I stepped back against the dark space and felt a wall. It was cold and unyielding. There was a vibration, like I was moving, only I didn’t know where and that bothered me. After a few seconds doors opened like in an elevator and too-dark turned to too-bright. When my eyes adjusted, I was staring into a ring of creatures I had never seen before.

They were immensely tall, even taller than myself. They stood upright, wearing long brown cloaks which reached the floor and gathered around their feet. From the tall expanse of brown material which shrouded them emerged heads, rather boxy with expressionless, green-tinted faces and tufts of pale yellow hair behind the ears, which nestled close to the side of the head. There were twelve or thirteen of them, standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a well-structured parabola. They were nearly human. Give them a pumpkin-shaped basket and put them on the street Halloween night, and they would be human.

Suddenly the parabola parted and rearranged into a short hallway reaching to a far wall on which there was a control-panel thing with lots of buttons and joysticks, next to which there was a chair, on which sat another creature, even taller with an even browner cloak which rustled as the creature got up slowly like an old man.

“Human,” it said. “What is your story?” The voice seemed vaguely familiar, then I remembered. The perfect English belonged to the flying object’s speaker.

What was my story? “Well,” I began, “I was vacationing here in Planet Ilta and I took a walk and came here where an elevator took me up, and can you take me back down now please?”

“Wrong answer!” bellowed the creature. The place shook with its vibrations. I jumped back. “But then,” it admitted, “how can you know if you haven’t lived it yet? Afterward, then I will ask you your story. Me and my Intercepters, we have been told many stories, yes?”

A murmur of agreement rose up among the assembled creatures. I needed to get away. I didn’t know where I was and what I was doing here. But something caused me to ask them a question. “Where are you from?”

“I,” began the one by the control panel, “am from the board of education. That is why I Intercepted you, because I am from the board of education. That is why I drove the yellow Messenger with wings to lure you in here. How long were you planning to stay in Ilta?”

I felt more comfortable. This was something I knew about. “Three weeks.”

“I have no reason to keep you here, human. I will not trap you nor will I lock you up, nor will I lie to you or deceive you. All I wish to do is enroll you in a three weeks’ teaching opportunity.”

I was incredulous. “Teaching opportunity?”

“Yes, yes,” patiently replied the creature. It gestured for me to follow, then led the way down a hall. The building was as white and as well-lit as a laboratory. The other creatures began to talk among themselves, check things at the control panel, and I listened only to the Intercepter walking with me. “Our young Intercepters need to learn. They need to learn so they can Intercept others to teach their young ones when they are older.”

I struggled to keep pace with his long strides. “Why can’t you just hire teachers?”

“Nobody goes through Ilta except for tourists like yourself. We couldn’t find any really steady people. After years of searching, we just started Intercepting humans. There was nothing else to do.”

“Oh. Can’t you find anybody else? I really had a nice vacation planned and all that–”

“No.” The creature continued down the long hallway. “There is now way out. My forefathers designed this system theirselves, passing it down to every son in line. It’s escape-proof.”

So now I not only was supposed to teach young creatures, I was stuck!

“I heard,” the creature continued, “that on Earth humans have advanced much in the ways of mathematics and languages. I wish such knowledge to be delivered to the young ones–young now, but my successors in the future. I myself was taught by humans. Should you accept, you will teach letters and numbers from the morning to the afternoon. You will receive clothes, food, and lodging like that you had on Earth. Your afternoons will be free for sports, reading, or improving the mind. You will, in my opinion, have a fine vacation. And remember, there is no way out.” He stopped suddenly and turned. “Do you agree?”

What else could I say? I agreed.

To be continued!