Postcards From the Beyond - Chapter 6

Gileon had visited several times after Halloween, he’d delighted in Christmas with all its decorations and delicacies, he’d seen New Year in and experienced snow for the first time. Easter had passed at light speed and Maddy and Sebastian were now most of the way through the summer holidays. All this time Sebastian had resisted the urge to try and persuade Gileon to take them through the portal. Maddy however had not held back in the slightest.
“We’ll be good! We just want a peep. We won’t even go anywhere, just through the portal and back! Pleeeeease!” To his credit, Gileon had not bowed under this pressure. Today it happened that Maddy was out when Gileon appeared through the wormhole.
“Maddy’ll be sad she missed you today,” Seb said as he helped Gileon haul the latest load of postcards down the stairs. Gileon gave a little half laugh.
“Ha, yes, I’m sorry I missed her,” he said without seeming very sorry, but looking a little guilty. Sebastian couldn’t blame him.
“I had this cool lamp once that projected the stars onto the ceiling of my bedroom. Maddy decided she wanted it. She pleaded with me every day for two months. I got so fed up I let her have it. If she wants something, nothing will shut her up till she gets it,” Seb said consolingly.
“I really do wish I could take you with me,” Gileon said regretfully, “but if anything were to happen to you…” He gave a little shudder at the thought. Gileon might be a rebel among his species, but it took a lot of persuading to make him break the rules, Seb knew. Taking the children through the portal was just a step too far for him.
Gileon swung the pillowcase full of postcards over his shoulder.
“See you in a couple of weeks?” Seb enquired.
“If the postcards keep arriving at this rate, it could be sooner!” Gileon replied, easing the heavy load to a more comfortable position. “See you!”
Gileon had barely taken a step towards the portal when suddenly he froze. The colour drained from his pink nose and his eyes popped as he stared towards it.
“J-Jaon Rattenbury!” he whimpered nervously.
“Who?” Seb asked, turning to see what had upset him so. He saw emerging from the vortex a most peculiar creature, far odder than Gileon.
This new alien had bright orange leathery skin. Long floppy ears hung down, along with brilliant red dreadlocks, decorated with coloured beads. They rattled as the creature unfolded itself from the portal. It blinked at Seb with four eyes, and its face split into a wide grin, revealing stubby crooked teeth, one of which glinted gold.
The stranger stood gazing at them in a relaxed yet confident manner. It was wearing a striped red and white shirt and had brown leather boots and gloves. One hand rested at its hip, caressing a red and silver device which Seb didn't need a degree in outer space weaponry to know was some sort of ray-gun. Despite this, Sebastian found he did not feel particularly afraid. The alien was shorter than him by a head, and it was so comical in its odd proportions, with short legs and long body, that Seb found it hard to be alarmed. Not so Gileon, who was now quivering behind him.
“I'd be most obliged if you'd hand that over,” the alien requested in a most reasonable tone. It nodded towards the pillowcase full of postcards which Gileon was still grasping in a limp hand.
To Sebastian's surprise, Gileon started forward, holding out the postcards for the stranger to take. Looking closer, it seemed as if Gileon had been mesmerized, and was acting not of his own free will. Seb acted before he realised what he was doing. He threw his arm out to stop Gileon.
“What are you doing?” he hissed at Gileon, “why are you giving them to him? You have to take them to the Department of Misdirected Mail! Won't you get in trouble?” Gileon stopped and blinked several times. He looked round at Sebastian with the expression of someone who had just woken from a deep dream.
“Oh, yes! Yes of course!” he mumbled, and stepped back behind Seb, clutching the pillowcase tightly.
“Hmm mm.”
Sebastian turned back to the stranger at the sound. It was stroking its short red goatee beard in contemplation. Its four eyes fixed on Sebastian. They looked him over for several minutes. Seb felt his skin crawl. He glared back defiantly at the unsavoury looking stranger.
“Give me that sack now!” the stranger said firmly.
“Why do you want it?” Seb responded. All four of the creatures eyes widened in surprise.
“How can you defy me?” it asked, peering curiously at Seb. “What species are you?”
“Tell me who you are first,” Sebastian demanded, feeling somehow insulted. At this the creature seemed aghast.
“You don't know who I am?” it said, “really?”
Seb shook his head.
“I'm Jaon Rattenbury! The greatest living space pirate! Scourge of the seven galaxies! Everyone knows who I am!” Jaon Rattenbury said indignantly, puffing out his chest proudly.
Seb's eyes widened. A space pirate! He glanced at Jaon's ray-gun nervously and wondered why the pirate had not already vaporized him for his insolence.
“Now, what species are you?” Jaon asked again. Sebastian decided he'd better answer.
“I'm human,” he said trying to appear as brave as he had felt before.
“Hue-maaan!” Jaon repeated, rolling the word off his blue tongue as if he were tasting it. “Never heard of them,” he said after much contemplation. He sized Seb up and down again, making him feel most uncomfortable. “Well human, please hand over that sack of postcards and I'll be out of here,” he said when he had finished studying Seb.
“My name isn't 'human' it's Sebastian Oakes. And, no, you can't have them, they don't belong to you!”
“Maybe we should do as he says,” Gileon said in a flat voice. Sebastian spun around to see that the little alien had a dazed look on his face again. Seb snatched the pillowcase out of Gileon's hands and held onto it tightly.
“And however you're doing that to Gileon, stop it!” Seb demanded. He didn't know why he felt the need to resist this stranger; he only knew he didn't like people, or aliens that picked on others.
“How curious,” Jaon said, fingering his weapon, “no species in the known universe has yet been capable of resisting my charms! I hate to do this, it'll spoil my reputation, I haven't drawn my blaster in fifteen aeons...” Jaon trailed off as he unclipped the holster and began to draw his ray-gun.
But he never got as far as drawing it fully, because at that point Maddy burst in through the back door. She stopped still for about five seconds taking in the scene in the hallway before her, then squealing with delight she raced up to Jaon.
“Brilliant! Another alien! Who are you? Where do you come from? What's this? I like your hair!” A thousand questions flooded from her without even pause for the startled pirate to reply. Maddy circled him prodding and poking and admiring him in all his strangeness until Jaon was completely flustered.
Sebastian became increasingly alarmed that Jaon would shoot her in his exasperation. But before anything like that could happen, the vortex that was still spinning quietly in the door suddenly blipped and burped and spat out two more alien creatures into the increasingly crowded hallway.
One was huge and square with a head that was little more than a lump on top of its massive shoulders. It had tiny squinty eyes and its skin was the colour and texture of rock. It was so wide that its shoulders scraped against the hall walls, knocking pictures askew. The other creature was the complete opposite, tall and slender and graceful. It had more arms than looked natural and large shining eyes. It was so tall it had to bow itself forward to fit in the hall, and kept getting tangled with the hall light fitting.
“Are you OK Capt'n?” grunted the large square one in a gravelly voice, “only you's been gone a long time and we gots worried.”
“I'm fine!” Jaon replied tersely, peeling Maddy from one of his beaded dreadlocks which she had been admiring. She had finally stopped talking and was staring at the new arrivals with rapt awe.
“Taka, get the sack, and bring that rat along,” Jaon's patience had apparently just run out. The tall alien called Taka stooped forwards and plucked Gileon from his hiding place behind Sebastian with two arms, while with another he snatched the postcards out of Sebastian's hands.
“Clump, bring the 'human' along,” Jaon indicated Sebastian, and Seb found himself thrown over a massive shoulder as if he weighed nothing. He pounded his fists against the creatures shoulder, but it had no effect.
“What do you want with me?” he demanded as he wiggled and squirmed, but the monsters hold was strong as steel and didn't budge. Jaon ignored him. He was too busy trying to shake off Maddy.
“Take me! Please take me! I want to go too!” she pleaded, gripping his hand tightly.
“No! You will stay here!” Jaon commanded her firmly, but as with Sebastian, his charms had no effect on the small girl. Finally Clump plucked her off the captain as if she were some kind of irritating insect and pushed her away down the hall. She stumbled, did a rather graceful forward roll and hit the kitchen door with a thud. Before she could recover herself Sebastian, Gileon, Jaon and his crew had vanished through the portal.