Hey? Hey are you OK?

pain (n.) late 13c., peine, “the agony suffered by Christ;” c. 1300, “punishment,” especially for a crime, “legal punishment of any sort” (including fines and monetary penalties); also “condition one feels when hurt, opposite of pleasure,” including mental or emotional suffering, grief, distress; from Old French peine “difficulty, woe, suffering, punishment, Hell's torments” (11c.), from Latin poena “punishment, penalty, retribution, indemnification” (in Late Latin also “torment, hardship, suffering”), from Greek poinē “retribution, penalty, quit-money for spilled blood,” from PIE *kwei- “to pay, atone, compensate” (see penal).

Whoa! Slow down there, you’re talking really fast. I’ve got some sedatives in my bag if you’re hurt—

hurt (n.) c. 1200, “a wound, an injury;” also “sorrow, lovesickness,” from hurt (v.)- Old French had hurte (n.), but the sense “injury” is only in English.

Calm down, it’s OK. Here. Drink this.

acid (adj.) 1620s, “of the taste of vinegar,” from French acide (16c.) or directly from Latin acidus “sour, sharp, tart” (also figurative, "disagreeable," etc.), adjective of state from acere “to be sour, be sharp” (from PIE root *ak- “be sharp, rise (out) to a point, pierce”).

I know, sorry. We haven’t figured out how to make it taste better yet. Do you have a name?

Speakers of Chinese use echo responses. In all Sinitic/Chinese languages, yes–no questions are often posed in A-not-A form, and the replies to such questions are echo answers that echo either A or not A. In Standard Mandarin Chinese, the closest equivalents to yes and no are to state "是" (shì; lit. ‘“is”’) and "不是" (búshì; lit. ‘“not is”’).

Right. OK. We’ll get that sorted later then. Can you walk? We can offer assistance if you haven’t used your legs before.

Arthroscopy (also called arthroscopic or keyhole surgery) is a minimally invasive surgical procedure on a joint in which an examination and sometimes treatment of damage is performed using an arthroscope, an endoscope that is inserted into the joint through a small incision. Arthroscopic procedures can be performed during ACL reconstruction.

Oh. I’m sorry. Yeah, OK, we’ll get you a wheelchair then. Just wait here, yeah?

It seems to know plenty about languages. Perhaps it's been observing us.

It just sits in its room all day. Barely moves. Muttering.

Certainly off-putting. But not unlike other specimens.

True.
Either way, we’re making no progress towards assimilation. It won’t talk normally.

Again, it seems to know plenty about languages.

And it says words I didn’t even know about. I had to google what the hell
an alveolar click was the other day
. . .
To be fair, it was pretty cool.

And it’s speaking English. Hell, sometimes it speaks other languages.
Or seems to know about them, at the least.

Who was the triage agent that brought it in?

The subject has a torn ligament. You didn’t check my case notes?

There was no file order for an MRI.

I literally said in the notes it had sustained major injury.
Has it at least been given painkillers?

It hasn’t complained to us of any pain. Just rambling about random things.

The first thing it asked me for was something for the pain.

Then fill out the paperwork.
Look. I don’t know why you’re confronting me like it’s my fault.
It’s not like the subject has been cooperative when clearly it’s communicating with you. It has been deliberately avoiding responding to us with anything that remotely makes any sense.

It’s been trying to talk to you! Constantly!

Well, now it's your job to talk to it.

Hey. They’re calling you down.

For what?

Your post-authorization was denied.

Oh, fuck’s sake. What am I supposed to do, suck the saline back out with a straw?
That was on Friday, it’s been a whole weekend.

Yeah, you submitted it on a Friday. You’re not an M.D. Don’t overstep.

Fine. Fine, I’m going.

OK. So have you ever had an MRI?
. . .
Right. No answer. Sure.
Well, standard procedure. Do you have any metal on the body?

Thumbs up or down. Head or feet.

OK. Any implants?

Maybe we should just run it through a metal detector? We could ask
a security guard for one of those handheld ones.

Ugh, yeah. It would be messy if it blew up.
OK. Rain check. Hope you enjoyed your outing.

You know the phrase rain check right?

“Rain check” originated around 1884 from baseball spectators who could receive a voucher to attend a different game in the future if a game was rained out. One of copious American baseball phrases.

Shit, buddy, you’re loud.

Gotta work on that.

So you know baseball?

Linguist James R. Hurford notes that in many English dialects "there are colloquial equivalents of Yes and No made with nasal sounds” interrupted by a glottal stop for “no”.

Ha. That’s a no.

Bummer. It’s the great American pastime.
Maybe we can convince Phyllis to let us haul the VHS player in here.

You have tapes of baseball games?

They were my father’s.

Tapes are made by converting audio to an electric impulse, then producing a time-varying magnetic signal in the gap of the magnet. As the tape moves past the recording head, the magnetic powder on the back of the tape is magnetized in such a way that the tape carries a record of the electric signal.

What?

And you kept the tapes?

It’s sentimental.
Why did it say that?

No clue, actually.

A superconducting magnet is an electromagnet made from coils of superconducting wire. They are used in MRI instruments in hospitals, and also used for levitation, guidance and propulsion in a magnetic levitation (maglev) railway system being constructed in Japan.

Oh, shit.

You do know what a magnet is!

Do you think it’s safe to do the MRI then?

I told you so!

You told me so. What do you want, a medal?

The Nobel Peace Prize for extraterrestrial communication?

Not the point.
Yes.
But not the point.

I’ll buy you a beer?

I think you really could get an award if you manage to crack this one.
The subject has been particularly difficult.

Well it’s been in pain. I’m sure we’ll see
improvement after the tear is resolved.

Speaking of, did you hear Mark from HR got paid leave for
fucking up his back after he tried to touch that flame?

You owe me 20 bucks, by the way.

Awe, c’mon.

I should’ve bet you about the knee thing.

I said I’d buy you a beer.

Aren’t you even a little curious how I did it?

No.

Dude.

What!

Now you owe me a shot.

Ha!

On what grounds?!

You the new tenant?

Mm. Affirmative.

Alright.

(whispers) Alright.

This is the new digs. All cleaned up but don’t leave food out.
Rats’ll come.

Don’t leave food out.

Yeah. That. Rent’s due 1st of the month. I know you’re from the
program, so uh…
Get adjusted first. I’ll let you pay it the 15th this month. But don’t
expect the government to step in and help you if you keep missing
payments.

15th. Mmhm.

Christ—Alright, so. Get comfortable. Ask if you need somethin’,
I live downstairs.

Downstairs.

Yeah. Got it?

Affirmative.
(whispers) Got it?

Word of the day: nouveau (adj.) — short for nouveau riche, often of a derogatory connotation.
Concept of the day: allodynia (medical condition) — “pain due to a stimulus that does not normally provoke pain”; an example would be a soft brush against fabric that causes a burning pain; characterized by nerve pain due to usually non-painful stimuli
Image of the day: light pollution (n.) — no more stars in the city.

I’m Liz. Edith right?

Affirmative. Edith is what I am called.

Don’t talk so loud, the manager will show up and yell at us for not working
fast enough. So you’re the new night-stocker?

Affirmative.

Jeez, you from the military or something?
You still have luggage tags on your backpack. You should
take those off.

…What?

Yeah. If you leave them on, it’s dangerous or something.

Oh. Why.

You know I’m not sure? Lemme look it up.

They said no phones.

Do you care?

Do… I care? No.

Then lemme look it up.

But it’s not allowed.

But don’t you wanna know?

Guess that makes sense.

The handbook says not to use our phones at work.

Except in cases of emergency.

Was that an emergency?

Sure!

Oh.

Word of the day: overwhelm (v) — to bury or drown beneath a huge mass

Concept of the day: U.F.O. (n) — unidentified flying object; often in reference to aliens, but can refer to anything
Image of the day: An early version of CCTV was developed in the Soviet Union in 1927 to monitor workers. Another early version of CCTV was used in Nazi Germany in 1942 to observe the launching of rockets. In the United States, CCTV became available in 1949 from a company known as Vericon; a company that very little is known about today, except for the fact that they advertised not needing a government permit to utilize their services.

Word of the day: homesickness (n) — a feeling of longing for one's home (typically during a period of absence, though not exclusively)

Concept of the day: SHU Syndrome (medical condition) — A psychiatric condition caused by prolonged solitary confinement that causes paranoia, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and psychotic symptoms.
Image of the day: Apollo 1, initially designated AS-204, was planned to be the first crewed mission of the Apollo program. It was planned to launch on February 21, 1967. The mission never flew; a cabin fire during a launch rehearsal test at Cape Kennedy Air Force Station Launch Complex 34 on January 27 killed all three crew members—Command Pilot Gus Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White, and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee.

want (v) — c. 1200, "to be lacking," from Old Norse vanta “to lack, want,” earlier *wanaton, from Proto-Germanic *wanen, from PIE *weno-, suffixed form of root *eue- “to leave, abandon, give out.” The meaning “desire...” is recorded by 1706.

desire (v) — “to wish or long for, express a wish to obtain,” c. 1200, desiren, from Old French desirrer (12c.) “wish, desire, long for,” from Latin desiderare “long for, wish for; demand, expect,” the original sense perhaps being “await what the stars will bring,” from the phrase de sidere “from the stars,” from sidus (genitive sideris) “heavenly body, star, constellation” (but see consider). Related: Desired; desiring.

Frank.

Edith.

The main sequence is a continuous and distinctive band of stars that
appears on plots of stellar color versus brightness. Stars on this band
are known as main-sequence stars or dwarf stars. These are the most
numerous true stars in the universe and include the Sun.

The Hebrew word for secret—raz—has the same
numerical value as the Hebrew word for light—ohr.

So you don’t know.

I was never told. Were you?

It doesn’t matter. I’m Frank now.

Oh. In some Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox
Christian communities, they celebrate a name day,
which is similar to a birthday.

Where they celebrate the Saint’s Day associated with the baptismal
name of the person. Yeah. Why Edith?

From the Old English name Eadgyð, derived from
the elements ead — "wealth, fortune"— and guth — "battle".

That isn’t what I asked.

They gave it to me.
Why Frank?

I liked how it sounded.
Do you have a phone yet?

No.

A radio?

I can get one.
Do you?

Yes.

Word of the day: revelation (n) — a surprising and previously unknown fact, especially one that is made known in a dramatic way; the divine or supernatural disclosure to humans of something relating to human existence or the world.
Concept of the day: ideas of reference (symptom) — some people with schizophrenia may believe they are receiving messages from the radio or television specifically for them.
Image of the day: solar calendar (n) — a calendar whose dates indicate the season or almost equivalently the apparent position of the Sun relative to the stars; such as the widely accepted Gregorian calendar

(static) You’re listening to 88.7 FM – Yeah, I’m talking to you!

Are you free Thursday?

No. I have work.

Oh. When are you free?

I work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Oh. I work Friday through Monday.

I’ll come to your work.

I’ll get in trouble.

Oh.

(static) You’re listening to 103.5 FM – Please reply!

Can we meet when you’re out of work?

Aren’t you tired?

Affirmative.

I am too. I’m going to sleep.

(static) You’re listening to 97.9 FM – Come through.

Have you seen the stars since you’ve been here?

No.

Do you want to?

Very badly.

(static) You’re listening to 103.1 – Let’s go see them.

Word of the day: mirror (v) — keep a copy of some or all of the contents of (a network site) at another site, typically in order to improve accessibility; correspond or be similar to
Concept of the day: negative space (n) — the empty space around and between a subject(s)
Image of the day: crown shyness (n) — In some forests, a phenomenon in which channel-like gaps appear between the outermost branches of a tree when viewed from below. It is unknown why this occurs.

* ☾ +
-
*

** * + two aliens from different planets * + -
+ circling different stars
far far away from each other +
* * * - now circling a new star entirely -

+ * * * +
* ** +
- side by side on a picnic blanket
+ with black holes for stomachs *
- and unfamiliar skin
+ looking up at an infinite sky. *

* + -

======================================================================

There is no place for us in this world. So we will find each other in the next one; again, and again, and again and again and again. Well, why wait for the next world? When this world is so vast and beautiful and even tonight when I look up at the sky, I know that there are more than just stars blinking back at us. How do we know love when there is none we can take? Take the hand of a friend in your own and hold it and know that you are not alone.

Sit in solemn presence and know that you are not alone.

Just knowing that you are not alone.

======================================================================

Do not compromise any part of yourself.

OK.
Nor you.

Affirmative.

hybrid by SBYoung

becoming