Van looked around at them all:
“You have come from the human world. What is it called now? Earth?” he asked.
“Um… Yes,” David grinned, “it’s always been called that.”
“Always?” Van snorted. “Just because you call your home by that name, it doesn’t mean that everyone else does. All right, Earth. Then the answer is this,” he paused for greater effect. “You’re on the Sun.”
Dr Capri, Yulia, and David began to ask other questions in rapid succession.
“How is it possible?”
“How can we be here if we have to burn?”
Van looked up at them with annoyance and shook his little head negatively.
“You said you would leave!” he said grudgingly and sharply.
“Wait,” Dr Capri tried to exhale. “We received a signal on Earth from our spacecraft. That’s why we’re here. Do you know anything about it?”
Van took small steps closer to the doctor.
“What kind of signal?” he looked at him questioningly.
“The signal from the Voyager,” the doctor was confused, unable to find the words in front of the unusual creature.
“It records the sounds of our planet, music and…” Yulia didn’t finish.
“Music?” Van smiled.
“Yes!” cried Dr Capri. “Did you send it? Did you want us to come here?”
“What?” said Van in surprise. “No. I mean, I’m not sure, but…” he hesitated again. “No, that can’t be right.”
Van turned away from the group of people who were grasping at the thin straw of understanding in this unusual and strange situation. He took a few steps and rubbed his forehead thoughtfully with a small hand.
“Okay,” Van concluded, “we’ll go to the palace and see if you should be here. But…” he turned sharply to the group, “you won’t ask any more questions, or…” the little Sun-dweller pondered.
“Or what?” Yulia asked.
“Ah!” shouted Van irritably. “That’s what I’m talking about. You’d better not say anything. Don’t say anything, or,” he thought up, “I won’t take you anywhere.”
Debby pointed with her finger that she was silent.
“Don’t do that,” Van said, mocking Debby. “Let’s go to the palace.”
“Wait a minute!” Jean-Pierre stopped him. “We have many questions, and we would like to understand how we got here and how it is possible that we are still alive.”
Little Van stopped for a second and turned to Jean-Pierre in surprise.
“How should I know exactly how you got here? You tell me.”
“We crashed in a plane and ended up in a cave somewhere in the Himalayas. And an old man, his name was Bhrigu, he…” Jean-Pierre saw Van’s little face change.