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At seven-thirty on Tuesday evening Rob brought an alien hohton when he&039;d met the visitor The novelty of their unexpected arrival on our planet and their unusual appearance had long since worn off, but I still found it difficult to coh my front door

&039;This is a friend of mine, Toly figure standing next to him &039;I met him while I was in town I didn&039;t think you&039;dto eat&039;

&039;Pleased toout a spindly hand in front of hi down as the long extended fingers wrapped aroundhere&039;

I shook my head

&039;No, it&039;s fine&039; I mumbled, still shocked

&039;You okay?&039; Rob asked, i up on my obvious unease and surprise

&039;Fine,&039; I replied

I really didn&039;t et over the sudden shock of the unannounced arrival It would have been okay if I&039;d had a little ti the aliens on television and even passing theo,&039; Rob said to his new friend &039;Told you he&039;d make you welco seconds in an uncomfortable, aard silence As the host (no ) I took it upon myself to try and break the ice I stood to one side so that the alien had a clear view through to the living roo deeper into the house

Rob led the alien down the hallway Ignorant to his arrival, Siobhan stepped out of the kitchen just in tih the living rooan to ask

I nodded

&039;Certainly was Rob brought him back with him from&039;

I didn&039;t bother to finish my sentence because it was obvious that Siobhan wasn&039;t listening Like one of the children of Ha the Pied Piper she quickly wandered down the hall and peered round into the living room I followed at a cautious distance By the time I had reached the three of the made &039;This is Siobhan,&039; Rob said &039;She&039;s Toirlfriend Bloody beautiful, isn&039;t she? Christ knohat she sees in my brother&039;

&039;She must like him,&039; the alien said quietly and factually, co funny

&039;Hello,&039; Siobhan mumbled, uncharacteristically tier being introduced to their favourite pop star

&039;So what&039;s your name?&039; I asked from the doorway A perfectly reasonable question

&039;I can&039;t say it,&039; Rob replied

The alien turned round to look at me

&039;You wouldn&039;t be able to pronounce it&039;

&039;Trytold that I wouldn&039;t be able to do so by anyone, certainly not by an alien

Rob seemed to pick up on my irritation and immediately did his best to try and diffuse the situation

&039;I&039;ve been calling him John,&039; he said &039;You don&039;t mind that, do you John?&039;

&039;John&039; shook his bulbous head

&039;I don&039;t mind It doesn&039;t really matter Popular name, isn&039;t it?&039;

&039;Used to be the ed a thin-lipped sht so&039;

&039;Why?&039; asked Rob

&039;Because a lot of iven hu me I know of seventeen Johns, four Stevens, three Christophers and one Thomas!&039;

That really annoyed me I didn&039;t knohy, but it did

&039;Who wants a drink?&039; I grumbled

&039;Beers for us two please, Tom,&039; Rob answered

&039;And me,&039; added Siobhan

&039;Can you have beer?&039; I asked, nodding in the general direction of the alien

&039;I&039;h, if that&039;s what you mean,&039; he replied, deadpan

The supercilious tone of his voice was infuriating I couldn&039;t tell if he was intentionally trying to windit by chance I walked out to the kitchen and fetched four bottles of beer

By the tied three chairs out onto the front lawn I grabbed another one (nice of the the drinks around

&039;So, how are you enjoying yourself here?&039; Siobhan asked the alien Although she was sitting just inches away frole herself so that all I could see was her back &039;Are you getting used to being here yet?&039;

I watched John the alien and sled to open his bottle of beer with those long, slender fingers Siobhan reached across, took the drink and did it for hi it,&039; he answered, sniffing and cautiously sipping his beer &039;It&039;s adequate for now&039;

He shuffled in his seat, looking distinctly unco forward to getting back?&039;

&039;Of course I am&039;

&039;You must miss home,&039; Siobhan continued

&039;I do,&039; he replied &039;I kneas going to be away for a long tier than any of us expected&039;

&039;So what exactly happened?&039; I asked

&039;What? Happened when?&039;

&039;When you were out there on your ship I can&039;t i and co minerals in an asteroid field and ere hit by debris&039;

&039;Debris!&039; I exclai bit of debris to do so e&039;

He fixed his baby-blue eyes on mine

&039;It was&039;

His voice was icy cold and devoid of all e whether the aliens normally used the same expression and intonation in their voices as we did, I sensed that was his way of telling me to piss off

While I stared at the alien and wished that he would fuck off back to wherever it was that he had come froe of questions

&039;So how did you feel when you stepped out of the ship?&039; Siobhan wondered &039;What were your first impressions?&039;

&039;First i What did you think of the planet, our cities, our people?&039;

He thought carefully for a fewat an impressive speed I had only just started an, &039;arriving here was a very strange experience&039;

&039;Strange?&039; I asked &039;In ay?&039;

He thought again before replying

&039;Strange in that being here is like being in a living history book There are soenerally your technology and way of living is similar to the standards we had on our planet a considerable tio&039;

&039;When you say considerable,&039; I interrupted, &039;just how long are we talking about?&039;

&039;You are about three hundred years behind us&039;

&039;You&039;re that far ahead?&039; Siobhan gasped

&039;We&039;re that far behind?&039; I mumbled

He nodded

&039;Approximately&039;

A moment of silence passed while we all individually stopped to consider the alien&039;s apparent superiority over our race

&039;So what did you do on your ship?&039; Rob asked, effortlessly restarting a conversation which I silently hoped had finished

&039;I worked in the Storage and Gradation tearaded the ore before it was passed to the refinery&039;

&039;The refinery?&039; I said, surprised &039;Bloody hell, just what did you do on that ship? I thought you just mined for whatever it was you needed and transported it back to your planet&039;

He shook his head

&039;Because we&039;d used up prettyfurther and further afield And because of the length of time it took us to travel to these places, we prepared the ore en route so that it was ready for use e got back ho the planet with the by-products of our operations&039;

&039;So you just polluted space instead?&039; I snapped

He nodded again

&039;That&039;s right&039;

&039;So how did you do it? How did you mine? Did you have machines with hammers and pickaxes or?&039;

&039;We took most of our minerals from asteroids and small moons We&039;d locate the source, attach the ship to it and then extract whatever it was that we needed to take&039;

&039;You mined asteroids?&039; Rob asked, his eyes like saucers &039;Jesus, how dangerous is that?&039; &039;Dangerous enough to ht,&039; he replied &039;The asteroid orking on had an undetected flaw Ourplace and the whole rated?&039; I pressed

&039;Exploded,&039; he explained &039;That&039;s where the debris I was talking about caines and breached the hull&039;

I nodded and thought for a second

&039;So where exactly did you stand on board?&039; I then asked He didn&039;t answer i where he physically stood on the ship? I elaborated &039;There are about three hundred and seventy of you here, right?&039;

&039;Correct&039;

&039;So how far up in the chain of command are you? Do you sit at the captain&039;s table or are you?&039;

&039;Am I what?&039;