Page 2 of Volunteer 4711

“Stay here, Volunteer 4711. That is the number by which you will be recognized by. Do not move until you are told to. The people of Earth thank you for your service. Your name will be engraved on the volunteer plaque at our government’s embassy on Earth. Farewell.”

“Farewell,” I say awkwardly because this whole thing feels like a bad dream, and why not use such a romantic word for such an unromantic end to my journey here? Ironic I don’t think I’ve ever even used the word before; it only lives in fairy tales, and the only fairy tale this is is a grim one. Pun intended. I’ve no idea what’s going to happen to me now. All I hear are alien voices, and they’re increasing in number, but I don’t dare move the purple veil.

I stand in the rain. My knees are buckled, and I’m sure I’ll start shaking soon. I look at my feet, as the cloth on my head isn’t attached. I have no shoes. I stand and wait. Whatever is going to happen is not in a hurry. I need to pee, but my mind tells my bladder it’ll just have to wait.

I wait.

I begin to think too much about needing to pee, and then it becomes necessary.

I call out, “I need to pee.”

Some of the alien chatter stops for a moment but then, after a second, picks up again.

I wait.

No one comes to help me.

I wonder if I can go pee right here on my feet and then move to the side. It is raining, after all. What’s one more wet spot on the wood? I decide I cannot hold it anymore and give my bladder what it wants.

But even after my mind has given my bladder the go-ahead, it hesitates. I close my eyes and concentrate on peeing. I think about sweaty faucets with running water, and then finally, just as my veil is lifted, I pee like a racehorse. The flow doesn’t stop as a couple of hundred silverish-blue alien faces look up at me. They begin talking and laughing at me and pointing at me as urine runs down my legs, soaking my purple trousers.

I know I should feel ashamed, but I’ve never seen aliens before, so I only feel shock.

The alien male who has lifted my veil says something; his words sound like a weird kind of shrilling. I’m relieved, though, that despite their unintelligible language, they are humanoid with two arms and two legs, but unlike humans, they have a double-layered elf ear. I cannot see their teeth well and remind myself those could be razor sharp. I look around, and my stomach drops. This looks like a meat market or a farming center, and I feel I will be auctioned off.

When I’m done peeing, I don’t move. I stand there in my puddle of urine and return the gazes of all the blue eyes focused up on me. They’re talking quietly like they’re waiting for something to begin.

The alien male next to me on this stage or auctioning block or whatever it is smells of a strange kind of cleaning supply that’s too sweet, but I allow him to take my hand and guide me out of my piss pool. As he does, he begins talking to me.

I shake my head. “I don’t understand.” The silvery alien male continues to talk, but I won’t repeat myself. I just watch him. Then I ask, “You understand me?”

He nods in a universal sign and then points out to the crowd. I look at the silvery blue faces and their blue eyes and wonder what I’m supposed to say. I look back at the alien male, and he encourages me again to speak with his hands.

“Hello. I’m from Earth,” I say softly, and my voice shakes.

The crowd looks back at me blankly.

The alien male encourages me to speak again, using his hands to indicate more enthusiasm or something. This can’t be real. I can’t be selling myself, am I? Well, I’m not going to do a good job of it, am I?

I gaze into the eyes of the people in the front row. They are, of course, looking at me as if I’m an alien, which I am. I notice their clothing is quite superior to any material I’ve ever seen and that it shines like a translucent rainbow, always moving. I find it distracting.

The alien male next to me nudges me.

“I am Volunteer 4711,” I say.

The alien male next to me pats my shoulder as if I’m a child and have done a good job. Then he begins speaking to the crowd in the alien language. They seem excited now, and the crowd is shouting back to him, and I just stand there stupidly, every now and then, repositioning myself so that the rain can clean the urine off my legs and feet.

Suddenly, the alien male next to me stops speaking, and the crowd makes a strange sound that might be cheering. And by the look on their faces, I’ve concluded they’re going to eat me, so I force my mind to remember my last vacation in Florida. I had some moments on the beach with the sun beating against my body and the salty breeze cooling me; that might have been the best moments of my life, and if I’m going to be someone’s meal, that’s what I want to think while the terror happens.

But surprisingly, no big caldron is brought out. No bonfire started. I’m not even pushed into a refrigerator. I’m just left alone on the wooden stage as the crowd begins to disperse. A few silver aliens stay and stare at me. A couple even tries talking to me, but I don’t acknowledge them because I feel like an animal on exhibition. I may be a “volunteer,” but I still have some respect for myself.

Soon a different alien male is at my side. I don’t understand what he’s saying, but he makes it clear through his body language that he wants me to follow him. I allow him to guide me to another land vehicle and help me into it. Then he straps me in with more words I don’t understand and puts the purple veil back over my head with a tap as I understand it, not to take it off.

I rock back and forth in the vehicle as it moves across the alien land. My mind is tired of coming up with terrible scenarios now. I think about the beach in Florida, and it lulls me to sleep.

* * *

A quick stop wakes me up, and I momentarily forget where I am. But when a rough hand grabs my arm, I’m reminded that I’m on an alien planet, and an AI took me to a meat market where I was sold to this alien. I’m pulled out of the vehicle with the purple veil still on my head. More than anything, I want to rip the stupid thing off, but I’m afraid to do that since I know what the consequences will be.

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