“Wait, Chasma. I don’t want you to get too close yet. Daddy is going to check a few things first.”
Dedrick wasn’t checking much. He was standing still near one of the pods, suddenly questioning everything again.
“Well?” asked François. “What are we waiting for?”
Dedrick turned to look at Vera and his daughter. He took a step back, turning to François.
“I’m not so sure this is such a good idea. What if we open those pods, and the creatures inside attack us? Then what? Or what if by doing so, we kill them?”
“Come on. Didn’t we just go through all this already? You’re not gonna change your mind now, are you? Plus, I doubt seriously whoever is inside wants to hurt us. And if it’s not safe for them, why would they try to talk Chasma into it? They’re inside their own ship, with a breathable atmosphere which I’m guessing is meant for them, not for us. We’re just lucky to breathe the same air they do. I’m quite confident this whole place is safe for them as well. Either way, we’ve been looking at these pods for over two weeks now, and we’ve tried everything else we could think of. I don’t think we have much of a choice. It’s either that, or we will never know who these people are, and what they are doing here,” replied François.
“I have to say, I’m a bit concerned too, François. We really don’t know anything about this place. I mean, I’m just as curious as you are, but then again, maybe these beings are in these pods for a reason. Maybe they are not supposed to be freed. What if they are criminals from another world, or something worse?” offered Sabrina.
“Criminals? Seriously? What is up with you two? I thought we had all agreed about this already.” He paused and looked at Ladli for support. She shrugged her shoulders. He went on.
“Look, I agree, there is an element of risk. But I don’t think it’s any different from all the other ones we took to come here from Earth, or the risks we take every day by living on this harsh planet. I don’t want anything to happen to Chasma anymore than you do. I love you very much, baby, I hope you know that,” he added looking at Vera’s daughter, “But here we are, in this Martian cave, inside an alien spaceship, and deep down, I feel we’re supposed to do this. I’m not sure I can explain it, but I truly believe there are beings trapped in these containers, who managed to guide us here to help them, and I think we should.”
“We have to help the sleepy people, Mommy.”
They all turned their attention back on Chasma. Vera kneeled next to her daughter. “You’re sure this is what you want, Chasma?”
“Yes, Mommy,” she replied with a big smile.
“So, tell me, do you know how to wake up the sleeping people?”
“Yes, Mommy, Jorh told me.”
“OK then, love. Show Mommy.”
The young girl removed her right glove and walked past several containers before stopping in front of one. They all watched her raise her arm and put her bare hand on the glossy surface. Like ripples through water, several multicolored circles started forming where her hand had made contact. She took a quick step back. Within seconds, the outer shell of the pod had become translucent, revealing the giant being inside. He or she was at least twice the size of an average man. Blue skinned and baring disproportionately massive legs, the alien was bathing in a hazy purple gas, churning slowly inside the pod.
“The alien in my dream,” thought Dedrick.
A low-pitched vibration followed through the floor of the room, sending shockwaves through all of them. The rotating sphere in the middle of the chamber began to rise toward the ceiling. Dedrick quickly grabbed Chasma in his arms and moved back next to Vera. The transparent pod and its occupant rose a few meters, and slowly glided to the center pad. Lining itself below the spinning sphere, the capsule began to glow. A very bright light suddenly flooded the pod from above. While bathing in the blinding haze, the glassy capsule containing the alien slowly faded away, and the body of the strange being rose out of its sleeping position, while the pod rematerialized in its original place among the other twenty-six below. Staring at the imposing alien, the anthropologist in Liu couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the strange being. The alien, floating on his back a few meters above the platform, shared a few similarities with humans. Although of distinctively larger proportions, the being had two legs, two arms, a head, and two eyes, just like humans do. However, the resemblances ended there. The being’s cranial features alone were quite different. Its head was significantly larger and curved slightly forward at the top. The closed eyes looked much larger as well, and the mouth was surprisingly small and hard to define. No ears were visible, and two short tentacles dangled below the alien’s chin. But one of the strangest things about the alien was at the back of his head. A hollow membrane, resembling a short elephant trunk, hanged down a meter or so below his neck.
Sabrina was enthralled, standing just behind François, holding his hand tightly. Her breathing was heavy.
“He is so big!” she whispered.
“I think he’s a she,” he replied just as quietly.
The alien slowly floated upright, revealing even more of its massive presence. Male or female, the alien was tall, very tall. “He’s gotta be at least four meters tall,” guessed Dedrick. The torso, quite small in comparison to the lower portion of the body, was otherwise straight and evenly distributed, but disproportionately thin and short. He suddenly realized the alien had six fingers on each hand, all of equal length. As far as he could see, he had no hair anywhere on him, and aside from four dark wavy lines on the lower part of the neck, the alien’s skin bared no visible markings or features, at least none he could see from where he was standing. If she was a female, she had no breasts, or any other significantly curved body lines suggesting so. If the being was a male, he did not appear to possess any visible genital appendage.
Watching the large creature rise further up in the large room, the colonists noticed the sphere up above begin to spin faster and faster, and the bright light shining on the alien starting to pulse, slowly at first, but quickly gaining speed. The alien’s blue skin, apparently reacting to the stimulation, began to glow, as if it was being recharged or nourished by the pulsing lights above. The strobe effect, which at times made the alien appear to move, was hard to watch without squinting, but Dedrick and the rest of the group were too captivated to take their eyes off, or move. A swirling gas began to appear around the hovering body and morphed slowly into the alien’s clothing. The fabric was soon swaying freely around its inert body, as if softly blown by a gentle breeze. The see-through cloth-like material began to shrink slowly, tightening itself on the alien’s bare skin. While doing so, they could see the fabric thickening as well. Strands of cloth began wrapping themselves around the being’s arms and legs, in an even-spaced spiral. A few seconds passed before the platform below began to glow as well, a bright neon-purple light, occasionally interrupted by random flashes of colors, creating an impressive display of shadows and light along the entire length of the body. As if reacting to the rhythm of the various colors, the being’s entire body was soon convulsing. What felt like minutes passed, until the sphere, after one last elaborate color display, gradually slowed down again, its beam of purple glow finally shining still, as if holding the alien up in the air. The strange being was now hovering, immobile, its large mass bathing in the familiar hazy glow of soft purple, coming from both above and below.
Then, one arm moved.
“Oh!” gasped Sabrina.
“It’s OK, it’s OK,” François tried to reassure her, as she gripped his hand even more tightly. He glanced at Dedrick with an expression that meant, “OK, here we go.”