His name was Yafala Sekola Kokare. He was a male of the Ya’a Naomi, a race that resembles a cross between the human and the raccoon. His five-thruster spaceship was blasting towards the Earth at full speed. All he had was his space ship, a few supplies, a few odd trinkets, an amulet he wore around his neck, the laari, or sarong, which was wrapped about his waist, and a piece of stone with weird writing and symbols that he wanted to find the meaning of.
Sekola, who’s name means “The Chosen One”, and whose first name, Yafala, means “friend”, lived on the planet YaYaNiaferia, which orbits one of the stars of that constellation we call the Southern Cross, which is most well known as “those stars on the flags of Australia and New Zealand”. He inherited the stone fragment a few months ago after the sudden death of his grandmother. A couple of months later, he read some of the stuff in his grandmother’s writings. It said something about the third planet of a distant star-the star we know as either Sol, Helios…or the Sun. He made the decision there and then to get a space ship and find out the meaning. Sekola always was the curious type, but some of his family worried that he was going too far now. His sisters Lili and Sara, who lived with him and looked up to him, were especially sad about him leaving, and frightened that his curiosity may cost him his life. But he assured them that his grandmother would have wanted it. So he said goodbye to his family and friends, and set off in a spaceship for Earth.
He approached the Earth, and the land became visible under the clouds. He was heading to the island of Savai’i, in Western Samoa. There was a map on the stone fragment….the island was the right shape, and the location was marked by a weird symbol….he assumed that was where to fly. There was a thick covering of trees, but he could make out some kind of stone structure. He set the thrusters to low power, and landed the craft carefully.
The Sun was shining brightly, and Sekola rubbed his eyes. Birds were chirping, and Sekola wish he could just stay and listen to the sweet chirping song. But he had to find the meaning of the stone.
He searched the stone white mound. Finally, he found what he was looking for. He saw a missing piece of stone. And his fragment fit in. The earth rumbled. Sekola fell backwards as the section of stone he was standing on wobbled. A secret door opened! He got up and wiped the dust off his laari, and then entered the passage. It was dark and quite humid. He pulled out a small flashlight carried within the folds of his laari, and switched it on. The walls were well carved, and full of carved images. The passage turned a sharp left after some time, and then again. And there was a slight downward slope to the passage. At the end the area was blocked. By many fist-sized stones. But his hands being as they are, with rough fur and retractable claws, he quickly cleared through the ineffective barrier.
At the end was a huge room who’s walls were covered in thick moss that was glowing. There was also a thick grate that was held in place with some kind of heavy clamp. And several antenna-like things were pointing at the grate.
“Is somebody there? Anybody? HELP ME! GET ME OUT!” A voice yelled from the grate. Sekola approached.
“Help! I Need Somebody! Help! Not Just Anybody! Help! You Know I Need Somebody! HELLP!” The voice continued its rendition of the Beatles song.
Sekola looked at the grate. It was held in place rather well. Underneath was what appeared to be glowing coral. It was the source of the voice. But near the grate was a set of stones of different shapes and sizes. And they seemed to run along some sort of “tracks”. It looked like a kind of child’s toy or something. Next to that set was a round stone that was red. Sekola moved one of the stones, and it could not be picked up. It only moved along the track. He touched the red stone and the first stone slid back into its original place. A song his grandmother sung to him when he was really young entered his mind. A song about how someone moved stones. Something like “perfect ball goes to the left, push away from you the triangle” and so on. Considering how there was nothing else to do, anything, no matter how crazy, would suffice. So he moved the stones according to the song. And then he hit the button. The stones slid back into place, but then there was an earthquake again. And the clamps lifted out of the way. Sekola picked up the old rusty grate from the hole and tossed it to the side. He saw there was some kind of liquid that the coral was in. The coral then started to somehow climb out of the pit.
“Fa’afetai, La’u Uo…..wait a second!” The coral suddenly exclaimed “You….you are Ya’a Naomi. I haven’t seen one of you for thousands of years. But a good deal of that time I was stuck here. Please take me out of this horrible place. I can’t stand to be here a minute longer.”
Sekola obliged, and even picked up the coral, which was in a form that was almost cubic, but with rounded corners and edges. It wasn’t that heavy, despite its size.
When they emerged in daylight, Sekola was shocked. His spaceship had disappeared. And only two months after having made the final payment on it, too!
“Drat, my spaceship is gone” gasped Sekola. “I had no idea this was a tow away zone!”
“Space Ship? Maybe you should follow those tracks left behind”
Sekola noticed them. Whoever took the spaceship hadn’t destroyed the evidence. All that was missing was a sign that said “spaceship: this way”.
Sekola, carrying the coral in his arms, followed the path, which led to the Samoan village of Vailoa. Sekola saw many fales, or traditional Samoan huts, and in the centre of the village was a huge open green area. This place was usually where sports were played and gatherings were held. But there was a spaceship there. Sekola’s spaceship.
The village children were crawling under and over the ship, some walking on its wings. A couple of older villagers were trying to open the doors using fishing spears and crowbars, without any success.
“What are you doing? That’s my spaceship!” yelled Sekola.
Many people turned around. They were startled by the sudden appearance of an alien who was dressed in the same manner as them, wearing a wrap around cloth like the male villagers.
“Talofa Lava!” one of them said.
“Talofa Lava, Uo” the coral that Sekola was holding replied.
“Ya’a Naomi, put me down please” It said to Sekola. He obliged. The villagers were all gathering around. They were all very curious about this glowing talking coral.
“Uso ma Tuafafine” The coral began “I was rescued by the Ya’a Naomi….by the furry man who brought me here….from the Pulemelei Mound! The mound was a prison built for me. For I am the brother of the one you call Moso.”
“But Moso was a huge monster” said a woman.
“But he was not always” continued the coral “It was born as I was. It too was like me. We resembled what you call coral. But we are not. We came from a far away planet. Far, far, far up in the sky. But I was different. My brothers were all evil. They lost there minds. They are obsessed with their mission. But they forget what it is. They just force it into the minds of all their newborns. I am different because I refuse to accept it. Too much noise, not enough signal. Since I was seen as a threat, my brother, who you know as Moso, used his powers to assume the form of a monster, so he could make the villagers of a couple thousand years ago…your fathers of your fathers of your fathers of your fathers of your fathers…..you understand what I mean….build the Pulemelei….to IMPRISON me! As the final insult, He put in the life sustaining moss that glows and the life juices that feed me…so that I’d exist for a long time….and he built the Focuser, that picks up all the myriad of signals broadcast in the galaxy. And it sends them to me, as I am sensitive to these things. So I can’t rest because always I am receiving something. I learned how to focus on a few particular channels at once, but always I was picking up stuff from around the world.”
The coral then proceeded to impersonate various TV and radio voices, all with perfect clarity and with the exact accent and pitch. Everyone from Pamela Wallen to Don Madden to Elvis Presley to Sadam Hussein to Will Smith to Sir Winston Churchill, and even the Lone Ranger and Howdy Doody. He then burst into Tom Jones’ “What’s New Pussycat?”, which was the coral’s favorite song to hear during his “media torture”. And then he sung the Banner of Freedom, the national anthem of Samoa, just to make everyone stand to attention. He then finished his story.
”But this furry man, this Ya’a Naomi, saved me. One more Jerry Lewis telethon and I would go completely insane. By the way, what is your name, Ya’a Naomi?”
“Yafala Sekola Kokare” replied Sekola.
“Everyone….his name….Yafala means uo…..friend…and Sekola….means the chosen one. And he saved me. But I sense that this is the beginning of a mission he shall undertake.”
For the next few days there was much celebration. And film and newspaper crews from around the world had gathered to find out about the strange event. Sekola wasn’t used to getting so much attention. But then again, back in the country of Naomi, on YaYa-Niaferia, he was perfectly usual. Here in Samoa on Earth he was a novelty.
Then, one day, the Coral told Sekola and the village “I will travel with Sekola to help him. His ship looks awful. The coral then entered the spaceship, and Sekola followed it. The coral attached itself to the spaceship interior. In a few minutes it had grown many appendages which attached to the various navigation and computer systems of the ship. And then the outside of the ship started changing, especially the outer surface and the area around the nose of the ship. A huge head appeared, that resembled the head of a camel.
“What can I tell you? I sort of like camels, even that cigarette smoking one. Now, I Coralala, am one with your spaceship. Your spaceship is now much better. Don’t worry, it’s just optimized now. Of course this does void the warranty!”
Sekola just gazed for a moment.
“So, what do you think of I, Coralala, your new spaceship?”
“I like it.”
“And now I shall show you something else”. Coralala’s eyes projected a hologram. Of the stone disk that opened the door to the Pulemelei.
To be continued………