@@@@@ “Forgive me if I don't consider your
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“Forgive me if I don't consider your information impartialI know enough of human behavior to
recognize the signs of manipulation
I was packing my rental car with the few things I planned to take with meI had enough
clothes to go a week between washing, and the basic hygiene necessitiesThough I wasn't
bringing much, I was leaving even less behindI'd accumulated very little in the way of personal
belongingsAfter all these months in my small apartment, the walls were still bare, the shelves
emptyPerhaps I'd never meant to settle here
The Seeker was planted on the sidewalk next to my open trunk, assailing me with snide
questions and comments whenever I was in hearing distanceAt least I was secure in the belief
that she was far too impatient to follow me on the roadShe would take a shuttle to Tucson,
just as she was hoping to shame me into doingI imagined her joining me
every time I stopped to eat, hovering outside gas station bathrooms, her inexhaustible
inquisitions waiting for me whenever my vehicle paused at a lightI shuddered at the thoughtIf
a new body meant freeing myself of the Seeker… well, that was quite an inducement
I had another choice, tooI could abandon this entire world as a failure and move on to a tenth
planetI could work to forget this whole experienceEarth could be just a short blip in my
otherwise spotless record
But where would I go? A planet I'd already experienced? The Singing World had been one of
my favorites, but to give up sight for blindness? The Planet of the Flowers was lovely Yet
chlorophyll-based life-forms had so little range of emotionIt would feel unbearably slow after
the tempo of this human place
A new planet? Therewas a recent acquisition–here on Earth, they were calling the new hosts
Dolphins for lack of a better comparison, though they resembled dragonflies more than marine
mammalsA highly developed species, and certainly mobile, but after my long stay with the See
Weeds, the thought of another water planet was repugnant to me
No, there was still so much tothis planet that I hadn't experiencedNowhere else in the known
universe called to me as strongly as this shady little green yard on this quiet str