Chapter 3

Worel answered, "My race considered transplanting a group of humans to a planet with no intelligent life forms. We wanted to protect your race. Humans are in danger of destroying themselves with nuclear war, maybe biological war. The humans would have to adapt to a planet with a different atmosphere, different gravity, and different animals and plant life. This would be a controversial project. Many of us felt it would be wrong to seed another planet without more understanding about human adaptability. So, we were to start our study with only six humans.

After the study period, the council would decide whether we could proceed with seeding a planet with humans. I felt that you could speak to the council. You would be respected because you are a scientist"

Charlie questioned, "Did you abduct six students from a Halloween party this past year?"

"Yes, my friends Hector and Mary did. The six students are part of the first study. They cannot go back to earth because of the prime directive. They have been released on our planet and are free to travel. They enjoy guest status. If we do seed another planet with humans, they will be moved to join them," answered Worel. (This was a lie. The humans were dead.)

"Will you miss your world? Can you see yourself living in hiding for the rest of your life?" Charlie asked.

"I will miss sex. The absence of sex will be very disturbing, a heavy burden," Worel replied.

Charlie mused, "I cannot take care of your sexual needs. But what would most interest you here? Since you cannot return home, do you want to do research? Do experiments?"

Worel and Charlie talked for hours. Worel explained his nourishment requirements, his sleep habits, his physical needs, his desires to continue research and study.

Charlie learned that he would have to buy rare earth metals to supplement Worel's diet: yttrium, cerium, lanthanum, didymium, erbium and terbium. The alien needed a few ounces a year of these elements.

He would fire his house keeper lest she meet Worel.

The next morning, Charlie got a call from the police. He went to the police station for an interview.

"Yes, I had lunch with a fellow named Worel. He said that he was a graduate student at MIT ... there was gunfire and an explosion and fire in the distance ... he did throw his briefcase into the lake ... he got into his car and left ... a Mardi Gras costume ... about six feet tall ... that's all the description I can give.

We talked about Einstein's theory of relativity ... Worel was considering doing a thesis on relativity ... he thought the theory was incomplete ... he called me yesterday and asked for a meeting ... check my phone ... maybe you can trace him."

Soon the interview was over. Charlie figured that the police would watch him. He had to be careful.

On his way back home, Charlie thought to himself, "Worel is a lying sack of shit. His alien brothers did not turn six humans loose on their planet. Whatever they did was so bad that Worel cannot color it to look good. Maybe they put them in a zoo. No, he could color that some form of good."

Charlie became upset. "The six are either dead or they are fending for themselves on some strange world. Maybe they are fodder in a television show. Maybe the aliens bet on the survival of the humans on some hostile planet."

"No," he thought, "I cannot give Worel my complete trust."

Once home, Charlie explained that the police would watch him, but very loosely. Anything odd he did would trigger closer scrutiny, perhaps an in depth investigation.

Over the next month, Worel taught Charlie many things, including " ... the correct theory of relativity." With his new knowledge, Charlie realized that it was, indeed, possible to travel faster than the speed of light.

The aliens knew that humans studied quantum mechanics, using the theories to predict the behavior of atomic particles. But Worel's race had advanced their science without any theory of quantum mechanics. The aliens had developed a greater understanding of atomic particles because they started with the theory of quantas.