"I guess none of us are going to be getting any sleep right now..." Roy rubbed his eyes. "Honey, can you get me some buvca?"

Norenio marched into the kitchen area, opening a cold storage unit. I'd call it a refrigerator, but it didn't look like one. You could see through the sides, you it opened like a stove, and there didn't appear to be any fans or frost buildup.

"What's buvca?" I asked.

"It's a stimulant like coffee. Doesn't do a thing for me except wake me up, but apparently it makes Abreyas' clothes fall off. Didn't I tell you about it before?"

I shook my head.

Roy tried to get up, but ET barked, "No! Stay!"

The man pulled his blanket tighter around his body. "No-ey! Help!"

Norenio rushed to him with a bottle of something like tea, containing what appeared to be floating bits of gelatin.

"Thank you, dear, but I was really referring to the fact that I'm unclothed, and Ms. Vorxora won't let me get dressed. Don't you think the children have been through enough without me traumatizing them?"

His fiancee didn't seem to understand.

"Honey, the kids don't want to see me in my underwear."

She looked at him like he were crazy, so I blurted, "He's right. I don't."

"Hear hear!" Lori agreed.

"But it is natural. He is being confident male human."

"He can be confident and male somewhere else. Like the bathroom."

The Abreya just frowned. "Your species is strange."

Roy gestured to the egg. "Honey..."

Norenio rolled her goat pupils. "You will `make up' with much brooding when we have our egg, Roy Neary."

With that, the female took over warming the egg, allowing Roy to get decent. "Humans. I do not understand."

Roy put a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder. "No-ey, will you be okay here by yourself?"

She nodded. "Will brifoqipi human be safe with you?"

"I've sworn to keep them just as good as I've found them. Don't want their parents to get upset."

The alien smirked. "Hurry back." She curled her tail around him.

Roy took it in hand, gave it a reassuring squeeze.

ET packed up some food and supplies for later. I noticed that aliens didn't use backpacks a lot, probably for the same reason earth parents often complained about - it's bad for your back. He had some kind of floating roller suitcase with wheels.

Roy gave me, Lori and Gertie bottles of buvca, which we drank on the way to the flying machine. The aliens had their own `wake-up-beverages', but Roy said I couldn't have any until I turned twenty one.

"The stuff tastes like beer scum anyway. There are so many better things to drink."

Lori looked skeptical. "Like that motor oil crap?"

It seemed like Roy wanted to say something in disagreement, but decided against it. "Hey, some people are light beer drinkers, others like rum and Coke, and taste differs with age. When you turn twenty one, I'll give you some recommendations on what's good to imbibe around here."

She looked like someone had just dumped a bucket of ice on her head. We really didn't need anyone reminding us that we'd never go home again.

When you summon public transportation at a random time at night, I suppose you should expect a strange experience. The vehicle that arrived for us was garishly multicolored and glowing, swirling parts of its hull changing colors (and patterns) as we approached.

Out waddled three Qulpari, clad in frilly purple and gold robes, bedecked with beads. They seemed...woozy, like they'd been drinking or something.

"Congratulations!" said ET.

I guessed they had been celebrating a wedding or something, I'm not sure.

One of the fancier vehicles of its type, the seats soft as pillows. The front window gave us an insect-like view of the surrounding area, with stained glass coloration. The others carried a similar motif, though you could still see clearly through one on each side.

ET flew us down to a vast spreading shore.

It looked spectacular, the sand sparkling a brilliant white in the moonlight, an immense caldera jutting out of the water like monster teeth. Dragon's blood trees with purple leaves dotted the shore, as well as fuzzy green objects that rolled along like tumbleweed.

"Aw man!" Lori cried. "They have a beach! How come we never went?"

"We were busy."

Before she could think of a good retort, one of those tumbleweed things came rolling our way, and she got this look on her face like she'd changed her mind about swimming.

The craft touched down along a small marina bearing handfuls of boats and floating homes of different shapes and sizes. We stepped out, and I got my first look at the rolling green objects up close.

Although devoid of eyes, mouths or faces, they seemed to be alive.

Their bodies consisted entirely of wet alien ivy, with branch-like legs all around, which they used to roll themselves up to the shore and draw water from the ocean. At times, a vine appendage would whip out, sucking seaweed into their interior. Just watching them made me flinch and not want to go swimming.

Gertie finished her second bottle of buvca with a little belch, carelessly tossing the object on the sand. I think she'd become over-caffeinated.

ET growled, scolding her by floating the bottle through the air and using it to rap the side of her head. I guess that's why the beach looked so lovely.

We climbed the dock, staring at the water crafts. The house boats resembled dog houses, but woven like Moses' basket, the ones that remained open often containing a single alien, or multiples. Some of these reminded me of Dogloos. I saw a couple boats with artists' canvases set up - they'd been painting seascapes, of course.

A lot of the regular boats had a sandwich shaped design, a round lid up top, curving bottom portion, with sails or no sails (apparently motorboats, though I couldn't see any motors). Some of them did resemble regular yachts or pontoons, again without visible motors, but the flooring had been shaped in such a way that water drained out, making swabbing the deck a lot less difficult.

Hovercrafts tended to be the most popular item, and ET, it seemed, had called ahead to order us one.

The flying boat was yellow, and had the shape of a trilobite fossil, with oar-like projections on the sides. The sails reminded me of that solar sail thing from the movie Tron. Its captain, a tan Qulpari with freckles all over his body, led us up a plank, showing us around.

They had bedrooms, a galley, bathroom, and a ridiculously tiny engine room.

"I don't get it," Lori said. "We just got off a flying machine. Why did we need to leave that one and board another?"

"Maybe that one wasn't designed for sea travel," I suggested.

The vehicle traveled fast. I imagine water skiing would have been amazing.

I thought our destination would involve the volcanic ruin, but instead we shot out across the water for quite some distance.

"Explain to me why we're going out this way instead of looking for the kid," Roy asked ET.

"I think it unwise to face our enemy unequipped."

"Ah, so you're finally showing off that superior alien intellect. I'm liking this already!...Please tell me you have guns."

"Nothing so primitive, Roy Neary."

"What then? Laser space guns? Light sabers? Some kind of nuclear device?"

ET gave him a grim smile that only seemed to say yes, not what in specific yes meant.

The hovercraft sped onward.

Our freckly pilot, Qokyori, seemed to have an idea where we were going, although I sure didn't. I sat on the puffy equivalent of a deck chair, my brain gathering wool for an inevitable nap. I didn't want to do anything.

My sister, though, was doing cartwheels.

"Wow, Gertie," Lori groaned. "You're really...peppy."

"Mmm Hmm!"

My girlfriend glanced at me. "She doesn't seem...too heartbroken."

"Just wait until the caffeine wears off...I'm just glad she's not sick and bedridden like she was the other day."

Gertie paced up and down the deck, humming to herself.

Lori furrowed her brow, looking like she were fighting down a grin. "What are you singing?"

I smacked my face. The last time she got like this, she sang The Song that Doesn't End for over ten minutes.

My sister took a deep breath and sang.

"Who is that bear in the Hundred Aker Wood,

Who lives in the side of a tree?

Who is that guy in One Hundred Aker Wood,

Oh who is that guy to me?

Winnie the Pooh,

Winnie the Pooh,

Trouncy bouncy bouncy bouncy fun fun fun fun it's Pooh Bear

Winnie the Pooh,

Weenie the poop,

Bouncy trouncy trouncy old bear!"

Lori and I glanced at each other in annoyance.

"I have a whole Disney record. `Ooh ooh ooh, I wanna be like you ooh ooh, I wanna talk like you, walk like you ooh ooh...we are Siamese if you please, we are Siamese if you don't please..."

"Please stop," Lori groaned.

"We should have never let her drink that buvca."

"Buvca buvca buvca!"

When Gertie asked about the Loch Ness Monster, I thought it was the buvca talking, but then I saw a long necked shape emerge from the water.

"That is a Bujaxia," ET said. "Very gentle creatures. I have heard rumors of similar things existing on your planet."

"Yeah? I've heard rumors that ours is man made."

Roy got on the communicator to tell Norenio we were fine.

"Loex," I heard her say to him. "Now give me mighty horse sound."

He colored somewhat. "No-ey, I'm with the kids. It's...embarrassing."

"Please. Lonely much," she hissed. "Big empty hut. Make happiness with much closeness mighty horse sound."

Groaning, Roy gave a little whinny and blew a raspberry.

"That not a very strong manly horse. Give me mighty much closeness horse sound!"

Roy's face turned pink, but he made a better attempt at a neigh and a nicker. Honestly, it was kind of convincing.

"Umuacik! I much pleasure now."

"Yeah. I...love you too, sweetie."

"Pleasure much."

On the boat went. Instead of seagulls, ET's planet had one eyed bats that alighted on the boat, meowing at us.

Ahead, I saw only spreading ocean, behind, only land receding into the distance.

"A three hour tour," Lori grumbled impatiently.

Although the view was unsettling to me (I'd never been that far out on any ocean before) the gentle rocking of the boat still lulled me into slumber.

I woke some time later to Roy shouting, "Land ho!" and shaking me.

We approached an island, the face of one of its black mountains chiseled into the shape of an immense Qulpari hand, index finger pointing to the sky.

We ate a breakfast ET had packed, watching as it loomed closer.

I began to notice strange cube shaped obelisks out on the water. I asked Roy and my alien companions about them, but none of them could tell me anything about them. It was as well understood as Stonehenge.

We landed in an area pretty similar to the place we'd left. More dragon's blood trees, more rolling seaweed eating plants. Not exactly surprising when you consider that earth beaches and palm trees are pretty much the same when they're in the same geographic region.

Our ship got moored on a jetty and we headed inland.

The Qulpari on that island lived inside domed buildings resembling massive pumpkins. ET told me they grew naturally along the side of the mountain, and they just rolled them downhill and hollowed them out like Jack-O-Lanterns. Being a hardy type of gourd, they didn't rot out like an actual pumpkin, so villagers could keep them for a number of years, if sufficiently dried out. The domes got put in because the interior had to be smoked out after they removed and ate the guts. The slatted windows could be closed in the event of a hurricane.

Lori asked, "What's to stop them all from rolling into the ocean when that happens?"

"The foundation has to be built very carefully."

Further along the paved walkways, we encountered a party.

The Qulpari in that region appeared to be celebrating a kind of Mardi Gras, or Carnival. Strange music filled the air, I saw a lot of aliens in garish feathered costumes and masks. They even had their own version of those parade dragons you see during the Chinese new year, though these mainly resembled fish or birds like Vadful.

I stared as one of the aliens put a lei of green-purple cranberries and flowers around my neck. "What's going on here?"

"It is Savmoce, a celebration of Ponai's messengers from the sea. In the book of Coozgeb, chapter 220 verse 115, they delivered the matriarchs from an evil nation."

"What's with all the feathers, then?"

"It is a complicated story. Grunkiahu were involved."

Obviously we didn't have time to party. ET and our other alien friends immediately started communicating to the party-goers in sign language.

Even Roy seemed to know the hand signals, though he only used them to locate a bathroom.

Although a lot of the villagers didn't seem to understand what ET wanted when he signed for them, a mulatto Qulpari in a blue bird costume gestured excitedly in return. We followed him as he wove through the party-goers, out of the village. As we hiked, our guide told us she was a friend of Pabyeba's 'grandmother.' That made me trust her a little bit more.

It seemed they lived on a mountain of slate. Our new acquaintance led us up a steep grade absolutely covered in these rough edged Fred-Flintstone chalkboards. You had to go slow along the noisily rumbling things or end up sliding to the bottom.

After a short climb, a path appeared in the slate, and our guide took us through copses of dragon's blood trees.

"Does he know where we're going?" Lori whispered.

I asked ET, but he only shrugged. At least Gertie was healthy and walking, and we didn't have to carry her around.

The path ended abruptly at a rock wall. Mr. Bluebird led us around its length for a few yards, and we came to a submarine-like metal hatch.

Our guide signed something to ET.

"What did he just say?"

"'Grandmother' Ezquejaw kept watch over this place before she died. She hoped we would never have to use it, but if the time came, I would know how to access the chamber...with the memory of our...marriage. I, Pabyeba, Meazquad..." He placed his hand on a panel near the hatch, closing his eyes.

A little screen displayed a diagram of his brain hemispheres lighting up.

I guess he'd activated his lobes in the correct order, for the hatch soon clicked open, and we stared into the vault.