The Assignment

I stood in front of the portal and watched the blurry image of the hustle and bustle of people moving up and down the street. It was hypnotizing. What was their drive? Were they collectively trying to achieve something or were they all in competition? There had to be some ultimate purpose to it all. Filled with nerves, I took the step through.

As my foot touched the grey cement on the other side of the portal, my eyes instinctively squeezed shut. My brain felt like it would explode. I was bombarded by sound coming from all directions. I could hear the loud rumble of gas powered engines revving and the sounds of horns piercing the air at random intervals. I could even make out the constant clopping of shoes against the pavement.

As my brain adjusted to the ruckus, my other senses kicked in. I blinked a few times from the brightness and looked up at its source. The intense yellow sun was blinding. After just a glance, my eyes started to see spots. I quickly looked down at the ground for relief. I felt a wave of heat wash over me also emanating from the sun. It was stifling and brutal. Almost suffocating. The heat seemed to just hang there. I could feel moisture on the brow of the form I had morphed into. From the pamphlet I had read prior to coming, I knew this to be an unconscious reflex of the heat and that the moisture was meant to cool the body’s temperature.

The smells! The smells hit next. Oh, they were terrible. An overpowering smoky smell filled the air. I could see the fumes rising from the exhaust systems of the passing vehicle and knew that was the cause. I could also detect the smell of cooked meat and vegetation. Lingering behind that was an ammonia type smell that I believed to be from human waste. My studies had told me that this civilization had proper waste facilities so the smell made no sense to me. I wondered if maybe one of the sewage pipes had burst and caused what must be a rare odor in a city so large. Very strange.

“Move! Idiot,” said a passerby as he grazed me with his shoulder.

As I looked in his direction another person ran into me from the other side.

“Are you walking or what? Get out of the way!”

I quickly flattened my body up alongside the nearby building. The stone stucco finish hurt the exposed skin on my hands and arms as I forced myself up against it. I pressed my back into it to the point that I wondered if I might damage the wall and cause a collapse. I refused to move anything besides my eyes as they darted left to right over and over again taking everything in. I realized I was loudly panting. Fear ran through my mind causing me to shake and tremble. I tried to get hold of myself and relax my body. Also from the pamphlet, I knew that I could control the rate of my breathing. I concentrated on inhaling and exhaling while still looking everywhere, taking it all in. As my body moved to a calmer state, I noticed everyone else around me. They continued to move here and there as I had noticed before crossing through the portal. Remarkably, not a one took any interest in me. As long as I was pressed up against the building, the crowd left me alone and didn’t even seem to realize I was there. I wondered if their eye sight worked on motion and only detected me if I was moving. That made me think. Are there more people around that I can’t see right now because they are motionless? Curious. And terrifying. I looked across the street and saw a person sitting on a bench. They were completely stationary but I could still see them. In fact, he seemed to be looking right back at me as well. I guess that disproves my movement theory, I thought. Our eyes locked for a second. I watched as his right hand formed into a closed fist and moved away from his body towards me. It stopped when his arm was fully extended. The centre digit of the five fingers on that balled up fist suddenly extended as well as he continued to look at me. Was this some type of greeting? I shrugged and repeated the gesture back to him forcing my facial muscles into a smile, like the pamphlet had said I should do. He did not smile back. He pressure forced some sort of liquidy bile out of his mouth towards the ground. He got up and joined the rest of the crowd moving down the street.

I think I just made a friend, I reflected. I silently congratulated myself on how well I was adapting. Well, I had a list of things I had to obtain and bring back to my class so I figured I had better get to work. First on the list was some type of sustenance. I concentrated on the smell of meat that I had detected earlier. I noticed a silver coloured sled type vehicle that was parked along the sidewalk. A person stood behind it moving pieces of meat around on its surface which was obviously hot from the smoke rising from it. A large umbrella was extended beside it creating a sphere of shade around the human operator. As I moved close, the smell of animal flesh became unbearably intensified. I tried to ignore the odors and again moved my facial muscles into a smile. I even opened my mouth slightly to show my teeth that were grinding together. When the food operator looked at my happy expression, he jumped back slightly. His facial muscles did the opposite of mine causing his mouth to droop slightly at each side. Must be some kind of regional thing, I thought.

“Yeah?” the man said.

I looked down at meat he was cooking.

“You want a dog or what?” he added holding a metal implement out between me and him.

“A dog? Yes,” I replied. I held out one of the pieces of paper with numbers on it that our professor had given us prior to coming. He snatched it out of my hand, crumpled it up and threw it into a small box on his side of the sled.

“One redhot coming up,” he said as he used the implement to pick up a tubular piece of meat and put it inside a white fluffy object a little larger than the meat. A “Redhot” must be the breed of dog that I’m eating, I thought. I don’t remember ever reading about that kind.

“Drink too?” he asked motioning towards colourful cans stacked on the side of the sled.

I pointed to a red one. He handed me the food and one of the cans. I tucked the can under my arm and with my free hand, while still maintaining the forced smile, extended my middle finger in his direction.

“Freaking meth heads,” he replied while shaking his head and looking down at the food.

I noticed an empty bench similar to one that my friend had been sitting on. I went over, sat down and examined my food. I should try it, I thought. It felt soft and warm in my hand. I took a bite of the dog. My teeth went through the soft cottony exterior before biting off a piece of the meat. The boiling grease from inside the meat encased the inside of my mouth. Pain soared through me. I felt the inside of my cheeks and tongue burning. I immediately spit the offensive object out of my mouth. It flew a few feet landing right in the path of one of the moving people. He stopped and looked at me in an extremely agitated way. I looked back at him. My mouth was agape and my eyes wide as fear entered my body again. Just as I was getting ready to run, he showed me his middle digit and continued on down the street. Another friend, I thought! How pleasant and forgivable these humans are. Remarkable. I put the rest of the canine meat into my bag to show my class.

I studied the can next. It was extremely cold which actually felt pretty nice compared to the heat from the sun. I saw a circular outline with a hooked piece of metal on its flat surface. I quickly surmised that manipulating the metal hook caused the circular part to open inwards giving access to the fluid inside. I could hear a hiss from its contents. I attempted to take a big swallow. When the fluid entered my mouth, I could feel a bubbly, gassy sensation that immediately started to burn. I held my mouth open and allowed the liquid to escape and run down the front of my shirt.

“Oh my God, you are disgusting,” said a woman who happened to be passing by me.

I poured the rest of the brown coloured liquid onto the ground and put the can into my bag. I just needed three more items. The next one on the list was a piece of art. I wandered down the street and came across a store front with multiple large “X”s on its window. Inside, I could see people flipping through pieces of literature. I entered the shop and examined the soft covered books with their glossy pages. Inside were pictures of the human form. All of the photos showed them in a state of undress. The majority were of the female side of the species. The photos displayed them in amazing feats of pliability. In some of the pictures there were even displays of this contortion like behaviour with multiple people involved. Some with even three and four people. I decided this was an excellent piece of art to take back to my class. I gave the store keeper another one of the numbered papers and put the book in my bag.

The next item on my list was some type tool. I thought about the man with the metal implement who served me dog. I considered going back to ask him for it, but I remembered he never returned my greeting so I wasn’t sure if we were friends. I decided I would find something else. I continued on down the street making sure not to impede anyone. As I went, I noticed an alley leading away from the street. There was a strong smell of rotting meat as well as that ammonia like smell I attributed to human waste earlier. I must have been getting nearer to the damaged sewage line that I was sure they were in a hurry to fix. I turned down the alley. There were a couple of people resting on the ground further along. One man was sitting up with back against the wall. He had his sleeve rolled up holding a piece of fabric tightly over his upper arm. I saw him holding a small, cylindrical device in his other hand. The end of the device had a metal tip. I slowly approached him.

“Hello, person,” I said. “Can I ask what you are doing?”

“What do think I’m doing, man?” he replied back. “I’m going to the freaking moon!” He giggled oddly as he inserted the metal tip into his lower arm. As he did, he let go of the strip of fabric. I watched as he continued to giggle. His eyes rolled back in his head and he slowly slid down the wall and began resting with his friends. The tool slipped from his hand onto the ground. A tool that allows interplanetary travel? How wonderful! I noticed there were numerous tools lying around so I figured he wouldn’t mind if I took his. I picked it up and sniffed the end of the metal tip. I couldn’t detect any odor. I licked it lightly. It left and acidic bitter taste on my tongue. It was not pleasant. I put the tool into my bag. Even though he was resting, I showed him the greeting I had learned before returning to the street.

The last item I needed for my project was some type of device used in a recreational activity. This would be a tough one, I thought. Everyone had such sour looks on their faces that I wasn’t sure they liked to have fun in any recreational way. I was stumped on what I could find. Again, my good fortune struck! I heard screaming and yelling coming from a building further down the street. The sign on building had symbols similar to what was on my numbered papers. Suddenly a man burst out the front doors of the building wearing a mask. How fun! This one likes to dress up. He was holding a black metal object in his hand that had a thin cylinder shaped piece of metal protruding from it. He pointed the device back towards the inside of the building. Suddenly there were numerous small explosions and fire shot out of the end of the thing he held. Everyone began to scream and yell. Some were running while others were hiding. Everyone joined in. Well this seems like a fun game, I thought. Everyone is playing! The man threw the device into a large can sitting on the sidewalk and began to run like the others. As he ran, another man darted out of the building and onto the sidewalk. He had a similar device and pointed it at the man running away. His object also made the same explosive sounds. He must be the chaser now, I thought. I didn’t understand how it was decided who would chase, who would run and who would hide, but it did look fun. Everyone seemed so excited to play. I walked over to the can and saw the object sitting on top of some discarded papers. I picked it up. I thought about playing myself, but since I didn’t know the rules and who was allowed to be the chaser, I decided not to. I threw the object in my bag.

As I walked in the opposite direction from where the game was being played, I congratulated myself on finding all the items assigned to me. I had found some local types of nourishment, tools, recreational equipment and artwork. I was sure my professor and classmates would be impressed. I reached into my pocket and pressed the button to reopen the portal that would return me to my world.  Not bad for my first time away from home!