Out of this world

Sam was struggling to sleep. It was the night before he started his new school and he was very nervous. He had loved his old school and really missed his friends since he had to leave at the end of last term. His mum started a new job in a different town so during the holidays they had to move house to be closer to her work.

She had helped him prepare his uniform and polish his shoes ready for the morning. His bag was hanging from the door with his new coat.

“See it as an adventure” she said. “You’ll soon make new friends and do lots of new things. You can join the after-school football team.”

“I liked my old friends and being captain of the school team where we lived before,” he said. “It won’t be the same and I won’t know anyone.”

He switched on his bedside lamp and started to read his latest outer-space comic, Galactic, until finally his eyelids began to droop. As he fell asleep the comic slid from his hands.

Then his eyes were wide open. He looked around the bedroom wondering why it seemed so bright in the middle of the night. A light was shining through the curtains. His Buzz Lightyear and Woody toy figures were clearly visible on the dresser. He leapt from the bed, almost knocking his telescope off its stand, to look out of the window but the light was dazzling and he couldn’t see.

Blinking a few times his eyes accustomed to the light and he made out a huge dome-like shape in the dark sky. It had seemed to be getting bigger as it came closer. It was the size of a house! He heard a soft droning, whirring sound like a washing machine on the spin cycle.

‘What could it be?’ His mind was racing. It wasn’t a helicopter or an aeroplane.

“It’s in our garden.” He had almost shouted, then remembered his mum and dad were in bed and he hadn’t wanted to disturb them.

The bright light dimmed to a soft glow and the whirring stopped. He saw the shape clearer now framed against the dark sky. It looked like a giant football cut in half or even the Millennium Dome. It seemed so close he could almost touch it.

He crept downstairs fastening his dressing gown and avoided the creaky steps. Realising he had left his slippers at the side of his bed he put on his shiny new school shoes. He grabbed his dad’s torch that was on the windowsill, opened the back door and peaked outside.

It had been raining and the air was cool on the autumn night. The clouds had cleared and the moonlight was enough for him to see by so he left the torch on the top of the water butt. He wasn’t feeling very brave and could almost hear his heart beating rapidly. He’d made his way down the garden, carefully keeping to the path but managed to step into a muddy puddle. Squelching footsteps took him closer to the ‘shape’. He stood beside the large tree where his dad had promised to build him a treehouse.

The shape wasn’t as huge as it had looked from his bedroom but was as big as a garden shed. The surface was white and shiny, covered with triangular panels. He remembered seeing something similar in one of his comics.

A panel slid open and he thought he saw a face at a window.

More panels opened and he saw lights shining out of small windows around the space ship. Another whirring noise followed by a couple of clunks then a door opened outwards. Sam crouched behind the tree and watched as a figure stood at the door and looked around.

“Who’s there?” The silhouetted figure said and began to walk down a few steps onto the garden. “Is that you, Sam? Come out from behind the tree.”

Sam was shaking now and wondered how a stranger knew his name. After all, the family had only been in the village a week and had hardly met anyone.

He saw the figure was a boy about the same age as himself. He was wearing a silver jumpsuit and boots. Sam thought he looked like his favourite Formula One racing driver or Luke Skywalker from the Star Wars movies.

“It’s OK Sam,” the boy said. I’m Shamot. I’m here with my father and my brother. Is this your garden?”

He gained courage and stepped away from the tree into the light shining from the spaceship.

He nodded in reply. Still shaking he was too amazed at what was happening and his mouth so dry he was speechless.

“Phew! We’re in the right place!” Shamot said. “We had a few problems navigating due to the heavy rain.”

Licking his lips, Sam managed to get his mouth to work.

“Why are you here? What are you doing in my garden?”

“We are from a planet far away. Our mission is to come to Earth to help people. We know you are worried about starting at a new school and we are going to show you it isn’t too bad.”

Sam was amazed. The boy not only knew his name but knew about him starting at a new school! Who would believe a spaceship would land in his garden and he’d be talking to a space boy.

Another figure, older but dressed similar to Shamot appeared at the doorway.

“Hello Sam” he boomed. “We are so glad to be here and meet you. I’m Sors, and that’s my other son, Archiel over there.” He pointed inside the spaceship to a young boy sitting at a computer screen. He turned and waved to Sam.

Waving back, Sam looked in the spaceship. It looked huge on the inside. The number of lights, levers, switches and buttons was immense. Screens flashed with various images and he noticed one of them showed what looked like his house and garden.

“Is that my house?”

“Yes. To get here we had to travel a long way so we programmed the coordinates into the computer and it guided us here, like a satnav would in your car. We had to avoid planets and comets instead of roundabouts and bicycles” replied the boy. He pointed to some of the other screens.

“Here are some of the places we have been to. Last month we were on a planet called Mars. That was fun. You could maybe come with us one day if your mum and dad say it is OK.”

They chatted about their adventures for what seemed ages and when Sam shivered as it was getting colder then yawned Sors said it was time for him to go back into the house and get some sleep.

“Will you be here in the morning?” Sam asked his new friends.

“We will be in the area but we can’t risk the spaceship being found so you may not be able to see it. We’ll see you again soon.” Shamot said.

Sam reluctantly made his way into the house, leaving his wet shoes by the door. He realised how tired he was and was glad to be back in his bed. He fell asleep almost immediately.

“Sam!” his mother shouted from the bottom of the stairs. “Time to get up and ready for school.”

He rubbed his eyes and stretched. He remembered what had happened. He jumped out of bed, almost slipping on his half-read comic. He opened the curtains and looked out. No spaceship. It had seemed so real but must have been a dream.

His heart sank and his stomach churned as he realised he had to go to his new school. He washed and dressed then went into the kitchen where his mum was busy making packed lunches. Dad was outside feeding the chickens and collecting the eggs.

“Sit down and eat your breakfast, Sam love. Are you feeling OK this morning?”

Before he had time to answer his dad walked into the kitchen carrying a torch as well as the basket of eggs. He looked puzzled.

“For some reason I must have left the torch on the water butt. I thought I’d left it on the windowsill yesterday. The grass isn’t looking too great this morning. Some of it is flattened – a bit like when you see fields with corn circles. I’ll have to have a proper look when I get home from work.”

Sam ate his breakfast quietly. He was thinking hard. Had it been a dream or had he really met a space man and his sons? Was the flattened grass where the craft had landed?

“Time to get your shoes on Sam.” His mum said. “How can they have got into that muddy state overnight? What have you been doing? They were all nicely polished when I went to bed. Let me give them a wipe over. ”

He decided against telling his mum he had been out in the garden in the middle of the night. She might stop him reading his comics.

“I don’t know Mum” he replied. “This is a very strange place. Maybe I should stay at home and investigate.”

“I don’t think so.” His mum laughed. “You can’t get out of it that easily - you’re going to school. Come on, we don’t want to be late. Grab your coat and bag. I’m taking you today as it’s your first day. After we’ve met the head teacher I’ll go to work.”

He said bye to his dad who was still looking puzzled and gazing out into the garden as he drank his coffee.

“I’ll help you look at the grass when you get home, Dad. We’ll be detectives.”

They soon arrived at the big, imposing school building and made their way to the head teacher’s office. The corridor smelled of polish and disinfectant. Just like Sam’s old school. He was still feeling nervous but was distracted by his thoughts of his dream.

The head teacher welcomed him to the school.

“You will be in Class Three, Sam. It’s a really nice class. They are working on a project about planets and space this term. Your mum told me it’s something you are interested in so I think you’ll like that.”

“There are another two new boys today. They are brothers. One is in your class and I’m sure you’ll get on really well with him. I’ll take you both to the classroom and you can go in together. Say bye to your mum for now.”

He gave his mum a hug and as she left the room two boys entered.

“Here are Thomas and Charlie, who I was telling you about.” Said the headmaster. “They have moved to the area too with their dad who is also starting at the school today. He’s our new caretaker, Mr Ross.”

Sam was astonished. The boys were his new friends from last night! The space boys! How could this be happening?

They followed the head teacher outside and walked across the playground towards the classroom.

Sam looked at Thomas.

“What are you doing here?” he whispered. “Why are you called Thomas? I thought your name was Shamot. Your dad is here too? What’s going on?”

Thomas smiled.

“We have a job to do. That job is to look after you and help you settle in and make new friends. It is my name on my planet but it’s Thomas when I’m on planet Earth.”

As they turned the corner they almost bumped into his mum who was chatting with the boys’ dad. He was wearing the caretaker uniform today. He turned, grinned at the boys and waved.

“I didn’t know if meeting you last night was real or a dream.” Sam said to Thomas.

“It was real all right” said Thomas. “We are going to have lots of adventures together.”

Sam wasn’t feeling nervous now and happily went into the classroom to meet his teacher and classmates, knowing that he had friends and everything would be fine at his new school.

KAREN SHEPHERD