Chapter Three: On Pasadena's Horsell Common

After much objection from Penny, I walked down to get a better look the cylinder from the pit. When I got there, I found a little crowd of perhaps twenty of so people surrounding the huge hole in which the cylinder laid. No doubt the impact of this colossal object had caused the green flash in the sky which I observed through my telescope. Kripke and Winkle were nowhere to be seen; I drew the conclusion that they had gone to work, feeling that there was nothing that could be done for the present.

There were four or five teenage boys sitting on the edge of the pit with their feet dangling down, amusing themselves by throwing stones at the cylinder; that is until I told them to lay off it. They laughed at me, although I fail to see what was so funny!

Among the crowd which had gathered there were a couple of cyclists and my assistant, Alex, who waved as soon as she saw me. I scowled back at her: I was paying her to work, not ogle at an alien cylinder! There was a young girl carrying a baby, and a few grad students from the university. There was very little talking, which suited me, as I do not care for idle chit chat. Few of the common people in the United States had anything but the vaguest astronomical understanding and, listening to the tiny bit of conversation which was going on, I could not help but roll my eyes.

I observed the strange metal which this cylinder was made up from. It required a certain amount of scientific education to perceive that the grey scale of the cylinder was no common oxide; the yellowish-white coloured metal that gleamed in the crack between the lid and the rest of the cylinder had a somewhat "extra-terrestrial" look about it, although that term seemed to have little apparent meaning to the commoners throwing rocks at the thing!

At the time, it was quite clear in my mind that this cylinder had come from an alien world; I however judged that it was more than likely improbable that it contained any alien life. I have watched Star Trek all my life and I most certainly believed that we were not alone in the universe, but a red hot cylinder in the middle of Passenda Horsell Common park was certainly not how I would have imagined any intelligent life form travelling. My mind ran fancifully on the probability that the cylinder contained a manuscript; it then dawned on me that translating it wasn't going to be an easy task. I wondered to myself whether we would find coins or models in it, any blueprints for new technology and so forth. Yet in the back of my mind, I still considered that it was a little too large an object to contain such things. I was feeling impatient now and it felt as though I was almost willing it to hurry up and open!

I walked back to Penny and Leonard. Penny appeared to have calmed down now and was sat with her legs crossed, chatting to Leonard about the possibilities regarding the strange object on the common. We walked back to the apartment together, full of such thoughts. I tried to get back to working on my String Theory but I found it difficult to get to work upon my abstract investigations.

In the early afternoon, Leonard and I returned to the common. Penny felt reassured enough to remain at home; since nothing had happened all day she figured she would stay in and wash her hair. The appearance of the common had altered considerably since the morning. The early editions of the evening papers had covered the landing on the common: on their headlines

"A MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM OUTTA SPACE" said the headlines!

It was a glaringly hot afternoon in Pasadena, California; there was not a cloud in the sky nor a breath of wind, and the only shadow was from that of the trees on the edge of the park where Penny, Leonard and I had taken refuge earlier. The burning trees had been extinguished but the level ground was blackened from the fires.

Walking towards the edge of the pit, I found it occupied by a small group of scientists from the university. Kripke and Winkle were amongst them.

A large portion on the cylinder had been uncovered; obviously Winkle had been busy all afternoon with her shovel. As soon as Kripke spotted me standing on the edge of the pit he started heckling me about my earlier retreat to the trees. Winkle came running up: "What's up Doctor Dumbass; managed to find your way out of the trees?" I just glared at her with the look that would have exploded her head if I had really put my mind to it.

The scientist shouted that the crowds of teenagers who were causing mischief around the pit were becoming a serious impediment to their excavations and demanded that a fence be erected about the pit.

Since Winkle and Kripke continued to taunt me about my earlier retreat to the trees, I decided that there was no point in hanging around so I headed home to inform Penny that there was no change to the situation in the pit.