Intelligent Life

A makeshift mouse cage made from one of the bed pallets worked fine, but it did mean that he and Sandra had to make do with a single pallet between them.

After a couple of days, the aliens seemed to think that the construction in one corner of the cage was of some significance, so several different materials were left in the cage. Keith quickly fashioned a suitable cage from some plastic sheets and string which gave the mouse plenty of room, but no escape, and yet enabled the humans to watch its antics when they fed it.

Suddenly the door opened one afternoon, long before feeding time, and a pair of aliens, the doctor and her mate, came to the cell doorway and looked in.

"I don't like it," said Keith, "What are they up to now?"

The cell door opened wide and the two aliens backed off, waving to them to come out.

"I don't want to go," said Sandra, "They are up to something. They always muzzle us and drag us out."

"Yes, if they don't trank us first," agreed Keith.

Froxa came to the door and beckoned to Sandra, who retreated behind Keith.

"I Froxa. You come with. We sorry," said the dominant female, "Please not hit us."

Sandra and Keith were totally confused by this change of attitude. Previously the aliens had only used odd words of human speech to give orders. Now this alien was apologetic and pleading.

"What do you want?" asked Keith.

"Want to sorry," said Froxa, "We wrong put you in here."

"Damn right you were. What's happened? Have the US Army whopped your arses, so it's be nice to prisoners time?"

"I Frobl. Not much know of your talk," replied the other alien, "But we learn. We sorry. We not know you clever. We never see clever hot animal. We never see big hot animal."

"What? What do you mean?" asked Sandra.

"We not know you clever until put horxim in cage," said Froxa slowly.

The aliens and humans just stared at each other and nobody moved for a while. It was Sandra who understood first, and she burst into peals of hysterical laughter so intense that she had to sit down.

"What is it, darling?" asked Keith.

When she got her breath back she explained it to him. The aliens had thought they were animals until they caught the 'mouse'; then the aliens realised that humans were intelligent, civilised beings.

"After all, darling," she said through fresh peals of laughter, "Only civilised beings keep other animals in cages ... like they did to us!"