There was once, maybe many months ago, an upside-down alien with antennae on Gloria’s shoulder, a shadow of her dangling earring. But now that she’s turned her head, the alien has whisked supersonically back to its planet. And yet if you’d moved your head differently, or adjusted your hand, your leg, ever-so-slightly, aliens would have moved among us like spirits, shadows on our skin, bringing wisdom, or destruction.⠀