Right – you get a double dose today. Maybe even an other one later!
Chapter 8 – I want to go home
‘Before we begin the procedure we have to obtain your full consent,’ the chief alien informed me in his methodical manner.
By this time I was beyond all rational thought. I just wanted it to end. I wanted them to turn the ship round and dump me back home where I could explain what had happened and comfort Liz and the kids who I knew must be in shock.
‘I need to go home,’ I said bluntly, digging my heels in.
‘That is not possible.’ The alien replied emphatically. ‘There are far too many huge issues to solve. It is unfortunate that your wife and children cannot be told now, and we acknowledge that they will be greatly upset. But there is no alternative. We have studied the situation fully and there was no other way. You have to trust us in this matter.’
I stared at him in disbelief. He was talking about my wife and children’s’ distress as if it was of no consequence, as if it did not matter. Yet it was the only thing that really mattered. I could not believe how I had allowed myself to be so compliant. I had meekly followed them into the craft without a thought for the implications. I had disappeared without letting them know I was alright.
‘I have to go home. I am not agreeing to anything.’
‘I understand how you feel but it is not possible. I will explain and you will understand. When you weigh up a few days distress against the immense anguish of a planet of agonies you will see that the two do not equate. If there was a way of letting them know without creating complications we would have seized it. We have studied the situation from all sides. There was not. It the big scope of things we had to choose. There was no other way. You have to trust me on this.
Part of me could understand this but I still could not come to terms with it. I knew that it would have been as distressing for me to calmly inform Liz that I was about to go off with a bunch of aliens I hardly knew and could be some time. She might not have taken too kindly to the idea. Then there were other issues – what if it leaked out that I was off gallivanting with a bunch of aliens? It had implications. Why couldn’t things be simple? But that did not calm my troubled mind. The thoughts of what Liz and the kids were going through right now were far too upsetting.
‘Opher Goodwin,’ the alien spoke gently. ‘We understand the grief you are currently feeling. And we know that it is upsetting to you to think of the anguish this will cause your mate and offspring in the short term. We also know that our words will not alleviate your suffering, no matter how true they are. But we have selected you to perform a task that will ultimately save grief on a scale you cannot even imagine.’
‘But I know I cannot do that,’ I wailed. ‘I am not capable of doing that.’
‘Yes you are and you will.’
Science Fiction books:
Ebola in the Garden of Eden – paperback £6.95 Kindle £2.56 (or free on unlimited)
Green – paperback £9.98 Kindle £2.56 (or free on unlimited)
Rock Music books
In Search of Captain Beefheart – paperback £6.91 Kindle £1.99 (or free on unlimited)
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