"Connie Willis - All Seated on the Ground" - читать интересную книгу автора (Willis Connie)

ALL SEATED ON THE GROUND
by Connie Willis

Connie Willis first appeared in AsimovтАЩs in 1982 with two award-winning
stories: тАЬFire WatchтАЭ and тАЬA Letter from the Clearys,тАЭ and sheтАЩs been an
AsimovтАЩs writer (and award winner) ever since, with such stories as тАЬEven
the QueenтАЭ (April 1992), тАЬThe Last of the WinnebagosтАЭ (July 1988), and
тАЬThe Winds of Marble ArchтАЭ (October/ November 1999). SheтАЩs also written
a number of Christmas stories for us, including this one about aliens,
Christmas carols, VictoriaтАЩs Secret, and church choirs. SheтАЩs an expert on
that last topic, having sung in church choirs, learned all the verses to тАЬWhile
Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by NightтАЭ and тАЬSanta Claus Is Coming to
Town,тАЭ and chaperoned middle-school choirs on more trips to the mall than
she likes to remember. ConnieтАЩs most recent collection, The Winds of
Marble Arch and Other Stories, was published by Subterranean Press last
August. She is currently at work on her next novel, All Clear.

****

IтАЩd always said that if and when the aliens actually landed, it would be a
let-down. I mean, after War of the Worlds, Close Encounters, and E.T.,
there was no way they could live up to the image in the publicтАЩs mind, good
or bad.

IтАЩd also said that they would look nothing like the aliens of the movies,
and that they would not have come to A) kill us, B) take over our planet and
enslave us, C) save us from ourselves a la The Day the Earth Stood Still,
or D) have sex with Earthwomen. I mean, I realize itтАЩs hard to find someone
nice, but would aliens really come thousands of light-years just to find a
date? Plus, it seemed just as likely theyтАЩd be attracted to wart hogs. Or
yucca. Or air-conditioning units.

IтАЩve also always thought A) and B) were highly unlikely since
imperialist invader types would probably be too busy invading their
next-door neighbors and being invaded by other invader types to have time
to go after an out-of-the-way place like Earth, and as to C), IтАЩm wary of
people or aliens who say theyтАЩve come to save you, as witness Reverend
Thresher. And it seemed to me that aliens who were capable of building the
spaceships necessary to cross all those light-years would necessarily have
complex civilizations and therefore motives for coming more compliated
than merely incinerating Washington or phoning home.

What had never occurred to me was that the aliens would arrive, and
we still wouldnтАЩt know what those motives were after almost nine months of
talking to them.

Now IтАЩm not talking about an arrival where the UFO swoops down in
the Southwest in the middle of nowhere, mutilates a few cows, makes a
crop circle or two, abducts an extremely unreliable and
unintelligent-sounding person, probes them in embarrassing places, and