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<a id="Promenade"></a>It's a Dogs Life on an Alien WorldGeoffrey Hugh Lindop&nbsp;&nbsp;The promenade, usually packed with people, was deserted at this early hour with the Sun only ten degrees above the horizon. Its disc was covered by cloud but its position was clearly marked by three rays of illuminated dust. Isaac had lots of friends, but he was lonely. He had been for the past three years since his wife died in a car crash. 	Perhaps I will meet a lady who will fall in love with me if I carry on walking. The seagulls laughed at such a ridiculous thought.	Yet a lady was walking towards him. Long dark hair, slim build, slightly smaller than Isaac. Her sad face broke into a smile as she approached him. "Oh I do like your tie."	Isaac wore a flamboyant tie dotted with large planets. It reflected his interest in astronomy, but the real reason he wore it was that at least one person each day would stop and admire it, giving him the chance to meet new people.	"Thank you. I'm a bit of a space nerd. I was up before sunrise looking at Mercury. It's not often so well placed in the sky."	"Oh really. Have you got a telescope?"	"I left it at home. You can't see much of Mercury even in a large telescope. I just took a few photographs. Here. Do you want to see them?" He switched on his camera and showed her. 	She didn't know what to say. She was expecting to see a planetary disc and all she saw was a bright dot in a gap in the clouds. Isaac saw her disappointment and changed the subject. "Now I'm just killing time before I can get a bite to eat."#"Oh! the Sea View coffee shop should be open, it’s just this side of the pier." She brushed aside some strands of her hair that had covered her right eye.	They exchanged pleasant chit-chat, shared a few jokes before continuing in their separate ways. Isaac enjoyed meeting people. His friends told him to move on, to form a relationship with someone else, it's what his late-wife would have wanted. It was not what Isaac wanted. Not yet. When he did settle down it would be with a girl like his late-wife, or the girl he had just met. Why didn't he get her contact details. Too late now.	He was near the pier. He stopped to take a photograph of the fracto-cumulus clouds, with the pier framing the right hand side of the shot. Before he could take a second shot he suddenly found himself inside a prison cell. The cell was only big enough to accommodate a single person. The cell next to him was empty. It was not a prison, it was a zoo. The other cells were filled with strange creatures, the like of which he had never seen before. There were about ten cells on each side of the tall room.	The walls suddenly dissolved. He could see the pier, yet he and his fellow prisoners were still in their cells. They moved down the promenade in the direction he had just come from. They caught up with the lady he recently met. She was walking at a good pace, but they were keeping up with her. She moved inside the room. It was like looking at a reflection in a shop window, when the goods on display inside the window can be seen against the traffic moving outside the shop. Likewise Isaac could see the girl outside superimposed in the prison cells.	The girl was still walking, the stone wall of the promenade was passing through Isaac's body. It scared him for a moment, then realized he felt no pain. It was a sort of reflection of the wall. More like virtual reality, or augmented reality. The room moved again. The girl was now in the cell next to Isaac but walking. The room was keeping pace with her. The girl slowed her pace. She was inside Isaac's cell. Just as the stone walls passed through him earlier, so the girl passed through Isaac. The room was keeping pace with the girl. Isaac's brain was inside the girl's brain just for a few seconds.	Isaac could read her mind. Her name was Janet. Her boyfriend didn't show up for a date last night. She had phoned him. He told her quite bluntly that he didn't want to see her anymore. She was walking to get the emotion out of her system. She was suicidal. Nobody wants to be with her. Should she go into the sea and drown. Should she throw herself under a bus. Nobody would care. She didn't know anyone who she could share her life with, or could share a joke with. Except that gentleman she had just met. Why didn't she get his contact details. Should she go back to him. He will be in the coffee shop by the pier. She stopped in her tracks and looked back to the Pier.	The room didn't react to her suddenly stopping. Isaac saw her passing through all the other cells and disappeared.	The room changed direction. She was outside his cell standing still looking towards the pier. Then she was in the next cell. Then the outside world disappeared and they were all in the prison room.	"It's alright Janet. I don't know what's happening either, but we seem to be safe."	"What is this place? One moment I was on the Promenade and then I was in here.” Janet suddenly recognized the man she had just met. The man she wanted to meet again. The man she wanted to kiss. “How did you get here?" Janet had fear written in her eyes as she looked at Isaac whilst clutching the cell bars.	"I don't know how I got here, but a few moments ago I saw a sort of image of you walking down the Promenade. You were inside this room as well as walking. At one point you were inside my body and I could read your mind. That's how I know your name, and I think the guy who you were dating needs his head examined. I think you are a beautiful lady and I regret not arranging for us to meet again - but somehow we have met."&nbsp;"Is this a prison?"	"I honestly don't know. It looks like one. But look around you. There are animals in the other cells. Looks like we are part of a zoo rather than a prison. Whatever happens, I will be beside you. My name's Isaac by the way."	"Oh Isaac. Did ... did ... did you really want a date with me?" Janet started to relax as they chatted away.	***

It's a Dogs Life on an Alien World

AstroGeoffrey

Dryfe

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The Promenade

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Geoffrey Hugh Lindop

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