I awoke this morning to the sound of a frantic pounding at my door; it was Plucky. “Come down to the beach at once,” she urged. “A rubber raft came ashore last night.” She paused, looking for words. “And there was a human aboard. A boy.” I put on my shoes and we headed for the beach. I asked Lmao how his fishing trip went; he said he threw back a few.
I have lived on Alien Resort island for 350 years. Except to go fishing and swimming, I have never left the island, until now. As we celebrate Plucky’s good fortune here on the island of our landlord the king, my feelings are mixed. I feel great joy for her, happiness to see us all together at this lavish event, and for the first time in hundreds of years, homesick. Not homesick for my original planet of course, for that feeling ended long ago, but instead for that tiny spot on the Earth where I live with my friends. Deadpan says the footprints he discovered won’t make him famous; he’s going to use them as stepping stones.
The king skyped us and asked if we wanted to come to his island and escort Plucky home. Less than 24 hours later, here we are: Deadpan, Lmao, and I, away from Alien Resort island for the first time since we arrived on Earth many years ago. We all hugged Plucky, and tonight the king is going to host a banquet in her honor. Lmao was late to a cookout once; he says he got the cold shoulder.
The king’s ship with Plucky aboard has arrived at its home port and the crew has briefed the king. Here’s what we know about Plucky’s escape: A group of thugs from the Beacons of Night led her from the hotel and toward a pier where they had a boat waiting. Before they could board, Plucky activated the mini static electricity generator that Deadpan had given her as a going away gift. The Beacons, enveloped in an electrical field, watched helplessly as she walked away from the pier. Within a half hour she was aboard the king’s ship, and the Beacons were arrested at the pier. I remember how we used to generate electricity–Deadpan says that’s water over the dam.
We have just received the best possible news. The king sent us a message that Plucky is aboard one of his ships and is reported to be safe and unharmed. All we know so far is that the Saipan police responded to an incident at a pier and arrested several followers of the Beacons of Night. The king’s ship is headed for its home port where the crew will brief him in person. Lmao once got a new spaceship but he says he couldn’t stock it until he unloaded the old one.
This morning a courier delivered a handwritten note to our lawyers at Plucky’s hotel. The anonymous sender advised the lawyers to stay by the phone and warned them not to call the police. The sender is either unaware of the dragnet in place across the island or has watched a lot of movies that used the same note. Deadpan says he once saw some handwriting that was so bad he couldn’t find the words.
Words can’t describe the depth of our concern about our missing friend. Nobody has heard from Plucky in the 48 hours since her disappearance. The worst of our anxiety stems from our complete helplessness as we rely on reports from her lawyers still at the hotel in Saipan. We’re gathered around the radar screen in Plucky’s spaceship in the vain hope of spotting any sort of unusual activity in the seas between here and Saipan. Someday I’m going to build a deep sea habitat; Deadpan says I shouldn’t let anyone burst my bubble.
