Name this story?
March 26, 2011 5:46 PM Subscribe
Can you tell me the name and author of this story? Aliens contact earth, but they say they will only negotiate with humanity through [woman's name] - it is up to [woman] to decree if humanity is given vast boons of technology, or if it is destroyed by the aliens.
A worldwide search is conducted for [woman's name], and she turns out to be an old woman in a nursing home.
Quickly, her teeth are fixed up, her health issues are addressed. Just before making her decision she is asked (by the media?) how she feels... and she says something snarky to the effect of "Yes, you did all this wonderful stuff for me, but if the aliens hadn't named me, I'd still be in pain and forgotten in a nursing home, wouldn't I?"
The story ends (I think) before we find out her decision.
A worldwide search is conducted for [woman's name], and she turns out to be an old woman in a nursing home.
Quickly, her teeth are fixed up, her health issues are addressed. Just before making her decision she is asked (by the media?) how she feels... and she says something snarky to the effect of "Yes, you did all this wonderful stuff for me, but if the aliens hadn't named me, I'd still be in pain and forgotten in a nursing home, wouldn't I?"
The story ends (I think) before we find out her decision.
Best answer: I think it's a James Tiptree story....I have it in an anthology somewhere. Might be Pat Cadigan.
posted by Frowner at 8:18 PM on March 26, 2011
posted by Frowner at 8:18 PM on March 26, 2011
Response by poster: Thank you Frowner... googling [nursing home] + [Tiptree] helped me find it at last!
It was "Midnight News" by Lisa Goldstein.
posted by Sockpuppets 'R' Us at 10:51 PM on March 26, 2011
It was "Midnight News" by Lisa Goldstein.
posted by Sockpuppets 'R' Us at 10:51 PM on March 26, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Eshkol at 7:39 PM on March 26, 2011