A Visit To The Green Planet

A Visit To The Green Plant

I am 16 londies old. I came with mother to this green planet to complete my school's final task. I am to research the natives and submit a report to the High Council.

The flight was uneventful and I busied myself tapping into the Knowledge Bank to learn what we know about the planet. I will have the honor of naming it. The name is insignificant. The habitants are more important. Will they be like us? Tall and handsome with scaled blue skins and smooth heads? Or will they look like the Minerosys who have transparent skins and you can see their internal organs? I always thought it was fascinating to watch the new forming babies inside their father's body…

Mother is a member of the High Council. Councilors normally do not accompany youngsters on their missions, but mother insisted on accompanying me. I was deeply offended. She didn't trust me to accomplish the task on my own. The hurt and shame lingered for days, and I had nothing to say to her, although our rules of conduct demand respect and immediate obedience to our elders.

Landing presented no problem and was easy. We prepared our survival kits, activated our personal shields and left our small craft nestled in a tree. I floated down first and when I touched the ground I felt the gravitational pull of the earth through my body. I directed my observation thoughts at the craft's Main Brain.

Floating was harder here since gravity was three times that of ours. But I was young, strong and could handle it. Mother will have to walk if she found floating too exhausting. I knew she hated walking, but I was sure she would not let me explore on my own, and I sighed.

It took us four sunsets to cover all resources of the planet, examine the fauna and vegetation. The only specimens we had not encountered were Sapiens.

I knew not what to expect. On my planet Limarosa, we, the Limura are divided into three genres: Homis, Femis and Drogis. I belong to the Femis. The biological drive to reproduce is monitored by Drogies who have none of the reproductive organs but serve as surrogate mothers to the new infants. Parents only create the infant when their time to reproduce comes, and they deliver it to the Drogie to be sheltered in their body until it is ready to emerge. The Drogie is called Nanny-Mother, accompany the young until it has matured, and then start all over again with another infant.

I often wondered what methods of reproduction existed among species on other planets. None-intelligent organisms in our world reproduce by way of laying eggs and various methods of incubation. Our bond with each other is based on honor, mutual respect and occasionally the need to reproduce. Our young are raised by a Drogie, thus giving their biological parents the space they need to work, learn and be part of the community. Is any other method of raising the young efficient?

Our next excavation took us to the edge of the forest which we studied thoroughly. We took resemblances of all organisms, recorded their sounds and patterns of behavior. But none of them were sapiens, so we decided to leave the forest and look for more evidence. Perhaps there were no intelligent Beings on the planet.

We closed our shields, became invisible and floated out of the forest.

Vast green fields lay beneath us, bearing strange looking pods. A close examination revealed it was food growing, and mother smiled saying that where food is grown, there is intelligence.

We kept floating until we reached a place we thought was a dwelling of Beings. Small shelters with red covers made of flat stones, each surrounded by trees and grass. It looked like separate units, for there were fences between them and a door that opened to the road.

At home we have many roads. The young are not allowed to float until they reach maturity and they move from one location to another via their personal sliding boards. I still miss the fun we had navigating those boards!

Mother said she detected sapiens' minds but they were all in a state of static. I found it strange they were all at static. At home, one became static when one felt drained. Levels of activity deferred from being to being so one retired when he needed to recharge his powers, but never was the entire planet immobilized at the same time.

I went down to one of the doors, looking at the dwelling. It was built of wood, had large openings to let the light in and each one was blocked with a see-through sheet of a solid matter. Interesting material. I opened the door and walked towards the dwelling. Mother was hovering above, transmitting every warnings she could think of. Be careful, don't open your shield, don't touch anything; on and on she went.

I ignored her and opened my shield. All I wanted to do was touch the shiny see-through sheet that blocked the opening in the wall. I reached my hand and touched it. It was smooth and cold. Didn't look thick though. Would it stand a strong pressure if the atmosphere changed and the wandering suck-holes came and pulled at every object that was not anchored or buried underground? At home all our dwellings were either built of grandilite which was too heavy for the suck-holes to move, or constructed underground. Even our food fields were cultivated underground with artificial light. The holes, when they came, took everything like a huge sucking mechanism.

But I liked the idea of a substance that let natural light through. If it turned out to be strong, then I would take a sample back home. The Council would surly appreciate such a find!

I knocked lightly on the sheet with my sixth finger. The sound was weak. Then I used my fist and pushed it against the opening, putting some force behind it. My hand went through, shuttering it to small bits and making a lot of noise.

My hand was slightly scratched, but no permanent damage. Mother would fix it in a minute. She was still up above, shielded and watching me with care.

A loud screeching sound started as soon as my hand broke that sheet. It made my head spin and before I had a chance to close my shield, a creature came out of the door and seized me by my arm.

He was making noises like some of the creatures in the forest. He shouted and screamed and after a minute, a few more creatures came out of the dwelling, some small and some very large. The small ones were about my size and their eyes looked frightened.

Mother was thinking at me that they were sapiens. I was so astounded by the one who was holding my arm, preventing me from floating to safety, that I forgot to scan them and read their minds.

I thought at the smallest Being words of introduction, but his mind was in chaos and I couldn't understand a word of his thoughts. They must use a different method of communication. A different language.

I tried to free myself from the strong grip, but he was twice my height and extremely strong.

I communicated to mother, asking for help, but she was no longer there. It wasn't like her to leave me alone at a time of hardship. I sent another thought at her, asking her to come down and talk to the Beings. An urgent thought came back; a group of Beings came out of the back carrying long sticks and found her floating nearby. They shouted, pointing their sticks at her. Mother said the sticks made an awful noise and she thought they were a primitive version of our ray-guns. When her shield was hit and disabled she realized the Beings meant to harm her. Before they reached her, she floated above the trees, ignoring the scorching sun, heading back to the ship. She started it and took off, flying out of the atmosphere. She said she'll be in touch and come back for me with help from Limarosa. I've never heard mother sound so frightened. She must have had a near-death experience, which was a feeling alien to our people. On our planet, death is met only when a person had used all his potential and no longer contributed to the community.

I was alarmed at once. If the Beings meant us harm without even trying to communicate, it meant I could not stay any longer. I had to leave right away, hide somewhere and wait for mother to come back for me. I'm sure mother reported the incident to the council.

Activating my shield was impossible since the Being's hand holding me created a disturbance. I thought at him a question, and he suddenly moved his head vigorously and looked puzzled. Why did they all seem so frightened? I was not going to harm them! So far they were the aggressive ones.

A roaring noise was heard and I saw a moving object rolling along the road, stopping in front of the door. A group of Beings came out of it. They wore white cloth shields, their heads covered with hoods that had those see-through sheets in the front. It looked like a protective shield, and I wondered why they haven't activated their personal shields. It was much easier…

They exchanged sounds with the man who held me. They took me then to their rolling object, put me at the back, closed the door and the object started moving. Where were they taking me? I was locked inside and could not float away. Neither could I secure my shield and become invisible. My arm was damaged somehow when the first Being held it tight. It would have solved a lot of problems had I been able to disappear from their sight!

I was still not worried. They haven't harmed me in any way, but I had to work on communicating with them. They probably feared me. If only I could make sounds like they did. We Limurians do not have a sound making mechanism. We communicate through our minds.

When the object stopped rolling, the door opened and one Being hauled me out, grabbed my arm and held it so tight I nearly screamed.. I could sense deep fear in him but I could not understand his thoughts.

He produced a small tube that had a long thin metal wire at the end and pointed it at my shoulder. I felt the wire against my skin but it couldn't penetrate. My skin, thanks to our scientist was made very thick when we left our planet.

The Being tried again, but his wire broke. He then started to shout and three other Beings came to stand around me.

I was thirsty. I needed water but had no idea how to ask for it. I could feel I was nearing a state of dehydration.

I started thinking at him thoughts of water. All sorts of water; Seas, pools, waterfalls, anything that had to do with liquids.

The Being gave me a strange look and barked a succession of orders. One of the others went back to the rolling object and took out a large canister. He brought it over to me, produced a small cup and poured the liquid from the canister into the cup. He handed it to me and I greedily drank it all, ignoring the first rule of caution which was part of what we've been taught at home - never eat or drink while exploring strange planets.

I handed the cup back and pointed to the canister. The Being seemed to understand and refilled the cup ten more times, until my thirst was quenched. They were making funny faces when they watched me drink. Perhaps they do not drink so much on one session? I had no way of knowing.

I could have floated away from them, but my shield was damaged and I didn't want to take a risk by floating without protection from the sun which was a thousand fold larger than the one back home. Besides, I had a feeling those Beings would try to harm me if I tried to escape.

Their leader took me inside the dwelling which had long passages with doors on each side. The walls were painted green and I couldn't see other Beings except the ones that came with me.

The leader reached a door at the end of one passage, opened it, stepped aside and motioned me to get in.

There was a large enclosure, in the large span of enclosed area, with a table in the middle and a source of bright light hanging over it.

A few Beings stood around the table. One of them approached and stopped in front of me. He made that funny face which revealed his white even teeth and took my hand in his. His fingers were moving on my skin, as if he was testing it. His thumb stopped at my wrist and lingered there, looking for something. I had no idea what. His hands were protected by a sort of artificial skin that matched his hands to perfection, but didn't emit any heat or tissue texture. Pity. I wanted to sense his touch.

He took me to the table and pointed at it, making it clear he wanted me to sit on it. There was a small wooden step near it, so I climbed it and sat on the table. The bright lights hurt my eyes and instinctively I raised my hand to shield them. The Beings noticed it and one of them shifted the source of light aside and I could see better.

They all gave me curious looks, some touched me and looked excited. I guess they knew I was from another planet and wanted to know more about me, the same way I wanted to know everything about them.

I noticed a strange device hanging on the side of the light source. It had one blinking red eye and another one covered with the same see-through sheet. They were pointed downwards towards the table and me. It made a soft swishing sound. I had no idea what that was.

I started to think at them pictures of my planet, my friends, the High Council members, mother and some of the underground dwellings. They became silent and I knew they saw my thoughts. Their minds were still closed to me. They seemed to have been more complicated than any living creature my people have ever encountered. I knew they were not thinking at each other. They used sound communication. Primitive if you ask me.

The Being who first greeted me used his hands to show me what he wanted. He tried to push me down unto the table, holding his hand parallel to the floor. He wanted me to lie down on the table, so I did, putting my head on the raised part. I suddenly felt exhausted. I had no rest for many hours.

My eyes felt heavy. I was about to immobilize my mind and recharge my powers. I looked at the faces around me, partially hidden behind head covers and tried to think of a way to communicate with them and learn about their world.

* * * * * * * *

Dr. Chalmers opened the meeting at the National Security Sub-Committee for Alien Affairs.

He addressed the chairman and committee members, said he was going to introduce a tape and said that questions would be answered after the viewing.

Upon his signal, the lights were turned off, the curtains pulled and a white screen was opened on the wall behind the committee. Members moved to the front row and the tape started playing.

"I am Dr. Gideon Chalmers of the Genetic Institute. What you are about to see is confidential material. Please sign the confidentiality form before leaving this room. Nothing of this must ever be revealed, unless otherwise stated by the government.

An alien creature was found wandering around Creek Forest. It seemed to be intelligent but could not communicate with us. It was peaceful and didn't make any attempt to escape.

We took it to our lab and conducted our investigation under the best medical conditions possible. Here is an excerpt from the tape taken of the procedure.”

The audience watched the small blue creature, not bigger than a ten year old child. It had a scaly skin, bold head and bright shiny blue eyes. It was made to lie on an operating table then seemed to have fallen asleep.

The doctors administered anesthesia via the creature's breathing system and started operating on it. The brain was exposed, studied and small samples of it were extracted for further study. Then, the alien body was scanned, measured and sampled for skin, nails and body fluids.

When the doctors were done closing up the brain, the alien was taken to a recovery room where it was gradually brought out of sleep and monitored by a nurse. The room was watched by two armed guards.

That was the end of the tape, and the audience sat quietly, thinking of what they'd just seen.

Dr. Chalmers appeared again and said: “Our report as to scientific findings will be released at a later stage. We are very grateful for the opportunity to study an alien's body and recommend that the family who brought it to our attention should be generously rewarded."

He seemed to be pleased with himself and his gaze went over the committee members, waiting for their reaction.

"I will answer your questions now," he said.

One young woman, the newest member of the committee raised a hand. Dr. Chalmers acknowledged and she said, "What will become of it? Will you keep it prisoner or allow it to wander around? Was it alone? Can we communicate with it?

The other committee members looked at Dr. Chalmers, nodding, indicating they too wanted to ask the same questions.

Dr. Chalmers wondered how much he should tell them. He knew that communication with the alien would soon be established, since the creature was a telepath and could project his thoughts into the human mind. The issue that bothered him was that of the second alien who managed to get away in its ship. Was it going to alert his people and come back with reinforcement? Will they start a war? They were superior to the human race; that much he knew.

Clearing his throat, he said, "I'm sorry I can't furnish you with more details. As soon as the alien recovers from surgery, we'll try to communicate with it and learn more about its intentions. Until then, please remember that this is a top secret issue, not to be discussed with anyone."

*********************

I woke in a strange place and felt a slight headache. I was lying on a raised platform, padded with a soft substance and realized my hands were arrested to the bed by means of strong bands. I couldn't get up, let alone float away. I was a prisoner and the thought was extremely unpleasant.

Where is mother? I thought. She said she'll be back for me. I don't want to stay here. These Beings are rude and stupid. Their brains are not fully formed, they don't have shields and they can't float… A very early specimen of sapiens, by all standards!

I started to send my thoughts towards the atmosphere above the planet, looking for any sign of mother. At first there was nothing then a warm feeling washed all over me. Thoughts of encouragement, love and hope.

True to her word, mother came to rescue her daughter from the aliens who didn't have the sense to open their hearts and minds to a race which could have shared their advanced knowledge and technology. And she didn't come alone. One hundred ships came with her, all ready to use force if necessary.

"Thank you mother," I thought at her. "Hurry and get me out of here."


September 2003