Loner in Space

by Steve Simons

  Paul asks, Just what are you planning to do with me? He can hardly believe the sound coming out of his mouth, it isn't his voice at all, it sounds high pitched, more like an animated cartoon character. What is going on here? What have they done to him?

  The alien points to the door and its face still seems to indicate that it means Paul no harm. It puts a hand on Paul's shoulder, just like his uncle does when he's interested in something that Paul is showing him. This is somewhat reassuring. Paul still does not know what is going to happen and whether to trust this alien or not. Paul looks at the other two aliens, still with their weapons pointing straight at him. With this threat hanging over him, he cannot see any option but to follow the friendly alien's advice and go through the door that is now open.

  After all that Paul has been through, it has come to this, he is voluntarily submitting himself to whatever these aliens want to subject him to.

  Beyond the door Paul can see what looks like a bed. As he approaches it he can see that it has an indentation in it, the shape of one of these aliens. The friendly alien triggers a control and the bed lowers. Paul is helped onto the bed and finds that it moulds itself to his body shape. There's some chatter between the two armed aliens. Then a sound that is like laughter.

  The friendly alien looks round at them, they stop instantly. Another control is triggered and the bed rises again. As Paul stares up at the ceiling, in the gloom he can make out some sort of crystal structure that is circular. The alien's face comes into view again and it says something, but Paul is paying more attention to its eyes, then to its hands, as it seems to be explaining what the circle above him does; but Paul is none the wiser. He just feels he can trust this alien. He isn't sure about the other two though.

  Paul is relieved, as the friendly alien shoos the other two out of the chamber and joins them in exiting. The door closes and Paul tries to look over at the door but finds that he cannot, as he is restrained by whatever moulded itself around him. He doesn't have long to wait for something to happen. There's a humming noise and the circular crystal lights up.

  ~~ Later ~~

  Paul is relieved as the door opens and the bed is lowered again. He is helped to get off the bed and then lead out of the room through the open door. From there he passes a couple of workstations towards another chamber. However, this one is transparent and seems quite light inside. The door opens as they approach it. Paul can see that inside this chamber it is sparsely furnished, with only a bed a table and a chair. The table being right beside the bed and the chair is off to one side and is facing a large transparent panel, which itself looks out to a window that has a nice view, out to the liquid pond and beyond that is the scrub land, that Paul had been walking through last night.

  The alien points towards the bed indicating that Paul get onto it. Again it is lowered, so that Paul finds it easy to get onto it. When he is laying on the bed, the alien raises it again. Paul notices that this room seems somewhat cooler and fresher than the outside. He takes a couple of deep breaths and feels a lot better already. He notices that the armed aliens have stayed outside, also, that the friendly alien has made no attempt to speak. Every so often it opens its mouth and seems to breath out. This is strange, as Paul does not notice any intake of breath. The alien points towards a glass of clear liquid on the table, then departs. The door closes behind it. Paul takes another deep breath, it is just as refreshing as the previous ones had been. Paul wonders why this is.

  As he lays on the bed, Paul thinks about what has just happened to him, he wonders why he has not come to any harm as yet. Perhaps that room that he had just been in, had subjected him to a harmful dose of radiation or something that will kill him off. But what is this room all about? Why is he feeling a bit better now? Just what are the aliens up to? And just why did the alien point to that glass of clear liquid beside the bed? Perhaps it is the final component to kill Paul off. Paul swivels his head round, to look out the window. Quite a view, it looks out to pond and the scrub land, but there is nothing going on. Paul is quite bored laying here. He wonders whether to get up or not. Then wonders if those two armed aliens are still watching over him. He turns to face the entrance and is not surprised to see the two aliens with their weapons in hand, at the ready.

  Well nothing for it, but to just hang around here and wait to see what plans Dr Greenstuff has for him. Paul smiles at the name he has invented for the more friendly alien. His breathing is much easier now. The dizziness is going away now. Paul comfortable, but bored, soon finds himself drifting off to sleep.

  ~~ Later ~~

  Paul hears the click of the door opening mechanism, he decides to keep his eyes closed. Although his fear of what may about to happen to him, makes him want to open his eyes, he feels he may gain more information if he pretends to be asleep. Paul is surprised to hear what sounds like a radio playing. The voice is speaking English. Just what is happening here. Perhaps Dr Greenstuff has been practising his English and is trying to communicate with Paul. What should he do, open his eyes and see if it is Dr Greenstuff talking or just bluff it out. Maybe it is some sort of trap, but what and why? Paul is just totally confused. He wonders if he can get away with just taking a little peep. He carefully opens one eye, just a little. There is Dr Greenstuff standing right in front of Paul, he has clearly seen Paul's reaction. He has some sort of box in his hands. Paul wonders if the box is causing the sounds. Looking at Dr Greenstuff's mouth, Paul can see that there is no movement of his mouth, apart from the usual breaths, so chances are it is the box that's making the sounds. It is probably a recording of an earth radio station, taken from the craft that Paul had travelled here in.

  Dr Greenstuff points to the box then to Paul. The alien's eyes have a recognisable look about them, just what is it? Yes that's it, a questioning look. Is Dr Greenstuff asking if this is a recording of Paul? Perhaps it is a more general question, like Is this how your people talk? Paul thinks this over some more and comes to the conclusion that the latter is the more likely question. Just how does Paul answer yes and make himself understood? Paul thinks this over a bit longer then he has it, he slowly sits up. At first there's a bit of fear in Dr Greenstuff's eyes, but he settles down as he realises that Paul means him no harm. Paul points to himself and then to the box and he says, Yes that is how my people talk.

  Paul is most surprised that his voice is almost normal again. Dr Greenstuff is quite excited at Paul's response. Dr Greenstuff does something to the box and the sound changes. It sounds like the voice of an astronaut. Paul hears Roger Huston we have a green light on the cargo doors opening, awaiting full extension, before deployment of the payload can commence.

  Paul nods again and says, Yes that is a recording from our shuttle craft.

  Dr Greenstuff looks rather strangely at Paul. He puts the box down on the chair then with his hands he mimes some sort of replay of something that presumably happened to their craft. Dr Greenstuff's left hand collides with his right, then the left hand seems to be dropping, whilst the right hand stays where it was.

  Suddenly Paul remembers that there was some obscure news item, a few years back, in which one of the shuttles was apparently hit by some space debris, that they thought was part of an old satellite. It had caused damage to the tiles that protect the shuttle on re-entry. The astronauts had to do a series of unscheduled space walks to survey and repair the damage. So this had been caused by the alien's craft. But why had it collided with the shuttle in the first place?

  Dr Greenstuff seems to be asking a question and repeating his little mime, but replaying it with variations each time. Paul gets the drift, that Dr Greenstuff is asking if the shuttle had deliberately damaged their craft. Whilst Paul does not really know the answer to that one, he suspects that the astronauts would not deliberately ram their expensive and delicate shuttle craft into some unknown UFO. Paul uses Dr Greenstuff's own hand movements to try and show that
the shuttle would have tried to avoid the alien craft had it known it was there. He speaks whilst he is demonstrating this. Dr Greenstuff seems to be intently listening to what Paul is saying, whilst at the same time intently watching Paul's hand movements. As Paul is speaking, he introduces some sign language into his hand movements. He knows a little of the sign language, as there's a kid in one of his classes, who uses it. He doesn't know why, except that the teacher has said that he's special in some way or other. In his bored moments Paul has watched the kid talking to his helper and come to that the class teacher backing up what he's saying with these hand movements. Paul found it fun to try and learn them. It now seemed quite natural to use them, to try and make himself more clearly understood. Where he doesn't know the proper signs for something he is inventing ones of his own. Paul is quite surprised as the alien signs yes back at Paul. It is obviously working. They seem to have found the basis for a common language.

  The conversation moves onto other things as Dr Greenstuff and Paul are really curious about each other's species and the way they live, their technology etc. On several occasions, Dr Greenstuff darts out of the room, much to the consternation of the two guards. He emerges again, with some device and sets about trying to explain what it does. At one point he brings in some sort of electronic white board that the pair use to draw things on, to try and explain better what they want to say. Paul has long since got out of bed and the conversation goes on for hours, until Paul is in some pain. He realises that it must be hunger pains, as he hasn't eaten or drunk anything since last night. This is confirmed by a growling noise issued by his stomach. Which causes Dr Greenstuff much concern. Paul tries to explain that he's hungry. Eventually Dr Greenstuff understands that Paul needs a drink, but as for the hunger bit, that just totally eludes him. Dr Greenstuff produces the glass of clear liquid, that Paul has been avoiding.

  Paul decides that through their discussions, they seemed to have reached a level of trust, that Paul now feels Dr Greenstuff would not really want to harm Paul. So he takes a sip of the liquid and to his surprise, finds that it tastes like water with sugar in it. There are undertones of other flavours in it, but all in all it is quite pleasant. Paul downs the rest of the glass, his hands shaking now. Dr Greenstuff seeing Paul's state, takes the glass and hurries off to refill it. He is gone for a little while. When he returns, he hands the glass then sets about, with the aid of the white board to explain that the glass contains the liquid from the pond outside, but Dr Greenstuff had boiled, cooled and filtered the water to remove any impurities, so it would be safe for Paul to drink. When Paul has finished the latest glass, he finds that his hands are shaking far less. He obviously needed the energy from the sugar, plus the water. He wonders how he will cope with the next inevitable hurdle, how does he explain that he wants to have a wee?

  ~~~~~~~~

  Chapter 16  Understanding

  Paul and Dr Greenstuff have been conversing for several days now, each building on their knowledge of each other's civilisation, culture and technology. There is now much respect for each other.

  Although Dr Greenstuff has been regularly called away, presumably to report back his progress to his superiors.

  Dr Greenstuff has even had a chance to play around with the liquid that Paul has been drinking and the pair of them have enjoyed drinking it as a fizzy pop. Dr Greenstuff figured out how to use the naturally occurring carbon dioxide that his species breath, and pressurise it, putting it into the drink. Paul and Dr Greenstuff held a burping contest, the pair of them laughing at their antics.

  Towards the end of their chats, some high ranking alien has come to pay a visit to Paul. Dr Greenstuff made Paul nervous when he told Paul that this senior person was going to visit him. Paul realises the importance of the meeting and the fact that he is effectively earth's ambassador now. He just hopes that he makes a good impression and doesn't do or say anything that ruins things.

  Dr Greenstuff disappears off for a while and returns with the important alien, following behind him. Paul can see that the second alien is dressed up for the occasion as it is wearing some form of metallic bandanna slung across its shoulder and chest, disappearing under its right arm. It looks as if it could be quite heavy and uncomfortable to wear. Paul makes sure that the alien sees that he has observed the bandanna. He stands as the pair enter the room, then he bows, as he's seen people do in films, when they are in the presence of royalty. The alien is startled at first by Paul's action, but then realises that this is in honour of itself. Its eyes give away that it is very impressed at Paul's recognition of its importance.

  Dr Greenstuff had at first retired to one side so that the earthling and his senior could meet each other with least distraction. Then Dr Greenstuff judges that it is time for him to make himself available to do the translations. The new alien speaks and is quite surprised at how its voice sounds in the controlled atmosphere of this chamber. Dr Greenstuff waits until the other alien has finished speaking, then he starts to sign as best he can what has just been conveyed to him. At a few points he gets stuck, not knowing the signs for particular concepts or words, so resorts to using the white board. Paul joins Dr Greenstuff at the whiteboard as they converse using it. When they have finished, they rejoin the other alien, who looks most put out that it has been excluded from the exchange. Dr Greenstuff then sets about explaining Paul's response.

  The extent of the conversation goes like this, the alien extends his greetings to Paul as representative of his people and hopes that his treatment thus far, whilst not ideal, has not caused him to think poorly of their species. Paul replies that he has found his treatment and welcome has been most kind and unexpected considering what had happened to their craft and the astronaut who had been controlling the craft. Paul adds that he is most delighted to have had the chance to meet them and get to know about their species and culture. In turn he hopes that he can convince his peoples that peaceful relations would be the best way forward.

  The phrase peaceful relations had been one of those concepts that Dr Greenstuff had difficulty getting his head around, but they got there in the end. It appears that the other alien, likewise has difficulty in understanding the concept.

  The meeting finishes with the senior alien telling Paul, via Dr Greenstuff, that it is their intention to try and get him safely back to the earth. He adds that he has instructed Dr Greenstuff and others to come up with a plan that would enable Paul to travel aboard one of their craft in comfort and safety, but it would have to be crewed by their own people.

  Paul is most delighted at the outcome of this meeting and as a result there is a big beaming smile across his face. The alien is most distraught at first, as it had not noticed Paul's teeth until that point and thought that Paul meant to do it harm. Even Dr Greenstuff is somewhat startled at first, but then realises that Paul means well and promptly explains this to his senior. Paul reaches out to shake the senior alien's hand, as he had seen presidents and the like do on TV. Then he stops himself as he realises that his actions could be read as an act of violence. Instead he diverts his arm in the direction of one of the devices that Dr Greenstuff had placed on the nearby table. Paul picks it up and says, I must praise you on your technology and the way you use it. We have similar technology but, you seem to be way ahead of us in many things. He signs as he says this. The senior alien must from his expression think that Paul has lost the plot and gone quite mad, until Dr Greenstuff translates what Paul has just said. The senior alien replies to Paul and Dr Greenstuff translates the reply as, Thank you, we hope we can work together and see changes.

  Paul wonders quite what the senior alien means by changes, are they planning an invasion of earth? Or does it merely mean develop peaceful relations and work together on further technological developments? Ah language and understanding, it can be difficult to reach true understanding, especially when the people's conversing have totally different languages, methods of talk
ing, as well as different cultures. Paul could take the alien's comment as threatening, coming as he does, from a culture that fears those who are technologically more advanced. Whereas the alien may mean its comment to be peaceful. Paul decides to err on the side of peaceful intent and nods in agreement.

  The meeting over, the senior alien leaves Paul's chamber and out of respect to Paul, bows before leaving. Paul copies the act, knowing that it shows equal respect.

  When Dr Greenstuff and the alien have left, Paul worries that he may have said too much, especially in terms of his people's level of technology. Then he reflects on the fact that the aliens would soon discover for themselves how backward the humans really are. If they wanted to do the humans harm, they are already geared up to do so. There may be greater benefit in working peacefully. At least Paul hopes that will be the case. He recalls some of the alien encounter movies he has seen and then starts worrying about how he can stop an all out war, when he returns home in one of these space craft. The chances are that his people will think that there is about to be an invasion and attack the very craft that is trying to bring Paul home safely. Paul runs through all sorts of scenarios and things that he could possibly do to stop his people attacking the craft.

  Dr Greenstuff returns and sees that Paul is rather distraught, pacing up and down, wringing his hands and talking to himself. Dr Greenstuff thinks that Paul is ill. He gets Paul to stop and they discuss Paul's fears. Between them they formulate a plan.