Our Alien Overlords Want a Focus Group

How it begins

The aliens provided excellent biscuits.

This was the first positive finding.

Mara wrote it on the flip chart because Tavi was watching hopefully and because nobody in the room had yet found a safe way to say the rest.

"Would you describe the occupation as welcoming?" Tavi asked.

A participant in a red jumper raised her hand.

"Can we describe it as an occupation?"

"Of course. All responses are valued."

Mara checked the discussion guide.

The word occupation appeared only in the internal title.

For participants, it had become ARRIVAL EXPERIENCE.

She crossed it out.

Tavi's three eyes followed the pen.

"Is the experience not arriving?"

"The arrival happened six months ago."

"Excellent. Sustained engagement."

At the back of the room, a man stopped eating a biscuit.

"Can they leave?"

Mara looked at the brief.

That question was outside scope.

She asked it anyway.

Tavi consulted a tablet.

"Would you like more green space?"

"No."

"Improved transport?"

"We'd like to decide who's in charge."

Tavi brightened.

"An ownership issue. Very common in our early-stage integrations."

Outside the window, the occupation's newest amenity floated over the square.

A free wellness dome.

It had landed on the public library.

Mara pointed.

"Did anyone ask for that?"

"Residents requested a quiet place to think."

"The library was one."

Tavi made a note.

The red-jumper woman leaned forward.

"Here's my recommendation. Put the library back."

By morning, the aliens would do exactly that.

On top of the dome.

Mara could already see the problem.

She took a clean sheet from the pad.

Before the next question, she wrote a sentence large enough for everyone to read.

WE CAN SAY NO TO THE PROJECT, NOT ONLY ITS FEATURES.

Tavi stared at it.

For the first time that afternoon, the biscuits stopped being the most important thing in the room.