Chaos Theories Collection

by Moody, David

  ‘We might.’

  ‘We’d better. I’m not going home ‘til I have.’

  ‘Bloody hell, grow up. You sound like a little kid.’

  ‘I’m excited, that’s all,’ Rob continued to enthuse. ‘Hey, do you think they have anything even remotely like this place on their planet?’

  ‘What, a shit-hole like Drayton? I doubt it. Their cities are all futuristic and clean, aren’t they. I bet this place is their worst nightmare. Remember when we were little and Mum and Dad dragged us around that living museum place in Dudley?’

  ‘I remember.’

  ‘All those traditional shops and the trams and canals and all that. Bloody horrible day out, that was.’

  ‘I liked it. You had a face like thunder all day. Dad kept taking pictures of you, remember? Really wound you up.’

  ‘Anyway, I bet this is like that for them,’ Tom said. ‘Like stepping back into the history books.’

  ‘You might be right. They’re going to show more on TV soon, apparently.’

  ‘Can’t wait,’ he mumbled sarcastically.

  ‘Yeah, apparently they’ve got loads of new footage coming. You can’t help wondering what it’s going to be like.’

  ‘I can.’

  ‘No, seriously, I bet it’ll all be white and sterile like in the movies. All Star Trek, you know. They’ll have everything there at the flick of a switch. They probably don’t even need to flick switches, just think about whatever it is they’re after and it’ll be there.’

  ‘You reckon? Don’t forget they turned up in that bloody big black ship. There was nothing sleek and sterile about that.’

  ‘It was a mining ship, remember?’

  ‘That’s as maybe. And it broke down, don’t forget. They might—’

  ‘Seriously, though,’ Rob interrupted, cutting across him, ‘I’ve been wondering how close their technology is to our science-fiction. I mean, do you think we got anything right, or were all our books and movies completely off the mark? Serious question, Tom, do you think we...’

  Rob’s voice trailed away. He stood up and threw away the rest of his burger.

  ‘You okay, mate?’ Tom asked, concerned. Rob started walking away, then he broke into a run. Almost as an afterthought, he turned back and gestured for his brother to follow.

  ‘Come on!’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘What do you think it is?’

  Tom stood up and saw that a great mass of people was coming down the street towards them. The TV reporter and her team suddenly burst into life. Still finishing his food, he ran after Rob.

  ‘Slow down.’

  ‘Fucking hell,’ Rob gasped excitedly. ‘This is it!’

  He wound his way through the furthest advanced members of the crowd, but it was already obvious they were going to struggle to see anything.

  ‘Climb up,’ Tom suggested, and he signalled towards a couple of recycling bins left in a particularly dank-looking corner. He scrambled onto the top of one, using a grubby drainpipe to haul himself up, then reached back down for Rob, helping him onto the lid of the bin next-door. They stood holding onto each other for balance as the heaving mass of people swept along the footpath.

  The sun had all but completely disappeared now, leaving only the limited illumination of shop windows and streetlamps. Tom searched through what he could see of the crowd, looking for something different amongst the mass of heads. And then he saw them. Right in the middle of the gathering were two aliens. They were protected (yes, Tom thought, protected) by a respectful bubble of space on all sides. The crowd was well-ordered, with little squabbling or jostling for position.

  From up on the bins, Tom had a clear view. But he’d still have been able to see enough had he remained at ground level. The visitors had a clear height advantage. Tom had noticed it before, but their size was even more marked in person. They stood a full alien head height above everyone else, and were able to look down and around and across at each other without any obvious distraction. He wished his eyes were sharper so he could better make out the expressions on their faces, and he wondered what they were thinking. Was this as incredible an experience for them as it clearly was for the people surrounding them? Of course not, he decided, they’d already had weeks of this kind of adulation – if that was the right word.

  Both of the aliens had a sheen of silver hair, one slightly darker than the other. Their bodies were willowy and gangly, their limbs slight and long, and yet they walked with definite poise and confidence, apparently unfazed. Tom didn’t know how they were managing to put up with it and remain so calm. He’d have cracked long before now had their positions been reversed.

  When the bulk of the crowd, and the aliens themselves, had just drawn level with the bins, a man appeared. Neither Tom nor Rob noticed him at first. He looked, to all intents and purposes, like just another gawping face, here to get his fix of one-to-one alien contact, but it was immediately clear that there was something different about him. As the rest of the horde continued to move, he stood his ground. Several people knocked into him, excusing themselves and side-stepping him, but he refused to shift. They channelled past on either side as if he was a rock wedged in the middle of a stream. And as the mass of people continued to surge forward, he eventually found himself standing inside the pocket of space which still surrounded the aliens. He was blocking their way forward, and they were forced to stop. Everyone else stopped too, and the crowd fell silent. The sudden lack of movement and noise was stark. For a moment the only sound came from the traffic in the near distance.

  ‘I want to ask a question,’ the man said. Tom saw the two aliens glance at each other anxiously.

  ‘Ask,’ one of them said in a medium-pitched, somewhat monotone voice.

  ‘I want to know why you’re really here.’

  ‘You know why we’re here.’

  ‘I know what you’re telling us, but I want to know the truth.’

  ‘Come on, mate, give it a rest,’ someone said from just behind the lone protester. They grabbed his arm and tried to pull him out of the way but he was having none of it. He shook them off and returned his full attention to the two aliens.

  ‘What do you really want?’

  The second alien moved forward slightly. Its movements went unnoticed by most of the crowd, but Tom saw it push out its chest and lift its head, giving it an additional few inches of height advantage. The first alien held out his arm in front of his companion, clearly trying to diffuse the palpable tension.

  ‘You know what we want,’ the first alien said, the lack of emotion in his voice making him sound remarkably calm, ‘and you know why we’re here. You should also know by now that none of us would be here if we had any choice at all. We’re grateful for your hospitality, and we’re overwhelmed by the reception you’ve given us, but we’d much rather have needed none of it. Personally, all I want is to go home. I’d give everything I own, the clothes on my back even, just to see my family again.’

  ‘I don’t believe you,’ the man said.

  ‘Leave them alone, you stupid fucker,’ someone shouted at him. Someone else tried to shift him out of the way and he tripped. He almost fell, but the first alien caught him and helped him back to his feet.

  ‘I promise you,’ he said, his voice loud enough for all to hear, ‘all I want is to leave here and go home.’

  A middle-aged woman rushed out and grabbed hold of the alien, hugging him over-enthusiastically. He thanked her and gently pushed her back towards her family in the crowd. He then took the protesting man’s hand in his own and shook it firmly.

  ‘Take a look around you,’ he said to him. The man did as he was told, looking from left to right at the tightly packed sea of faces which all glared back at him. ‘Do you see anyone else objecting to us being here? I’m sorry if you’re not happy, but there’s nothing any of us can do about it right now. We’ll agree to keep a respectful distance from each other, if that’s what you wish. Now please go home and spend time
with the people who matter most to you. Don’t waste your energy here. We really don’t want any trouble.’

  He shook the man’s hand again, then carried on. Tom watched as the crowd continued on through the town, but as the mass of people disappeared, his eyes remained focussed on the protester in the street. He was largely being ignored, save for a few choice words and insults which were hurled in his general direction by stragglers.

  Tom had seen enough. ‘Let’s go,’ he said as he jumped down from the recycling bin.

  ‘Why? It’s still early.’

  ‘You’ve got what you wanted, haven’t you? You’ve seen your aliens. I want to go home now.’

  ‘You’re kidding me. I’m not going anywhere. Come on, Tom.’

  ‘Look, I’m tired and this place is too busy, that’s all.’

  Rob considered his options. ‘I’m going to stay a bit longer.’

  ‘How are you going to get back? I’m not coming to pick you up.’

  ‘I’ll get a taxi or something. I’ll walk if it comes to it.’

  ‘Haven’t you got work in the morning?’

  ‘I don’t have to be there until eleven. Sure you won’t stay a bit longer?’

  ‘No,’ Tom replied. ‘I’m going home.’

  Tom knew Rob would be okay. He’d walked the few miles back from Drayton before, frequently half-pissed. It was a straight road. He watched his brother run after the crowd following the aliens, before heading back to his car.

  A couple with a young child walked just ahead of him and their conversation was carried on the light evening breeze. Tom couldn’t help overhearing. They had their little girl between them, holding one hand each, playfully swinging her.

  ‘Was it as good as you expected?’ the woman asked her partner.

  ‘Better,’ he replied. ‘It’s just... oh, I don’t know. It’s hard to put into words how it makes you feel, you know? When you think how far they’ve travelled to get here, and how lucky we are to be around at the right time... Meg will never forget this, will you, Meg?’

  Both parents looked down at their daughter. She looked up and grinned at them.

  ‘Makes you think, though, doesn’t it?’ the man said.

  ‘What does?’

  ‘Seeing them up close like that. All that distance between us, yet they’re so much like us. Their faces, their body shape, the way they talk...’

  ‘I’ll tell you something, it makes me feel more optimistic. Remember how we felt that first night they arrived? When we didn’t know whether we should have been celebrating or panicking? That all seems like years ago now. I don’t know... you see the mess they’re in and how they’re dealing with it, and it makes everything else look trivial, doesn’t it? Having them here puts things into perspective.’

  Tom stopped at his car and watched the family walk away, thinking how increasingly out-of-step with the rest of the world he felt.

  12

  With everyone else busy all the time, Tom didn’t dare admit to anyone that he was bored. He needed something to do with himself each day, something to focus on, but at the same time he didn’t feel like doing anything. One day last week, he was embarrassed to admit, he’d sat down in front of the TV first thing and had played Xbox for seven hours straight. What was he, a grown man or a geeky teenager? He tried to convince himself that it was okay because he could only play the games he liked when there was no one else around now. Siobhan and Rob didn’t approve. Shooting seven shades of shit out of an army of pixelated alien invaders wasn’t as socially acceptable as it used to be.

  Siobhan continued to be overworked, the business benefitting from the “alien effect” and the unexpected extension to the summer season their arrival had caused. She spent most nights at her flat, close to Drayton. With their time together greatly reduced, and with her being exhausted most evenings, Siobhan and Tom took every opportunity to see each other they could. When a client cancelled an appointment at the last minute, she phoned Tom and arranged to meet him for lunch. He jumped at the chance to get out, and found himself heading back into Drayton again.

  Lunch was pleasant, if a little rushed. Their pub meal was interrupted several times by Siobhan’s phone ringing and bleeping to let her know she had messages which, to Tom’s annoyance, she insisted on immediately replying to, even when he was in the middle of telling her something he thought was relatively important.

  ‘Sorry, love,’ she said, ‘I can’t even begin to tell you what it’s like right now. I’ve never known it this busy.’

  He distracted himself with the rest of his food, resisting the temptation to tell her that he knew exactly what it was like, and that whatever temporary pressure she was feeling, he’d probably put up with far worse during his years in the city. The last thing he wanted was to start an argument.

  Tom walked Siobhan back to her office, then spent a listless hour walking from shop to shop, just killing time. He didn’t want anything – he didn’t need anything – but it was good to be out. Although still busy, Drayton was back to its old self today.

  Before going back to the car, Tom took a detour to Overmill Park, the place he’d seen on the TV news. It looked reassuringly familiar today, a few bags of rubbish stacked by each of the bins the only indication that there had been hordes of people crammed into this space not so long ago. He walked a circuit of the park, following the footpath which ran around its perimeter. He saw barely anyone else: workers were back in their shops and offices after lunch, and school children were in class. The late summer sun was warm and pleasant, and he slowed his pace, enjoying the silence and doing his best to think about as little as possible.

  ‘Excuse me,’ a voice said from behind him. He froze, not just because the unexpected voice had taken him by surprise, but also because there was something unusual about its tone and accent. He knew before he turned around that it was an alien.

  Tom found himself face-to-face with one of the visitors. Just him and her and no one else. Except that, rather than being face-to-face, the height difference meant he was face-to-chest, and the fact he was staring at her slight bosoms just added to his sudden awkwardness. He looked up, but when he made contact with those eyes – those huge, piercing, otherworldly blue eyes – he immediately looked down again, lost. His mouth was dry, his legs weak with sudden nervousness.

  ‘I’m sorry if I disturbed you,’ the alien said, sounding almost as uncomfortable as Tom clearly was. ‘I’m lost.’

  ‘You come halfway across the universe, but then get lost trying to find your way around Drayton?’ Tom joked without thinking, regretting his words the moment he’d spoken them. He cringed, fearing for a second that the alien might not understand sarcasm, concerned he might have unwittingly sparked an intergalactic diplomatic incident. Fortunately the corners of her wide, thin-lipped mouth began to curl upwards. Please let that be an alien smile, he hoped, not a declaration of war.

  ‘It would seem that way,’ she said, and her smile widened.

  Tom cleared his throat and asked the question he should have begun with: ‘Where are you trying to get to?’

  ‘Lime Street,’ she replied. ‘I’m supposed to be meeting a friend there.’

  Again, Tom clammed up. His brain was struggling to comprehend the extremes of this conversation. There he was, being asked to give walking directions to an obviously intelligent being who had travelled billions of miles through space. Either picking up on his unease or feeling equally awkward herself, the alien explained further.

  ‘I’m a geologist,’ she said. ‘I can tell you anything about the geology of most of the planets and stars between here and home, but I’m useless at finding my way around Drayton.’

  Her humility was touching.

  ‘Well I know absolutely nothing about the geology of this planet, never mind any others, but I can tell you how to get from one side of this place to the other. You’re a long way off, by the way. Lime Street’s right on the other side of town. It’s at least a half-hour walk.’


  ‘I’m more than a trillion miles off the mark, actually,’ she said. ‘A half-hour’s walk is nothing.’

  Further along the footpath, nearer to the main entrance of the park, was a street map. Tom gestured for the alien to follow him. Was it too presumptuous of him to lead the visitor or walk alongside her? Should he hold back and let her go first? His mind was rapidly filling with all kinds of nerve-induced rubbish. He needed to calm down and get a grip.

  There were two kids on bikes cycling across the park, probably bunking off school, Tom thought. He noticed that they’d stopped and were both staring at the alien. The alien had noticed too.

  ‘You must get sick of it,’ Tom said.

  ‘The novelty has worn off, yes.’

  ‘Give it a few more weeks and they’ll have forgotten about you,’ he continued. ‘In the nicest possible way, of course. We’re funny creatures. We’ll point and shout at something that looks a little different to us, then just accept it as normal when the next new thing comes along.’

  ‘So you think people will stop staring as soon as another ship full of aliens arrives?’

  Tom looked at her for a moment. Was she joking or being serious? It was impossible to tell.

  ‘What I mean is,’ he said, trying to dig himself out of a hole, ‘it’s just the shock of the new. Give it a little longer and everyone will get used to you. It’ll get easier.’

  ‘I hope so,’ she admitted.

  They’d stopped in front of the map. Tom showed her the park where they were standing, then slid his finger across towards Lime Street.

  ‘You take a right here,’ he explained, pointing along a pathway, then a road. ‘Carry on until you reach the high street then turn right again. Follow the high street until you reach the junction with Fordham Street, then it’s left, then left again. Okay?’

  She scanned the map once more and then nodded. ‘Right, high street, right, Fordham Street, then left and left again.’

  ‘You got it.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  ‘Do you want me to take you. I could...’