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Three quarters of an hour before sunrise, Joseph stopped the car at the house. Fifteen minutes later they were all in the sitting room drinking tea and eating griddle scones Ursula had baked the day before. She smiled, when she saw Robert take another scone from the plate. It was his fourth.
'I can understand how Paul loves to eat. This is very pleasant,' said Robert. He munched slowly, obviously enjoying the scone.
Ursula's father sipped his tea as he studied Robert. He's an alien, thought Joseph, a real alien. Robert smiled at him and nodded.
Later when they had finished, Conor asked him, 'Could you tell us what happened, Robert? Could you tell us how you ended up at the bottom of Lough Melvin?'
Ursula took Robert’s empty cup from him and carried the tray and dishes out to the kitchen then she hurried back to hear his explanation.
'Bands of a type of radiation we were not familiar with destroyed our ship that was an exploratory craft, a science laboratory set up to study deep space millions of light years from our own planet, Gragh.'
'How long ago did you arrive on earth?' asked Ursula.
'Over a thousand of your years ago,' answered Robert.
Ursula glanced at her father, but he showed no surprise.
Robert continued. 'We had explored most of the outer systems when we arrived a few billion miles from your galaxy. When my companions were killed and the ship began to break up I managed to get on the only safety vessel that was working properly. My companions, there were four of us...My uncle was one...' At this his face grew sad. 'Died...'
Conor looked at his mother. Then his Grandfather asked, 'What are you going to do now, Robert?'
'Do?' said Robert. 'I don't know. I'll have to find some way to contact my parents.'
'Your parents?' exclaimed Ursula. 'But... but they must be...be dead by now. I'm sorry, Robert, but I mean you said you crashed into the lough a thousand years ago. Surely...' She stopped.
'Oh no,' said Robert smiling. 'My parents will still be alive. Inhabitants of Gragh live a long time. I was eleven thousand and forty of your years, when my ship was destroyed.'
'Eleven thous...' gasped Conor. He looked at his grandfather. This time the old man looked surprised.
Robert smiled again.
'How are you going to contact your parents after all this time?' Joseph asked quietly.
The alien frowned. 'I don't know, at least not yet. But I will.' Turning to Ursula he said, 'I'll need to stay here for a while. I don't know for how long, but...'
Smiling, Ursula said, 'Robert, you can stay here for as long as you like.' Looking at Conor she said, 'I'm sure Conor will have no objections to sharing his bedroom with you.'
Smiling Conor rose saying, 'Come on, Robert, I'll show you my room.'
'I'll dig out that old camp bed that's up in the attic,' said Joseph. 'I'm sure you'll want to get some sleep. You must be tired.'
'No,' said Robert. 'I only need sleep once every year. Then only for a sayel... I mean, an hour.'
When Robert and Conor left the room Ursula said to her father. 'Do you believe him... all that?'
'Yes.' he said thoughtfully. Then he frowned. 'They'll still be looking for him you know. They'll come here. It won't be long before they check out your sister-in-law's son.'
Ursula sighed. 'Do you think so?'
Her father nodded.
'But we have to help him, don't we?'
Her father smiled. 'I'll get down that camp bed anyway.' With a grunt he rose. Ursula followed him as he slowly limped upstairs. His knee is getting worse, she thought.
At the same time in Conor's room, Robert was studying the black and white television set that sat on the table near Conor's bed. It was an old Television. Conor rarely watched it. He raised his eyebrows when he saw Robert switch it on.
'Television,' he said turning to Conor. 'Interesting.' Then turning back to the television he raised his left hand and placed it gently on top of it, spreading his fingers wide. Instantly a dull glow came from his hand covering the whole of the television for a few seconds.
Conor moved closer, gaping as the channels on the TV changed rapidly without Robert touching the controls. On the screen flashed pictures from over fifty channels.
'How on earth did you do that?' gasped Conor. 'I could only get three channels.'
'Would you really understand if I told you?' said Robert smiling.
'No,' said Conor, smiling too.
Robert looked around the bedroom. Several posters of film and television actors were stuck to the walls with blue tack. The alien's attention was drawn to a picture of the crew of the Starship Enterprise. Pointing to Mr. Spock he said, 'the person with the angular ears, he is much like our race used to look like thousands of years ago. Since then we have changed. We are now what you would call, ugly.' He turned to Conor. 'You remember when you saw my hologram in the mirror?'
'I really didn't see it too clearly,' said Conor.
Robert shrugged. 'It doesn't matter now. Come on, your grandfather is coming down from the attic.'
Conor's mother stood at the hot press near the bottom of the ladder that led to the attic, pulling blankets out to put on the camp bed. As she closed the hot press door she saw Conor and Robert came out of the bedroom. Just then the ladder shook as her father emerged backwards from the attic. Wincing with pain, he dragged a small, folded camp bed with him. When he reached the bottom of the ladder, Ursula could see the pain in his lined face.
'Ahhh there you are,' her father said, forcing a smile and handing Robert the camp bed. 'You should be comfortable enough sleeping in that.'
Taking the bed from him Robert nodded to the old man's knee, 'I can take away the pain if you would like me to. I can mend the swelling of your knee joint.'
Conor's grandfather frowned. 'Eh?'
'Your knee pains you a great deal. Arthritis, I believe the ailment is called. I can stop the pain. If you come into Conor's room with me now I will cure you.'
Joseph frowned and glanced at his daughter.
'Go on, father,' she whispered, wondering how Robert could help him.
'In...in Conor's room?' said her father. His heart was pounding. Can he really cure me? No...
Without a word, Robert, still carrying the camp bed, walked across the landing and into Conor's bedroom.
In a daze, the old man allowed Ursula to lead him to the room.
Wondering how Robert was going to cure his grandfather, Conor followed them.
When they came into the room the alien was sitting on the edge of Conor's bed.
'Roll up your trouser leg and stand in front of me,' he said quietly.
Joseph hesitated.
'Go on, father,' whispered Ursula. 'Do as he says.'
A few seconds later, Joseph was standing in front of Robert. His pale leg was bare to the knee. Conor stood on one side of him and his mother on the other, watching.
'Now, I'm going to touch your knee very gently at first,' said Robert quietly as he examined the old man's swollen knee. 'You will feel it grow warm, quite warm, but don't worry. The feeling should be quite pleasant.' Looking up at Joseph he smiled, ‘Are you ready?'
The old man nodded, licking his dry lips at the same time. His heart was pounding. He was half afraid and still wondering, could Robert really cure him? Suddenly the alien reached out and clasped his two white hands onto Joseph's knee. Gasping the old man would have pulled away if he could have, but he couldn't move. Everyone stared when they saw a blue glow that seemed to pour from Robert's hands. Tiny spurts of red electric-type flashes wriggled from them into the old man's knee. Conor studied his grandfather's face. Usually pale it was now flushed. Sweat bubbled on his forehead. His white hair was standing almost straight up. Suddenly the glow grew brighter, so bright, that neither Conor nor his mother could see Robert's hands, or the old man's knee. Now Robert's hands began to vibrate. As they did his eyes began to glow.
'Ahhhhhh,' moaned Ursula's father loudly. Ursula held her hand to her mouth as she studied him. She could see her father was not in pain. But she gasped aloud when he suddenly slumped forward onto the bed beside Robert. At the same time the glow died away. As it did Robert looked into the old man's face then gently placed one finger on the side of his neck. Turning to Ursula he said, 'He'll come round in a few seconds. I should have realized older earth people are weaker.'
'Ughhhh,' moaned Joseph seconds later. Shaking his head he sat up. 'What happened?' Then he remembered. He looked at Robert then down at his knee. Frowning he gently touched it. He could see the swelling was gone. He then began to move his leg in a slow kicking movement. Slowly he began to smile. Robert winked at Conor and his mother.
'I can't feel any pain!' shouted Joseph. Slowly he stood up. Gently he stamped his foot on the floor. He stamped it harder, the sound thudding around the room. 'I can't feel any pain!' he shouted. Suddenly he leapt past Ursula, landed on Conor's bed and began to bounce up and down on it.
'Father get down from there,' scolded Ursula.
Conor and Robert smiled at each other as the old man leapt from the bed and landed right in the middle of the room.
'I'm cured!' he shouted. 'Wheee. I'm cured. I'm really cured.' Again he began to stamp his foot on the floor.
'Father, please take it easy. You'll hurt your knee,' exclaimed Ursula.
'Knee?' shouted her father smiling. 'What knee? There's nothing wrong with my knee. Look.' With another jump he landed on top of Conor's bedside chair.
'He's cured, Mummy,' said Conor, smiling at the worried expression on his mother's face.
Ursula looked at Robert. For how long? she thought.
For as long as he lives, came Robert's thought.
Ursula smiled and sniffed back a tear as she studied her happy father. He was cured. Then she began to scold him again when he jumped from the chair to the bed and began to bounce up and down on it.
Watching his grandfather, Conor thought, I wonder what other miracles Robert can do?
'Not miracles, Conor,' Robert's thoughts came to him. 'It's all so simple really. I would explain it to you if you could understand.'
'Will I ever understand anything about you?' thought Conor studying him.
'Yes,' thought Robert. 'Soon you will know everything about me.'