A Felony of Birds by Harris Tobias	The Greer Agency by Harris Tobias	Assisted by Harris Tobias	Hold The Anchovies by Harris Tobias
Alien Fruit by Harris Tobias	Peaceful Intent--Stories of human/Alien Interaction by Harris Tobias	CHRONON--Time Travel by Harris Tobias	The Stang by Harris Tobias

THEK

by Harris Tobias

THEK

     The alien waved its arms and pointing to itself said, “Thek.” My XO and I were thrilled that this first encounter was going so well. We assumed the alien was telling us its name, so we introduced ourselves. I pointed to myself and said in a loud, clear voice, “Captain Harper.” I don’t know why I spoke as if speaking to a hearing impaired foreigner, but that is how it came out. Then I pointed to my XO, “Lt. Mann,” I said. The alien appeared to be absorbing this information. Mann and I were encouraged. I pointed to the alien sun. “Sun,” I said and waited for the native word. The creature’s multiple arms rippled and, pointing to it’s bright star, said, “Thek.”

     Did this mean that the alien was named for the sun? Or did he or his people share the same name as the sun? was it the name of his race? His tribe? We couldn’t tell. I again pointed to the sun and said, “Sun.” The alien rippled. “Thek,” it said quite clearly.

     I pointed to the ground and said, “ground” in a loud, clear voice. The alien repeated the gesture. “Thek,” it said.

     Now we were really confused. Was Thek their only word? What kind of language has only one word? Perhaps there were subtleties in pronunciation we were missing or sonic overtones our human ears were unable to detect. Slight nuances that could only be detected by specialized audio equipment.

     I pointed to the creature and said, “Thek”. Then at the sun, “Thek” I said; and finally I pointed at the ground and again said, “Thek.” The alien gave us a pitiful look and walked away muttering, “Thek, thek thek.”

     We took its gesture to mean that it considered us hopeless idiots, or perhaps we had insulted it somehow. Then again, perhaps we were completely wrong about everything.
   

Read more stories by this author

A Felony of Birds by Harris Tobias	The Greer Agency by Harris Tobias	Assisted by Harris Tobias	Hold The Anchovies by Harris Tobias
Alien Fruit by Harris Tobias	Peaceful Intent--Stories of human/Alien Interaction by Harris Tobias	CHRONON--Time Travel by Harris Tobias	The Stang by Harris Tobias

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