Pets.(Kevin Hughes) “You have got to be kidding me.”

I could hear the outrage and shock in Mr. Mallory’s voice. I could barely conceal my own outrage.

“No, Sir. They want us on the Moon in two hours.”

Mr. Mallory turned his back to me. I knew he was opening his third eye…the one I wasn’t supposed to know about. I had worked for him for almost twenty years before I discovered who he really was. Or, more accurately…WHAT he was. And what he was…wasn’t human. Nobody noticed. Heck, I worked with him for over twenty years…twelve hours a day- seven days a week. Not one vacation. Ever.

(I know, I know, it makes sense now, but back then I just thought he had an inhuman work ethic. Little did I know.)

Oh sure, he jetted us around in his Private Jet. He always kept us up with the most advanced technology…some of which, well, we (meaning us Humans) didn’t have yet. Everyone just thought he was a techno nerd of the First Order. Me included. Now…well…I know better. We were all well paid. Extremely well paid. Most of us burnt out after a few years, unable to keep up…either with Mr. Mallory, or the pace of his Business expansion.

Mr. Mallory had his finger(s) in almost every leading edge pie. The biggest plum in that pie…the Moon House. Yep. He built it on the dark side of the moon …out of his own money. Nobody but him could go there. Well, we could go there with him, but we had to say in the Shuttle until he came back aboard the ship and we used the Bulimer Drive (which he invented) to return us to Earth in as little as ninety minutes. Don’t ask me how it works. I bet only six or seven folks on all of Earth understand how it works. Maybe two dozen amazing Engineers have any clue how to work on it. And since he has the only rocket with a Bulimer Drive…well, you can understand the level of Security he has.

None of that mattered. Not now. Someone else was in the Moon House. And they wanted to see him there…personally. Now.

He turned towards me. His third eye was open. I gaped.

“It is time for you to know the truth. Let’s go.”

And that…was that.

I got on the Shuttle. But this time, I took it down to the Moon House with Mr. Mallory.

There were three other “Third Eye” people there. All of them staring at me. I felt awkward. What they said next…paralyzed me. My mind simply stopped working. I heard them very clearly. It scared the bejesus out of me. And told me our place in the grand scheme of things. For this is what they said:

“Mr. Mallory we need to talk about your pets.”

I always wondered what it would be like to meet an Alien. If they could learn from us…and we could learn from them. But to do that…you would have to think of each other as equals. I heard them talk. They made no notice of me. Like when you have a fight with your wife in front of the dog. The dog can sense something is wrong, but can’t understand a word. It may love you…but it can’t understand you. Now I know how a dog feels.

I watched as Mr. Mallory and the three other Three eyed Aliens slipped into a snapping audible dialog of which I couldn’t fathom at all. They weren’t words to me…just a series of sounds. Just like a dog hears when Humans Speaks. Oh sure, he might recognize some words: his name, food, walk, water, and stay…and they did use those words around me. I stayed. When they asked if I was hungry or thirst, I said: “Yes.” I was fed. Then they went right back to their discussion.

I was amazed to find out we had been in the Moon House for three days. It seemed like just minutes. Time…is different for them. Mr. Mallory, much more subdued then when we went to the Moon House, was quiet all the way back to Earth. I finally broke the silence when we landed.

“Mr. Mallory, what did those guys tell you?”

He blinked slowly. Well, the third eye did anyway.

“They told me to take better care of my pets…or they would have to put them all to sleep.”

I shivered.

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