LGM-1

This story is part of an ongoing collection of short fiction that takes a broad, at times speculative, view of illness and affliction. While topics in the thematically-linked series include health and medical issues, the stories also refer to moods, states of mind, and imagined illnesses. The goal of the series is to plant in the reader's mind questions of what it means to be sick, and the way illness may afflict aspects of ourselves beyond the body or mind. 

The title, "LGM-1", is taken from the name given to the first discovered radio pulsar by astonomer Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who is mentioned in the story. Because the initial pulsar emitted a steady and regular signal, Burnell playfully dubbed it LGM-1 to imply "Little Green Men". The story was partly inspired by her groundbreaking work in astrophysics, and also her essay, "Astronomy and Poetry", found in Contemporary Poetry and Contemporary Science, edited by Robert Crawford.