The Shiny Package

He became agitated and angry. Before this, he had never been in a coherent enough state of mind to express his resolve. This prompted an interesting reaction. Immediately someone stepped up, and gently started talking to Ian. At first it seemed unintelligible, but then it was clear English, with a curious accent, which he couldn't place. The person talking seemed human; they always did, but this one was oddly tall. Ian only remembered him as the Tall One.

The Tall One was always in the background, mostly acting as an assistant. But now he seemed to be the leader. Perhaps, their hierarchical structure was different.

"Y00 havv changed," the Tall One whispered.

"What?" blurted out Ian.

"Y00 havv changed een0gh."

"What?"

"Duz the seed resemble the treee"?

"What?"

"D0 y00 vaant t0 g0?"

"What?"

"Y00 weel be qalled"

"What?"

The Tall One raised his lanky hands, and from somewhere, which looked like a bin on the roof of the compartment pulled out the foil-like package. "Y00 weel take thees, and y00 will never 0pen thees"

"What?"

"Y00 understaaaand Eeean? Y00 weel never 0pen thees"

"Yes", Ian knew that he had given the right answer, because the next thing he knew, he was lying in his bed, sweating, and holding the package wrapped in foil.

All he could think of was, "Why does the strong always make the weak do things? Perhaps in the big scheme of things, it makes sense." He knew that he had some truth there, because he felt at peace. He dozed off, and woke up after two days.

He was never abducted again.

-------------

Five years had gone by. Ian felt normal. Except for the package, everything seemed routine. He had the package in a safe deposit box, in Miami. It felt better, when it was away from him.

But one January morning, as Ian awoke, he felt an insatiable desire to see what was in the package. In fact, he could not believe that he had been away from the package for so long. He put on his slippers on his socked feet, grabbed his wallet, put on his coat, and literally ran to his car.

Within an hour, he was buying a $750 ticket to Miami.

Another three days had gone by, and Ian's then insatiable desire was now ravenous. His hands trembled as he picked up the phone, and called his friend Michael. Ian had an idea. Michael was a physician, and had access to an X-Ray machine. He didn't have to open the package.

Ian made the same haste to Michael's office. He didn't bother to stop at the reception desk. He spotted Michael walking briskly to a small room, marked EXAMINATION ROOM A.

"Mike", yelled out Ian at the top of his voice, which sounded a lot louder then he had anticipated.

Michael turned around and starred at Ian for a few seconds, then said in a slightly surprising tone, "Ian, hello, what the heck buddy?"

"Mike, listen, I know this sounds a bit strange. But I have to see what's in this package."

"O-k-a-y", Michael said slowly, as if he was talking to a four year old. "So open it and see".

"No, no, I can't do that", Ian muttered rapidly. "I mean... Look Mike, I know it sounds a bit strange, but please, can you just X-Ray it"?

Michael would have thrown out anybody else, but this was Ian. He had always respected Ian's intellect and calm demeanor. Perhaps this was serious. "Okay, fine. Come on in the room", Michael fired back walking swiftly in a room, marked X-RAY ROOM - DO NOT ENTER WHEN LIGHT IS ON.