Power Outage

It was a candlelit dinner. Three tall candles stood between the serving dishes, and the wine glasses glowed a dark red in the dim light. At the head of the table, Keenan Barber stood, his wine glass in hand, and his round, double-chinned face smiling at everyone, particularly his guests.

"I would like to propose a toast," he said, raising his glass, "to our guests, the great visitors of Earth, the Binti. May they no longer be called aliens but friends. To friendship!"

"To friendship!" chorused the others.

Lindar Zetnin, and his wife, Erhari, drank the wine of their hosts, then set down their glasses as Keenan lowered himself into his chair. Nellie Barber, who sat opposite her husband, smiled albeit a little nervously at her guests. She was a thin woman with graying brown hair and a gentle face, although that face was now gently nervous. She was not quite as used to the Binti as Keenan was, but she wanted to be used to them.

Lindar and Erhari were humanoid, even having five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot. There was nothing unusual about them except for their eyes: the eyes of these aliens were white blanks. When Nellie had first seen those blank eyes, she had nearly screamed, and it was only good breeding that prevented her from embarrassing both herself and the Binti she had first met. She agreed with Keenan that it was important to invite these new people into their homes, if only so she could acclimate herself to them.

She thought she was acclimating quite well. Once she had gotten past the eyes, she realized that Lindar and Erhari were quite good-looking. They were in their thirties, and both were slender in a graceful sort of way. Lindar's face was narrow and rather angular, but still handsome, and his head was covered by thick, brown hair. His wife was a little shorter than he was, and her black hair curved past her oval face and down to her shoulders. Nellie was pleased that, however different the Binti might be, they were at least very polite.

"I'm so happy you found the house next door," said Nellie, once food had been served.

Lindar smiled. "Thank you, Nellie."

"We like it very much," added Erhari.

"Where is it that you work again?" asked Keenan.

"We found work at a hotel," explained Lindar. "I work at the front desk at night, and Erhari cleans the rooms at night."

"At least we keep the same hours," said Erhari cheerfully.

"Excellent," replied Keenan, beaming. "I'm glad you found work so quickly."

"Me, too," agreed Nellie.

"The Earthlings have been so kind to us," said Lindar. "We're very grateful."

"We feel that Earthlings are extremely open-minded," said Erhari. "So refreshing. Other planets have not been this kind."

"Thank you for saying that," responded Nellie, proudly, for she had always considered herself an open-minded person and was glad to hear that someone thought so too.

"Never listen to a close-minded person," advised Keenan. "They're stupid people, you know, and always wrong about everything. They lack, uh, compassion."

Nellie nodded vigorously. "Compassion. That's the key to a peaceful existence."

"And intelligence," said Keenan, as an afterthought. "These narrow-minded people aren't intelligent."

"I've often found that compassion and intelligence go together often," chimed in Nellie.

"You have no idea how few people out there lack both compassion and intelligence," said Erhari, leaning closer to Nellie, as if to take her completely into her confidence. "Many people are not good people. They kept fighting us, and for no reason."

"How horrible," gasped Nellie, and she wondered how she could have thought that the Binti were scary.

"If everyone could have accepted us as we are," said Lindar, "then we wouldn't have had any problems with anyone. We certainly don't want to create problems."

"Especially since creating problems would mean taking more time to find solutions," joked Keenan, and everyone laughed.

By the end of dinner, Nellie thought the dinner had been a complete success. She found herself liking the Zetnins more and more. Erhari offered to wash dishes with her.

"Thank you so much," said Nellie. "I appreciate it. I do wish the power hadn't gone out so we wouldn't have to manually wash the dishes with soap."

"Between the two of us, I'm sure we'll get it done easily," answered Erhari.

Keenan brought a candle into the living room so he and Lindar would have light to talk by, while Nellie and Erhari washed dishes. Then there was a sudden hammering at the door.

"What on earth's that?" cried Nellie. "It sounds like the police."

"Of course it's not the police," called Keenan, rising from his armchair and crossing over to the door.

Nellie heard the door open, and Keenan said, "Howard, what's the matter with you? Scared me and Nell - "

"I need to talk to you," snapped Howard.

Nellie could not see Howard's face, but she could tell he was either very angry, very fearful, or both.

"I need to talk in private, please," Howard said, more calmly.

"I'm entertaining, as you can see," protested Keenan, but Howard persisted, and he relented.

The two men stepped outside onto the porch, and Keenan shut the door behind him.

"I apologize for the interruption," called out Nellie to Lindar. "I don't know what could be so urgent."

"No worries," returned Lindar.

"That's enough dishes for now, thank you," Nellie said to Erhari. "Let's go to the living room. I'm sure Keenan will be in soon."

He was, but not before Nellie, Lindar, and Erhari heard Keenan and Howard arguing, almost fighting, on the porch. Nellie was perplexed, for they had always been friendly. When her husband came back in, Howard had already left the porch.

"Idiot," exclaimed Keenan, collapsing into his armchair again. "What an idiot."

"I hope it's nothing too serious," said Lindar.

"Serious? I don't think so. You can't take anything too seriously from a man like that. You know what he said?" continued Keenan, glowering at everyone. "He blamed you two (he gestured at the Zetnins) for the power outage. He also blamed you for the death of that poor young couple on the next street over."

Nellie gaped. "What?"

"Such paranoia I have never seen, at least not recently."

Lindar laughed. "These accusations are unjust, yes, but hilariously so."

Erhari laughed too. "Don't fret, Nellie. There are hysterical people like this everywhere in the universe. We have seen it."

Nellie sighed. "I wish I could see more of the universe like you have."

"There's so much to see," said Lindar. "But don't go to Serima. That planet is no longer worth seeing."

"Why not?" asked Nellie.

"Well . . ." He hesitated.

"Almost all the people on that planet perished," said Erhari, quietly. "It happened right after we arrived."

"Was it a plague?" guessed Keenan.

"Yes."

"I'm afraid I brought up the saddest topic I could think of," apologized Lindar. "Let's think of something nicer."

The conversation turned to the best sights the Zetnins should see on Earth, as recommended by Keenan and Nellie. It was only when everyone began to yawn that the Barbers and the Zetnins stood and stretched.

"It's been such a lovely evening," began Nellie, but the candle was abruptly blown out.

"Shoot," muttered Keenan, for the candles in the dining room were low and hardly emitting any light now.

Lindar's voice rang out in the darkness. "We thank you for your kindness, your generosity, your compassion. You have saved the Binti."

Nellie froze. His voice was much too loud and strong for her comfort.

"You have given us your electricity," said Erhari, her voice clear and her words concise.

"And now, you must pardon us," said Lindar. "The Binti have not yet learned to survive on our own energy, so we have learned to take that energy from others."

Nellie heard her husband's panicked voice. "Energy? You mean, electrical?"

"No," said Erhari. "We mean human. Human energy is far superior to the energy of even the Serimans, and they helped us to survive for a thousand years."

"With luck," said Lindar, "your human energy will help us survive twice as long."

The Barbers were found dead the next day, as many others were found afterwards.