Gaia's Children by Eric Hutchinson

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Born in 1934 Eric Hutchinson saw war from the victims ’ side, watchingthe charred bodies of his school friends pulled from the ruins of their homes. He served with the Air Sea Rescue service and later became anhonours Graduate from Hull University. He now lives on his sailing

barge home with his wife, Fionna, and Arwen, their Alsatian dog.



G A I A ’ S C H I L D R E N



DEDICATIONS

To my Mother, Sarah Jane Hutchinson (nee) Zanelli, for teaching me to think andquestion rather than just blindly accept what I was told.

To my Father, Frank Hutchinson, for showing me the difference between Intellectand Wisdom.

To my uncle Harry Johnson, a philosopher of rare genius who, to the misfortune of

humanity, was born into the wrong strata of society and so his brilliance remainedunrecognised and his wisdom was lost.He taught me to view the world in the clear light of knowledge and not in the dark

bigotry of belief.

Last but not least to my wife who spent many hours wrestling with my eccentricspelling and random punctuation. If I may adapt one of Eric Morecambe‟ s classiccomments „I‟m using all the right punctuation but not necessarily in the right places‟.

Any remaining errors are mine alone. I‟ve always thought that it was pretty daft to try

to fit the English language into Latin grammar anyway. The square peg had it easy by comparison.



E r i c H u t c h i n s o n

G A I A ’ S C H I L D R E N



Copyright © Eric Hutchinson

The right of Eric Hutchinson to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of theCopyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, withoutthe prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the BritishLibrary.

ISBN 9781849631976

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2013) Austin & Macauley Publishers Ltd.25 Canada SquareCanary Wharf

LondonE14 5LB

Printed and Bound in Great Britain



BOOK ONE

INTERVIEW WITH AN ALIEN



PROLOGUE

Democracy was dead, if it had ever existed except as an illusion to convince the „ordinary people‟ that they actually had some say in the running of their country. The dictionary definition said it all.

Government by the people or their elected representatives.Control of any organisation by its members.

A political or social unit governed by all its members. The practice or spirit of social equality. A social condition of classlessness and equality.

A cynical joke in the worst possible taste, the elderly went hungry while the rulerslived in luxury at their expense. The young growing up and, seeing a barren future

without hope, turning to crime. The families struggling to survive as prices rose andcurrency devalued.

Meanwhile the wealthy bankers and investment brokers gambled with the money entrusted to them secure in the knowledge that if they won, they pocketed the profitsand if they lost, they simply increased the interest rates to the borrowers to recoup the

losses or, If this failed, then they went to the government who bailed them out andincreased taxation to pay for it. It was a no lose system as far as the wealthy wereconcerned and a no win for the „ordinary people‟ .

The rumblings of discontent started to make themselves heard, the electedrepresentatives took upon themselves the mantle of kings, they no longer paid even lipservice to the idea of serving the public. Greed, selfishness and corruption were the orderof the day.

Faced with the possibility of civil unrest they resorted to force. The police weregiven sweeping powers to control the people. Riot police and Swat squads used brutalmethods to quell any protests. More restrictive laws, heavier sentences, more prisons, the

screw was tightened and the pressure built up. A few concerned politicians, seeing the coming disaster, tried to instil some senseinto those in power but were hopelessly outnumbered and were ignored. The scene wasset for bloody revolution French style. The gunpowder barrels were stacked, the fuseattached, the camel was starting to sag, the final straw was being carefully laid, it justneeded one spark.

In a thatched cottage set in a lovingly tended garden a young couple, Tom andSamantha Peniston, lived their lives blissfully unaware that they were to be that spark.



“So, you are an alien ,” grinned Tom.“Yes ,” said the figure at the bar.

Tom‟s grin widened, “Where are you from?”“In your language it is called Home ,” came the reply.“Home?” said Tom, “ That‟s not a place, don‟t you live on a planet like this one?” “Yes.”“Then what is it called?” “Home ,” came the reply again. “What, the whole planet?” “Yes.”“But what country, what town?” said Tom exasperated at this.“We have no countries or towns ,” said the alien.“But what about your manufacturing industries, your factories, how do people get to

work?” “We have no factories and if people work they do so at their dwelling place.”“I don‟t believe this,” said Tom, “who makes your cars and trucks an d cranes and

washing machines, televisions and so on?”“We have none of these , nor any need of them.”

At this Tom blew up, “ Then what do you do with your time, contemplate yournavel?” he asked.

“We study ,” replied the alien.“Study what?” said Tom.“Ourselves , in order to make progress.”“You study yourselves ,” said Tom quizzically, “in order to make progress in what?”“Understanding.”

Tom sighed, “Understanding what?” he asked.“Ourselves of course.”

Tom looked at him patiently. “ And as a result of the time spent on all this studying,you have no industries, no transport, no towns, no manufacturing base, no technology,

no wealth, nothing.”“Oh yes we have made great progress ,” the figure smiled back at Tom. “What kind of progress?” Tom asked , “Becoming one with the infinite and all that

sort of thing?” The alien smiled again, “ Something like that, yes.” Tom laughed, “ And what use is that?” “Well it enabled me to visit your world, that must be useful.”

Tom regarded him for a moment then, “I don‟t believe any of this, you are just winding me up, you are no more an alien than I am.”

The alien chuckled, “ As you wish.”

“No come on explain ,” said Tom.“Explain what? If you choose to disbelieve then of what use are explanations?” said

the alien mildly.“You could offer some proof, convince me ,” Tom expostulated. “To what end?” said the alien gently . “Do you not have a saying „A man convinced

against his will is of the same opinion still‟? How much power has proof against a firmly



held belief?”“O h come on, ” said Tom disparagingly, “no one clings to a belief when there is hard

evidence that it is mistaken.” The alien looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. “How many people do you

know that inhale the smoke from burning tobacco leaves despite all the evidence that it

causes serious diseases in not only themselves but also in the members of their family that breathe in the smoke?

Are these people deliberately putting themselves and their wives and children at risk?Of course not, they solve the situation by refusing to believe that it exists despite all

the evidence. They quote the case of a man who smoked heavily all his life and lived to be ninety

something, as proof that there is no risk and ignore the thousands that die of cancer as aresult of this habit.

You may as well quote the incident in which an airman over Germany, whoseaircraft was on fire and whose parachute was burned, faced with the choice of burning todeath or jumping out of the aircraft at two thousand feet without a parachute chose tojump, he landed in a tree and then in a snowdrift and the only injury he had was asprained ankle.

You could take this as proof that jumping out of an aircraft at two thousand feet without a parachute is perfectly safe, it is just as valid.

Your society lives in a belief system, you believe or disbelieve without any evidenceto support either view, you are told there has been a seismic wave in the far east and youbelieve this because that is the kind of thing that happens there, you have no knowledgeof this event yourself, but you believe what you are told.”

“Yes,” said Tom, “but you have to believe something.” The alien smiled “ W hy?” “Well, what do you belie ve in?” challenged Tom.“We don‟t have beliefs, some things we know and some we don‟t, anything else

which we see or hear is accepted as information, until knowledge is acquired whichproves or disproves it, then we know and knowledge is not subject to belief.

A thing is or it is not, belief cannot alter this, your moon orbits your planet, this isfact. It doesn‟t depend upon belief, it was once believed that your world was the centreof the universe and that all other astral bodies went round it, this was not and is not infact the case and the belief could not change this, although judging by what happened to

Galileo they certainly tried.” “All right all right ,” said Tom , “I grant you that in some situations some people canbe a bit dense but take me for instance, you have told me you are an alien from another

world, do you expect me to believe that without some kind of evidence?” “No , of course not, ” the other said kindly , “but what proof can I offer? I could tell

you things about my studies and my travels, but you have no way of verifying them.” “Right ,” said Tom , “speaking of travels, you say you came from another world, how

did you get here? Where is your spaceship? How did you construct it without amanufacturing industry? How long did it take you to get here? We know that nothing cantravel faster than light, let‟s see you talk your way out of that . And, whilst we are about it,

how come you look like a man and can eat, drink and breathe on this world? Or are yougoing to tell me that your world is iden tical to this one?”

The alien took a sip of his drink and gazed into the bar mirror opposite for a few moments, his eyes gazing at something that perhaps only he could see.

Tom had seen the same look on the faces of some of his companions during toursoverseas with the armed forces, the look of a man thinking of his home.



“No , my world is not identical to this one, the gravitational force is much less andthe atmosphere is much thinner, even though my world has more than twice thediameter of this it lacks heavy metals which may be why we never developed atechnological society and instead applied ourselves to our physical and mentaldevelopment.

The reason I look like a man and can eat, drink and breathe here is because I wasborn here.”

“You were born here?” said Tom in disbelief. “You said you were an alien fromanother world. I should have known it was nonsense, I don‟t know why I wasted my timelistening to you although you do tell a good story. Well thanks for the entertainment, youhad me going ther e for a minute.”

He laughed ruefully and shook his head, “I must be getting soft.” He turned to go.“Well goodnight alien ,” he laughed.

“Goodnight .” replied the other and turned back to the bar mirror. Tom looked at him for a moment then shook his head and walked out into the night,

he climbed into his car and set off to go home. As he drove along the country lane heglanced up at the star filled sky, it was a clear night without a moon and once clear of thestreet lights and pollution of the town the stars glittered like diamonds against a black

velvet background. Alien huh, ha, bloody, ha, he looked at the stars again, he hadn‟t said where he came

from had he? Oh of course he was born here, he hadn‟t come from anywhere, what didhe mean his world was different? This was his world, he was born here, how could his

world be different, obviously he had tripped himself up by letting slip that he was bornhere, but the statement had been quite deliberate and given as a valid explanation as to

why he could survive here, so what did he mean? Ah! I t was just a twist in the story to make a mystery out of it, it didn‟t mean

anything. Tom dismissed it and drove on. He glanced at the stars again, why would he say he

had travelled here from another world and then tell him his world had no technology andno heavy metals from which a spaceship could be constructed? On the one hand he istelling me one thing and on the other showing that what he had told me was impossible.

He was probably just making up a story out of contradictions, he thought aboutShakespeare‟s Comedy of Errors, yes that was it, he was just making up a story whichcontradicted itself at every turn, a typical bar-room yarn, yes that was it.

He drove on reassured, he turned on the cassette player and listened for a while, hehadn‟t tried very hard to convince him though had he, that wasn‟t usual in a bar -roomnut, they were usually very emphatic about it whereas he had not seemed very concerned

whether he was believed or not, most barroom nuts tried very hard to convince you thattheir stories were true.

He hadn‟t seemed like your average nut either, he had seemed quite sensible andmatter of fact as though he were speaking of the most ordinary thing in the world.

A visitor from another world, nonsense, no one in their right mind would believethat, he reached to the cassette player and turned over the cassette, the music startedagain and he leaned back and relaxed in the driving seat, no, no one in their right mind

would believe, he paused, would believe, mmm believe. What was it he had said? They don‟t have a belief system, you either know or you don‟t, if you know then belief doesn‟tcome into it and if you don‟t know then why do you believe?

He thought about his conversation, the man had said he was an alien from another world and had then said he was born here, one of these statements has to be wrong andyet he was quite matter of fact about both of them and saw no conflict.



He said his world had no heavy metals and no technology so how had he travelledfrom there to here? H e hadn‟t, he had been born here, oh to hell with it, it‟s just a load of nonsense. I don‟t know why I‟m bothering myself with it, came from another world,born here, came from another world, born here, „Damn and blast the man ,‟thought Tomas he turned the car round and headed back the way he came.

„I‟m going to settle this once and for all see if I don‟t,‟ he muttered to himself,gradually working himself into a temper. He pulled into the pub car park and slammedthe car door: he was going to regret that later. He stormed into the pub to find it empty except for the barman.

“Did you notice the chap I was talking to earlier this evening?” he asked. The barman thought for a minute then said, “tall chap, fair hair, looked a bit of an

intellectual, drank tonic water without the gin?” „Oh, was that what he was drinking?‟ thought Tom, „so he obviously wasn‟t a drunk,

unless you can get drunk on tonic water if you are an alien,‟ this sparked his anger again .“Do you know where I can find him?”

The barman said, “Sorry, he comes in here once or twice a week but rarely speaks toanyone, mostly just sits and watches the customers almost as if he is studying them, butnot in a nasty way if you know what I mean, he just seems interested in people, I thoughtthere might be a bit of trouble the other night, we had a few of the self-styled hard menin and one of them accused him of looking at him in a funny way and offered to takehim outside and give him a seeing to.

I tried to intervene, but the chap said no it was all right and the two of them wentout together, I was about to phone the police as I expected him to be lying in the carpark badly beaten when the two of them came back in and shook hands, the hard man

went back to his mates, I asked w hat had happened and the chap just said, „ Oh, wereached an agreement.‟ And that was it.

I‟ve never seen anyone reach an agreement with one of those that didn‟t end up withsomeone in hospital but he would say no more, the hard man went back to his mates andseemed reluctant to discuss the matter to the point where he threatened to give one of his mates a doing if he didn‟t lay off, and there it ended.

I‟ve no idea what happened but I tell you, that is a very strange man.” Tom thought for a while then said , “Do you know when he will be in again?”“I don‟t,” apologised the barman, “as I said he comes in a couple of times a week ,

but I don‟t know where he lives, he doesn‟t seem to have a car so I don‟t suppose he

lives far away but I know most of the house o wners round here and he isn‟t one of themso I‟m afraid I can‟t help you.” With that Tom had to be content so he went out to his car and that was when he

remembered slamming the car door with the keys still in the ignition. The car had an anti-theft system which, if the car was touched whilst the key was in

the ignition, automatically locked all the doors. He had had it installed for his wife‟ssafety so that if she was alone in the car and broke down and had forgotten to lock any of the doors they would lock automatically if anyone tried to get into the car.

Naturally if she was in the car she could unlock the doors when it was safe to do so,he had never envisaged leaving the keys in the lock and then rocking the car, so now he

was locked out of his car in a country pub car park at near midnight and his mobilephone was in the car, wonderful! „That blasted alien,‟ he thought, „I could see him farenough.‟

„I‟ll just have to break one of the windows.‟ He looked around for a suitable rock and went back to the car and smashed the passenger side window just as a police car pulledinto the car park. Questions were asked and he was invited to accompany the police to



the station where he waited until they contacted his wife and fetched her to the station to verify his story.

On the way home he told her the story of his misfortunes and said indignantly thatthe police didn‟t believe him despite the fact that he knew of everything in the carincluding his mobile phone which he told them the number of, but they still would not

believe him.He thought about this. „not believe.‟ He had all the evidence that he was speaking the

truth but they would not believe, they believed he was trying to steal the car and noamount of evidence was going to shake that belief until his wife turned up. He thoughtabout what the alien had said about belief, people will cling to what they want to be truedespite all the evidence to the contrary.

He must see if he can find this alien: There were a couple of questions he wantedanswering.

He visited the pub every evening for the next four weeks, but without any sign of theman, so he gave it up as a bad job and went back to his usual routine and more or lessforgot about the, so called, as he now chose to think about it, alien.

“Tom ,” his wife‟s voice came from downstairs just as he was negotiating the tricky area under his nose. „Damn,‟ he muttered, „I wish she wouldn‟t do that, I nearly cut my nose off again.‟

“Yes love ,” he called, “what is it?” “The garage just called, the new window has arrived and they want to know when

you can bring the car in.”“Tell them I‟ll bring it in today ,” said Tom, muttering to himself, “ about bloody time

too, they called six weeks ago to say it had been dispatched, six bloody weeks to get apane of glass thirty bloody miles, I could have walked it faster. ”

“What was that dear?” called his wife.“Oh , nothing, just thinking out loud.” He finished his shave and went downstairs

where his wife greeted him with a kiss.“You are looking a bit grumpy dear.”“Well,” grunted Tom, “six weeks to get a pane of glass thirty miles, about two days

to do the job and five weeks shuffling paper. Every time I take the car out people look atthe window covered in acetate sheet taped on and I know what they are thinking, and

when I drive past a policeman he looks with grave suspicion at the taped up window and

I find myself looking for somewhere to hide, it‟s embarrassing.”His wife smiled at him, “still it‟s here now so go and get it fitted and perhaps it willput you in better tune.”

Tom grinned. He could never stay grumpy when his wife smiled like that. “All rightlove I give in.”

“If you are passing the central library on your way would you see if they have a copy of Palgrave‟s Treasury? There is something I want to look up, ” she said.

“I‟ll drop the car in at the garage and call in the library on my way in to work, it‟s onmy way anyway.” Tom promised.

“Thank you darling ,” his wife smiled, and Tom thought, not for the first time, „for a

smile like that I would walk a mile across broken glass in my bare feet.‟ He gathered his bits and pieces together and went out to the car scowling at the

missing window and thinking back to how he came to break it. „What an idiot,‟ hethought, and wondered what had happened to the so called alien.

He drove into town and parked the car at the garage and was pleased to find thatthey had in fact got the window, he had been prepared to hear more excuses but no, the



window was there and they promised to have it fitted in time for him to collect after hefinished work.

He left the car there and walked to the central library.On entering he asked at the desk did they have a copy of Palgrave‟s Treasury? „ Yes‟

he was told,

“Just go through to the far end and you will find it on the shelves to the right.” He ambled through the silent figures reading at the study tables until he came to the

last table, the figure there reading a newspaper looked familiar, he looked again, thefigure had its back to him but he noted the fair hair, the neat grey suit, the long fingeredhands, could this be the alien?

He shook his head, and carried on to the poetry shelves and browsed until he foundthe book his wife wanted.

As he turned to go to the desk he saw that the man reading the newspaper hadturned round and was regarding him quizzically.

He stopped. “It is you!” he exclaimed. “I wasted every evening for four weekslooking for you.”

“I know ,” said the alien “the barman told me ,” he smiled . “Now why would you dothat?”

“It‟s just that there were a couple of th ings I wanted to ask you, ” Tom saiduncomfortably, “it‟s not important.”

“But important enough to spend four weeks looking?” said the alien raising oneeyebrow.

Tom grinned shamefacedly, “ W ell at the time I was curious.” “But you are no longer curious ,” countered the alien, “well good day to you.” He

turned back to his newspaper. Tom walked to the desk and checked out the book. As he went to walk out he

remembered how he had done just that at the pub and then gone back to find it empty.No! Damn it, he was going to get some answers.

He walked back to the table and asked, “ Do you mind if I join you?” “Not at all ,” said the alien, “what can I do for you?”

Tom looked around at the frowns of disapproval from the other readers at thisconversation and their rather pointed looks at the notice saying „silence please‟. “There isa cafe here, would you care to join me for a coffee or tea?”

“I should be delighted ,” the other responded.

“By the way ,” said Tom “what are you called?” The other grinned at the phrase ology, “My name is Albert” he said. They walked together to the cafe area and took a table at the window overlooking

the main road. Albert glanced once through the window then turned back to Tom. Tomordered tea and a teacake for Albert and coffee for himself.

Looking at Albert he was sure that that one glance had been enough to graspeverything worth seeing outside that window.

They regarded each other, “Well ,” said Albert “is this a social occasion or has itsome deeper purpose?”

Tom looked at him, marsh alling his thoughts, “ When we met you said that you came

from another world.”“Yes.”“But then you said you had been born here on Earth.”“Yes.”

Tom sighed, “ There seems to be something of a contradiction here.”“Ah, I see,” said Albert . “ There has been a bit of a cultural misunderstanding. When



I say that I come from another world, I mean myself, my essence if you like, my id as Ithink some of your psychologists call it, whereas my body was in fact born here onearth.”

”You mean that that body is not yours!” exclaimed Tom . “ You are using someoneelse‟s body?”

“Certainly not!” said Albert, obviously deeply offended . “ This body is as much mineas yours is yours.”

“ The n I‟m afraid I don‟t understand,” said Tom. Albert smiled ruefully, “I‟m so rry if I was a little brusque but, on my world, the idea

of using someone else‟s body without their permission is complete anathema to us, pleaseforgive my rudeness.”

Tom waved this away, “ No apology needed, I spoke from ignorance notcondemnation but I am no wiser, I would appreciate an explanation.”

“That would take a while ,” remarked Albert . “ Are you sure you can spare the time,you were obviously on your way to somewhere. ” he gestured to the book Tom washolding.

Tom looked at his watch “ Grief, is that the time, I must dash, look can I see you thisevening?” A frown crossed his face, “ Oh damn! We have the Robinsons coming over forthe evening, could you meet me here tomorrow about the same time?”

Albert inclined his head, “I shall do my best to be h ere, if it is at all possible.” And with that Tom had to be content.

At the office Tom dealt with the mail, went through his schedule for the following week and made some notes, then, having nothing further to deal with until the afternoon,jotted down a few thoughts about Albert.

He was still not convinced that the whole thing was not an elaborate hoax but couldnot for the life of him see for what purpose. If it was a hoax what did Albert stand togain? He didn‟t even seem particularly interested in mai ntaining contact.

Tom had wasted four weeks whereas Albert had simply gone off to do something else, unless of course that was all part of the technique and he knew that Tom would try to find him, but Tom had not done so, the meeting in the library had been pure accident,or had it? Of course it had, if his wife had not asked him to get the book he would nothave gone into the library, but perhaps Albert saw him go into the library and followedhim to make the meeting look accidental. He thought about this, but Albert had already

been in the library when he arrived, yes but suppose... At this point Tom called a halt to his speculations. „If I carry on like this, running inever decreasing circles, I‟m soon going to be biting myself in the small of the back.‟

He leaned back and glanced at the clock then with a mischievous smile, picked upthe telephone and tapped out his home number, his wife‟s voice answered, “ Hello?”

“Good heavens!” he said , “you‟ve got no clothes on!” There was a small scream from the other end and the sound of the telephone being

put down hurriedly. He waited. A few moments later his wife came back on the phone.“Fool ,” she said, laughing. He chuckled, he knew that his wife always took a shower at this time and would walk

through to the bedroom to answer the phone without dressing.“Can you meet me for lunch love?” he asked.Samantha caught the slight edge in his tone, she knew Tom well and knew he had

something he wanted to talk about.“Of course ,” she replied , “where and what time?”

Tom thought for a moment “Lyons, it‟s just round the corner, can you get there



OK?” Samantha smiled to herself. Of course she could get there, if Tom wanted her there

then nothing would stop her.“Yes, Sheila is coming in to go shopping and there are a few things I want for

tonight, she can drop me off and after lunch I‟ll meet up with her and get the bits and

pieces and go back with her unless you want me to stay for the afternoon.” “No just for lunch, say about an hour?” said Tom.“Very good I‟ll see you then, love you.” “Love you too .” Tom smiled as he put the phone down „ How did I get so lucky?‟ he

thought for perhaps the thousandth time. He turned back to his work.Samantha phoned Sheila. “Do you feel like going shopping this afternoon?” she

asked.Sheila wasn‟t fooled, “ Why, what‟s up?” ”Tom wants me to go in for lunch.” “Problem?” said Sheila.Samantha was quiet for a minute, “ No I don‟t think so , but something is bothering

him and has been for a while.” “You don‟t think it‟s woman trouble do you?”“Definitely not!” came the reply without hesitation, “I‟m prepared to believe just

about anything from a global nuclear war upwards but the one thing I am absolutely certain of is Tom.”

“What time do you want to go?” asked Sheila. “ Tom said about an ho ur at Lyons, is that all right?” Samantha asked . “ Then I

thought we might go shopping afterwards, I have the Robinsons coming over for theevening and I thought I might get a few extras in.”

“Yes, fine ,” came the reply, “see you in about twenty minutes OK?” “Lovely, see you then .” Samantha put down the phone and smiled. She could always

rely on Sheila. When she arrived at the cafe Tom was already seated at a table, he waved as he saw

her and she waved back.„How does he do it?‟ she wondered. „There is a qu eue from here to there at the door

but he always seems to manage to find a space. I must ask him one day, or there againperhaps not, it always looks like magic so let‟s keep it that way.‟

She made her way to the table and Tom pulled a chair out for her, saw her seated

then resumed his own seat. She looked round. „I wonder how many husbands did thatfor their wives, judging by the obviously envious glances; not many.‟ She turned to her husband, “ Now Tom, what is the problem?” He looked at her, there was no fooling Samantha, she could read him like a book and

a primary school book at that.He told her of his first meeting with Albert at the pub and of the barman‟s story

about the hard man, how he had set off for home but the conflicting statements that Albert had made kept bugging him until he had gone back, with the results she knew,about the four weeks without success and then meeting him again at the library and of the remarks about the id and the body.

“And you think there may be a story or an article i n this but you are unsure how topresent it.”

Tom grinned and shook his head, trust Sam to go straight to the heart of the matter.“Yes, I don‟t know whether to send it up as another one of these aliens have landedstories or simply ignore it. The problem is I‟m not sure that it is a hoax as I don‟t see any possible gain from it.”



“Perhaps he just wants to get his name in the magazine or on television.” Samanthaspeculated.

“But he doesn‟t know I have anything to do with journalism, so why tell me? Thereare plenty of reporters around who would jump at the chance to fill a blank column on aslow news day and their names are well enough known.”

His wife looked at him thoughtfully, “ Do you think there is a real possibility that heis what he says he is?”

“That‟s the problem ,” said Tom “if he is what he says he is then this is the biggeststory in the history of journalism, but if I present it as such and it turns out like the Hitlerdiaries then I can kiss my career a fond farewell.”

Samantha sat in silence as she finished her lunch and then drank her coffee. Tom waited, knowing that she was going over the discussion. “I suggest that you

invite him for dinner one evening, so that we can have a long discussion with him, andthen compare notes afterwards before you make any decisions.”

Tom thought, „ Trust Sam, she will help with the discussion and will compare notes,but the decision is mine and she will accept whatever I decide, how many men have a

wife like her?‟ He too glanced round the cafe. Not many. They ordered another coffee and sat chatting about inconsequential things until Tom

looked at his watch and asked, “ W hen have you to meet Sheila?” “We arranged to meet in Marks and Sparks after we finish lunch, whoever is there

first gets the coffees in.”“Ah fine,” said Tom. They finished their coffee and Tom asked for the bill. “Are we going Dutch?” asked Samantha, a private joke, harking back to when they

had first met and Tom had taken her out to lunch and then had not enough money topay the bill.

Tom laughed, “ Not this time, perhaps next.” They both laughed at the sharedexperience, Tom paid the bill and they got up to go.

As they walked out of the shop Samantha kissed him and said, “ Until later.” “Until later,” repl ied Tom, their parting ritual from way back when.

Tom went back to his office and buckled down to work, so much so that when helooked at the clock it was after five. „I‟d better get a move on, the Robinsons are due atseven and if I‟m not bright eyed, bus hy tailed and in my glad rags by then Sam will not bebest pleased.‟ He smiled at the thought of his wife and went to collect his car.

When he arrived at the garage his car was exactly where he had left it that morning.„Oh, no!‟he thought, „they haven‟t even started on it yet, I‟ve got less than two hours,there isn‟t a bus for another hour, I shall have to take the car as it is.‟ His exasperationboiled over and he stalked into the garage. The mechanic saw him and came over.

“What is happening about my car?” said Tom furiously, “ you have had it since thismorning.”

“Yes ,” said the mechanic, “it‟s ready.” “Well why ,” Tom stopped, “ready?” “Yes , since lunch time, your wife came in to see.”“Oh right, fine, good, how much is it?”

“The bill is at the office, I‟ll just get your car out while you are there and have itready for you.” said the mechanic.

“Fine,” said Tom somewhat taken aback. He had been keyed up for a good old row only to have it pulled out from under him. He paid the bill, thanked the mechanic anddrove off. He got home with time to spare, kissed his wife and went to get booted andspurred to meet the Robinsons.



The evening went well and he thought to himself, „I wonder if I should bring theconversation round to stories of flying saucers and aliens landing and see what theRobinsons think about it.‟ Over the after dinner drinks he was just about to broach thesubject when George said, “ Did you hear the story that a flying saucer has landed inScotland and the army have been called out to investigate? I t‟s going to be on television.”

Tom looked at Samantha, “ R eally, no we hadn‟t heard, what time?”“Just after the nine -o-clock news.” said Daphne.

Tom looked at the clock, “Well, let‟s put it on and see what‟s happening.” They watched the end of the news, some politician spouting off from a written script

about something he knew nothing about, then the weather forecast which went on andon, or so it seemed to Tom, who sat tapping his fingers impatiently on the arm of thechair.

Samantha came and sat by him. Finally the forecast ended and the announcer cameon. “We now go to Scotland where it is reported that an alien ship has landed on themoors not far from a small village in Caithness.”

The camera zoomed in on what appeared to be a saucer shaped object half hiddenby heather and bracken and surrounded by army units, the excited reporter was saying the army have surrounded the spacecraft at a distance of five hundred metres and are

waiting for heavier weapons to be brought in by helicopter before moving any closer,several experts are on the scene and have recommended a waiting policy.

The camera remained trained on the half hidden object whilst the reporter withnothing to report filled in with excited commentary and speculation ranging from theinane to the insane, the camera switched to show a group sat round a table in the studio.

“We have with us ,” said the studio link man, “experts from the Aero -space industriesand astronomers from the university. Now Professor Parker I will call on you first to giveyour views.”

The camera switched to a view of the saucer.“Well, you can see the scorch marks around the perimeter so it would seem that this

craft has had a difficult entry into our atmosphere, you can also see small protuberancesaround the rim which suggest a propulsion system with which we are unfamiliar, I wouldsay that the landing was inadvertent and probably due to a malfunction of some kind.”

“Doctor Jones , would you agree with this assessment?” The link man turned toanother of the group.

“Yes, I think the professor has hit the nail on the head, what we are se eing here is in

effect a spacecraft accident.” “Now , Professor Rawson, you are the head of cosmological research, could you giveus an opinion as to where this craft may have come from?”

“Well, to judge by its size, I would say it is far too small to have come very far and I would hazard a guess that it is in fact a landing craft from a far larger vessel which isunable to land on a planet.”

“What is your view on this Professor Parker?” “I would agree that the craft is far too small to have come from anothe r world and

that Professor Rawson is probably right.” The link man turned to the only woman in the group, “Doctor Winstone you are the

head of biology do you have any thoughts as to the appearance of the crew of this craft?” “Obviously they are not going t o look like us and from the proportions of the craft

they would be a great deal smaller than we are. We have seen no sign of activity since thecraft landed and it may be that the shell has been breached and that the occupants arenow dead as it is unlikel y that they could survive in our atmosphere.”

The discussion went on, speculation following speculation, with the excited



commentator‟s voice filling in the gaps in the conversation whilst the object simply satthere doing nothing.

Eventually Tom became bo red with it, “ A lot of commentary, a lot of opinion, a lotof speculation, but the bottom line is that no one knows anything.”

The programme terminated shortly afterwards with the promise to keep the viewers

up to date with the latest news as and when it happened.“And if ,” grunted Tom as a last view of the object doing absolutely nothing faded

from the screen. The following day Tom decided to take the day off. He turned on the television to

catch the morning news and see what exciting developments had developed during thenight. The object was still there, still doing nothing, the army were still there, the experts

were still counselling a waiting policy and a synthetically hysterical reporter was still trying to drum up some excitement over an object that simply sat there.

Tom shook his head and turned it off.“Are you going into town today Sam?” he called,Samantha came through from the kitchen. “No , not today, I have a few jobs I want

to get done, if you see this man Albert remember to ask him over for dinner.” “Any particular evening?” “No, any time at all. Oh! Except Thursday! I‟m going over to see mother, she‟s got a

new cookery book she wants to show me.” “What another one?” he laughed “how many is that? Pretty soon you won‟t be able

to get into the house for them, it would be more understandable if she ever did any cooking, but I‟ve never seen her cook anything.”

Samantha smiled. “No she just collects cookery books. Well, other people collectstamps or antiques or paintings, so why not?”

Tom threw up his hands. “I surrender, pax?” “Pax,” said Samantha.

Tom went out to the car and looked approvingly at the new passenger door window,at least it would stop the knowing grins and looks of suspicion from the police. He droveinto town and parked the car at his office, the only vacant space around. Fortunately ithad privacy bars which needed a key to open.

He went to the library and looked round for Albert but he wasn‟t there. „Oh damn!‟he thought, „I‟ve lost him again.‟ He went over to the news corner but no Albert, hedecided to go into the cafe and get a coffee.

He gazed idly round at the other customers and caught snatches of conversationmostly relating to the flying saucer in Scotland. He was surprised at how muchinformation these people had that was unknown to the army, the television and theauthorities.

There was the usual self-appointed expert that you always find on these occasions who filled his pipe and gave his definitive views on the object, its origin, theincompetence of the army for not blowing it to pieces, how dilatory the authorities werein not getting in there and investigating, although how they were to do this after the army had blown it to pieces was not explained, and how they should never have allowed it toland and so on.

Tom thought of some of the letters to the editor he had seen, pro bono publico,lieutenant colonel retired, mother of ten, Abraham and his seed forever let loose their

weary bleats upon the world.“Do you mind if I join you?” Albert‟s voice came from behi nd him.He turned quickly, “ Be my guest.”

Albert seated himself with a cup of tea in his hand, “ Have you been waiting long?”



he asked.“No , I only just got here myself, have you seen the news about the flying saucer?” “Yes ,” said Albert, “you people have t he most amazing talent for believing

nonsense.” “What makes you think it‟s nonsense?”

Albert gazed at him thoughtfully for a moment, “This object is approximately tenmetres in diameter and roughly one metre thick, now intelligence requires a certaincranial capacity, having a large brain does not necessarily mean high intelligence but inorder to have intelligence of a certain level you must have a brain in which it canfunction, to carry this you need a body of proportional size in order to carry the neededorgans to supply the brain with nutrients, so taking this into account how many entitiesdo you think you can get into that thing, bearing in mind that the machine has also tocontain propulsion units, life support systems and so on.

So, as your expert says, it could not be capable of traversing interstellar space andmust have come from a mother ship, it has been sat there for at least twenty four hoursso presumably it is incapable of taking off again, if you were on the mother ship and oneof your landing craft was down with its crew presumably injured what would you bedoing?

You would send another craft to rescue them, why do you think they have not doneso? The alternative is that it is remote controlled and is intended to make contact andascertain if there is any danger before committing personnel, but if this was the case why has it done nothing? If, as the experts think, it has crashed then why have they not sentanother? After all if they can span interstellar space they are hardly likely to only have onecontact craft. No the thing is a fake, a joke on someone‟s part, it presumably appearedyesterday did it not?”

“Yes ,” said Tom, “as a matter of fact it did, what has that to do with it?” Albert looked sadly at him, “ And what was yesterday‟s date?” Tom looked at the newspaper he was reading, second of April, so yesterday was, he

grimaced, all fool‟s day, the thing was an April fool joke. He looked up at Albert whosmiled and then they both laughed. “Let‟s go over to the pub and I‟ll buy you a ton ic

water.” Tom chuckled. “The barman has been talking,” said Albert.

They went into the pub to find the television set going full blast and the almosthysterical reporter gabbling that the object still hadn‟t done anything but that he was

expecting something to happen any minute as he had been for the previous thirty hours.Now he was almost screaming with excitement. Yes! Two small objects whichappeared to be antenna were now unfolding from the top of the saucer. “There appearsto be wires stretched between them, our experts in the studio believe that the saucer isabout to transmit to the mother ship, probably a distress call, the army and every one

with a scanning radio is scanning every frequency to try to pick up the transmission.Our experts believe that the mother ship will send a rescue craft to take off any

survivors, they strongly recommend that the army does not interfere, the antenna areupright now and something is unrolling from one of them, our experts believe that it willbe a reflector of some kind to form the transmission into a beam, it is fully extended now

and appears to be blue with two diagonal white stripes, we are not sure what thesignificance of this is yet, our experts think it may be some form of filter, strangely itlooks almost like the Scottish flag now there is a coincidence.

Now something else has unrolled very quickly below the first, it appears to havemarkings on it, can we get a close up of that?” The camera zoomed in and a deathly silence fell as the markings were revealed.



Not a threat of destruction or a demand that the world surrendered but in largeblock capitals across the full television screen was written APRIL FOOL.

As Tom remarked to his wife later: “At that point the meeting broke up.”

Documents

Gaia's Children by Eric Hutchinson