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Jeneticist: Here are the photos I promised. I took them in college.

Stargazer: Wow, these are gorgeous. Professional quality.

JazzyPlum: There’s something so mysterious, but also rather lonely. About the stars.

FarfromHome: Loneliness is for the weak-minded.

SquidHead: You never get lonely?

Seeker: Call me weak-minded then.

Jeneticist: Maybe we can help.

Seeker: Never mind. I don’t want to derail the discussion with my personal issues.

Stargazer: Well, I feel like we’re getting to be friends. You can talk to us if you’re going through a tough time, Seeker.

JazzyPlum: I second that!

FarfromHome: They don’t speak for me.

SquidHead: Every party needs a pooper, that’s why we invited you, FFH.

Jeneticist: I wasn’t trying to form a support group, but there’s no reason we can’t do both. Talk about aliens and boost each other when we need it.

Seeker: Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.

Stargazer: Getting back to the photos, if Seeker doesn’t want to go into detail right now, I’m wondering if you work at an observatory, J.

JazzyPlum: Oh good question! I’m curious too.

Jeneticist: That was the dream, but right now, I’m an adjunct professor of astronomy at a community college. I also do some online math tutoring to pay the bills.

Seeker: Then you’re interested in the sciences.

Jeneticist: Definitely. I really only tap my creative side when I’m applying biological knowledge to try and predict what type of life would arise on what type of world.

SquidHead: Oh, that’s so fun! I actually wrote a simulator that helps with the probability. It’s like Spore, but for aliens. And I haven’t released it.

JazzyPlum: [Shut up and take my money.gif]

Stargazer: ??

Jeneticist: Uh, you’ve been holding out on us, Squiddy. As your extremely loyal pals, why don’t we have beta-testing privileges?

SquidHead: Are y’all really interested?

FarfromHome: I will probably regret saying this, but…yes. Absolutely. I want to play your “evolve an alien” simulator.

Seeker: Honestly, so do I. It sounds fun.

SquidHead: Okay, here’s the link. You can download files for Linux, Windows, or Apple.

Jeneticist: I’m so excited about this game! Uh, can you romance the aliens by any chance?

Stargazer: An excellent question.

SquidHead: It’s a simulator. I haven’t written any dialogue or storylines.

Seeker: I’m curious to see the science behind the algorithm. You based it on biological data?

SquidHead: Absolutely.

JazzyPlum: I love Spore! Already downloading.

FarfromHome: As am I.

Jeneticist: Me too! I’ll be back after playing a bit.