The Arrival

Note. (Alien Spaceship Landing on Rural Road, n.d.)

Broad Daylight during August turned into darkness as if there was a solar Eclipse, but instead of the moon blocking the sun, it was blocked by a Huge Alien Spaceship. Despite the Spaceship being Huge there was a pin-drop silence, which was unusual considering the size of the space-ship. People who mistook it for a storm gazed in amaze as the top of the spaceship was spinning in a clockwise direction and the bottom of the spaceship was spinning counter-clockwise direction opening a ray of light originating from the center of the spaceship, slowly lowering a staircase.

The Creatures

Note. (3 Green Aliens, n.d.)

Creatures Descending the stairs, were green in color, with an unusually large cranium and a relatively small trunk when compared to their head. They were built like frogs, with smooth skin. They had big wide eyes like an owl, the eyes were fully black like a giant black ball, and they had a horizontal eyelid which looked like a Nictitating membrane. Further reports established the fact that the color of their skin was not green but appeared green due to the fact that their skin was reflective in nature and as the Belten Family's farm on which they landed was green during that time of the year, their skins was just reflecting the light of the green crops.

In total four creatures stepped out from the spaceship, two of them were built small while the rest were big aliens. The narrator suspected the small ones to be the children and the big ones to be their parents.

Alien Fest

Note. (Feast, n.d.)

As the Creatures approached, Mr. Belten's house, One of the bigger creatures knelt to pet Argus, the Belten family's golden retriever. In no time one of the smaller creatures was giggling with Amy, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Belten. This broke the ice between the humans and the aliens. Suddenly there was an Army of mothers preparing sandwiches and many more food items for the first known Alien fest. Some of the fathers went to town to grab some supplies for the fest, while some were setting up tables and chairs using the sawhorses from Belten's barn. Mr. Ellreidge kindly offered cases of soda and paper plates, and the Fest was now in full fledge with people enjoying their day with beer and hotdogs. The children started playing games like croquet, sticks and stones, and hoops and ropes with the small alien.

Reflection

The two science fiction themes present in the story are:

Xenophilia
Xenophobia

Xenophilia

This theme is evident throughout the story, especially in the reactions of the humans to the arrival of the spaceship. "WHEN THE SPACESHIP LANDED we were all very excited, as you might imagine" (Rickert, 2020). Initially, there is a sense of excitement and wonder as the townspeople gather to witness the unprecedented event

This excitement quickly turns to curiosity and interaction. "They stared at each other until Amy laughed. The creature made a noise that might have been laughter" (Rickert, 2020). As the aliens, particularly the children, started engaging with Amy breaking the ice.

There is a sense of fascination and acceptance towards the aliens. "It ran with us and rolled down the small hill behind the bam, and after a while, I can honestly say we forgot any of this was unusual. It was just one of us" (Rickert, 2020). As portrayed by the children playing with the small alien.

Xenophobia

However, as the story progresses, we see the darker side of human reactions to the unknown, such as fear and suspicion. "She bent down and grabbed the little one we had been playing with, took it by the arms and shook it hard. "What have you done with her? What have you done with my baby!" she screamed" (Rickert, 2020). As demonstrated by Mrs. Belten's reaction to her daughter's disappearance.

As events unfold and tensions rise, we see a shift towards fear and mistrust. "Parents were calling their children, and children were crying (though, back then, none of us imagined that we would be shot, we were just responding to the atmosphere of distress)" (Rickert, 2020). As particularly portrayed by adults.