大象传媒

by Harry, aged 12

The book signing was not going well. Alan and Nick had never met before and now they were sitting in a small room in WH Smiths waiting to try and sell their first published books to, largely disinterested, members of the public.

There was half an hour to go, and Nick had drunk too much tea and now needed the toilet. He decided to try and take his mind off it:

“What’s your book about?”, he asked Alan.

Alan looked up at him and sighed. “Do we really have to do this?”

“I’m just trying to pass the time” said Nick. “Pretend I’m a customer.”

Alan looked directly at him. “It’s a true story. About me, and about a journey that I made.” “You see there is alien life. People don’t think that there is, but I’ve seen it. But let me tell you Nick that discovering that there was more than just my species in the universe has not been the revelation that I had hoped. You see, I was a space traveller, a sort of astronaut I suppose. I was offered the chance to take part in a secret mission to try and make contact with extra-terrestrial life. No-one knew about it and it is a secret that I have had to live with for years. But now I need to tell my story. I can’t live with it any longer.”

Nick looked both intrigued, and a little sceptical. “Tell me”, he said.

“The mission took place” Alan said. “I was alone, in my craft, and I actually landed on a planet on which there was alien life. I expected little green men but what I got was very very different. The people there looked like me but that is where the similarity ended. The inhabitants were very cruel to each other, and seemed to get pleasure out of doing each other harm. They had a beautiful planet but seemed intent on destroying it, and never ever appreciated anything that it had to offer. Where they could have worked together to have a better life for everyone they chose to do the opposite; those that had the most got even more and those that were less able to look after themselves were either used to make other people’s lives even easier, or cast aside and left to die in the gutter. I saw people literally starve to death in front of my eyes, whilst others threw away food because they had eaten so much they could scarcely move. It was horrible. And that wasn’t the worst bit Nick. Not by a long shot. When I could take it no more I returned to my spaceship and it wouldn’t work. No engine, nothing.”

“My god that’s awful” said Nick “How did you manage to get back?”

Alan raised his head and couldn’t stop the tears flowing. “I didn’t” he whispered, so quietly that Nick could barely hear him. “I’m still here.”