One hundred ninety-nine steps forward to meet them. He looks wary but resigned, as if he has known this moment was coming but does not look forward to it. Words are exchanged that I cannot hear. Then one of the beings in spacegear takes him away and the others come over to us.
“Hello,” I say. I try to maintain my reserve, not show my excitement. I have waited so long for this moment that I can somehow strive for patience. Nala is watching me, but I avoid her eyes.
The beings in spacegear do not answer me. They encircle all of us, then trap us in nets and chains that seem to spring from the air. We are suddenly completely bound, helpless, stumbling and falling onto the floor.
“Up,” one of them says to me, “get up,” and I try to comply but stumble again and am taken painfully to my feet. One of them slaps me in the face. “Come,” he says. “Come with us. Now. We will use force if you resist.”
I cannot resist. There is no way I can resist. I follow them. Into the smallest of the craft, where I am trussed to a bulkhead. I can see the others nowhere. I am alone as the spacecraft takes me down to the planet. Somehow I always knew it would be this way.