Chapter 7: Field Trips
When I moved to Gentle Forest, I still met up with some of my school friends from the Birthing Village for regular field trips. I’ve been to Earth several times. We travelled in a spacebus, which was a blast. The spacebus teleported to 100 kilometres above Earth’s surface. Then the pilot made the ship invisible, and we flew down to our secret landing spot.
Cha Chu Pani has several hidden training places on Earth. They are usually old, unused buildings, so no one sees us. We camp there for a few days and venture out on excursions to see how Earth people live—what you eat, what you talk about, and how you dress. We especially love hanging around schools and playgrounds to watch Earth children. We’ve learned many new games just by watching you.
When we mingle at the park, I don’t have to disguise myself, but everyone else does. The ones who can shape-shift try to make themselves look human. Sometimes they don’t do a great job, which makes us laugh. Then they have to hide under a big coat, hat, and glasses.
Sometimes, we try your food. Back home, we mostly eat fruit and vegetables. One of my friends loves your ice cream, but she can’t eat much because we’re not used to digesting Earth food. I love mangoes—maybe because they’re bright orange and match my foxie colouring. No offence, but some of your food is disgusting.
When one of us needs to ask a human a question, they always send me. Then I have to try my hardest to speak English and look casual, like I completely belong on Earth.
We always stay in the same place on our field trips: an abandoned building with boarded-up windows, called Hamilton House, in the small rural town of Tanglewood. A long time ago, Hamilton House was the town’s hospital. Sometimes we play with the old hospital equipment, but our favourite thing is learning about human children.
Chapter 8: Contact Children
All contact children on Cha Chu Pani eventually get an assignment on another planet. Our job is to learn about the other planet and help it become a better place.
On my tenth birthday, after five wonderful years in Gentle Forest, my parents gave me the traditional gift for a contact child—my very own spaceship.
Our spaceships are nothing like Earth rockets. They are small and made from nano-substance, a gooey, intelligent material that grows and changes with us. We don’t think of our spaceships as machines. They are extensions of who we are.
If you stepped inside one (which I hope you will one day), you would probably think the control board looks like a Tesla car dashboard—there’s nothing on it. In a Tesla, the touchscreen controls the car. But guess where my spaceship’s touchscreen is?
It’s in my mind.
All I have to do is think about where I want to go, and my spaceship dematerialises and rematerialises there. And I never have to lock it because it only listens to me.
After my parents gave me my spaceship, I was told that my first solo contact mission would be Earth!
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