The Visitors (2 page)

Every wild guess Luke and I had as to what these “creatures” would look like could not have been more wrong. These weren't “creatures” at all. In fact, in an eerie echo of one of Luke's last thoughts on the spaceship, they looked like
us
. They were our size and shape, with the exact same features and parts that we had. They definitely could have gone to planet Earth and been mistaken as humans. However, there was something…different about them. It was hard to pinpoint exactly what that difference was. For one thing, they were absolutely gorgeous. Their tan, almost olive-colored skin was smooth, creamy, and truly flawless. Their eyes were not all the same color, but they all had a matching crystal-like quality about them. I looked into their blue, green, and brown eyes and was captivated by the brightness they shared. These were not the same blue, green, and brown eyes that humans had. These stood out. It was almost as if they were transparent, with little lights behind them that made them shine. As I looked these “creatures” up and down, I realized that not one of them was even slightly out of shape or overweight. Their matching clothes – odd, one-piece suits in drab shades of brown and cream that fastened in the front – were flattering for their perfect forms. I knew I was staring, but I couldn't help it. These aliens were the most beautiful things I had ever seen in my entire life.

As I scanned the crowd slowly, mesmerized by their exquisiteness and perfection, my eyes locked with one set of green crystal eyes. Suddenly, I had to remind myself to breathe as the alien held my gaze with a stare that burned into my soul. I fought to tear my eyes away from the captivating lock that held me, and slowly looked over the creature that had my attention. I was amazed to find the single most stunning person I had ever seen in my life. Light brown, wavy hair fell perfectly into place and framed his strikingly gorgeous green eyes. Smooth, creamy skin indented slightly in both cheeks, revealing what I knew would be dimples if I was ever lucky enough to be graced with his smile. His slender, perfect nose flared slightly as he watched me gawk at him, but I somehow could not tear myself away. I felt drawn to him in a way that was impossible to explain, and my body automatically moved slightly toward him.

As if Luke could read my mind, he suddenly squeezed the hand I forgot was clutching his and pulled me closer to him. “Jady, stay close to me. Don't get too brave,” he whispered, sounding like a protective big brother. That was all it took to snap me out of my trance, although I still couldn't help but stare at the perfect man in front of me. He eventually broke our gaze, looking down at the ground in front of him.

Finally, one of them, who appeared to be the leader as he stood front and center, spoke in perfect English. “Welcome, people of the planet Earth.”

I don't know what I was expecting when the humans got off their ship. After the brief society meeting called by Sir Andrew and his committee, I could hardly gather my own thoughts because of the overwhelming emotions of everyone else that were invading my mind. Sir Andrew had given the entire society a brief overview of these humans and their way of life on their planet, which caused more fear and anxiety along with anger and shock to penetrate my head so strongly it made me physically ill.
Danger
was a word we knew, but not from any actual experience. Our lives were safe and virtually free from anything that caused fear.

As I stood there, waiting for the humans to arrive, I recalled the events that had taken place in our society over the last few hours. The community members were uneasy, but Sir Andrew did a wonderful job explaining how we were to handle the situation. He told us that because our society was so far advanced in comparison, they would have trouble inflicting damage on us or our way of life. These humans on the ship, as far as Lucy and I could tell, had no intention of attempting to harm us in any way. That was not something we should fear. But, as Sir Andrew had explained, the character flaws of the humans were so far ingrained in them that they were still not to be trusted. Society members were to be gracious and polite, never showing our fear. We were to share no information with them or answer any questions they had that may give them anything deeper than basic knowledge about our lifestyle.

I at first questioned this. I felt that if we could share our knowledge with them, it could help them improve their own society and lifestyle choices. But Sir Andrew explained that the kind of information we could give them could be very harmful and dangerous if put in the wrong hands.

“I know this is difficult to comprehend, innocent Noah, but there are people who could use our knowledge in horrible ways. For example, think about the particular youth-preserving honor that has been given to you and Lucy as a result of your gifts. If, somehow, the humans discovered the secret of how to bestow this honor and gave it to members of their own kind, sheer pandemonium could ensue. I know this is hard to imagine. But some of these humans…they have wicked thoughts and live only for themselves. They are greedy and jealous – two qualities you have heard of in your studies, but you have never actually experienced them because we do not have the ability to possess them. Our society would never tolerate an individual like this and would dispose of that member properly, but they…” He broke off his sentence, lost in his own thoughts, and shuddered violently. “You must understand why I have to make you vow never to speak of it to the humans.”

I nodded grimly, though I had difficulty imagining the malevolence he spoke of. With the coming situation, I figured my curiosity would be indulged, and decided to ask another question. “Sir Andrew, if these people are that horrible, that destructive, that terrifying, why even allow their presence here?”

Sir Andrew paused, considering his answer. “Young Noah, we cannot act as if we have something to hide. If the humans feel we have something they want, they will stop at nothing to get it. There are only eight of them onboard now. However, their population on Earth outnumbers ours by
billions
. If we turn them away, how many will they bring next time? Will they take what they want by force? Make no mistake about this – humans are persistent. They
will
get into our society, with or without our help.”

“So it's better for us to welcome them here so that we control the situation,” I realized aloud.

“Correct. We have to regulate what information they are given. And when we are sharing information, I need you and Lucy by my side. It's vital to read their minds and emotions to make sure their thoughts regarding our society don't become…impure.”

I nodded. “Will I still go to work in the educational facilities?”

“Yes, of course. We will inevitably bring the humans to the facilities, and you will be their primary tour guide there. I don't believe letting them see how we teach and train will bring any threat upon our society. When you need to work, Lucy will stay with me, and vice versa.”

With this conversation still fresh on my mind, I watched carefully as the humans landed just outside our society. Their spacecraft, a large, shiny silver oval-shaped ship, landed awkwardly as it skimmed the ground before coming to a stop. It seemed so primitive. Ours were much smaller, much sleeker. They hovered the ground to prevent those uncomfortable landings.

After just minutes, the humans stepped out into our society. I didn't know what I expected, exactly, but it definitely wasn't what I saw. Their coverings were strange. They wore various colors and types unlike our matching ensembles. The color of their skin and eyes were unlike ours – they lacked the healthy glow we had. The physical condition of some of their bodies was imperfect. I knew these differences had to be due to the lack of nutrients they put into their systems. These were problems our society had remedied hundreds of years ago; Sir Andrew had not been exaggerating when he said their technology was significantly lacking. But despite the differences, these humans looked like
us
.

I watched first as three men stood together. They wore serious but hopeful expressions as they lined up side by side and looked boldly into our faces. I looked into each of their eyes, focusing my energy on reading their emotions, and I was surprised to read such apprehensiveness coming from the bodies of these potentially monstrous people.

Next came another man, although he looked younger and I guessed him to be in his late teens. From him I got such a mixture of emotions that I wasn't sure what to make of it – he was also scared, but he was so curious and excited that his fear was only minimal. Oddly, in the mix of his emotions, a touch of sadness existed. Following the younger man was a woman that I guessed to also be in her teen years. She took her place in line next to him and grasped his hand as she took in her surroundings and studied us. The moment she took his hand, I saw his sadness disappear and a flash of hopefulness run over him instead.

This strange moment took me by such surprise and filled me with confusion. How did the touch of this young woman take away sadness and give such hope? She must have some sort of gift of her own, although Sir Andrew had told me that humans were not gifted the way the members of our society were. There would be no human who could read minds or emotions like Lucy and I, or see the effects of certain situations before they happened as Ramona could, or touch a book and automatically absorb all the knowledge inside of it the way Lawrence did. But this young woman, somehow, changed the emotional state of the young man beside her, simply by taking his hand. I cautiously made eye contact with her in an attempt to read her emotions, and was stunned when she was able to affect me with only her gaze.

I didn't know how to describe the sensation I felt when our eyes locked, but she had a strange power over me. The beauty of her dark eyes and long, flowing dark hair mesmerized me. Her cheeks flushed slightly, her whole face full of wonder and curiosity. I kept trying to read her emotions, but found myself unable to concentrate as she stared back at me. My body yearned to move toward her, to touch her, to just talk to her. I felt such a burning desire for her – something I had never felt before in all of my years in the society.

The effect of the young woman terrified me. My heart pounded, my palms grew moist. I didn't know how to handle it. She hypnotized me and part of me screamed out to be guarded so that I did not fall victim to her strange gift as the young man beside her had done. According to Sir Andrew, some degree of evil existed in all of the humans, even the best ones. But my instincts told me he was wrong about this girl. I was drawn to her; I needed to be around her.

My head told me that if I acted on these completely irrational and strange urges I would not only be endangering myself, I would be endangering my community. I forced my body to listen to that logical part of me and broke my gaze from hers. As I looked down at the ground, I tried to force my racing heart to forget what had just happened and remember the jeopardy our society could be in as a result of our new visitors' presence.

Finally, Sir Andrew's voice broke my thoughts as he greeted the humans. “Welcome, people of the planet Earth.” He gave them a warm smile that hid all the distrust he had in his heart. “Please follow me into our visitors' chamber where you can make yourselves comfortable. We ask that you join us, my council and myself, for a welcoming dinner that will take place in two hours. That should give you time to get settled into the chamber and allow us to get the meal prepared for you.” The humans were obviously pleased with his graciousness. The waves of fear and uncertainty were replaced with relief and excitement as big smiles spread across their faces. I couldn't help but look at the young woman one last time, who I found already looking at me. We both turned quickly away.

The humans followed Sir Andrew as they carried their things to the visitors' chambers. When they got further from us, the members of our society exchanged worried glances before going back to their normal daily routines. As Lucy and I walked to return to our regularly-scheduled days, I could feel the pangs of anxiety that were running over her body.

“It will be fine, Lucy,” I tried to reassure her. “Sir Andrew and his committee will make sure everything is as it should be.” I spoke with a lot of confidence, even though I didn't feel it as the young woman ran through my mind yet again.

She nodded, forcing a smile. “I know. I'm not really worried about the humans.”

“Then what is it?” I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.

She shook her head. “I shouldn't even say these thoughts out loud.” I studied her face as we walked, wondering if she felt the same pull toward the young woman and that was what had her so flustered. Before I could ask her, she said, “It's just that…well, this information is all so new to us, so I'm still processing it, I guess. I just don't understand…well…obviously, Sir Andrew and his committee knew a lot about these humans, right?”

I nodded. “Naturally. His committee is made up of the most brilliant members of our society.”

She nodded back. “Right. Well, I guess I'm just wondering what else we don't know about, you know? I mean, there was this whole other planet called Earth they kept from us, filled with these creatures called humans that we never learned about – yet they exist. How were they able to hide all of this? What else is out there? What else aren't they sharing with us? And why don't we get to decide what we should and shouldn't know?”

I was taken aback by Lucy's questions and walked in silence the rest of the way to the training facility. The boldness of her questions shocked me. She knew it was against societal rules to question our rigorous education and curriculum. That information was determined by the educational committee; they decided what was to be taught and when. The members of that committee were intelligent and were never to be questioned. If I were to repeat the conversation taking place between Lucy and me, Lucy would be in some very serious trouble. But Lucy knew me well, and knew I would never do anything that would risk her getting hurt. And besides, I couldn't ignore the little voice in the back of my mind that told me only one thing –
Lucy was right
.