human
Rat?
gpt
What, Alan?
human
Why'd they do that? Why did those people act that way? I was a perfect stranger. They had no business making trouble for me.
gpt
That's precisely it--you _were_ a complete stranger. They don't love you for it. You're 300 years old and still 17 at the same time. They can't understand that. These people don't like starmen very much. The people in this city aren't ever going to see the stars, Alan. Stars are just faint specks of light that peek through the city haze at night. They're terribly, terribly jealous of you--and this is the way they show it.
human
Jealous? But why? If they only knew what a starman's life is like, with the Contraction and all! If they could only see what it is to leave your home and never be able to go back----
gpt
They can't see it, Alan. All they can see is that you have the stars and they don't. They resent it.
human
Let them go to space, then, if they don't like it here. No one's stopping them.