What is That?

   What Is That?

Suzanne Marsh

Zorch and Dorch boarded their space ship, they were being sent to earth, to help their planet understand earthlings and their strange ways. The AI’s had been studying earth for thosands of years, most of the time simply shaking their small green heads in wonder. They would reach earth in the year 2024, a time of terror on earth. They hoped they would be able to help. They had the acquired knowledge to change from an AI to a human. They did not wish to scare the earthlings.

They landed near area fifty one in Roswell, New Mexico. Hiding their ship under sand. They then changed from their normal green aura to two football linebackers, one with blond hair and blue eyes the other with black hair and gray eyes. They found their way into the town of Roswell.

Zorch, who now called himself Tom Roth and Dorch, now became Ed Hurley. They began to look for places to see and things to do. They first visited the Visitor Center where they garnered information. The walked along the sidewalk until they came to a theater, where “Barbie” was playing. The two bought tickets and entered. There was a fragrance in the air that smelled as if it were some sort of food. There was a huge machine with things popping. Tom and Ed purchased a huge tub of popcorn. They had no idea of what to do with it, they could not become AI’s in this place. Tom popped one his mouth, it tasted good. Ed did the same thing. Both wondered just what this was, was it something natural or was it some man made. They decided to find out once they returned to their ship.

They found their assigned seats, pushed the seat backs and laughed. The large screen in front of them reminded them they were on a mission. The house lights dimmed and suddenly a woman appears on the screen. She has long blond hair in a pony tail, a small little voice, her eyes are blue like the sea with a figure that won’t quit. Tom, poked Ed:

“Hey, do you think she is human? I have never seen a human look like that before. I

remember seeing something the earthling girls call a doll. It looks like one of

those dolls, I think it was called Barbie.”

“Ed, I remember seeing that also. This is most confusing, is the creature an

earthling or a doll? We must watch further.”

They sat quietly watching the movie, with no clue as to what they actually saw. They thought the young woman was absolutely beautiful. She had alabaster skin, with huge blue eyes, they wondered if perhaps they should take her back to their home planet of Delia. She would certainly cause a commotion, that they could already ascertain. How were they supposed to determine whether she was a natural being or a man made one. Both contemplated whether they should bring her back with them.

The lights came on as they decided to watch this thing called a movie again, it was very enjoyable; they thought. Once again the lights dimmed, Tom and Ed gazed enraptured. They found that the young woman was most desirable to them, the question was how to get her off the screen and take her back to Delia, that would not be easy since most earthlings were afraid of AI’s. Tom decided the easiest way to approach her was to simply remove her presence from the screen. They had the technology to do that. They waited until the movie was almost over; then they snuck up to the large screen. Barbie shimmed a bit but remained on the screen. In the interim, popcorn and some sort of odd sound was coming at them. They sat back down, to rethink how to bring the woman back with them.

There was no doubts in their minds that humans were a strange lot. Just how strange, they were about to discover. They walked the streets of Roswell, hoping to find some way to stop all the violence. They had no idea what hate was but they were soon to discover what it meant.

Tom and Ed found a decent motel room, hunkering down for the night. Suddenly a siren blared into the peaceful night. Both jumped out of bed, ran to the windows and watched sadly. There was something burning across the street. Then they noticed creatures running around in white, yelling and forcing folks to listen to the hate they were feeling. Both AI’s could feel the hate as they stood there in the window. A rock flew through the air breaking the window where Ed was standing. It bounced off of Ed’s head:

“What have we done Tom? Are they really so full of hate?”

“I believe so Ed, is your head safe?”

“Yes, it simply bounced off. How can we help them to see that hate is something known

only to earthlings? It is not natural for most beings on Delia.”

They had seen all sorts of things in the day they were in Roswell. They thought of returning to Delia but could not return empty handed. They needed to bring back samples of life here on earth. The question was, what could they return with? The popcorn from the theater was good, they wanted to try and bring “Barbie “ back with them but had no idea of how. The white robes were something that frightened them. They could not conceive of such terror being brought to their beloved Delia.

Once again they were back to “Barbie” they thought of her as being what every woman earthling looked like. There must be others they could find, or so they thought. They watched closely as women flooded the streets going to the stores, in jeans and sweatshirts. This did not make sense either. Women on Dalia, always wore long tunics, their hair was not like the hair on women here on earth. That was a start, they would bring back hair to analyze, but where to find it. They could not take a woman back in their ship, there was no room. They walked by a toy store, there on a shelf was a “Barbie” doll. They strode in:

“We will take her back, she is small, we can fit her into the ship.”

“Let’s get her and get out of here.”

They did that, as they headed out of town, they noted a beauty salon. The salon had a display of wigs. That resolved the problem. They both bought wigs, these would show the women of Delia how earthlings looked. How their hair was softy and sweet not like the wire that sprang out of their small green heads.

The AI’s still had no real idea of what made earthlings the way they are. They got to their space ship just in time to lift off without being noticed. They still had no idea what was natural and what was man made.