Meanwhile. . . “Confessions of a Traveler: The Observations of Alien 597” Part 3

4 min readDec 5, 2021

She saw some children playing in the distance, and one tiny girl ran up to her and asked her who she was.

“A traveler,” she said.

“You’re traveling here? Why?”

“For research and observation,” and the young girl began laughing.

“Wait here,” the girl said.

The girl ran into her house, and for an instant, Alien 597 was afraid the fragile house would cave in, but the girl reappeared as quickly as she had disappeared, and handed her a plastic bottle of water.

“Thank you. How did you know I was thirsty?”

“It’s hot outside,” she said.

As she swallowed the water, a car machine drove up next to her, and the tiny girl ran off. Someone quickly exited the vehicle, and Alien 597 smiled.

“Can I get a ride to the better land?”

The driver and the other occupants smiled and laughed, and then proceeded to take her shoes, bag, coat, and sunglasses. The car machine left, and a lady walked up to her to hand her another pair of shoes.

“It’s all right, you shouldn’t be walking here this late, though,” the lady said.

But right before the ladies eyes, Alien 597 had the things that were taken from her.

“Don’t worry. I have copies,” and she walked away, leaving the lady confused.

Note to algorithm. In the land of the forgotten, people are friendly and like to share.

Apparently she had arrived on earth on what was called a weekend, because every day, for five days, between the hours of 7–9AM and 4–6PM, as if on some invisible schedule, would be hordes of people leaving to some unknown destination. She wasn’t sure why they all decided to come out at a certain time, except maybe they were friendly and wanted to talk to each other, but nobody talked to anyone. Some cussed each other out, while in their car machines, and threw gestures that looked anything but nice. She couldn’t understand the rush everyone was in, but she needed to go where they were going, or she couldn’t document to her algorithm correctly. She felt as though she was late herself, and a lady walked hurriedly past her.

“Excuse me, where is everyone going?” she said trying to stop her.

“To work…,” she said annoyed, and she continued walking to some unknown destination.

She noted on her algorithm. Humans only like each other on the weekend.

As things began to calm down, Alien 597 decided to stop at a place of information called the bookstore, where they sold paper with information on it, while everyone was at work. She wasn’t sure why everyone had to be in sync, but she noticed another curious phenomenon. When it came time to sleep, most humans did not want to sleep. She wasn’t sure if they were allowed to at certain times, because they would drink liquids that allowed them to stay awake, even when their body was telling them to sleep. As an experiment, she tried a hot, black liquid, and then had another for effect.

Her legs began shaking as she sat, and she couldn’t stop tapping the table with her fingers. Her senses felt heightened and her heart pounded in her chest. She concluded that humans did not want to be humans, but insects, in particular ants, because they slept in minute increments. She was reading a book about them. Mammals, which is what humans were, at zoos were always lounging around, but ants were always moving. She noted in her algorithm. Take this liquid when you want to be an ant.