by Clyde Key
* * *
Lt. Richie Taylor watched the interview from his parents’ living room in their Albuquerque home. He noticed the aliens were just as ugly on the video wallscreen. However, having been at the front lines at the greeting, he knew alien ugly wasn’t nearly as bad as alien smell. So it was a little easier to hear what everybody had to say.
Local reporter Vallee Sertane and two of her counterparts from nearby cities interviewed only one Veezee. Sertane chaired the interview, which was held in a neighborhood park. He first scheduled the event to be conducted in the local video production studio, before he received advice from several people who had been present at the greeting that an outdoor setting would be more appropriate.
Several microphones and two video cameras, controlled remotely by studio personnel, hovered around the reporters and their guests. The reporters sat in a row of park chairs, with Sertane in the middle, while the alien stood in front of them. One of the cameras stayed focused on the alien while the other maneuvered for a favorable shot of Ms. Sertane when she began to speak.
“Good Afternoon, video viewers,” she began. “I’m Vallee Sertane of Vid-Al News and I’m accompanied by Shane Elgar of Ruidoso Vid and Tandee Barrett of Tucumcari Information. And of course, our special guest is from the Veezee compound. We bring you today an event of historic proportions, the first-ever local interview with a visitor from outer space. I will begin with a question for our guest, then Elgar will be next, followed by Barrett.
“Before we begin, I must say how pleased we are that you would grant us this opportunity to gain rare insights into such an obviously advanced civilization.”
Sertane smiled painfully. (The wind must have changed.) “For our viewers, please tell us your name.”
“I am Veezee,” was the raspy reply.
“No, no. I’m sorry I wasn’t clear. I meant more specifically, what is your individual name?”
“I am Veezee. We are Noble Veezee.”
Sertane’s thin eyebrows arched in quizzical expression. “Do you mean you have no individual identity?”
“Veezee are many but Veezee are one and two, noble and common. Veezee know who. Names are useless to Veezee. Veezee are not like you.”
Sertane was still puzzled, but she gave up on it and nodded to Elgar.
“You tell us you have no individual names. Is it true that you have no individual thoughts, that the Oldest Veezee thinks for all of you?”
“Noble Veezee thinks only to serve The Eldest.”
Barrett spoke next. “Tell our viewers something we’ve all been wondering about. Why did Veezee come to our world?”
The alien stood still and silent while the reporters waited. And waited.
“Are all the Veezee gone from your previous world?” asked Sertane.
Again, silence.
Elgar and Barrett looked puzzled but Sertane was getting riled by all of it. “Have you decided not to share with us after all?”
“Eldest Veezee says there will be answers for those questions tomorrow. Eldest will tell the answers to Arlene Sisk, representative of the President of the United States of America, upon whose portion of the Earth’s surface we have landed.”
“Then is this interview over?” asked Sertane.
“Other questions are permitted for this time.”
“What are Veezee’s plans for the future, now that you are on our planet?” asked Elgar.
“Veezee will live. Veezee will teach. Veezee must be free.”
Now Barrett frowned. “How can you say your peo... Veezee are not free since there is so much space in Southern Cal to do your own thing? After all, none of us has unlimited access to the world. We must all respect the space of others who occupy a space first.”
“Veezee must be free to occupy space that is not occupied. Your president must allow it. Please ask your president to allow us to be free.”
“How do you define being free?” asked Sertane. “Doesn’t being free still include following some rules?”
The alien was silent again.
“Oh, well!” said Sertane. “We don’t seem to be getting anywhere! Why don’t you give your statement from The Eldest and we’ll save the rest of it for another time.”
“Veezee have studied human history and find that it has many blemishes, and that it is racist and sexist. We know that human civilization is scarred from wars and that this planet suffers from pollution caused by humans. Veezee know that strong humans exploit and enslave weak humans.
“Veezee have none of these problems. Veezee are only noble and common and have no equivalent to human race. Veezee have no sex. Veezee have no war, only perfect unity in thoughts of the Eldest. Veezee does not pollute but strives to perfect.
“Veezee have been always free before your government enslaved us. Please demand that your president make us free.”
The park scene faded and a pair of studio commentators picked it up. One commentator was a middle-aged woman wearing a dark suit and a bland face. The other, a tanned thirtyish man with perfect hair and perfect teeth adopted a serious expression for the viewers. “Good afternoon, Albuquerque—and the nation, in case this is being carried on the network. My name is Eric Mile for Vid-Al and I’m here to discuss the alien interview with Lupita Garza who is professor of anthropology at University New Mexico.
“I’m sure Ms. Garza will have some insights for us, from an anthropological viewpoint, and I have some thoughts about the political ramifications.
“First, I must say these creatures touch a nerve with us. Freedom is the most important underlying principle of our nation, and Veezee truly yearn to be free. How can any one of us wish to deny them?
“But I must also admit there are problems to be solved first. And I fear that some of these problems may not be easy to resolve.” Mile paused for effect and looked worried for the camera. “The first problem, as I see it, is that this relationship of Noble Veezee to Common Veezee certainly does sound like slavery to me.” Mile glanced at Garza, hoping for support on this point.
“We’d have to study that some more,” said Garza. “How can we say that any aspect of Veezee life is comparable to an aspect of human life? For now, I think we must go with what they say about it.”
Mile arched one eyebrow as he thought about the response. He had wanted more help. “Then there some other problems, but one in particular may stifle human-Veezee interaction. How much longer can we ignore the fact that those things stink? How on Earth can we expect anybody to share their neighborhood with anything that smells like that?”
