The Fifth Housemate: Part 4

February 11th
Three Days Before the Aliens

“Why do they include the purple ones?” asked Trenavass Taffa of the planet Byllk. He was holding a packet of Starburst.

“Pardon?” asked Laoren. She was tucking into a tuna sandwich.

“The green ones are of exceptional quality,” said Trenavass. “And the red and orange ones are good complements. But the purple ones are severely lacking.”

They were on a beach. Laoren had needed to hide Trenavass for the day, and this place was nice and private.

“A lot of people like the purple ones,” said Laoren.

“But why should the rest of us be made to suffer?” asked Trenavass. “Why not sell the purple ones separately?”

“Some company tried selling orange sweets separately,” said Laoren. “I don’t think they sold very well. They’re not around any more, anyway.”

“Of course not,” said Trenavass. “What’s the point in the orange ones if not to supplement the green ones?”

He ate another green Starbust, as though to prove a point.

“Have you got sweets on your planet?” asked Laoren.

“Not like these,” he said. “We have ranges of frozen liquids, which are sweetened.”

“We have something similar,” said Laoren.

“The range of food on this planet is quite something.”

He picked a banana from the picnic box, and studied it suspiciously.

“You remove the covering, do you not?” he asked.

“Yes,” smiled Laoren.

He did so, and ate the fruit.

“What shall we do tomorrow?” he asked. “Is the house free?”

“I’m afraid not. I was thinking of going further afield tomorrow. Somewhere where privacy’s not as important.”

-10001-

February 12th
Two Days Before the Aliens

The crowds were extraordinarily loud. Trenavass flinched each time the sound got louder.

Laoren had explained that this was a football stadium. A small number of people played a game while millions of people took sides. And several thousand of those people were here, watching it in this huge construction.

She’d explained that he’d probably get away with being in public in this case. She’d painted his pale-blue skin to match the colours of one of the teams – red and white – and his navy hair had been left as it was. He wore gloves to hide his second thumbs, and as for his nose, Laoren had assured him that anyone looking closely enough to realise that it didn’t look like a human nose would assume it was a deformity.

All seemed well, then. But the noise scared him. It wasn’t just the sound itself – these people seemed angry. And if they weren’t angry, the other side was. Laoren assured him that few were genuinely aggressive, but that didn’t help.

Trenavass shrunk back into his seat, sipping his bottled water, and closed his eyes.

-10001-

February 13th
One Day Before the Aliens

For their last full day together, Trenavass and Laoren were able to take advantage of the house. Greg had lectures, Mel was out as usual, and Jeremy had agreed that he’d be better off elsewhere.

“I’m sorry about yesterday,” said Laoren. “It hadn’t occurred to me how alien the situation must seem.”

“I should have known about it,” said Trenavass. “I should have studied harder. You have no way of knowing what I know of human experience.”

He was silent after that. He looked far away – deep in thought. Eventually, he spoke, and for the first time, sounded less than confident.

“I wonder whether I could ...” he said quietly.

Laoren smiled encouragingly.

“Something I’ve learned about Earth culture.” He coughed. “Could you show me how to draw?”

Laoren seemed surprised.

“Of course,” she said. She reached for her bag, retrieving a pad of lined paper and a pencil case. “I’d have thought drawing would exist on all planets.” She hoped she didn’t sound insulting.

“We ... no, we don’t draw,” said Trenavass. “Some people ...” He looked thoughtful. He seemed to come to a decisison. “No. No drawing on Byllk.”

And so, they spent the rest of the afternoon drawing. Laoren would be the first to admit she wasn’t the world’s best artist, but she was quite good at faces, and talked him through the human face. Afterwards, she had a go at drawing Trenavass’s face, and he tried to emulate her. His attempts got full marks for effort, but he could barely control a pencil, let alone emulate Laoren’s drawing. His faces seemed abstract to say the least.

The rest of the day was spent alternating between hiding and drawing. And that night, they settled down to sleep.

“Your last night here,” said Laoren.

“Indeed,” said Trenavass. A slight hint of regret in his tone.

“It’s been a pleasure having you.”

“You’ve been an excellent host.”

The next day, the aliens arrived.