Adrienne came to the family cabin to spend her final days with the tumor in her head. She woke to a blazing light descending from the sky. Is that my guardian angel coming to take me? She dressed and walked toward the dimming light over the hill.

On the other side of the hill, the beings from the stars pondered their predicament. With their home planet engulfed by the supernova, theirs was the only ship that had made it out in time. Desperately seeking a living host in which to transplant themselves, their collective mind searched, but found only green beings rooted in the soil.

When Adrienne crested the hill, she saw a large circle of squashed plants in the midst of her garden. She stooped to caress the buds on the plants which had escaped destruction and cried out, “My precious children! Don’t hurt my children!” With the dawn’s light, she would make a sign to ward off thoughtless killers of her babies.

The aliens jerked to alertness at the sudden appearance of another being. This one walked on two limbs--perhaps here was the host they needed. But a mind probe revealed it was about to die and, curiously, it called itself “mother” to the rooted ones. They concluded the green species would someday become mobile like her. Exhausted and with the last of their energy, the star beings expected a bright future and merged with the green ones--only to discover their final mistake.