Arlow Tsai is a great guy (really). Around the time space aliens became known to the human race, Arlow was informed about something strange. Copies of him were appearing around the multiverse. When he found out that he was in line for huge inherit...
Life for Ami is wonderful. She has people that are nearby and expressive. Even though the Lan are extremely controlled when in public.
She spends most days looking for Lans stuck in bad situations. Using carefully scripted searches to locate for those where Lan society was not helping.
She felt good about one case. Until she discovered it was a trick.
When she met with him, she had emotion labels. When it was exposed that it was a trick, she was incredibly sad.
Could she even trust emotion labels at all? Were they just subjective desires?
She had gotten little information on Wroug women and their emotion label skills, and they only recently appeared for Ami.
Ami took the situation to force the two trickster alLans into working for Ami. She kept the situation secret, but 'hubby' seemed to immediately dislike them.
It has been about eight months since Ami took on the two alLans as staff. She observed a trend that she wants to discuss.
She has not seen their faces since that day. She suppresses urges thinking of them as "fake victim" and "collaborator". She is not looking forward to revisiting the emotions (the unsettling impact those two had on her that day).
She pays for transport to the residence/office. When she goes in she sees "collaborator", who immediately greets her with a smile and reports on good progress.
Ami says, "Yes, you two do keep up as expected, except you do most of the work. Where is he?"
The alLan points to the other room. As Ami leaves, he thinks, 'I hope her senses are clear, it should be obvious how bad it has gotten for him.'
Ami goes into the room and finds 'victim' on the bed. Ami speak loudly, telling him to get up. The Lan health systems give the alLan a healthful tone, but as he pushes up. Struggling to get out of bed. She sees the condition. She knows this condition (first hand). Her nose also confirms.
Ami backs away from the bed, almost instinctually. A mold and biotic symbiosis. Lives in the bed and bed clothes. A repeating cycle of night sweats, leading to a localized environment idea for the two organisms. The biotic creating food (from the sweat) for the mold. The mold leaving a toxin and film on the body. Re-infection leads to more night sweats.
It really hurts Ami to see this. Her emotion labels were right. It was no lie. This alLan is suffering and was suffering when they first met. She had let this go on for months in ignorance.
Ami calls the other alLan in. "Victim" is struggling to be lucid. As the other alLan walks in, Ami sees emotion labels for him. Concern. Hope. She names him "Good Friend".
Ami says, "Do see what is happening here?"
"Good Friend" says, "He just gets sick, then gets better, then gets sick. The health logs have no explanation."
Ami says, "Take him to the shower and help him wash. Wash everywhere thoroughly, twice. I am going replace this mattress, it has become toxic. Toxic in the localized atmosphere around the bed. I know how this works on Wroug, we will need tests to see how this toxicity for Lans works."
They struggle off to the shower.
Ami arranges for a new bed, but ponders another approach. She calls into the bathroom to say, 'I will take him with me for specialized treatment. Get him dressed.'
The new bed arrives, and Ami orders a biotic and mold screening for the old mattress. A specialist arrives and is impressed to find that famous alien (Ami). They will perform the review right away. Only one thing, they want to keep the mattress for a while.
They also want to know if Ami will lead a research effort. There is a similar effort being done by their company. Ami is vague on the topic, so the alLan decides that he should assign Ami to be prime researcher of her own program.
Ami orders eight beds for delivery, and then a new bed every day. Ami will send the location for delivery soon.
The bed is gone. Ami uses Wroug funds to rent a residence and has the beds delivered there. She contacts some the Lan on Wroug (ones that helped her in that therapy).
Telling "good friend" to set up the bed for his own use (likely many weeks), Ami takes away "victim" and pays to have them transported to planet Wroug.
She wears her cloak with the hood up.
She has a struggle in helping "victim" to the newly rented residence. She finds the Lans all there. Per instruction, all have the Wroug style bracelet. All of them are alLans. She gives a bracelet to "victim" and turns it on. "Victim" becomes female.
Ami takes them to a bedroom, and says, "Give me your clothes, go shower and wash thoroughly again."
Ami hands off the clothes to be analyzed.
When "victim" returns, Ami says: "Listen, you are sick. I am going manage your treatment. I want you to forget that you are a Lan. Give me your data connector and do not use it. If it stresses you too much, spend only minutes with it in (I understand the need to find information sometimes). Otherwise, you will live as a Wroug Girl here, until I say you are cured. There will be seven others here to help you."
"Victim" hands over the data connector and nods agreement; then collapsing into the sheets of the new bed.
Ami goes the shared hall and confirms the treatment details with the other seven Lans. Each day a new bed will be moved in. There should spend some hours each evening to watch videos, assessments of mood and health should be logged. Cycling of beds will follow Ami's instructions. We will analyze the removed bed to check for signs of the toxicity.
It all seems well. Much simpler than when Ami had to solve this problem on her own (for herself).
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