Member-only story
The Observer Effect
The simple act of looking changes everything.
I’ve seen many of the sights you are supposed to see out here in the abyss. You know, the stuff the guide books tell you about. Some of it is spectacular, but a lot was spoiled long before I saw it. That’s the thing about tourism — the simple act of looking changes everything. I guess quantum mechanics was right about that..
After aimlessly wandering around and jumping from system to system, I finally met a humanoid girl I liked, in one of those enormous gravdance clubs on an orbital out in the edge territories. She really stood out. In fact, she was glowing in the dark. At first, I thought it was just body paint or holo-flesh or something, but she could naturally do that. She looked pretty cute, in her slippery tentacle-y way.
She took to me immediately. I figured alien rowdy water was making her talk so much — certain species have trouble with recreational chemicals — but learned later that she was just a natural chatterbox. ‘ I think humans is most cutest sentients in this galaxy’ she said. Humans were a rarity out that way so we were seen as ‘ exotic’ back then. Except that, according to her, ‘ The human feets is weird.’ (I made sure to keep my socks on after hearing that).
I fell for her pretty hard, and when I told her that, it made her glow. Like…
