Rocks and Golden Locks

The two women sat opposite each other again, nestled in their little lime green chairs.

“I’m sorry about what happened at the Gardens.” Vera said, an uncharacteristically grim look on her face. “You’ve been adjusting so well that I became a bit careless. But I’ve talked with Mizlin and she’s more than happy for me to accompany you on your trips for a while, just in case you get overwhelmed again and need another quick escape.”

Lena shuffled in her chair, blushing. “Oh, no, I mean, that’s not necessary. I’ll be okay.”

She wasn’t very convincing.

“I know.” Vera sighed. “You’re clearly a resilient young woman, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do some extra things to help you out.”

“Are you sure it’s not too much of a bother?” Lena’s eyebrows furrowed in concern.

Vera’s gentle smile returned. “Of course not, sweetie. I’m here because I want to be, and I’m helping because I want to help.”

--

“We’ll be going to the Alien Research Centre. For those unfamiliar, the ARC is where scientists study and look for life outside of our planet.” Mizlin declared to a lukewarm crowd.

While Lena pondered the implications of alien life, Mizlin led them outside of the building and in the direction of the ARC building. As Lena trailed behind her, the girl with shining locs of golden hair bounced up to her.

“Hey!” She said to Lena with great enthusiasm. “How’re you holding up?”

Lena took a moment to respond, surprised by her greeting and her question. “Uh, yeah, no, I’m okay. Thanks.”

“I’m glad.” She beamed. “Oh, I’m Zan by the way! Sorry for not introducing myself sooner.”

“I’m Lena.”

“Yeah,” Zan’s smile grew wider, “I know!”

She held her hands behind her back, skipping forward instead of walking like the rest of them. Lena spared a glace backwards, seeing Exer trailing a few meters behind with the yet unintroduced person next to them. He made direct eye contact with her, though she very quickly looked away. The exchange didn’t go unnoticed by Zan.

“Oh, that’s Hamish!” She stopped skipping and walked shoulder to shoulder with Lena. “He may look a bit intimidating, but he’s actually pretty chill.”

Lena nodded, not entirely believing her, but really wanting to. At first, Zan was blinding but now that Lena had adjusted to her light, she found her oddly comforting to be beside.

“So, uh, can I ask you a question?” Lena asked shyly, picking at her nails.

“Sure!” Zan seemed excited by the prospect. “Ask me anything!”

“An alien is, like, life not from Earth, right?”

Zan hummed in affirmation.

“So, if there’s a group of people researching aliens… Does that mean aliens are real? Have they met one before?”

“I mean, they’ve found alien life, but none of the talking kind.”

“Oh…” Lena murmured, staring into the middle distance.

Zan sensed Lena’s disappointment, so rushed to add, “But the universe if infinite, so we’ll meet one at some point! ARC just wants to make it happen sooner!”

The universe was infinite? Lena’s mind spun as it tried to make sense of that fact. It was the complete opposite of what she had been taught: that the centre of existence was Earth, and everything else revolved around it.

“How could we meet aliens, though?” Lena impulsively asked, mind quickly shifting from one topic to another. “I mean, they’d live really far away, right?”

Zan shrugged. “Dunno, but they’ve got these big telescopes everywhere to search. And, anyway, we’ve gotten pretty good at space travel!”

“Space travel?” Lena tilted her head. “We can travel through space?”

Zan couldn’t help but giggle slightly. “Yeah! You could too, if you wanted! I mean, it takes a bit of training, but I’ve heard it’s not too bad if you just want to go to the moon.”

Lena blanked. “Woah.”

With a thoughtful look, Zan said, “Things must’ve been real different for you, huh?”

Lena nodded and stared up at the sky. It was a bright mid-morning so she couldn’t see the moon, yet it was obvious that was what she was searching for.

She sighed. “Sometimes it feels like I’m from a completely different world.”

“Huh.” Zan nudged Lena’s shoulder with her own. “I guess I’ve just met my first alien then!”

Lena smiled and a very light laugh escaped her.

--

The woman in the white lab coat paced back and forth, her heeled boots clacking against the sterile white floor.

“Most people still think of aliens as sentient creatures,” she began, “And, don’t get me wrong, that’s what all of us are striving to see in our lifetimes. But there are still a lot of interesting things we get to study.”

Her pacing turned into purposeful movement without any warning, and her group of guests hurried to keep up with her as she strolled down the large and empty halls. She continued her lecture.

“We’ve been long time collaborators with those in Space Exploration, and they send us all sorts of samples that they manage to collect. There’s been quite a lot of moss, and the occasional rock that responds to stimuli, but the most impressive find came about twenty years ago.”

Lena watched as she approached a closed door, and wondered how this one would open. She’d seen all variety of sliding mechanisms and automatic wizardry. What would the ARC have to offer?

The scientist pushed the door open, and held it to usher through the others. Lena stepped inside last, slightly disappointed.

The room matched the aesthetic of the rest of the building: white. No natural light found it’s way in, instead lit by a serious of artificial lights the colour of, you guessed it, white.

Various dark screens created a workspace to one side of the room, while at the other sat the object of Lena’s immediate awe.

A large glass cylinder extended from the floor to the ceiling; it held inside a rock the size of a bear, suspended perfectly in mid-air. It was a pretty cool looking rock, Lena thought.

“This is a section of an asteroid we managed to collect.” The scientist said, waving her wrist over one of the screens and spurring all of them into life. “We found a nest of insectoid creatures inside, and have since been studying their behaviour.”

Lena’s attention shifted from the big floating rock, to the numerous screens. Different camera angles filled the majority of them, showcasing these skittering little creepy crawlies. They looked surprisingly similar to ordinary ants but with more sharp appendages and cuter faces. Though, Lena had never looked at an ants face so closely before, so she supposed normal ants might be cute too; she’d have to check later.

“The screens make these fells look a lot larger than they actually are.” The scientist said, pointing to a particular display which showed one of these bugs up close. “In reality, each critter is about one tenth of a grain of sand.”

Lena pinched her fingers together, trying to imagine a grain of sand between them, and then one tenth of that. She wasn’t able to complete her thought experiment.

“I’d like to show you another important display of our work here.”

Lena enjoyed just how fast the scientist was showing them around; it didn’t leave her enough time to get into her own head and start asking existential questions.

The scientist’s shoes clacked against the ground again as led them out of one mundane door, down the sparse corridor, and through yet another mundane door.

“This is the specimen chamber.” She announced with great pride, gesturing widely to the room filled with various display cases. “I’d like to encourage you all to look around on your own. There are many different objects of interest here, so I’m sure something will catch your fancy. And, if you have any questions for me, I will be eager to assist.”

The three other PFP members scattered immediately, drawn to varying aspects of the room, while Lena stood there stunned for just a moment. She felt the scientist’s gaze on her, so hurried to the closest thing on display.

Inside a glass case sat a series of rocks, each just barely the size where you could hold them with one hand. They looked like normal, but pretty, rocks at first but when Lena blinked, they suddenly changed. Where there surfaces had been a dull grey before, now it was adorned with tiny black spots. Was this another collection of space bugs?

She blinked again. The dots shifted into small stripes that followed the contours of the rocks. Lena quickly looked at the placard below the display, hoping it would give her clarity on what the fuck was happening.

[Magic Eyes]

[These rocks may appear ordinary at first glance, but the longer a person looks at them, the more their surfaces seem to distort. There is no change to the actual rock, just the viewer’s perception. The formation of particles results in a natural optical illusion, which can change perceived appearance with the slightest of variables.]

Lena, somewhat content that these weren’t insanity inducing, returned to staring at the rocks. The stripes turned to waves, then large circles, then to seemingly random wiggly lines.

“Are you okay?”

The voice shocked Lena out of her entertainment. The scary looking person, Hamish, stood beside her.

“Uh, yeah?” She responded, eyes shifting between the black patterns on the rock, and the black patterns drawn onto his skin.

“Right.” He raised an eyebrow. “You’ve just been staring at this one thing for a damn long time.”

“Oh.” Lena’s gaze settled back onto the rocks. “I just think they’re neat.”

Hamish also looked at the rocks, arms crossed. The two stood there in silence for another few minutes.

“Yeah. Guess you’re right.” Hamish said with a hum, then wandered off.

Lena didn’t manage to look at any other specimen on display, being ushered out of the building at the end of their allotted time, with the hypnotic patterns still occupying her mind.

“Are you ready to go back home?” Vera, who had been waiting just outside this entire time, asked.

Fiddling with the hem of her shirt, Lena gave a curt nod. She was quietly proud to have completed the activity this time, not needing to run off back home partway through. A part of her wondered if it was the influence of those rocks, and if they had any mini versions she could carry around with her at all times.

But, she kept those thoughts to herself, and followed Vera back home, and back to the familiar lime green armchair.