The Other Ship - a short story

The Other Ship – a short story

Translation was deemed too difficult. Instead, they had established a rudimentary shared language. Mostly, it consisted of hand-waving and pointing. One of the Visitors pointed at the red light in the night sky when the Human asked about their origin. They didn’t have a written language. More and more they learned from each other. It took several weeks, but they came to an understanding of what each group wanted and their respective tasks. Both were patient with each other. But the Watchers, who were tasked with the heavy lifting, were not so patient. They had left shortly after the Visitors arrived. The Visitor seemed to provide an elementary level of understanding. The Human reached out his hand to the Visitor, something the latter had not seen before. The Human shook the hand of the Visitor and smiled. The smile confirmed to the Visitor the agreement was solidified.

The next step was to assist the Human and his family in building their ship of wood in exchange for something the Visitors deemed of great value. The Human told them a great storm was coming. He was instructed to build a great ship to save his family and two of each animal and all creeping creatures. Somehow the Human was able to relay that the outside Humans had once mocked him for such a foolish endeavor. When the Visitor captain heard this story, he said that he had heard ancient stories of a similar cataclysmic event. This caused a curious notion to shade his face. He was exceptionally curious about the large reptiles. But the Human assured the captain that only their eggs would be taken aboard.

It took years upon years to finally complete the ship. The Humans and the Visitors stood back, far enough away from the ship to admire their accomplishment. Both teams inspected the seals and the only opening into the ship. As they examined the ship, two of each animal from all over the Earth arrived in pairs. From elephants to mice, from lions to sheep, they arrived and boarded the giant wood ship. Food and other provisions were loaded as well. But there was only one pair of each animal. The Visitors had yet to see what they came to collect. The Humans had their “great value.” But the Visitors needed to repopulate their planet with Earth’s abundance of animals and select vegetation. The animals on the red planet were mostly extinct. An influx of new animals would need a food source. A slight rain began to fall. The Visitors looked up into the wet sky with tears of hope. They spoke to the Human something he could not understand. At first the Human was frightened. The Visitors could steal his ship and take every animal on board. But instead, the Visitor lifted his hand with his people’s gesture of assurance. He had another idea.

And another next step. To coordinate herding another set of animals aboard the visitors’ ship. This was a task unlike the Human had ever seen. He had already seen beyond his imagination. And when the Visitors opened up their ship on all four sides – from the stern, the bow, the port, and starboard – multiple smaller ships emerged and flew off like birds without wings into the four horizons. For the next four days, they returned with pairs and pairs of all the animals and creeping creatures. They loaded the large animals onto the massive ship and kept the smaller animals on the recovery ships. The smaller ships docked into their respective ports and the doors closed.

All of the Visitors were on board aside from their captain. He stood in front of the Human and his family. He held out his hand as the Human had done during those first days. The Human shook his hand with one hand over the other. They exchanged what they both considered gratitude. There was also a primary agreement, not to relay in written nor in oral tradition what had taken place. And the Visitor turned to board his ship. The metallic craft lifted effortlessly. Quietly, with a slight whisp of wind just as it had done when first contact was made with the Humans. Within seconds the other ship vanished from their sight.

As the rain increased and the springs of the earth began to release her waters, the Human boarded his ship – the lifeboat of all lifeboats. And he joined his family. For forty days and nights, the water fell from the sky and poured out of the earth. Six months later, the huge ship rested on a high mountain.  He and his family disembarked to find the sun was shining. The animals, in pairs, left and went to various places throughout the earth. The Humans were glad. It was a new start.

The Human captain planted a vineyard. Two years later, he crushed the grapes into wine. One evening, he and his wife drank the wine to their fill. So much so, they were passed out drunk until they awoke the next morning.

The Visitors’ ship traveled through space. Passed by the earth’s moon. Eventually, they orbited one of their moons before altering their trajectory for the red planet. A journey of seven months and ten days. With each of the four smaller ships they landed in order to deposit the animals in ecologically suitable locations. Since the animals were not indigenous to their planet, it would take time for them to adapt. Scientists of their world would oversee such delicate adjustment.

The captain planted a vineyard, and two years later he made wine just as the Human had taught him. He and his mate sat out on their balcony with a telescope and gazed at the stars as they drank the wine. They admired the blue planet he had once visited. And reveled in his accomplishment – the thriving animals and vegetation. They continued to drink the wine. So much so, they were drunk and did not wake up the next morning.