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We own the sky and the cliffs. I imagine when the aliens came, they thought they were trading us a bushel of beads and blankets for all our land--yes, yes, we received the early transmissions from your civilization, we know the history. We knew they wouldn't go away without a significant gain, and we could imagine well and truly the breezes of misfortune that their passing brought to other races who were not so suspicious and so good at acting the noble savage. I said we had studied your transmissions, did I not? We are a flying race. It was easy to persuade them that there were spiritual and religious reasons that we must own the sky. I daresay they thought they were clever and outsmarting us when they insisted on certain lanes of free travel for all, without any possibility of tax or fee or obstruction, under the traffic control of an equally balanced board that would ensure fair play for all. They were not planning on giving us fair play on any of their possessions, of course, but--


Inspiration: "We Own the Sky" - M83
Story Potential: Medium? Medium-high?
Notes: I love the setting, but this isn't a story.
Her flight was delayed. She saw the numbers tick over on the display, and collapsed back to her seat with a sigh/. Then she saw *all* the numbers rolling over to delayed, every single flight, from Minneapolis to Houston to New York. She sat bolt upright. That wasn't right, couldn't be. She wondered if it was a computer glitch in the display, but when she glanced over to the boarding ramp, she saw the stewardess abruptly turn green and walk away more quickly than was decorous. When she was around the corner, she took off her hat and jacket and sprinted toward the exit sign. Lily became more than slightly worried then. She pulled out her cellphone, but whenever she tried to call, *whoever* she tried to call--

Inspiration: News article about computer problems causing flight delays: http://www.abcnews.go.com/Travel/story?id=5660212&page=1
Story Potential: High.
Notes: One of the first things an alien invasion, or peacekeeping force, or even a negotiating-from-power force would do is shut down all air traffic. And wouldn't a shut-down airport be an interesting setting? Could also use it to resonate--people know what airport delays are like. Give them flashbacks the next time they're in an airport, even.

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penthius

January 2025

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