ABC shorts: Return Visit…
[Note from Steve: A. B. Carolan doesn’t always write for young adults. I suspect this pithy little tale he sent me from Donegal is motivated by how the rest of the world now sees the U.S., but you can ask him.]
Return Visit
Copyright 2018, A. B. Carolan
Nalek turned the stun field on and walked into the cave. The furry male with the deep set eyes must have heard him coming because he was frozen into position but staring at the cave’s entrance. The female—his mate?—was frozen in her sitting position where she’d been sewing some skins with a crude stone needle and a strip of animal hide. The little one, who was completely naked, was playing with some polished stones.
Nalek crouched and closed his eyes so he could store every detail of the scene in his memory. He then stood, turned, and walked out of the cave.
“Primitives,” he told the starship’s crew. He turned toward the cave’s entrance again and turned the stun field off. “We should return later to see how they’ve developed.”
“Acknowledged. Meet the shuttle on the lake shore.”
***
On their return visit, after fifty-three thousand orbits of the strange planet around its star, Nalek stood in a park across the street from a large white mansion. He was dressed in apparel suitable for that hot, stormy environment on that early morning. Undeterred by the weather, people were marching back and forth screaming in their strange language. They looked angry.
He set the stun field’s generator on wide coverage and moved across the street to the side entrance of the fenced-in area containing the mansion, tipping his hat to the frozen sentries as he entered the grounds.
“Good morning, gentlemen.”
Of course, they didn’t answer.
He went through the gate and into the mansion. He found his way to the bedroom of the large tribe’s leader.
They had decided this yellow-haired male had to be examined. Nalek found him in bed playing with some kind of electronic apparatus, a savage expression making his face into a caricature as he was frozen in place ready to press an icon that would send a message. Nalek squatted and studied this “leader of the free world.” He then stood and shook his head sadly.
“Not much progress,” he announced to his shipmates. “They’re still primitives. He’s sending out cryptic messages on a device, but he might as well be beating a skin drum like the natives we visited here long ago. Mental capacities might even have deteriorated. There’s no hope for this planet if he’s the smartest native as he claims, and we have no reason to doubt him. Why would he be in this position if he lied?”
“Acknowledged. We’ll quarantine the planet. It will soon be a polluted wasteland anyway. Meet the shuttle back in the park.”
Nalek crossed the street again, stopped to look back at the mansion, and shook his head sadly. He turned off the stun field and entered the shuttle. To the natives, he simply disappeared; he’d turn off the cloaking device high in the atmosphere.
The search for intelligent life in the universe would continue, just not on this planet.
***
Comments are always welcome!
A. B. Carolan, The Secret Lab. In the far future, Shashi and her young friends are determined to discover the origins of a mutant cat they find on the International Space Station. In the process, they uncover a conspiracy. My Irish friend A. B. Carolan rewrote and reedited my original sci-fi mystery for young adults to make a second edition. 50% off now on Smashwords. This is a perfect holiday gift for the young adult in your family…or for any adult who is young at heart. And, while you’re there on Smashwords, check out A. B.’s new sci-fi mystery The Secret of the Urns. Both books are also available in ebook and print format on Amazon.
In libris libertas!
