Star Gift

Chapter Nine

The remainder of discussions that evening mainly were questions to Blake and Russel about their university, the life in California, and much about the Pacific ocean, not surprisingly from people who had not lived near a coastline, and none of whom, except the more worldly Michael, had ever been the West coast. From the guys' side, the two captive visitors had to listen to the news Michael had brought from central New Mexico, mostly about tourists, domestic problems with the Zuni people, whom he passionately identified with, and the weather patterns across their ancient, barren lands.

Being the youngest at the table and someone Michael clearly saw as a threat to the Native peoples' heritage, he engaged Valerie in the conversation, trying to draw her out for criticism. To her credit, she was cunning and evasive when detecting this, and yet smiled at him often during the verbal cat-and-mouse game, not the least everyone could see, was Michael' playful glee in enjoying the process.

"You and your school friends have probably all bought into the Hollywood version of our Star brothers, right, Val? They wanting to come down from the skies and suck out the brains of people from Earth?"

She laughed. "As much as you talk about aliens being our brothers . . . well, I can believe our people were visited by them. Maybe even for thousands of years. I've been taught that in this house all my life. But I would not trust them. They're just too creepy looking!  I would probably faint if I saw one outside near the house in the dark right now."

Both Blake and Russel chuckled at the girl's fears and her homogenized, teenaged reaction. She seemed more culturally attuned to the two of them than they had expected. It was all about the Internet, Blake thought. And summer fright films. Yet, they both also nodded in agreement with her repulsion with the standard impression people had of extraterrestrials, primarily due to television, those movies and conspiracy YouTube videos.

"What if I told you some of them look more like me . . . and you, Valerie?" Michael proposed. "The ones that have infiltrated our systems of government and military establishments here on Earth. They have many similarities to our bodies. Synthetically, of course, but often they are genetically processed."

This sent a chill down Russel's back.

"I don't know. Have they?" the girl asked, still looking at Michael with a sort of unmasked desire.

"Of course, they have. And as far as your ideas of the typical Grays  you're picturing in your mind right now. . . there are at least five different alien forms besides them. All encountered and documented now on virtually every content."

This was playing out to Blake and Russel as an extension of what the two were finding to be some frightening dream they couldn't awake from. The two were pleased, however, that Valerie was asking all the critical questions they themselves were too intimidated to ask.

Suddenly, Milat entered the conversation, attempting to give some semblance of familiarity at her table.

"Michael, we trust the things you have studied and found through your travels are true. You have been able to go to places we here on our lands can only imagine. But Valerie needs to know that most of what you are saying tonight is not known by most people . . . and many would have trouble believing these things. Much of what we Indians know about the heavens and the Earth is symbolic. But it is still powerful. And worth living by."

"And spiritual," Jasper added, after a long silence. "These spiritual elements can move in and out of this physical world. As shamans we have eyes and ears to know this. There is a spiritual reality our peoples had reached over time that sustained them all like shamans. And it was the Star People who in our deep past came. They taught us this. Many are losing that spirit, that sight today. And many . . . like our beautiful Valerie here, do not know it or are skeptical of it."