The Lights

by M. Starks

  May I help you?

  Yes. The answer comes immediate. I want a later. I want to see what happened. I want to go beyond this world, if that is where hope lies. I'm tired of acceptance and adaptability. I no longer feel sharpened by them. Hope is all that I have, if this alien helps me.

  Just as I had seen in the coruscant pictures the alien showed, it picked me up as my father once did when I was very young and half asleep. It carried my decrepit, undependable human body through the remains of my bunker. The grey walls bleak and uncaring. Crumbling in places. For a fleeting moment I worried about leaving my few meager belongings behind.

  Is there something you wish to bring?

  A picture. In my pack.

  I will return for it.

  Thank you.

  Together, me in the alien's arms, the alien walking on four legs, we climb out of the bunker and into the sunless cloud-covered scape.

  A fire raged through here recently, the trees are burnt, charred black. It must have happened while I slept fitfully below.

  Did my old neighborhood burn too?

  Yes.

  Well, at least now I don't have to worry about dogs picking through my parent's bones, or the lack of my having buried them.

  The sphere-like ship shines lustrous, phosphorescent, polished, radiant. A stark contrast between the barren panorama of charred trees, dirt, and bleak lighting.

  A panel slides open and we enter the warm darkness. Lights flicker on. No, the sphere becomes translucent and the lights I'd seen on the outside are now visible inside.

  Amazing!

  Yes.

  It sets me down in a strange chair, made out of a material I could not know.

  Remain here. I will return for your picture.

  Okay. It's not like I have the strength to wander off, nor the desire.

  The alien is gone for a brief amount of time. It hands the picture to me with its long slender fingers, four of them, and sits in the other chair.

  The panel slides closed, the gap in the swirling ebbing and flowing lights is gone. We rise rapidly above the ground. There is no sound, no turbulence like I once experienced in a helicopter. I don't feel much except for the force of gravity.

  I can see everything. The clouds billowing out above, the red light emanating behind them. The ground below, stretching out long and wide. It all looks the same. Barren. A wasteland. Burned and flattened.

  Will the earth ever be the same?

  Someday.

  Like a cut in the human body, the earth will mend. That voice is my teacher's from Science class.

  I nod. My eyes are growing heavy. My head is dizzy. My heart is beating erratically, an inconsistent staccato beat in my chest. I want to take it all in. Soak it up, as though I am absorbing the suns rays for the first time, and I am in desperate need.

  Am I hallucinating all of this? I wonder again.

  No. This is real. My father's voice again.

  I try to enjoy it. How many lifetimes will see this? The end of the world… the journey to a new one?

  There are other survivors.

  How many?

  Not many.

  Are you helping them too?

  Others like me, yes.

  Good.

  We pass through the clouds. I feel at peace, watching the earth below me fade into the swirl of water vapors and other poisonous particles. Now, I see a nebulosity below me, and a glittering cloud of stars above.

  We rise even faster. My eyes close and open, heavy lids threatening to steal this moment.

  We are in the vacuum of space. Moments ago that vacuum was death. Now it is hope. I feel excitement mingled with anxiety.

  Do not worry.

  That's easy for you to say. You've been here before.

  If the alien could laugh, it might have.

  What does the future hold for me? That question is a loaded one. One that brings on the anxiety.

  You will see.

  I push my human emotions aside and hope that it is a good future. I don't know what to expect. I only have a human imagination to contend with… which means I can only imagine things based off of what I know.

  As much as I long to remain awake and alert, enjoying the full freedom of leaving earth on an alien spacecraft, my affliction of failing health robs me of the twinkling tick of time in which I am transported from earth to my new home far away.

  I dream of heaven. Pearly white gates and all. I see my mom smiling in the brilliance of heaven. Her gorgeous smile. The one that always made me smile in return, as though beaming up at the sun and moon and stars. My whole world. My father stands holding her hand. He is smiling, and there are tears in his eyes.

  I know this is not real. My belief system is not that we go to heaven. I believe in reincarnation. Something to do with my journey, my feverish state, and movies combined to make this dream.

  Chapter 4

  My alien is dazzling. Radiant. I awake to find it nearby, motionless. Waiting. Its colors, subdued on earth, are resplendent now. Shades of blues and golds, light emanating from within, nearly diaphanous, crystalline. It sees my eyes studying its’ beauty and I think that it would smile if it could.

  I wasn’t hallucinating. I’m getting getting used to hearing it in my head. It seems silly to try to talk now.

  No. Do you feel better? It moves closer.

  Yes! I did in fact feel world’s better. The swelling in my hands had subsided. My fever feels as though it has departed, as if it had not existed in my body at all. The achy joints, the pain in my abdominal region, the sandpaper feeling of my tongue, the soreness of my throat... all of it gone. My head feels clear and vital. Thank you. Thank you so much!

  It is my pleasure.

  I sit up. There are windows, and walls that seem to be made of tissue paper where lights swirl, ebb and flow within as though they are alive. I am in awe of the magnificent view. The way the tableau beyond what I think of as windows shimmers. Little galaxies glowing in what looks like grass and the alien version of trees.

  Are we on your ship?

  My ship?

  Yes, the mother ship? You know, you have your little craft and then we get on the bigger one?

  There is a chuckle in my head. My father’s chuckle. Tears immediately well at the edges of my eyes.

  I’m sorry, I did not mean to bring you pain. We are in my home.

  Oh.

  Come, let me show you things.

  I stand, my legs solid. You healed me. All of me.

  Yes. We have the ability to do so. It is my pleasure.

  I had heart problems that made my legs cramp a lot. Diabetes...

  All gone. It is my pleasure.

  I cannot be more thankful, happy, and more sad at the same time. I had been healed of all of my afflictions... my parents and all those I loved and cared about are dead.

  You are resilient. It is unfortunate, what happened to your family, to your planet. For this, I am regretful. But, as I said, it was not us who caused this. I would like to show you.

  I am inherently aware that what ever it is this alien chooses to show me may or may not be the truth. I make a promise to myself to keep an open mind.

  As I follow my alien, I wonder many things at once. What is it’s name? Does it have a sex? How old is it? Where is it’s home, what planet? What was it doing when it, as it says, wasn’t destroying my home? Why did it come to earth? It seems it’s own home is just fine... healthy in fact.

  I will answer all in time. For now, I will tell you that my planet is called Ihtex. My name is Elucien. If I had grown up in your earth days I would be three thousand years old. As for a sex, I would be the equivalent of your male sex.

  Elucien. Nice to meet you.

  Nice to make your acquaintance as well, Sam.

  You know my name? How can he not? He can read my thoughts... How big is your planet?

  Big.

  Bigger than Earth?

  Much bigger.

  How many moons do you have?

>   Six. But we don’t call them moons. They are planets, with other civilizations inhabiting them. Akal, Gris, Portalis, Xi, Rthica, and Talis.

  Are they like you?

  Some. Some are very different.

  We pass through a thinner tissue-paper-like door way, as if it were a hologram. We pass through several more, the glow of colors changing with each passageway. Pinks to greens to blues to yellows. As the colors change, Elucien changes with it. His blues and golds absorbing the greens and pinks.

  We are here. Please stand here.

  I stand where indicated. It seems by the force of his thoughts he calls forth a galaxy that fills the room.

  Whoa! This is better than 3D! Hey, I see Earth!

  That is Yuth. Earth used to look similar. This is Earth in current time.

  Elucien brings my solar system into focus, as if zooming in on a map. I see the sun, Mercury, Venus... Earth is ugly. The blue and green gem has turned into a brownish-grey mass. The cloud cover reflecting back the sunlight in sickly hues. Earth in it’s death throes.

  I want to cry. That was my home. Like a captain of a sinking ship, I have suicidal thoughts. I should have stayed. I should have died with it.

  I am glad that you chose to leave it.

  I think back to the day I woke up to find Elucien hovering over me. How terrified I’d been. How close to death. How I had accepted the thought that this alien would finish me off. Then, in my feverish state, I remember the pictures he placed in my mind of carrying me out of my crumbling bunker. How I had blindly trusted that he would take care of me, even if he had not shown more than his compassion. I had known I would be getting into the sphere. Had I willingly left Earth? I decide that yes, I had. I had wanted more.

  The lights in the sky, the stars had beckoned to me. I had longed for them. They were my favorite part of the night spectacle. I dreamed of becoming an astronaut. Yes, I had decided to leave Earth. I had put my full trust in Elucien and he had not failed me.

  Also in his favor is the fact that he is not doing experiments on me, or causing me great pain. And, he claims that he did not take Earth from me.

  I am ready to see what he has to show me.

  We are here. He shows a planet, bigger than our sun, at the far edge of the Milky Way Galaxy. Ihtex. We often find comets to be helpful to our technology. There was an asteroid in particular that was approaching your home planet that we have long called Gobul. We were aware of your habitation, but knew you were not receptive. We have long watched your civilizations shape and grow. For a time, we did help what you called Egyptians. They unfortunately grew power hungry, wanting to be Gods. We withdrew. Over time, there were other, what you call aliens, that had a hand in shaping certain societies, but they chose to remain silent helpers.

  I nod, thinking of the spurts of growth and knowledge. Certain scientists having “revelations” while others grew stagnant. This makes sense.

  Is there a God?

  Do you mean a creator?

  I suppose so.

  I am unsure how to answer. I think you will find out in your own time.

  Do you believe in God? I rephrase my question.

  Yes.

  This is good enough for me for the time being. What happened when you came to see the asteroid?

  The peoples of Earth noticed us for the first time. You had many nations on your planet. Some reacted favorably, wanting peaceful contact. Your country did not. Your nation was afraid. Your planet could not know that we had no intention of causing problems. We did not want bad things to happen. Your technology had advanced recently and we did not know it. Imagine our surprise.

  You think someone else helped?

  Maybe. You are intelligent creatures. You might have done it on your own.

  I smile for the first time. A real smile. I am honored he thinks we have intelligence.

  All species have intelligence of some sort. Some have more than others. While humans are on the higher end of that spectrum, they also have emotions to contend with. We do too, although our emotions are different.

  Do you think others are above us because they are more intelligent?

  No. Each has something to add. Your human race is young in our spectrum of age, and they don’t live long. This is why we have helped at times, not because we see you as inferior. You, Sam, are young, but willing to learn. This makes us receptive to you personally.

  My heart buoyed a little by this, I am willing to press on. A little voice in the back of my mind whispers: he is feeding you lines to make you feel comfortable. He may not feel you are so important. I squash it down. Doubt erodes hope. I need hope right now.

  As I said, your nation was afraid. They began sending missiles into space. Some of them struck our mining ship so that it was very damaged. Our intention had been to do nothing. We did not wish to retaliate. We understood why your nation was afraid. The barrage continued, getting worse. We needed to leave, but it was unsafe to do so. Unsafe to remain. Our best defense was to disable your nukes and missiles. We used sound to rattle things, but not damage anything. We did not wish to hurt your technology or set you back. Just buy ourselves time to get away, which we did.

  But, the bomb? The thing that killed so many of our people?

  That was you. Our sound frightened many nations, which was precisely what we wished to avoid. When we returned later to observe, we discovered Earth in it’s current state.

  We set off the bombs?

  Yes. Many of you did. We also detected that some other device was used, it was meant to cloak yourselves, create a barrier.

  We had technology for that?

  It appears so. Instead, this cloaking ruined your atmosphere.

  This explains the global-warming-type storms and thick cloud-cover. The violence and viciousness. Earth has become unstable. What was meant to save us, destroyed us.

  Did you come on a rescue mission?

  After determining that Earth was no longer inhabitable until it righted itself, we conferred with other civilizations. It was agreed that we should gather those that had managed to survive the fallout and bring them here. It is not our wish that humans be put out of existence.

  I don’t know how to feel.

  You will feel many things. Grief. Sadness. Anger. These things are inevitable.

  As I said, humans have emotions that differ from ours, but are similar. It is not a matter of superiority in controlling our own emotions, because emotions are difficult to control to any degree. They are part of what make us what we are. Sometimes that makes us volatile. Sometimes, peaceable. Our civilizations have just existed longer, and we have greater lifespans.

  I feel all three emotions as he says them, and then some. What he says makes sense. Still, it is painful to know that we did this to ourselves. I am grateful they came back to help those who were left.

  What does this mean for our future?

  As a race?

  That, and for myself. What does my future hold?

  What ever it is you wish. As long as you remain as you are, we will be here to help you.

  So... I can leave? I can see new places?

  Yes. As you wish.

  Will my life span change? I understand that it is different on each planet and in the void of space. Time is relative. If the planet spins faster or slower... Oh my God... how will gravity effect me?

  There is a chuckle in my head again. This time the pain is not as great. We will allow you to use our technology to remain as you are now. Healthy, vital. Your life span will be greatly increased. You may go where you choose.

  Elucien, can we be friends?

  I am happy that you asked. It is my pleasure, Sam.

  Will I be able to observe Earth as it mends?

  Of course.

  And can we go back when it is whole again?

  Yes.

  I feel a peace, greater than I have ever felt in my life span, fall over me like a warm current of summer river water where the bugs skated on the surface and my mother smiled in
the sunlight. I know what I want to do.

  What is it you desire, my friend?

  I want to find a way to give to you what you gave to me.