The Alien Encounters

Allan Reed:
[narrating] I was alive, but it didn't matter. The memories were more than I could handle. Luke... Susan. Why them, not me? I was alone, just my thoughts. Thoughts about how I might end my loneliness. My mind would not let me rest. Sometimes I'd get angry at myself for feeling self pity. I couldn't find a purpose. There was nothing left for me. It got worse... unbearable, the thought of how they died. Finally, I couldn't hurt any deeper. I was numb, totally exhausted. That's when somehow I suddenly realized what I'd heard. It was a voice, a spoken message of some kind. But what did it mean?

Allan Reed:
Mrs. Arlyn, for the past five years I've been traveling, investigating every phenomenon from alien astronauts to Atlantis to the Bermuda Triangle, even Bigfoot. I'm a scientist... I'm an astronomer.

Mrs. Arlyn:
Really?

Allan Reed:
Well, an unemployed astronomer.

Steve Arlyn:
I never could get into the rejuvenation scene.

Allan Reed:
Oh? Then what scene are you into?

Steve Arlyn:
Oh, you know... hard rock... drugs... sex... the usual stuff. [sighing] Plus I get my driver's license in a month. Now if I can just con Mom out of enough for a car.

Allan Reed:
I get it. Typical teenager, huh?

Steve Arlyn:
Damn right!

Allan Reed:
[Examining unidentified object] Strange... it's perfectly round. If it came from space, like a meteor, it would have one side flattened wouldn't it?

Wally:
Not if it slowed down before it hit.

Allan Reed:
What?

Wally:
It was Steve's idea. [to Steve] Tell him about it why don't ya? Come on! You don't think he's a "Mib", otherwise you wouldn't have invited him here!

Allan Reed:
What's a "Mib"?

Steve Arlyn:
Men in black... my dad called them "Mibs". It's a... code name. They're guys who showed up after U.F.O. sightings asking a lot of questions, with really no reason.

Allan Reed:
Steve, your father was being watched by somebody, wasn't he? [pause] Who?

Steve Arlyn:
For years before he died... my dad was being followed by the men in black.

Allan Reed:
What project was he working on?

Steve Arlyn:
Betatron.

Allan Reed:
Steve, why do you think some... alien civilization out there would care enough about... us... travel light years away from their planet, just to teach us how to build a machine to prolong our lives? Doesn't really make sense, does it?

Steve Arlyn:
Maybe they're, uh... not like us?

Allan Reed:
You mean there are certain things Man can not understand... doesn't have the intelligence to comprehend?

Steve Arlyn:
Of course we don't understand... we're still trying to keep track of which nations hate each other the most. [pause] But it's not like that on certain other planets.

Allan Reed:
No? What's it like then?

Steve Arlyn:
[Deep breath] Hard to explain... it's not that Man doesn't have the brain power or the senses to understand... it's a matter of how people have conditioned their minds.

Allan Reed:
We limit our thinking.

Steve Arlyn:
And reasoning, and feeling... we limit the use of all parts of the brain. You've heard that a million times, right?

Allan Reed:
[Nodding] Huh.

Steve Arlyn:
Picture a place... out there... inhabited by beings who look... pretty much like we do. Their planet's about the same age as Earth... they've evolved at the same rate... with one exception...

Allan Reed:
Their mental abilities are much greater than ours?

Steve Arlyn:
You've heard that idea before too!

Allan Reed:
[laughing] In every science fiction movie I've ever seen.

Steve Arlyn:
Well, it's for real.

Allan Reed:
Are you telling me... there actually is another planet like ours, with people who look like us?

Steve Arlyn:
Not just one, millions of 'em that have been discovered so far. You heard signals from one of them.

Allan Reed:
Barnard's star!

Steve Arlyn:
That planet's a lot like Earth, except drier... more deserts... with only a third of its surface covered with water... but it's beautiful really. That's what my dad said.

Allan Reed:
Your father... was visited by people from Barnard's Star... so they told him how to build a machine to prolong life. [pause] Why?

Steve Arlyn:
So maybe we could live long enough to use what we'd learned.