This notion's been tormenting me for some time now:
You have a high school student, just about ready to go to college. He gets consistently good grades -- not the very best, but always good. He's not a jock,
but he's athletic enough that jocks don't feel like putting him down and bullies look for easier pickings. There are no significant problems in his
social life. He's already picked out the girl he wants to spend the rest of his life with, and it's mutual. In short, he has absolutely no
need for a magical girlfriend.
Guess what.
His parents are both abruptly transferred within their respective companies. "Amazingly," they're being sent to the same city, about as far from
the current home town as they can get and still be in the same country. The truth is, the reassignments are only taking place to force our young hero to move.
Shortly after the family arrives at their new home, some special authority figures pull him aside for a private conversation.
Space aliens have landed, and they want to be friendly. No, they need to be friendly. The aliens' DNA is, figuratively, on its
last legs; they're a dying species. They have, however, developed a one-way technique for shaping themselves into human form (their normal form is anything
but human). They still won't be fertile with each other, but they'll be able to mate with humans
and preserve their culture. Linked to the transformation process is a psychological matching that ensures emotional compatibility with the human spouses. Yes,
spouses; the aliens want stable marriages, not "free love." Obviously, with this build-up, we know who's been picked to marry a girl from outer
space.
Earth's leaders are quite enthusiastic about acquiring the "dowry" of advanced technology the aliens are offering. The representative of the
national government makes veiled threats that refusing to go along could leave our hero open to treason charges if the aliens decide to take their technology
to another country. The rep from mercantile interests deals in explicit threats: "You'll never get a job, and your parents
will lose theirs." The man from the scientific establishment doesn't bother with threats -- the boy marrying an alien is essential FOR SCIENCE!
There's a fourth guy (I originally pictured him as military, but that's just my bigotry against civilians coming out). He's listened to the other
three with evident growing disgust. Now he points out to the young man that, as a result of the matching process, the alien-turned-girl is, in a sense,
already in love with him. Could he at least give her a try?
So he meets her. She's good-looking, she's intelligent and well-educated, she's got an appealing personality -- if he didn't already have a
girl he loves, this one is exactly what he'd be looking for (the psychological matching works really well). But there
is his prior commitment....
I can't turn this into a story myself; I lack the empathy to make the character interactions work. Besides, although I find happy endings unrealistic, I
prefer them in fiction -- but I can't figure out how to resolve this triangle without somebody's feelings getting hurt (bigamy not acceptable, sorry).
Maybe now that I've spelled it out here, I'll be able to forget about it.
-----
Big Brother is watching you. And damn, you are so bloody BORING.
You have a high school student, just about ready to go to college. He gets consistently good grades -- not the very best, but always good. He's not a jock,
but he's athletic enough that jocks don't feel like putting him down and bullies look for easier pickings. There are no significant problems in his
social life. He's already picked out the girl he wants to spend the rest of his life with, and it's mutual. In short, he has absolutely no
need for a magical girlfriend.
Guess what.
His parents are both abruptly transferred within their respective companies. "Amazingly," they're being sent to the same city, about as far from
the current home town as they can get and still be in the same country. The truth is, the reassignments are only taking place to force our young hero to move.
Shortly after the family arrives at their new home, some special authority figures pull him aside for a private conversation.
Space aliens have landed, and they want to be friendly. No, they need to be friendly. The aliens' DNA is, figuratively, on its
last legs; they're a dying species. They have, however, developed a one-way technique for shaping themselves into human form (their normal form is anything
but human). They still won't be fertile with each other, but they'll be able to mate with humans
and preserve their culture. Linked to the transformation process is a psychological matching that ensures emotional compatibility with the human spouses. Yes,
spouses; the aliens want stable marriages, not "free love." Obviously, with this build-up, we know who's been picked to marry a girl from outer
space.
Earth's leaders are quite enthusiastic about acquiring the "dowry" of advanced technology the aliens are offering. The representative of the
national government makes veiled threats that refusing to go along could leave our hero open to treason charges if the aliens decide to take their technology
to another country. The rep from mercantile interests deals in explicit threats: "You'll never get a job, and your parents
will lose theirs." The man from the scientific establishment doesn't bother with threats -- the boy marrying an alien is essential FOR SCIENCE!
There's a fourth guy (I originally pictured him as military, but that's just my bigotry against civilians coming out). He's listened to the other
three with evident growing disgust. Now he points out to the young man that, as a result of the matching process, the alien-turned-girl is, in a sense,
already in love with him. Could he at least give her a try?
So he meets her. She's good-looking, she's intelligent and well-educated, she's got an appealing personality -- if he didn't already have a
girl he loves, this one is exactly what he'd be looking for (the psychological matching works really well). But there
is his prior commitment....
I can't turn this into a story myself; I lack the empathy to make the character interactions work. Besides, although I find happy endings unrealistic, I
prefer them in fiction -- but I can't figure out how to resolve this triangle without somebody's feelings getting hurt (bigamy not acceptable, sorry).
Maybe now that I've spelled it out here, I'll be able to forget about it.
-----
Big Brother is watching you. And damn, you are so bloody BORING.