One sided conversations #2

"Never. They don't understand me there. I daren't go back."

"Because of the incident in the desert that time. I thought you knew about it - there's an article about it in the station's 'How Not To' file. Alright. I beamed down there, couple of thousand years ago this was, and I found this guy, all long beard and sandals, and I offered to help him help the rest of the world to, you know, take another step up the ladder. He got totally the wrong end of the stick - which isn't unusual - but of all the rotten luck they wrote a book about him, and I ended up in it as the root of all evil! Talk about a bad day at the office."

"I know, but the horns, the hooves, the tail...they're obsessed with appearances, you know what they're like. Every time I go down there, as soon as one of them sees me they run a mile. They could have the secret to cold fusion if they just stopped and listened. No, they blame me for everything, there's no way they're going to give me a second chance. So we have no choice but to let them get on with it on their own."

"It's not a disaster as such, I've got other planets in my portfolio. I'm still active in Fodgethith, Brao, Wyrgid and Pokmanok. And I'm going to introduce writing to a small hill tribe on Yan Griffan next week, I think they've evolved to a state where they're receptive. Losing Earth isn't so bad when you put it in perspective."

"Well of course they need our help. Look at the mess they've got themselves in without it! But what can we do? We can't change who we are. We're just going to have to give up on Earthlings and hope they stumble across improvement, peace and enlightenment without our help."