Joan asked the alien about her eyes. “They come from the sky,” she said, smiling. “At least that is what my mother always told me.”
The alien’s name was Allyahn, but affectionately (or because the abbreviation is not so different), she is called Ally by those who are close. Her eyes are not just any shade of purple but a unique hue. They are not the light violet of Elizabeth Taylor’s but a true purple, a deep and rich color that no human has ever possessed.
“My planet has the regular gases: oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide. It also has more small particles of dust and water and more hydrogen than you do, about twenty percent. The particles reflect the light in all directions, as it does here on Earth, but the hydrogen emits red, cyan, blue, and violet in such proportions that the result is a true purple, a darker world than your own,” Allyahn said.
Joan couldn’t help but wonder about the mystery behind the rest of the alien’s unique physical features. With its atmospheric properties, the darker world she came from might have influenced her white skin and the purple blood that could be seen just beneath the surface.
The alien talked about her childhood on that strange planet. During the day, she ran through the fields that flickered silver under the gorgeous sky. She sailed in her mother’s boat at night, watching the red Solari, a creature much like Earth’s firefly. Her purple eyes looked up and then closed. She took a deep breath, let out a satisfied sigh, lowered her head, and looked back at Joan.
“Our moons come out at night. The sky turns dark as yours, but it is not the same,” Ally said.
Joan responded. “I cannot imagine a world without a blue sky reflected in our oceans.”
While it’s true that it does reflect the sky—but only on the surface. Below the surface, the blue color is there. Here, the water isn’t reflecting the sky. The color is created by water itself. When light shines through water, colors with longer wavelengths are absorbed, with the longest wavelengths absorbed first. Blue and violet, have the shortest wavelengths of visible light, so they are able to penetrate the deepest. Those wavelengths are scattered by particles in the water, making the water blue. Our skies are a product of the reflections of light from the gases present in each planet’s atmosphere, sun, and particles, just as Allyahn’s are. Contradicting Joan, though, might have been rude.
“My Planet is small, smaller than Earth, and one more planet out, the fourth in line from our sun. There is a smell in the air, like a grape licorice. Even today, I miss that smell. It is like fresh air here; we hardly notice it, except when it’s missing. The smell comes from a plant that blooms most of the year, 400 days long for us. It has a silver and blue flower and an orange fruit. Quite tasty,” Allyahn finished with a wee smile.
“I would love to see it,” Joan replied, wondering if that could ever be.
The alien’s eyes looked down, and her facial expression went blank. “My people were killed by the same group that attacked here; I’m afraid no one could greet you.” She slowly rose and returned to the meeting, content to leave the conversation there.
©JM Strasser September 2024 All Rights Reserved