Proonguus of Theranoptilnus

         

Proonguus          of Theranoptilnus

Prologue

Proonguus sighed as he gazed down the valley from his vantage point at the top of the ridge. A gentle breeze ruffled the delicate blue leaves of the Froompah trees behind him.  A breeze that barely stirred the slim blue spiky leaves of the grass at his feet.  He glanced skyward, noted the few lazy clouds scattered across the pale green sky, though none obscured the bright red of the sun that shone brightly in the sky, as if to mock him and his apprehensions.

He sighed again and wondered if he really was as crazy as everyone said, crazy to go haring off through the galaxy on a whim, on the basis of an ancient story.  His dear Mama, though, supported him, as always. He wondered if she supported him because she also believed the stories, as she claimed, or merely because he was her only child and she would die before admitting to anyone that she thought he was crazy too!

Shaking his head, he turned away from what might be his last sight of his home valley, the domes of his home bathed in the red sunlight, the fields of pale blue grass, dotted here and there with the blue of Froompah trees and purple of Veriska bush blossoms, that surrounded it, turned and trudged down the narrow, well-worn trail through the Froompah trees, down to the valley floor, to the landing pad where his craft waited for him. Primed and ready to go.

He saw his Mama standing there, in the shade of the trees, waiting to bid him goodbye.  He could see that she was fighting back tears.  Knew she was afraid she'd never see him again. He had to admit, but only to himself, that he wasn't so sure of that himself. "Take care, my son", she said, "take care of yourself and come home to me!"

A Visitation

"Rats", Krys muttered as she tripped over the hose in the grass near the guinea pigs cages, of which there were two, one that housed the three girls and one which housed the two boys. "What bozo left that lying there??" she thought, crankily, then laughed as she realised that she herself was the 'bozo', this time. "Why didn't I put it away properly this time?" she muttered as she picked it up and coiled it over the tap.

As she turned around she saw a strange shadow. Running her eyes along the shadow she saw that it belonged to a strange purple skinned being of short stature.  She gasped and blinked in shock, "Wh-who are you?? Wh-what are you?" she stammered as she staggered backwards in fright.  The creature appeared to be bi-pedal, with two thin looking arms, at the end of which were hands with what seemed to have three fingers and thumbs similar to our own.  Its face was oval, with large round orange eyes, a small human-like nose and mouth. It was wearing a short yellow tunic.

She watched fearfully as the creature lifted one of its arm's and pointed a finger at the guinea pigs. She thought for a moment... then asked hesitantly, "Are you saying you're a guinea pig"? The creature shook its head and brought its other hand up to join the first, as if cupping its hands.  Krys thought again and enquired, apprehensively, "You want to eat the guinea pigs?" The creature frowned and shook its head again and made a cradling motion against its torso, and pointed again at the guinea pigs. "Oh," Krys exclaimed, "you want to hold the guinea pigs!!" The creature smiled slightly and nodded as if to say yes.

It took a small step closer and gestured again towards one of the cages.  Krys hesitantly stepped forwards, not entirely sure that she really understood the creatures intentions.  Her head was suddenly filled with visions of the creature sinking it's fangs into the poor guinea pigs necks!! Although, she didn't know if the creature had fangs, or teeth for that matter as it hadn't yet opened its mouth enough for her to see!!

She stepped around the cage, to the opposite side from the creature, and slowly opened the cage.  As she reached in to pick up one of the guinea pigs the creature leaned forward eagerly, like a child who couldn't contain it's excitement at being allowed to hold a new pet.  The guinea pig squeaked and squirmed when she grabbed it, as they always do, "squeak, squeak, squeak," it cried indignantly.  The creature took the guinea pig in its hands and gently cradled it against its torso.  "Her name is Penny", Krys blurted, wondering if the creature would understand. Penny suddenly quieted and relaxed, almost as if she knew she was safe from harm.  The creature nuzzled her and squeaked at her for what seemed like an eternity. 

Finally, it gently placed the guinea pig back in the cage, looked at Krys with a huge smile (no fangs) and, with tears rolling down its face, took Krys's hand in both of its own.  "Thank you", it breathed, "Thank you so much, I'll always treasure this moment! For, you see, where I come from, my home world of Theranoptilnus, there are no longer any such creatures.  Once they roamed our hills and valleys in the millions, but they were considered a delicacy - so rich and tasty was their meat - that they were hunted to extinction several centuries ago.  As well, there are many other creatures on our planet which are nearing extinction because of unregulated hunting.  But our people have vowed to never allow any other creatures to die out completely and are committed to conserving what little we have left."

"I am here because there have been tales handed down through countless generations that there was another world on which these creatures existed. But it was believed to be simply a myth.  I, however, was convinced it was more than a myth, otherwise, why would the tale have been kept alive? I determined to set out to search the galaxy in an attempt to find it, never expecting that I would do so.  I am overcome with emotion at having done so. Thank you again for allowing me the privilege of holding such a magnificent creature."

"You're more than welcome," Krys cried, with tears in her eyes.  "I am awed to think that there is another world in this vast galaxy which is home to guinea pigs, and people that treasure life as we do.  To know that they are extinct on your world now saddens me.  I would like you to have these 5 guinea pigs, for we have 3 female and 2 male.  We keep them separated as they breed prolifically.  However, with these 5 you could re-establish the population on your world! Also, I am sure that many other people would willingly give you other breeding pairs as well!"

The creature clasped its hands to its chest and cried "No, I couldn't possibly deprive you of your valued pets! I would not like to see you bereft of the company of such magnificent creatures! It would not be right!"

But Krys insisted, saying "do not be concerned as there are many people that breed them and there is no danger of extinction. You would not be depriving us of anything and it would make me, and indeed I'm sure all of my people, happy to know that you and your people could once more see guinea pigs roaming the hills and valleys of your world". So the creature gracefully, and gratefully, accepted her gift.

Krys helped the creature, whose name she learned was Proonguus, load the guinea pigs, and their cages and food and water, into its ship, which she discovered had been in the neighbour's yard.  She hadn't seen it as it had been 'cloaked' and appeared to be invisible.

She gently hugged Proonguus then he stepped into his spacecraft.  She waved as the craft gently lifted off, amazingly with no apparent effort or noise to indicate that it was there at all!  There was a soft 'whoosh' of air and then it was gone.

"Wow!" she exclaimed.  "I can't believe that that just happened!! What an amazing thing!! Who would have thought that there was another world in our galaxy that held life?  Another planet which had guinea pigs as well!! And people that value life as we do, that are committed to conserving their animals as we are! Perhaps I should have mentioned that there are some people on Earth that eat guinea pigs as well."

Krys was amazed that no-one else seemed to have seen or heard what had happened. She wondered if she should tell anyone, or, indeed, if she would receive a visit from 'the Men In Black'? She decided to just wait and see.  After all, it had seemed that Proonguus had visited only herself! 

Perhaps she should keep it quiet for now, although what she was going to tell her daughter, Tasha, when she arrived home from school and saw that the guinea pigs were gone she didn't know!  Perhaps she should tell her what had happened.  Surely Tasha would not be upset at losing her guinea pigs if she knew where they had gone.

She decided to say nothing, and hope that Tasha simply wouldn't notice that they were gone, since Tasha hardly ever fed them or even played with them. After all, how in the world would she be able to explain what had happened?

She'd be locked up for sure!! No one would believe her! "No," she thought, "I won't tell a soul about it, and if Tash asks about the guinea pigs I'll simply tell her I'd finally had enough of doing her job of looking after them and given them away!!"

Besides, Krys was not entirely unhappy to be rid of them. As much as she loved them and thought they were gorgeous, she felt she had enough to do without looking after them as well.  Not that she would have hurt them, or let them starve; it's just that Tasha was the one that was supposed to look after them, since they were Tasha's guinea pigs. She did feel bad, though, about giving them away without asking Tasha first.

"Ah well", she thought, "I'll just not mention them for a couple of days, and I'll wait for her to notice that they're gone".

She knew, however, that she'd have to tell her husband, Jamie, what had happened, although she wasn't sure he'd believe her either! After all, even though the guinea pigs were clearly gone, cages and all, she had no real proof that she'd been visited by an alien. Why hadn't she thought to get a photo of Proonguus?

Awakening

Krys stretched and yawned as she awoke from her mid-afternoon nap. The book that she had been reading slid to the floor with a soft thud.  'Oh my," she thought, looking at the clock, "is it really 3 o'clock already? Wow, I didn't think I'd sleep that long! I'd better go get the clothes off the line; they should be dry by now, surely!"

Rising to her feet, she bent down, picked up the book, found the page she was up to and placed her bookmark in it and dropped the book onto the coffee table.

Walking outside, she thought again how amazing it had been to be visited by someone from another planet! And that she herself was chosen, for whatever reason, to apparently be the only person on Earth to be honoured thus!!

As she walked towards the clothesline she suddenly stopped, for there, right in front of her, were the 2 cages, exactly as they had been that morning, with the hose lying exactly as it had been!

"What the..." she wondered aloud? "Could it have been merely a dream?"  She had to conclude that, yes, it had been only a dream, because there they were, the guinea pigs and their cages, just as they had been when she had hung out the wet clothes earlier that day.

Shaking her head, she laughed at herself, thinking "well that was a crazy dream, and it had seemed so real!!" Laughing aloud, she continued towards the clothesline.  "I'll have to tell Jamie and Tash about this dream, it's hilarious, it'll crack them up for sure!"

Chuckling periodically to herself, Krys started to take the clothes off the line.

The End.

         

         

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