
And suddenly I was filled with understanding. The universe was just a plane the we existed in, could manipulate if we tried hard enough. If only we understood how. And now I did. It's all just a matter of communication.
*****
It's later in the day now, and the Ugithan is already in the brig of our ship. They've been a thorn in our side for so long I can't even remember the history lesson they gave me on it. We've got their homeworld, despite their cloaking technology that confuses our telescopes.
I promised the fish water. Literally all I had to do. We left the meeting, and I told him to give up the Ugithans in return for water and he did. I don't even remember the words I used.
Now, we've got the Grapulons in our pocket, and the home address of humanity's greatest adversaries. All it took was a little communication.