Slam dunk. You may not feel like you're on your game , but this is superb. I particularly liked the progression of time, and the character development of Dr Reynolds. It is rare that personality comes through in the flow-of-correspondence short story form. David Brin did something very similar to this, but your 'Bystander Effect' has more pathos.
I also got a very Orson Scott Card feel from this. Really cool way to tell a huge story! Good use of the prompt :) I was intrigued the whole way through.
I really liked the early letters (childish enthusiasm and exuberance), and where that led for both Billly and Jennifer.
The seeming sympathetic nature of the aliens made their plan all the more unexpected, because it did seem as if they were effectively breeding a secondary army from the human population. And that is mercenary and unfeeling and everything that contrasts with the behavior that's being rewarded. The dichotomy was a nice touch.
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There is something grotesquely appealing about this... but it did kill Jennifer, who didn't seem like a bad person.
I liked this in its weirdness and statement on the human condition and how that would make no sense to an alien, and vice versa.
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The seeming sympathetic nature of the aliens made their plan all the more unexpected, because it did seem as if they were effectively breeding a secondary army from the human population. And that is mercenary and unfeeling and everything that contrasts with the behavior that's being rewarded. The dichotomy was a nice touch.
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