by A. J. Low
“Not-yet,” Watson interrupted.
“How are they going to call you if you didn’t put a phone number?” Eliza said as she peered at one of the cards.
“Actually, it might be better if you just emailed me,” I said, trying to ignore Eliza’s good point.
“But you don’t have Internet here,” Eliza continued.
“Or you can just call out my name when you see me having lunch or dinner,” I hastily concluded.
Strange lights in the sky! Mysterious green goo! This was definitely a case for Sherlock Sam and the Supper Club!
“Are we there yet?” I asked. We had been walking for far longer than I had anticipated. The sun was setting but it was still extremely humid. My entire T-shirt was drenched in sweat beneath the backpack I was carrying. I could not believe that everyone was so calm about the possibility that there might be aliens on Pulau Ubin.
“We-have-only-been-walking-for-eleven-minutes,” Watson said.
“The Jelutong Beach campsite is not too far away,” Dad said energetically. He had found a large stick along the way and was using it as a walking stick. He would sometimes draw little cartoons in the dirt that would make Mom laugh.
“It would have been faster if we had hired one of those air-conditioned vans,” I said. My mind was already running through everything that Dad had taught me about alien encounters and sightings, plus everything I had read on the Internet. I wondered if any of the Ubin villagers had been taken up to the mothership and experimented on.
“Trekking is healthy for you, Sherlock,” Nazhar said. “But I wish the roads had better lighting. It’s so dark. Anyone could easily stumble and fall.”
“Why are you still wearing your sunglasses, Nazhar?” Jimmy asked. “It’s evening time.” Nazhar pulled his sunglasses off quickly, then smiled weakly at Eliza who rolled her eyes at him.
“I think this insect repellent of yours expired, Nazhar,” Wendy said as she continued to alternate between slapping her limbs and scratching them. “It doesn’t seem to be working.”
“You guys sure complain a lot,” Eliza said. I turned and looked at Eliza. She had not even broken a sweat. I started to suspect that Eliza might be an android. No normal human could remain sweat-free after all that walking in this humidity.
Just then Dad called out, “We’re here!” I could hear Mom heave a big sigh of relief.
We surveyed our campground. There were many trees around the area and a couple of other campers had pitched their tents further out. The Jelutong Beach campsite faced the main island of Singapore. The sun had almost set but there were lights all around so we would still be able to set up our campsite. We could hear the waves crashing against the shoreline. It seemed like high tide, and a few campers were fishing. I also saw an area where we could have a campfire and, more importantly, a barbecue!
We selected an open area right in the middle of the campground and pulled out all the necessary equipment to set up the campsite. Suddenly, I realised something.
“Dad? We seem to be one tent short,” I said. “Did you forget to pack your tent?”
“Okay, kids. We’ll see you tomorrow morning!” Dad said quickly. “Be safe now!”
“Wait. What do you mean you’ll see us in the morning?” I asked. A terrible realisation was dawning on me.
“We have to check into our hotel, Sam,” Mom said. “If we don’t check in soon, they might give our room away.” Mom was practically dragging Dad away from us. “Quickly, dear, I really need a shower,” I heard her whisper to Dad.
“HOTEL?” I yelled. “What hotel?!”
“The Celestial Beach Resort! All the details are on the sheet of paper I left, together with two walkie-talkies!” Dad yelled back from halfway down the road. “We have the third one. Just use them if you need to contact us!”
“But what about dinner?” I shouted.
“You’ll have to hunt, son! There’s red jungle fowl all around. Just catch one! You’ll be fine!” Dad shouted, as he and Mom disappeared around a turn.
“Hunt!? What!?” I shouted back.
“I can hunt,” Nazhar said.
“Everyone can have the yoghurt bars we packed,” Eliza said, rolling her eyes.
“Did you know that Mom and Dad were going to stay in a hotel?” I yelled at Wendy. Dad had betrayed me for an air-conditioned hotel room!
“Do you think that some mosquitoes might have evolved and are now no longer affected by insect repellent, Sam?” Wendy replied. She was squinting at the air around her trying to spot the mosquitoes before they could land on her skin.
“Hmm, that is an interesting idea, Wendy,” I replied, momentarily distracted from my parents’ betrayal. “Perhaps this mutation has something to do with extraterrestrial tinkering. Though it’s certainly possible it has nothing to do with aliens, and is just simple Darwinism at work. Only the mosquitoes which had developed the immunity to insect repellent would survive as those that hadn’t would have died off. Insect repellent has been around for millennia in one form or another, but synthetic insect repellent was only invented in the 1940s by the US Army. Is that a long enough time frame for mosquitoes to have evolved a defence against it? And what about other insects…”
“He’s doing it again,” Eliza said to Wendy.
Wendy swatted another mosquito.
“Let’s punch our tents!” Jimmy yelled out in excitement, breaking me from my thoughts.
“Punch our tents?” Nazhar asked. He and Jimmy were sharing a tent. Nazhar looked worried as Jimmy started throwing a bunch of stuff around, creating a mess.
“I think he means pitch our tents,” Eliza said. She already had her tent equipment out and had started to set up.
“Watson, do what Eliza is doing,” I said. I was a genius detective, not a genius camper. Besides, what use was a robot if not to pitch tents?
“I do-not-have-a-tent-pitching-programme,” Watson replied.
“You do! I installed it last night!” I exclaimed. I had purposely installed a camping programme in my robot for this trip!
“It-had-a-virus-in-it-so-I-had-to-delete-it,” Watson said.
I glared at my robot suspiciously.
“There,” Eliza said, standing up and dusting the sand off her hands and knees. She was done in less than ten minutes and still had not broken a sweat. “Now, who needs help?”
Everyone raised their hands. Jimmy raised two, and jumped up and down as well.
Twenty-five minutes later, Eliza had set up all three tents and had built a nice campfire for us to roast marshmallows. The three tents formed a semicircle around a campfire that was a safe distance away.
“The fire should keep wild animals away,” Nazhar said. “We should leave it lit all night. It’s what expert campers would do.”
Eliza looked at him strangely. “Fire can actually attract animals with its light and warmth,” she said. “Plus, it’s dangerous to have an unwatched open flame, so we’ll need to put it out before we go to sleep.”
Nazhar didn’t respond, but suddenly found something in the distance quite interesting, vaguely pointing at the horizon.
“We should formulate our plan to investigate the alien sightings,” I said as I turned a marshmallow-on-a-stick around on top of the fire.
“Alleged alien sightings, Sherlock,” Nazhar interjected. “There’s no real proof yet.”
“All the signs are there, Nazhar,” I replied. “It is just a matter of finding the source!”
“The sauce?” Jimmy repeated. “Like barbecue sauce?”
“It’ll be my very first alien encounter!” I continued. “Dad and I read up on alien encounters and phenomena on our favourite websites all the time.”
Just then, I noticed something in the sky. There were three points of bright greenish lights high up in the dark night sky. They were spinning rapidly and seemed to be chasing each other around.
“Everyone, look at that!” I shouted. “It’s the strange lights in the sky that the villagers were talking about! The aliens
are right over there! We need to go!”
“We can’t, Sam,” Wendy said. Like the rest of the Supper Club, her eyes were glued to the sky. “Mom and Dad specifically told us to stay here for the night. We can’t go running around without their permission!”
“But the lights, Wendy!” I shouted. “Dad won’t mind! He would want to investigate too!”
“But Mom would mind,” Wendy said.
Unfortunately, I knew that to be true.
Just as suddenly as they had appeared, the lights winked out and vanished.
“Was it just me or did the lights look green?” Eliza asked, looking at me for confirmation.
“They did,” I said, a plan already formulating in my mind. “Watson, I have a task for you. It is essential that you stay hidden while you do it so you can stay safe.”
Watson shivered and flushed a bright orange.
“Wow! Watson can change colour now!” Jimmy exclaimed. “Change to pink colour! Change to pink colour!”
Watson shivered again and changed to his favourite bright neon pink.
“When you’re done playing, I need you to investigate the area around us and film anything you deem suspicious,” I instructed. “Especially if it’s extraterrestrial in origin!”
“Your-wish-is-my-command-master,” Watson replied, flushing to a dark greenish brown to blend in with the trees around us. “Anything-to-get-farther-away-from-the-water.”
“Be safe, Watson!” Jimmy called out as the camouflaged Watson walked away.
“‘Master’?” Wendy asked. “Was he being serious?”
“The salty air might be messing with his circuits,” I said. “I’ll have to check him thoroughly when we get back home.”
“The rest of us should try to get some rest, Samuel,” Eliza said. “I think your dad has plans to head up to the Chek Jawa wetlands tomorrow, and it isn’t an easy trek. Especially not for you lot.”
“I can trek as far as you can,” Wendy muttered as she scratched yet another mosquito bite.
“Eliza is right,” Nazhar said. “Early to bed and early to rise, that’s what all expert campers say.”
Eliza looked at him strangely once again.
We huddled into our tents. Jimmy was with Nazhar, and Wendy with Eliza. I was alone as Watson had gone off for the night at my command. I started to recount what I had heard from the villagers during our meal this afternoon. Strange lights and green goo were classic evidence of alien encounters. I was sure that with more investigation we would discover even more evidence of—
“HNNGGGGGGGHHHHHHRRRRR.”
My train of thought was completely derailed by the weird noise.
“HNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHRRRRRRRR.” It was even louder and longer this time around.
We shot out of our tents. Jimmy burst out of his tent so fast he tripped and rolled over to my tent. Nazhar’s glasses were askew.
“What is that?” Wendy asked, clinging on to Eliza who was trying hard not to look as terrified as she likely felt.
“It’s a MONSTER!” Jimmy cried, squeezing my arm as tightly as he possibly could.
“Should we call Mom and Dad, Sam?” Wendy asked. She looked really worried.
“HNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRR.”
We jumped. I did not think it was possible for Jimmy to squeeze my arm any harder, but he did.
If we called Mom and Dad, there was no way that they would allow us to stay on Pulau Ubin and there would be no chance for me to investigate the alien encounters!
“Let’s just sleep in the same tent for tonight,” I said. “Yours and Eliza’s is the biggest. Everyone should get in there!”
We rushed into the girls’ tent and huddled together. The tent was so big that all of us fit quite nicely. Eliza even had small inflatable pillows that we blew up. They were really handy.
I didn’t want to say anything, but I hoped that Watson was safe out there. He could camouflage himself now, so any dangers he encountered would not be able to see and harm him.
“Do you think this has anything to do with the alien sightings, Sherlock?” Eliza asked. She seemed a bit calmer now that we were together in her comfortable tent.
“I don’t know but I’m going to find out,” I said grimly.
“HNNGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHRRRR.”
If we survived tonight, that is.
“Urgh, what time is it?” Wendy asked as she tried to untangle her feet from Jimmy’s. “How can Jimmy possibly have so many legs?”
The terrible sounds had stopped around 5am and everyone had finally fallen asleep. Jimmy was still snoring slightly. He slept like a crazy worm, wriggling all over the place and getting into everyone’s space.
I pushed Jimmy’s foot away from my face and rubbed my eyes. “I think it’s 7am.”
“We should probably wash up and start making breakfast,” Nazhar said, yawning. “Wait, where’s Eliza?”
“The MONSTER got her!” Jimmy burst out, suddenly sitting up. Just as suddenly, he fell backwards again.
“Jimmy! Why do you have to yell all the time?” Wendy asked.
There was no response.
“Jimmy?” Wendy said.
A light snore came from Jimmy.
“He’s still asleep!” Wendy exclaimed, pointing her finger at Jimmy. “And he managed to tangle his leg in mine again!”
“But do you think he’s right?” Nazhar asked, looking worried. “Do you think the monster took Eliza? Maybe we should go and look for her.”
“Unlikely. The sound stopped at about 5am and Eliza was still in the tent with us then,” I said. “It would be safe to assume that whatever it was, it left around that time.”
“I don’t think any monster would dare do anything to Eliza anyway,” Wendy muttered.
The tent flap snapped open suddenly.
“ARRRGGGHHH!” we yelled out in shock.
Jimmy sat up slowly and scratched his messed-up hair. “Is it time for breakfast, Mama?” he said drowsily.
“You guys are finally up,” Eliza said, looking down her nose at the pile of us on the ground. “All of you should go wash up. The toilets are over there.” She pointed at a low building a short distance away. Eliza looked like she had been awake for a while. Her face was freshly scrubbed and clean. Her hair was in pretty braids and her clothes were neatly pressed.
“How does she do that?” Wendy asked irritably. Wendy’s hair was in tangled knots and her skin was spotted with flaming red mosquito bites. Even the socks she slept in were wrinkled and covered in sand.
Nazhar, Wendy, a half-asleep Jimmy and I made our way out of the tent.
“You-have-24-visible-mosquito-bites,” a voice said from nowhere.
“ARRRRGGGGHHHH!” we yelled out in shock again. Jimmy definitely woke up this time around.
My robot rematerialised right in front of us. I did not realise that he could become invisible. My tinkering skills were more advanced than I thought. Or were they?
I looked suspiciously at Watson once again. But I had more important things to ask of him now.
“Watson! When did you get back?” I said. “Did you bring any breakfast? Did you capture any aliens on your spy camera?”
“I-filmed-something-very-interesting. However-I-think-you-need-to-brush-your-teeth-first,” Watson replied, waving his hand in front of his face.
“Can you even smell?” I asked.
He continued waving his hand in front of his face.
Once all of us had washed up, we huddled over our yoghurt bars and ready-made Milo.
“Watson, please play what you filmed last night,” I said. I looked suspiciously at the yoghurt bars. I had to eat them last night for dinner, and now breakfast. This had Mom’s fingerprints all over it. Dad would have packed frozen prata and a self-heating pan. I wondered what my parents were having for breakfast at their hotel. Was it a buffet? Did they have bacon? Did they have a cook to scramble eggs with cheese for them? Maybe we should have hunted the jungle fowl the night before.
&
nbsp; “Sam? Are you concentrating on the video?” Wendy asked me. “You look weird.”
“He-has-his-I-am-thinking-of-food-face-on,” Watson said. He had stopped playing the recording. “You-might-want-to-pay-close-attention-to-the-next-section-instead-of-thinking-of-bacon.”
“Continue playing the recording,” I said irritably. I definitely needed to work on my poker face.
A beam of light shot out from Watson’s metal body again. Everything was dark and greenish because of the night vision function that he had used to film the poorly lit surroundings. Watson was making his way through the forest slowly. Sometimes the angle of the image would change as Watson extended his legs to film from a greater height. There did not seem to be anyone or anything else around, other than him and the usual forest creatures, that is.
“That bird that sounds like a handphone ring is called a Calling Bird,” Nazhar said. “All the nature experts know that.”
Eliza looked at Nazhar and frowned. Nazhar suddenly felt the need to retie his shoelaces.
“What are we looking at, Watson?” Wendy asked as she squinted at the blurry image.
“This is boring,” Eliza said, carefully putting sun block on her face and arms.
Right at that moment something burst out from one of the bushes!
“Argh! It’s the alien!” Jimmy squawked. “It’s the alien, Sherlock!”
“That-is-a-fowl,” Watson said.
“It’s a foul alien, Sherlock!” Jimmy shouted. “We need to capture it!”
“He means it’s a chicken, Jimmy,” I said. “The red jungle fowl Dad mentioned yesterday. Watson, perhaps you could fast forward to the important portion you wanted me to see?”
The images emanating from Watson’s belly sped up significantly. He stopped at a scene with many tall trees. The image was still dark and gritty. Just then, something appeared from behind one of the tree trunks. It was tall, gangly and had bright red eyes!
“What is that?!” Wendy asked, her eyes wide. She had been in the middle of rubbing insect bite ointment on herself.
The image of the creature on screen suddenly turned and stared straight at Watson. Its red eyes flashed and flickered. We all gasped. Except for Watson of course. It was clear from the video footage that my robot had frozen in place and was carefully trying to avoid being noticed. The creature stalked towards Watson. Soon all that appeared on the recording were its two long, gangly limbs. Then it vanished.