Dream II

Earth is visited by powerfully built, stocky aliens who are totally bald except for mustaches. They are an energetic, no-nonsense people, and they wish to trade with us.

The product they have on offer is a kind of lustrous black paint, almost a lacquer, which protects surfaces from damage. It dries to such a hard surface that it is nearly bulletproof.

Unfortunately, it also dries quite rapidly. So rapidly, that it must be applied almost as soon as the container is opened. It can only be applied by a very delicate brush, but the aliens train extensively in this art, and rapid drying rarely becomes a problem.

I have been assigned as a liason to the son of the leader of the aliens. He looks exactly like his father, but I have been told (both by the father and by those in charge of me) that his intelligence is "suspect." The assignment of Earth-liason has been given to him as a way of keeping him in the force. He is going to show me how the paint is applied. When I ask how extensive his training was, I am given evasive answers. I begin to suspect that my own assignment is less than central to the whole enterprise.

Nonetheless, I meet with the son and we exchange pleasantries while the paints and brushes are brought out and the project is prepared. He is going to coat a large cylinder.

His first few attempts at painting are disasters; long before a coating is completed (sometimes before one is even begun) the brush hardens to a point harder than a diamond. And the process must be repeated.

I have begun trying to guide his hand, helping him to best apply his energy, speed and accuracy so that the task can be completed as it is supposed to be. I soon become pretty well acquainted with what is required of this process, and I start to wonder if the son isn't as they claim, but this is their subtle method of training me in their techniques. (This suspicion remains untested.)

In the meantime, the aliens say they also have a tank of premium gasoline that they wish to trade; however, they value order above all, and they cannot begin negotiations for this until the paint trade has been concluded.

I am curiously optimistic about it all.