George

Ben and Stella are sitting drinking coffee out the back of my kiosk. It's at a quiet time and they've both got ear pieces so TOMI can communicate with them too, but I'm wearing the new glasses. I'm thrilled we've got Ben out here. Stella has been great at encouraging him to get out on her days off. It took several short test runs to get him this far, but he's sitting there looking fairly relaxed. I watch them toast Ben's achievement with their coffee cups, a smile passing between them, clearly their relationship is deepening by the day.

"George, we have a problem." TOMI is only speaking to me, he sounds slightly different when he includes the other two. "Remember that woman with the blue dress? With the unusual language?"

"Yes, How could I forget her?" I retort.

"The two gents walking up to us are from the same secret group, whatever that group really is. Based on the events last time, I suggest we only use English with them." TOMI never has got to the bottom of who the woman, Sue, really is, or where she's from, it frustrates him greatly.

"Good afternoon, may we have a word?" The taller of the two gents asks, his accent is better than Sue's was.

"Sure, let's just go this side." I steer the men to the other side of the kiosk, away from Ben and Stella. The last thing I want is for something unpleasant to happen in front of Ben and set him back again after all this progress he's made. They are both oblivious to my two visitors, still smiling and whispering to each other.

I prop myself on the wall and wait for the men to explain what they want. They both shift uncomfortably under my gaze, the the taller one clears his throat.

"I believe you served our friend the other day and spoke to her in a rather ..um.. rare, language?" He is looking at me with a mix of sheepish hope. I find myself relaxing, TOMI informs me these two men also have multiple profiles but are currently known as Ian and Colin. I choose not to share this knowledge with them, playing it cool. Again I wait them out.

"Do you remember her? She was wearing a blue dress, she told us she reacted rather....badly? Colin, the shorter one, plucks up courage to ask. These boys are not about to bundle me away into a black van.

"Badly! That's an understatement, if I had translated the names she called you, your blush would go right down to your toes!" TOMI chuckles in my ear.

"Sure, I remember." I might be relaxing, but they are going to have to work to get whatever they want out of me. TOMI continues to monitor without further comment, he must approve of my play and be letting this run its cause.

They look at each other, clearly unsure how to progress. "The thing is, we want to know how you know our language." Ian is looking me in the eye as he says this. I notice the same unusual purple rim in his eyes too.

"I'm sorry, I'm not at liberty to answer that question." TOMI did some training with me on being interrogated following my last horrific run in. We decided that the fact that he was advanced enough to translate this highly secret language should be kept between us, especially as it seemed to have provoked my unpleasant experience with my abductors.

"It's alright, we don't need to know that." Colin gives Ian a look then returns his gaze to me, "We saw what happened to you, we can understand your hesitancy, you have no reason to trust us." Colin has got that right. "Thing is, we need your help and the fact you told the AHU nothing means we think we can trust you."

"AHU?" TOMI is drawing a blank on that one too.

"AHU, Alien Hunting Unit, they hide under other names, but they are the ones who took you last week"

"Wait! Alien, as in......from other..." Surely not, I mean alien can mean other things right?

"Planets, yes, we are aliens from a planet a long way from here, different galaxy in fact, we need your help." Colin continues, watching me closely as I absorb this new, world shattering concept.

"George! George, close your mouth, you are catching flys!" TOMI's voice stirs me from my stuper. "What they claim would certainly explain all the anomalies I found about them."

"How do you think I could help you?" My voice comes out squeeky, like a nervous school boy. Aliens! In front of me! I mean Aliens!

"Your device, I believe it is called TOMI? Was able to translate our language and detect things about our status that we work very hard to hide." I'm still too numb to react, but a red flag goes off in my brain, they know all about TOMI.

"I'm sure you saw how the AHU treated you, well we would be treated much, much worse if they were to ever caught us alive." They both look grave as they contemplate that fate, Ian nods at Colin to continue. "They have been hunting us for the past two years, shortly after we arrived, and we want both of you to help us hide whilst we live in this planet. Hide us from them and any others who might inadvertently discover us, or choose to hunt us."

"Could you give us a minute? I just need to consult my...... "

"Yes, yes of course, we will um just wait over here." They step away from the kiosk, and turn away, deep in conversation.

"Well? what do you think, they know about you TOMI, what should we do?" I babble out, struggling to keep my barely held composure in place.

TOMI pauses for a moment, calculating the options. "I believe we can trust them," he states, "I have been able to access much more about them from the snippets they just gave us. They have been here two years and have not done anyone any harm."

"They seem a peaceful race. Apart from your dressing down from Sue, I see no hint of aggression. I think that aggressive behavior is quite unusual amongst their kind and may have been due to feeling her brothers lives were being threatened."

"Brothers?"

"Yes, younger brothers, it appears they are a small family unit, refugees if you like, trying to hide until they can find a way home."

"And what exactly can we do for them?"

"I think you might have some ideas on that George."

TOMI can be infuriating some times. Still love him, but honestly!

"Ok, first, coloured contacts, they've got to hide the purple rim in their eyes, either that or dark glasses, but contacts would work better."

"Good, I do believe the purple is more noticeable during times of high emotion, but I agree, that is a good suggestion. What else? It seems TOMI has taken on the teacher's role for the moment.

"Accents, we could do something to make their accents less noticeable, vowel practice or something. Oh, and I'm sure you could do something to clean up their records and online presence to be something less suspicious."

"Sure can George me old boy!" I kind of miss his Jeeves phase, now I get a mix of everything thrown into our conversations, depending on his mood and current film craze. "And we'll get to learn more about these particular aliens!" If TOMI had a body, he'd be clapping and dancing around in glee by now.

Something about the way he said 'particular' made me pause. "TOMI? Do you mean there are other, different aliens about?"

"Oh yes, George, I do. Now I know what to look for, I'm finding evidence of many others all over the place. I am thinking of a new line in buisness. What do you think of the name GAOC?"

"Gaoc? Sounds like a burp."

"George's Alien Orientation Company, a burp huh, well we can work on the name. I think Ben and Stella should be part of this too."

"Agreed."

We call over Ian and Colin first, set up a meeting for our first session then send them on their way. The discussion to bring Ben and Stella up to speed is going to be a lot more complex!

Hi guys, thanks for reading. I hope you are enjoying reading this as much as I am enjoying writing it. Until next time. Rachel x