I was exhausted, but I couldn’t fall asleep. I tried meditating, which usually does the trick, but not this time. The day’s challenges and residual issues still pervaded me. I lay awake while the full moon and stars filled the room with surreal and magical light, sedating me somewhat, but I still couldn’t sleep. I was interrupted by a sudden urge to relieve myself, so I rolled out of bed and headed downstairs to the bathroom.
Relieved, I headed back upstairs. I noticed a strange glow filtering through the bay window in the living room. I was still wide awake; it was a beautiful night, so I grabbed a cigarette, a lighter, a double shot of scotch and a torch and headed out the backdoor, filled with a spirit of enquiry. And there IT was, motionless and glowing. IT was otherworldly humanoid, devoid of gender as far as I could tell. IT didn’t appear aggressive, hurt, afraid, hungry or cold. My instinct was to turn and run back inside, but for some reason, I didn’t. I just stood there, unafraid and mesmerised.
The moonlight and IT’s own glow deemed using the torch unnecessary and intrusive. So, I approached IT and felt its presence.
I wasn’t sure how to be, so I lit my cigarette, swallowed half the scotch, and sat down. Time passed. I made the first move.
“Hey…. are you ok?” I asked.
Silence, just eye contact. I tried again.
“Can I call anyone?”
After another long, pregnant pause, it spoke… but not sonically or verbally, and yet … I heard it. That was very peculiar.
“Is this your home?” she asked.
I replied, “ I believe so. It is where I live.”
It got up, and walked towards me with an unusual gait. It almost seemed to glide over. And then it sat next to me without the need of a chair and communicated again.
“I don’t have much time. We have been watching, and it seems you are at war with everything, especially nature. You bite the hand that feeds you. Even your creative nature is slowly being abandoned for efficiency and instant gratification.”
She glided away and started a fire instantaneously, which was fascinating, bewildering and to some degree very threatening. But I still did not feel afraid and replied to her.
“Our technology seems to evolve faster than ever before, is more capable and perhaps more effective than us lately. People are divided on this evolutionary process but it continues as more and more of us become increasingly dependent on it. ”
I added, “Most of us don’t seem to mind, though. As an adaptable species, most of us just try to survive, albeit at different levels. However, I do feel we are losing a certain ingredient – a muchness.”
Silence ensued. It finally dawned on me that this was an extraterrestrial encounter in which I could be abducted, probed, dissected or added to the fire.
All the movies I had watched conditioned me for this moment. But strangely, I still felt no fear. I had to ask.
“ Who are you, where are you from, and what do you want ?
Suddenly, my two dogs appeared, suspicious and irritated, and then the cat sauntered into the situation too. Within moments, they all settled down quietly next to IT. That was pivotal. Animals don’t know how to lie. That’s a human trait. And then… it ‘spoke’ again.
“Our world is functionally perfect. No one is suffering, no one is hungry, and no one ever gets sick. No one is ever wanting, greedy or angry. Everything is peaceful and serene.”
“So why would you visit us where it is not so? What could you possibly learn from us. Have you come to control, colonise or harvest? Should I be afraid?” I asked.
IT replied. “I was sent to find something we have lost. Everything in our world is automated and provided. Everything is arranged and predictable. “
Convinced, I rushed inside, refilled my glass and grabbed my guitar. I headed back outside and proceeded to sing IT a song. It listened intently to the end after which, there was no comment, no appreciation… no reaction at all. The fire suddenly extinguished and the next thing I knew I woke up in the garden at sunrise feeling incredibly well rested and refreshed. IT was nowhere to be seen… and neither was my guitar.
Words by Amir Yussof
Find out more about Amir here.
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