Surveying Earth

The image of Earth filled the floor-to-ceiling window. Alex stared into its swirling depths and couldn’t decide whether to think this is the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen, or good riddance. No, that was too harsh. Home would always be home, after all. 

She turned to study her captors and saviors, all strapped into their chairs with safety belts. They were humanoid, but had eyes that were too wide-set, and heads that were too narrow. Their skin was a deep tint of blue. Alex wondered if it was from a lack of oxygen. She was the only one wearing a helmet and suit with an oxygen tank, which the aliens had helped her put on as soon as she arrived onboard, gasping for air. It was surreal to think that she had been living an ordinary life only twenty minutes ago, when she was plunged into this new reality. She laughed to herself at the irony. 

The transport ship gave a shudder, and then stopped. Alex heard mechanical parts interlocking at the doorway as they docked at the main ship. Her companions unbuckled their safety belts and helped her off her feet. She followed them through the doorway and into the main ship, providing no trouble at all. They marched silently through several stark hallways and into a cavernous hall. Here, the surrounding walls were also made of floor-to-ceiling glass, so that Earth loomed in the background. 

They gestured for her to sit at a lone table in the middle of the hall, across from a seated alien. The nameplate on the table in front of him or her (they were all bald) bore indecipherable symbols. More uniformed aliens stood in a semicircle around the table. All of them wore the same black discs on their right temples, which translated both incoming and outgoing speech.

The alien seated across from Alex smiled with an unnaturally wide mouth. “I am Lieutenant Umore. Welcome to Zalua 54. What is your name and planet of origin, for the record?” he or she asked.

“Alexandra, from Earth,” she said. She attempted to smile back.

“I trust that the transport committee debriefed you on your purpose here?” said the lieutenant. 

She nodded, although she couldn’t help but protest, “I wish you had warned me first. I was so shocked when they beamed me up. I was willing to cooperate once they explained, but…” Her words were echoing in the large chamber.

“We attempted to contact you by means of Earth communication,” the lieutenant said. Alex suddenly remembered the growing pile of unread mail on her dining table. “We have a tightly scheduled program and do not have time to await responses or tolerate delays from any participant. To reiterate, we have thoroughly studied the technology and systems of each planet in the sector. What we need is first-hand testimony on what life is like for the sentient beings in this location. Our software randomly selects one representative from each planet to participate in this mandatory survey.”

Alex nodded. “I understand. I was just...shocked. I didn’t even know there were...aliens...until now. And freedom is very important to humans. You're lucky I'm cooperating. Someone else might be giving you a hard time.” She looked around the room, emboldened by the sight of several aliens nodding in agreement.

“That is a good place to start,” Lieutenant Umore said, sliding a long bony finger across the surface of a tablet-looking device. “Voluntary participation. You would say, then, that humans from Earth value freedom of the individual.”

“Well,” Alex said, “some parts of it do. Freedom means something different in each country. And people don't really agree on how free we should be...”

Lieutenant Umore nodded as the aliens standing around them frantically swiped at their own note-taking devices. “I will mark the answer to this survey question as ‘Somewhat agree,’” said the lieutenant.

Alex suddenly felt the weight of the planet’s reputation resting on her shoulders. She glanced out the walls at the massive globe. “I don’t know if I can capture everyone’s experiences. There's over seven billion people and we're all so different. Maybe you should survey more people from Earth?”

Lieutenant Umore gave her a stern glance. “We cannot deviate from our methodology. Seven billion people may be a substantial number from your perspective, but the financial limitations of our project do not give us the luxury of surveying every living creature." The lieutenant sighed. “Let us try an open-ended question. Why don’t you tell us what life is like on Earth?”

Alex swallowed hard. “Well, we do have problems, like global warming. We keep ruining our environment to build things and get oil for our cars. We fight a bunch of wars, and we have people who are extremely rich and extremely poor.” She realized again that her cynicism was giving the aliens an unbalanced impression of Earth. “I mean, yes, humans can be cruel, but we can be kind too. We…” Suddenly, her brain went blank. 

Lieutenant Umore remained silent. Alex blushed. “I’m sorry. There’s…” She thought of her mother's warm bear hugs, her father’s big bellowing laughs, her sister’s celebrity singing impressions, all of which she hadn’t felt or heard in years. “We do love each other, to the point where it hurts to be away from each other. We help each other when life is hard.” Tears were sliding down her face now, and suddenly, the words came pouring out of her mouth. She shared memories and stories until she was laughing as much as she was crying. She had missed allowing herself to miss home. Despite the imposing darkness of the room and the unfamiliar blue faces, she felt almost uninhibited. 

When she had exhausted herself on words, Lieutenant Umore nodded. “Thank you for your information, Alexandra. We will enter your testimony into the records as a snapshot of life on Earth at this point in time.” He or she stood up, and gestured for Alex to do the same. “You will be pleased to know that we can return you to the exact time and location from which we retrieved you.” 

“No!” Alex shouted before she could help herself. She felt as if someone had punctured a hole in her helmet, sucking out the oxygen. “I mean, I prefer not to return to that exact moment.”

Lieutenant Umore peered at her curiously. “Why not? Is there something else you did not tell us?”

Struggling to articulate the dread that had risen in her like vomit, she recalled the scene: she was in the break room at work, when a coworker rushed in and whispered they’re here! In the next room, black uniformed officers were already forcing people to the ground. She dashed for the back door, but officers had already seen her. That was the moment the aliens had sent their beam to retrieve her, giving her a temporary refuge. She whispered, “I…life was brutal in my home country. I left to make a better life in a new country for my family, but I don't have the right papers to stay. When you picked me up, I was about to be discovered and sent back. Please, can you return me somewhere else?”

The lieutenant looked at the aliens that had picked her up, and they nodded.

“Please,” Alex said quietly.

Lieutenant Umore shook her head. “The protocol is to send you back to the exact spot and time we found you. To do anything else would have drastic and unpredictable consequences. Please wait here as the transport committee prepares the ship for your return to Earth.”

Alex nodded. Fate was fate. She closed her eyes and sat down again, dizzy with anxiety. After a while, the transport committee came to escort her back onto the smaller ship. As the aliens strapped her into her seat, the view of Earth through the window threatened to swallow her whole.

They were nearing the outer atmosphere when the nearest alien leaned in close and slid something into her jacket pocket. “Do not mention this to anyone, or the Lieutenant’s job is on the line,” the alien whispered, then sat back upright.

Alex reached into her pocket and took out a stack of folded-up papers. She skimmed through the documents, picking up words here and there that made her heart beat faster. Not everything was solved, but it was enough to restore her faith. 

She placed the stack back in her pocket. Maybe Earth was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen after all.