The old guy gestured at us. “I’m sorry to have acted the way I did, but we behaved the way to which we thought you would respond best,” he said, placing his hand on the light bubble around the creature. “This little fellow is the last of his kind. They used to flourish on our planet, but as things will happen, they died off one by one. We only recently discovered that they were here on Earth also, but again, very few. Their appetite tends to lead them to death.”

Mo’Lock straightened up, rigid. “Then he’s not one of your people?” he asked.

The alien laughed. “Oh my, no. He’s an animal. He will be kept in a zoo, and seen and enjoyed by millions every year. He’s quite an exceptional specimen.”

I glanced at the ghoul. He was pissed.

“You mean to tell me you’re going to lock this . . . this baby up in a cage?” Mo’Lock said. I could hear the anger building in him.

I put my hand on the ghoul’s arm. “It’s not worth it,” I said to him, and then to the alien, “I think you should go. We don’t want any more trouble. Just leave.”

“Let’s fuck ’em up, Cal,” Mo’Lock said in a low, serious tone.

The alien laughed again, the cocky little fuck. I was almost tempted to do what the ghoul asked. In fact I realized I was still holding my gun and instinctively raised it.

The alien looked at the weapon without emotion. “You act as though your people do not have zoos. They do, don’t they?”

I shrugged. “We’re not our people. So why don’t you fuck off before I shoot your ass.”

“That would be most stupid of you,” said the alien as he pointed the remote thing up toward the night sky.

There was a click and then a pop-like noise and above our heads, the sky became gray steel. It was the alien’s ship and it covered the sky for as far as I could see. Mo’Lock and I stared up at it in awe. I let my hand holding the gun fall to my side.

Then, as if I needed to see more of a show in one night, a beam of light came down and surrounded the alien and the little creature, but not the flying brain.

The alien gestured toward it. “I leave you this as a token of friendship.”

“What?!”

“The lobe-tracker. It is a gift from our world to yours.”

“I don’t want your fuckin’ brain,”

I was too late. The light was drawing them up and in seconds the alien, the beast and the ship were gone.

It was just me, the ghoul, and a flying brain.