WEP Jun 2023 – Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Here is another story about the members of the Martian anivid and dessert club. It is my entry to the WEP Jun 2023 challenge – the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Like that movie, my story is sci-fi. The members of the club watch the remake of the old Earth film into a new Martian animated version. After the movie, they enjoy a delicious dessert and share their opinions of the stories from old Earth.
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“I brought cream puffs!” Agar waltzed into Yrvina’s screening room, bringing in her customary wave of jasmine scent. “This morning, the Fleet guys carted in the first load from Cassiopeia Six. The yellow ferns. It should be amazing to adopt them to Mars.” She vibrated with excitement. As a xenobiologist, she routinely worked with alien species of plants and animals, as the Martian scientists tried to enrich the genetic bank of their planetary domes’ biomes.
“What are we watching today?” she demanded as she deposited her transparent plastic container with cream puffs on Yrvina’s sideboard.
Yrvina smirked. “Today’s vid should be right up your alley. It is about aliens, their first visit to Earth.”
“For real?” Agar’s eyes widened.
“No, of course not. The Earth citizens hadn’t had their true encounter with any aliens for another two centuries. This story is pure fiction from the 20th century. For some reason, they called this particular genre of stories science fiction, although there is nothing scientific there. Just fiction.”
“I read an ancient Earth book years ago,” Serena piped from the doorway. “The same wacky genre – science fiction. It was about Mars, of all things. Totally absurd. It was so inane it wasn’t even funny. Those Earth writers didn’t know what they were talking about. I suspect, this vid would be the same.” She lifted her nose as she sailed into the room.
“It is odd,” Yrvina confirmed.
“Did you work as an animator on this one?” Nima settled into her place on the sofa beside Agar.
“No,” Yrvina said. “I wasn’t on that team. I’m just testing the reaction of the general Martian population by showing it to our club members.”
“Are we representing the general population?” Serena demanded. “You belittle us, girlfriend. We are the most sophisticated anivid viewers in our dome.”
“Right.” Yrvina laughed. “Everyone here?” She nodded in satisfaction. “Then, let’s watch. It is called Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” She pushed the button on her hand-held projector and settled into her armchair to enjoy the holovid. The column of the holo screen came to life, as the light beams darted back and forth inside, creating a 3-D animated version of the old Earth film.
After the vid ended, the club members exchanged baffled glances.
“This vid is weird.” Agar wrinkled her nose in distaste. “And not true either.”
“Yes, but they didn’t know,” Yrvina argued. “To give the creators their due, it was all coming from their imagination. Nobody on Earth had met an alien yet.” She climbed out of her chair and started distributing the cream puffs and the bulbs of lemonade around the room.
“I have never met an alien,” Nima commented. “Maybe there is some truth in it?”
“No!” Agar sputtered indignantly. “Aliens don’t go abducting sentient species from their home planets. Besides, spaceships don’t land on planets, everyone knows that. They are too heavy. Gravity wouldn’t allow them to lift off again. Nobody lands their ships on planets. Not Aelurians, not Vergacians, not humans.”
“Ships don’t even land on Mars,” Yrvina said, “though our gravity is much lower than the Earth gravity.”
“Spaceships are built in space, and they fly in space,” Agar said firmly. “They dock to space stations. Only small shuttles that carry people land on planets.” She contemplated her own statement for a while before amending it. “Well, maybe smaller corvettes could land, but not the ships of the class they show in the movie. Yrvina, did you guys copy the comparative size of the ship correctly from the original? Where did the earthers see such a ship?”
“Our animators did copy to scale, both the size and the shape of the ship, yes,” Yrvina said. “I suspect, the earthers hadn’t seen anything, they just imagined it and made a simulation.”
“Perhaps,” Agar mumbled. “Still. The aliens might look different, but they are not that mysterious. I worked with aliens.”
“When? Where?” Nima’s eyes grew big.
“On a joint survey on Cassiopeia Six. I participated in one a few years ago. I was the one to order yellow ferns for Mars. They should do well in our domes. It just took years and a lot of bureaucratic baloney before we could finally get them. We had a mixed science crew: half-Martian and half-Aelurian. They are just like us.”
Agar popped a tiny cream puff into her mouth and reached for a second one. As always, she enjoyed being the center of attention. Everyone watched her with rapt fascination. She gobbled another puff and went on with her story.
“Of course, the Aelurians look different from us: all elongated and willowy, with their round eyes, but they think the same way we do. Almost the same. I suspect most sentient species develop similar thought patterns. They need it to flourish as a space-faring race.”
The women around the room nodded thoughtfully and kept devouring the puffs.
“Why ‘the third kind’ in the title?” Nima asked at last.
“I don’t know,” Yrvina admitted. “None of the animators did. I asked. Even my boss couldn’t explain.”
Kaley snickered and turned to Agar. “Did you make these puffs yourself?”
“Yes.” Agar nodded.
“They are delicious. I want a recipe.”
“I’ll send you one on your comm,” Agar promised. “You know, the Aelurians have about the same physical and anatomical composition as we do. Not Vergacians, though. But the Aelurians, yes. Their atmosphere is breathable for humans. I once made the puffs during the survey, and the Aelurians loved them just as much as you girls do.” She stared in dismay at the empty container. “I was sure I made enough puffs to feed a Fleet platoon. Are they all gone?” She glanced suspiciously around the room.
“I want a recipe for my café too,” Nima said. “Send one to me as well.”
“I should charge percentage off your sales,” Agar grumbled half-heartedly.
“I’ll call them Agar’s delight,” Nima promised. “To immortalize you.”
Tagline: Aliens are just like us. Probably…
