by Barb Lien-Cooper and Park Cooper
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The spaceship landed in an empty field.
A car happened by… and slowed down… and stopped by the side of the road.
“Oh mi’God,” said the young woman in the car on the passenger side, “it’s a real UFO.”
“We should call the police,” said the young man driving.
“They won’t believe us without pictures– I’m getting out of the car,” said the young woman.
“Lisa, no! They’re space aliens! They may be here to destroy us!” said the young man.
“Or they could be friendly, Mike. If they were here to destroy us, wouldn’t they be laser-blasting the planet by now or whatever? I’m willing to take the risk–” said Lisa, and she jumped out of the car.
Mike sighed, and followed her out of the car.
The space aliens came out of the UFO… There were three of them, looking like what humans called “grays.”
They acted slightly surprised to see the young man and young woman there.
“Don’t be afraid,” Lisa called to them, “we’re friends!”
The aliens looked at each other, then nodded.
Lisa pointed to herself. “Lisa,” she said.
The aliens nodded at her.
Lisa pointed to Mike. “Mike,” she explained to the aliens.
The aliens nodded.
Lisa took out her phone. “Phone,” she said loudly.
The aliens nodded.
She took a picture of them, then turned her phone around to show them the picture. “Picture, see?”
The aliens nodded.
“Lisa, this is stupid. They can’t understand you,” said Mike.
“Sure, not yet, but a species that can make a spaceship can learn human language,” said Lisa… She took off one of her shoes temporarily and held it up for the aliens. “Shoe.”
The aliens nodded.
Lisa kept pointing to objects, then saying the name of the object.
The aliens nodded.
The alien on Lisa’s left turned to its two fellows. This, it said to them via telepathy, is just adorable. Can you believe they still use spoken language?
They’re children compared to us, the middle alien said telepathically.
Yes, children with weapons of mass destruction, said the third alien telepathically.
Lisa pointed to the jacket she’d just taken off. “Jacket, okay?”
The aliens nodded.
The disintegrating ray will have destroyed the inner workings of all of their missiles and bombs, the first alien said to the others.
Yes, children shouldn’t play with deadly weapons, the second alien said silently.
They still have their guns, tanks, and other objects of mayhem, the third alien complained.
Telepathy can put any of them with a weapon to sleep, the first alien said.
Not to mention, our bodies are invulnerable to all forms of harm these children can offer us, observed the second alien.
“Earrrrr-rings,” Lisa said, taking off her earrings and holding them up for the aliens.
The aliens nodded.
Look, Ywq, said the first alien to the third, I know this is your first mission to a primitive planet, but you have to see these primitive cultures as gifted children and make a lot of allowances. We are here to be their teachers. You weren’t here when these people were barely working out how metallurgy functions. I was. I know these people, and I’m staking my reputation on the idea that we can save them from themselves.
Ywq sighed telepathically, You’re the boss, commander.
Lisa pointed to herself again. “Lisa.” She pointed to the first alien. “Lisa? Lisa? Lisa? Can you say ‘Li-sa’?”
The aliens had a hard time not laughing, but the commander had more than enough field experience to know that good guests do not laugh at their hosts.
The commander smiled as sweetly as possible. “Li-sa,” it said out loud.
Lisa turned to Mike, smiling brightly. “See, I told you they were friendly!”