It was sunny and bright, a perfect weather that Sunday morning, when suddenly Mrs Sloan heard rowdy noises outside the house while she was preparing breakfast. In such rural area, such noise was unusual. It sounded as if a house was on…. “Fire? On this peaceful morning?” Mrs. Sloan questioned herself. She was really curious but, held back by fear, she later on woke her husband up and told him instead to go out and see what happened. Mr. Sloan opened his eyes, stared at her sleepily and went back to sleep, unperturbed by his wife’s anxiety. Mrs. Sloan sighed and walked out the room. She decided to go out and see it for herself.
“What... is happening here?” Mrs. Sloan was terribly shocked when she saw a large amount of people outside her house. The epicentrum of the mass was just close to her house. She could barely see through the waves of people, but she did notice smoke rising from what seemed to be the centre of attention. But what has burnt? No house was supposed to be on that land. Then what could have possibly happened to attract these many people? She noticed many unfamiliar faces as well among them, which were unusual, for her neighbourhood had never been visited by that many strangers. It had always been quiet and peaceful.
Then a clamorous noise from above startled her. Looking up to the sky, she saw a flying vehicle. It was her first time seeing a helicopter up so close.
“What...what is happening?” Mr. Sloan seemed to have waken up from the sound of the helicopter. “I don’t know,” answered Mrs. Sloan cluelessly, “I think something might have burned there.” Mr. Sloan’s eyes followed the direction of his wife’s pointing. “What is that?” Mr. Sloan couldn’t believe his own eyes seeing the fume, and then the crowd. “Are they reporters? What are here for?”
Mrs. Sloan saw her closest neighbour, Mrs. Dickerson, who was walking nearby her house after coming back from the site. Mrs. Dickerson, with shock clearly written on her face, walked up to Mrs. Sloan and told her what happened. “I saw a UFO right before my eyes,” she reported. “You saw a... what?” Mr. Sloan tried to see if she was joking, but saw only seriousness on Mrs. Dickerson’s eyes. “UFO,” Mrs. Dickerson repeated it once again clearly, “someone woke up early this morning and saw the smoke there, when he got to reach it he saw a crashed UFO. It was burnt pretty bad, but we can clearly state that it really is a UFO.”
Mr. Sloan ran to the site immediately. Though hard, as many people and reporters were surrounding it, he could finally reach it.
True enough, it was a UFO! Police lines had been set around it, along with policemen investigating the scene. One of them walked away from the UFO site and made an announcement. “We have already investigated this UFO, this is a real thing, but we’re unable to find aliens in it.”
“No aliens? That’s strange. How could this UFO crashed here if no aliens drove it here..” Mr. Sloan asked himself. He found it really strange. Then he started making conclusions. What if the aliens had changed their appearances and pretended to be human?
He looked around and found many unfamiliar faces. He found a TV reporter that he never seen on TV before. Could he be the alien? Mr. Sloan became much aware of the reporters. “Oh! What if the alien pretends to be one of the townspeople? Could it be Kyle? Or Preston? Or... maybe the others?” His suspiciousness began to expand. “Wait, I can’t just accuse anyone rashly. There got to be some prove, first things first.” Mr. Sloan decided to go home and think clearly, leaving Mrs. Sloan with the neighbours fussing about the UFO.
*****
The sky had darkened. Soon, noon would turn evening, but the crowd had not seemed to decrease. Maybe it did, but the police were too bothered by the press whilst progressing with the investigation. To top it off, some spectators had even managed to cross the line. It doesn’t really matter if they took pictures, but some went to the extent of picking up debris of the UFO for themselves, therefore messing up the evidents the police were trying to preserve.
“Well, it’s part of our job,” said Chief Keith to the complaining officers. It was finally their team’s turn to take a break after the half-day’s hectic. Some were sipping hot chocolate, while keeping watch on anything that might happen. “Hopefully no one tries anything funny anymore such as taking home ‘souvenirs’. This ain’t a tourist attraction…” “…yet!” Another officer interrupted Ron’s mumbling, and the others chuckled at Officer Ron’s seriousness. They all knew that sooner or later, after the police retreat, leaving the site as it is, either the locals or other parties would try to take advantage by turning it into an attraction for UFO fans.
“I’ve always thought UFOs don’t exist. Now I’m speechless.”
“We can’t declare whether that ship is really a UFO, though. The scientists had just been contacted, and they will arrive by tomorrow.”
“So our task in the meantime is to guard this thing? What if it’s a made up?”
“Darn it if it is. We’ll make sure to catch the culprit. My guess is some locals might have done it to attract visitors. This area is hardly known for anything, that’s why it’s desolated.”
“I doubt it. The locals can’t be that high-tech to create such thing,” argued an officer and turned his head to the UFO, just to have a good look at it again in order to confirm his opinion. Others too, glanced at the UFO, although they had been investigating it the whole day. It is indeed hard to believe it was the locals doing.
“Then who did it?” The officers fell silent, but in their minds, they were speculating about who could be held responsible of the event. It was a mystery. Then about the whereabouts of the aliens, if later the scientists state that the ship was a real UFO. That too, was a mystery.
*****
“The scientists will be on the site by tomorrow to examine the UFO.”
“Criminologists are enough. That ship is clearly a made up by irresponsible people.”
“I’m sorry to say that such comment is too rash, and personal as well, sir. We should be aware of any possibility, including the existence of aliens.”
“Enough,” said Head Chief Daniel Mayer, putting a stop to the debate going on between the higher-ups in a meeting, which took place in the central police department, concerning the UFO crash. “It would be much wiser to include scientists to our investigation team, considering the fact that we do not specialize in laboratory researches. Besides, we would like to avoid the scenario where the press will be questioning us for not having scientists investigating the case.”
Soon after the meeting, police officers started contacting selected chemists from all over United States and assembling a new investigation team as instructed by Chief Daniel. The team were to gather as soon as possible to be provided with brief instructions regarding their task, then start taking and examining samples of the UFO.
The following day, the team had been put to work. They discovered things; bags of fluids that seemed like alien’s urine, something that appeared to be dead skin cells and blood cells, and other strange objects. The whole team went through strenuous days under police supervision and support. Criminologists came out with possible hypothesis whilst chemists made efforts in identifying samples of substances gathered from the site.
They were nearly desperate regarding the case when one day, Dr. Jake Stoltzman, the young chemist, finally found something: an extraterestrial element found on blood cells that react to paracetamol, a common pain-reducing medication that can be used without doctor’s prescription. He reported his discovery to the head of the team, Professor Phillip.
“Are you certain about your discovery?” asked Professor Phillip.
“A hundred percent, Sir. I think that’s the only way to differentiate between alien and real human, since one said that aliens might look like human being.” Dr. Jake explained more about his discovery. Then, Professor Phillip agreed to have Dr. Jake present this to Chief Daniel.
“You want to have this whole town tested?” Chief Daniel asked.
“Yes, Sir.” answered Dr. Jake confidently.
“Well said, then. We’ll have local lab officers conduct the lab test. A week would be enough for this small town.”
The police officer soon held a press conference to announce that everyone within the neighborhood, including journalists, policemen, and scientists, were to be tested by the local lab officers. The lab officers would stop by in every house and building in the area.
Unexpectedly, the implementation of the lab test arouse chaos among the town’s people. Suspicions spread around town. One could no longer trust another, not even one’s own family member. This alien could disguise as anyone, and this alien would most likely be malevolent, or at least that’s the rumor the locals believed.
*****
The market was usually swarming with the town’s people, especially on weekends, but not that day. There weren’t many people on the street, only several old ladies with vegetable in brown bags, even most of the shops are closed. The place was almost deserted.
“Well isn’t that nice? The fish are on sale for only half the price! ” said Mrs. Sloan delightfully.
“I wouldn’t buy my fish from him, he might be the alien,” whispered Mrs. Jones. “I saw him talking to one of the fish yesterday,” she whispered again, this time more carefully.
“Now that is just absurd. Your eyes must be playing tricks on you again, Edna,” said Mrs. Sloan.
“I know what you’re thinking. You think I’m crazy, don’t you? For all we know, the alien could be anyone! Like your husband maybe, or even yourself. Are you the alien?” Mrs. Jones pointed her bony finger at Mrs. Sloan, “Bah! Even if you were, why would you tell me?” then she walked away, leaving Mrs. Sloan without even waiting for her to answer.
“Oh, that poor woman. With all those thoughts in her head, sometimes I wonder how she even survives. But what if she’s right? The alien could be anyone. That butcher with the big knife right there, or that old woman with the orange sweater, or that young boy on a bicycle, or even …my own husband?” Mrs. Sloan thought as she walked home. She is starting to have doubts.
*****
Mrs. Sloan peeked from the curtain, she could see a shadow of a man walking from the far end of the street. The silhouette suggested that it was her husband or an alien disguised as her husband. She stormed out the door.
“Stop, alien!” said both Mr. Sloan and Mrs. Sloan simultaneously.
“What do you mean I’m the alien? You are the alien!” said Mrs. Sloan.
“No I’m not, you are!”
“Oh, really? Then why did you come home so late?”
“Because my work wasn’t finished!”
“Then explain that thing you’re carrying,” Mrs. Sloan pointed at a big suitcase in Mr. Sloan’s hand.
“What do you mean? I always bring this to work!”
“No, you don’t!” said Mrs. Sloan, starting to feel unsure of her accusation.
“Yes I do! This is where I keep all my notes and equipments I need for work”
Mrs. Sloan fell silent. “I’m sorry, darling, I’ve had a rough day today. Come inside, let me prepare dinner for you.”
She was just about to go back inside the house when her husband pulled her arm back. “Wait! How do I know you are not an alien?” said Mr. Sloan suspiciously, He stared at his wife with eyes piercing like an eagle.
“Of course I’m not an alien! I’m your wife!” she exclaimed in disbelief.
“You might be an alien pretending to be my wife,” his grip tightened around her arm.
“How dare you accuse me of such thing! You have no proof!”
“Just this morning, your face was green when I woke up. Green like the skin tone of an alien.”
“Don’t be silly, I was using avocado mask for my skin.”
“You also had big green eyes”
“Those weren’t my eyes, those were cucumber for the dark circles under my eyes. If I hadn’t kept my face beautiful, you would have gone long ago with that young blonde woman across town”
“Don’t try changing the subject, you alien. Give me my wife back.”
“I am your wife! Let me go!”
Mr. Sloan let go of his wife’s arm and said, “Stay here!”
Mr. Sloan went inside. He went to the kitchen and opened a large cabinet just beside the sink. It was cramped with plates, cups and stacks of medicine in plastic containers. He took two glass cups from the lowest row and a red container marked fever.
He handed the red container to Mrs. Sloan who was still standing in front of the door, not sure of what to do. “Are you mad? I’m not sick, my body temperature is totally fine.”
“That’s not for your illness,” Mr. Sloan answered as he walked back into the kitchen and filled the cups halfway with tap water. “You heard what the police said about paracetamol showing the true nature of an alien, if you were truly not an alien, you will be fine taking the medicine.”
“I don’t trust you. You might be the alien trying to poison me.” Mrs. Sloan refused.
“Okay then, we both take the medicine,” Mr. Sloan answered. He took a pill from the container and handed one of the cups to Mrs. Sloan. “On the count of three, one, two, …three!”
They both swallowed the medicine and didn’t say a word. Nothing happened. No changes in skin color, hair, nothing. Suddenly they heard running footsteps and heard Mrs. Jones calling their names.
“Hey! Mr. Sloan, Mrs. Sloan, have you heard?” said Mrs. Jones, her breath was heavy from running, “They found out that the UFO crash site was just a set for an upcoming movie. There are no aliens”
“…but how about the police?” asked Mr. Sloan who was clearly baffled.
“They weren’t real police, they were actors rehearsing for the movie”
“So there are no aliens?” asked Mrs. Sloan
“No, it was all for a movie. It was all fake” said Mrs. Jones.
“So I guessed you are not an alien after all,” said Mr. Sloan to his wife.
“..and neither are you,” said Mrs. Sloan.
