“I’VE TRAVERSED THIS VAST DISTANCE TO MEET YOU”
A short sci-fi I've authored post The Galactic Conspiracy: Truth, Lies & the Pleiades
I’ve never seen Dr. Gautam so anxious ever. He looked perplexed and alarmed. He was franticly searching the bushes, as if looking for something which he knew is there. We were on a field trip in the nearby woods close to our office of ISZS – Indian Survey for Zoological Studies. Accompanying us was four of our colleagues.
While Dr. Gautam was away in the bushes, I, along with the rest of the team was walking through a forest opening. Suddenly, I saw a person, dressed in a weird body fitting black suit with a shiny, elliptical black visor helmet. The suit had an eight-star insignia on the right arm. He kicked a ball towards me. As soon as I stopped the ball, he signaled to me to kick it back. It was then I realized that there were six of them – all dressed alike. My team and I stopped, alarmed at the sight of these tall and weirdly dressed people in the middle of the woods.
However, as soon as these strangers walked towards us, they removed their helmets, and approached us with smiles. There were four young men and two women; very tall, white with blonde hair and blue eyes, except for one woman. She had black eyes, and the moment our eyes meet, I had a strong feeling that we’ve met before. As surreal as this encounter appeared I was never in doubt that we’ve made contact with the extraterrestrial biological entities – the aliens!
The blonde woman with black eyes approached me and greeted in fluent English.
“Greetings sir. I’m pretty sure you’ve guessed who we are.”
“Right from the moment you’ve removed your helmets,” I replied firmly.
The other aliens appeared somewhat nervous; however, I did not want them to be spooked and run away. I offered them to come with us to my office.
I told my team to be quite about these other worldly visitors when we reached the office. Except for the weird outfits, the security at the gate did not suspect anything.
As soon as we settled down in my office, the black-eyed blonde sat near me. It appeared that she had a lot to talk. Her uncanny resemblance to someone I know was getting stronger, yet I could not recall with whom. All the while, my team was at the door, to check anyone from entering unannounced. However, as soon as we were about to resume our conversation, Dr. Gautam suddenly appeared at the door. By then, we forgot that he was left in the woods, alone. Nevertheless, he did not appear upset about that. I popped my head out through the narrow crack of the door.
“Guess what,” said an excited Dr. Gautam, “I’ve found something!”
“What is it, Doc?” I asked.
“Can I come in?”
“Well, I’ve some guest. Can I drop by your room in a moment?”
“No,” said Dr. Gautam, “there is no time to wait. This is urgent!”
Realising the excited state in which Dr. Gautam was vibrating, contrary to his calm demeanour, I realised that he must’ve found something important; maybe about the aliens. I decided to talk to him, but in the adjacent lab. I didn’t want to spook the aliens with more humans knowing about their presence.
“I guess, I have proof that aliens have landed in the nearby woods,” Dr. Gautam confirmed my fear.
“How can you be sure?”
“See the spike in the EM meter. The background EM spikes in these woods have never crossed the threshold. But look here,” he showed his electromagnetic detector, “this has gone astronomical.”
“But, how does this prove of alien presence? It could be any natural source.”
“Because, I have had such spikes last time when I saw momentarily an alien craft in these woods fifteen years ago. It was the same day when we lost you in the field as you had passed out for some unknown reason. Remember? We spent the whole day looking for you. But this time, the EM spikes are still up, which means the aliens are still here. Let’s go back into the woods and look for the source. I will call for some backup.”
Suddenly I realised that it would be difficult to maintain the cover for the aliens, once Dr. Gautam makes calls for backup. Being a well-known scientist, who has the respect of forest officials, they’d come to the scene in no time once he makes those calls. I decided to tell him the truth.
The moment we rushed back into my office, the aliens were alarmed.
“Guys, relax. This is Dr. Gautam, and he can be trusted. All he wants is to meet you,” I said.
‘Do they understand English?” Dr. Guatam asked.
“Yes.”
In the meantime, the aliens began to talk in a language which none of us has ever heard. It sounded something line, ‘san, san saa….an…atuk…..’, but mostly dominated with the sounds of san and an.
“I think before our covers are blown, we should leave,” said the black-eyed blonde.
“No, wait…don’t worry. No one else will know,” I tried to reassure her, “We’ve so much to talk.”
But the other aliens continued to talk to her in their language.
Realizing that I may not be able to stop them for long, I asked her one question.
“I know where you’re from. But, why did you come here, traversing such a long distance?”
“How are you certain about that?’ she replied, “I’ve not told you anything.”
“I’ve read a fair bit about the blue-eyed, blonde aliens encounters form all over the planet,” I said looking intensely into her eyes, “although, I don’t know why you’ve black eyes.”
She remained silent.
“You’ve come to meet me, didn’t you?” I asked on a hunch that this visit was only to meet me.
“San min lencanđor ćasčaš žáve aïve paa,” was all she said.
I woke up with a start. Through the windows, I saw the distant mountains lit in breaking dawn. My wife was fast asleep. I remember what I had dreamt, and the words said by the black-eyed blonde… san min lencanđor ćasčaš žáve aïve paa. I understood each of her words, ‘yes, I’ve traversed this vast distance to meet you, papa’. I noticed a strange glow in my left palm. There was a silhouette of the eight- star insignia which I had seen on the outfits of the aliens.