Siobhan's head resting on my chest. Music played quietly in the background and long orange shadows filled the room.
'See the ship leave last night, Clare?' Rob asked. James was close to Stephanie (with their baby asleep in her arms) and Siobhan and I were most definitely sitting together. As one of the two single adults in the room, Rob seemed to feel duty bound to try and strike up a conversation with Clare. Often it was harder to stop a conversation with her, but tonight she seemed tired and reticent.
'No,' she sighed, shaking her head. 'Couldn't be bothered. Penny watched some of the pictures on the television this morning.'
'We walked over to the hills and watched it. Got stuck next to a really boring bastard, didn't we, Tom?'
I grunted and nodded. I looked across at Clare who was staring lazily into space. At the mention of the alien ship, however, the others immediately became more interested.
'We saw it leave,' James said enthusiastically. 'We watched it from home. Bloody amazing, wasn't it?'
'I've never seen anything like it,' Stephanie added as she passed her sleeping baby to Clare to hold. 'It seemed to fly right over the house.'
'Tom didn't think it was very impressive,' Rob whined.
'That's not what I said,' I protested. 'I just said that...' 'You wanted more flashing lights and lasers and special effects.'
'No I didn't. I just thought that when you consider the size and power of that ship you would have expected a little more. We were sat on the side of that hill for bloody hours and it was over in seconds.'
'Doesn't really matter now, does it?' Clare whispered quietly from her seat in the corner of the room. I turned to look at her and watched as she gently rocked the baby in her arms, her body haunched forward protectively over the tiny child. 'It doesn't matter how big their space ship was or how loud or quiet it was, the only important thing to remember is that they're here now, and they're not going anywhere.'
The hushed tone of her voice conveyed a deadly seriousness and concern.
'Does that worry you?' Stephanie asked, surprised.
Clare nodded.
'Yes it does,' she replied simply. Her opinion seemed to have changed since we'd spoken last week. Back then she'd seemed unconcerned and uninterested by the arrival of the aliens. Today, however, the tone of her voice made it sound as if she wanted them forced off the face of our planet altogether.
'But why?' Siobhan asked. She had been quiet for a while but was suddenly more animated and involved. 'Why does it bother you?'
Clare shrugged her shoulders, taking care not to disturb the sleeping baby cradled in her arms.
'Don't know really,' she admitted. 'It's probably nothing. I'm probably just wary because I don't know anything about them yet. When I get to learn a little more then things might change.'
'It might not be long before you get a chance to do that,' Rob said suddenly.
'Why?' I asked.
'Haven't you heard?' said James.
'Heard what?'
'They're letting them out.'
'Letting them out?' gasped Clare. 'They can't do that, surely?'
'Why not?' questioned Rob. 'Once they've been quarantined for a while and we're sure they don't pose a risk to our health, why should they be locked away? There won't be any reason to keep them separated, will there?'
'No, but...' Clare stammered.
'Will they want to mix with us?' I wondered.
'Of course they will,' Stephanie said. 'Why shouldn't they?'
'Well there are bound to be differences between us, aren't there? They're going to have completely different needs. They'll probably eat different food and they're going to have their own religions and etiquette, aren't they? Bloody hell, you shake someone's hand here and you're letting them know that you're pleased to meet them and you don't pose a threat. Shaking an alien's hand might mean something completely different to them. It might be their way of telling each other to fuck off!'
Siobhan laughed.
'He's got a point,' Clare said, quickly jumping to my defence.
'But come on,' James sighed, 'they're only going to be here for a few months, aren't they? And they don't want to be here, do they? Surely we can make an effort to accommodate them and their needs until they can get home again.'
'Do we really want to make an effort?' Clare asked.
'Of course,' Stephanie snapped. 'Well I do, anyway.' She seemed surprised and almost annoyed by Clare's apparent refusal to be flexible and by her uncompromising attitude towards the aliens. 'Christ, these people have travelled millions and millions of