the welcometalker

All has been prepared. For a last time I move over the Welcomeground. It is flat and perfectly smooth. It is the base of a small mountain and consists of hard and very heat-resistant rock. I have spent countless moments to break up the mountain and carry away the rock and stone to form this perfectly even surface. I have carried the mountain to the shallow dale behind the shadowy forest and split it up into tiny pieces. Every quantity of metal was carefully isolated and carried back to form a triangular shape next to the Welcomeground.

The triangle is quite large. I have dug a hole into the soft ground to find more room for the metal. The triangle now points to the Welcomeground. The triangle is the Welcomecall.

She has told me how to build it and she has also told me how to build all those other Communications. Like the Welcometalk. It is made of a small raised platform next to the Welcomeground. I have made it out of white rocks from the mountain. I have cut them so carefully that they neatly fit next to each other. When They arrive I will climb onto the Welcometalk and communicate with them, welcome them to Her and offer peace and cooperation. She is eager to learn news from her countless sisters, how they fare, how their children fare. She has told me that they will arrive in a small amount of moments. I will wait. I yearn to meet them and I take pride in being the chosen one to communicate. I will represent her and all of my kind.

She has told me that they are arriving. She said that they were coming exactly as had been foreseen, in long, shiny vehicles, riding on a sparkling tail of fire. Nervously, I check the Welcomeground again, removing some dust that has settled there during the last few moments. Then I hurry towards the Welcometalk and climb on top of it. The Welcomecall rests near the Welcomeground, opposite of me. It rests there, dark and gloomy. But I know it is not sleeping. It is calling. It is emitting its presence to Them. It is trying to look as heavy and dense as possible, calling out to their vehicles' eyes and ears to detect it. She has told us that they would find a triangular quantity of such an amount of metal very unusual. They would notice the Welcomecall. They had to notice it!

There! I can see a sparkling on the tiny, mirror-like surfaces of the black rocks. The Welcomecall has succeeded! They have come!

A distant rumbling reaches me. Quickly, I spread myself on the Welcometalk, forming a triangular sign, just like the Welcomecall. I will call to them too! I shrink and expand, morphing, changing. I am trying to turn into a triangle and then into a circle or a box. Forms. She said that they would notice regular or symmetrical forms. They must notice me, then I can learn and teach. I am the chosen one, the diplomat.

The rumbling draws nearer, turns into a roaring hiss. The Welcomecall is shining, reflecting the fire Their vessels emit. Now even the Welcomeground is bathed in bright light. I can see them! They are descending! A shiny, long vehicle, like She promised, riding on top of a vast pillar of flame!

Now the blazing tail has reached the Welcomeground, splits into tentacles of pure heat, crawling over the surface, searching for some tiny cracks to delve into. But I have worked hard and eager, checking the surface a million times. The fire cannot harm the rock, it dissipates harmlessly into the air.

I feel the heat, but I stand firm. I will not falter, I must communicate, I am the chosen one!

Abruptly, the fire stops. The two vessels have touched the Welcomeground and rest on its glowing surface, unharmed. The Welcomecall was melted into a singular block of metal and is glistening proudly in the gloomy light of the sizzling Welcomeground.

Only a few moments later, the hull of one of the vessels opens. Out of the hole steps a strange being. It is very large, nearly as large as the Welcometalk, but it is made out of some white matter. It carefully steps down and scans its surroundings. Another alien follows!

In my excitement I have nearly forgotten my duty! Immediately I start morphing again, trying to catch the aliens' attention. Others climb out of the vessels, the other vehicle opens, too. They look around and wave strange pieces of metal around. Finally they take notice. One points at me and the others turn to look. They move towards the Welcometalk. I am so excited! I have succeeded!

But now it is time to learn, learn and teach. I search their bodies for regular forms, as She has told me to do.

I notice one on the front of their bodies. It is quite small, but I will try to imitate it. Slowly I morph, extending pieces of me across the Welcometalk. The form on their bodies consists of four smaller shapes.

I will have to split! It will be very painful, but I am willing to endure it for the sake of communication!

The pain rips through my body as my body rips apart. The four pieces of me stretch and bend, finally representing the shapes on the aliens' bodies:

NASA