The Arrest

From 188 Contes à régler

He was the first extraterrestrial to set foot on Earth. He came from the planet Gryge, from further away than we can imagine.

The Grygian was landed at night, far from any city, in the utmost secrecy and complete silence, in France, according to a meticulously prepared plan.

His mission was that of an observer who must not, under any circumstances, stand out. He had been trained for years to go unnoticed and, most importantly, to never hurt himself in public, because his colorless blood would have made a very curious impression. He spoke French, was undeniably human in appearance, and even had a well-forged identity card with the uncompromising name of Marcel Robert.

He found himself staying in a small hotel on the French Riviera, and it was there that he realized he had landed in the midst of war in 1944. He understood this even more acutely when, one morning, at dawn, the Germans rounded him up as a Jew along with all the hotel's guests.

It was in a grand hotel that he appeared before the Gestapo officer responsible for verifying identities. He watched the events unfold with icy calm because he belonged to a race that did not take much to heart. The officer, on the other hand, had a reaction of astonishment as he looked at the Grygian's handsome face, with its average features of the Grygian, his almost transparent blue eyes, his nearly white blond hair, and his equivocal half-smile of challenge. He barely glanced at the Grygian's fake ID card and said:

- "Our apologies. Obviously you can't be Jewish."

- "Ah! No," the foreigner admitted with a calmness that one might have thought British.

He was released immediately.

Even if the officer had for a moment, very fleetingly, suspected Marcel Robert of having false papers, it was enough for him to look at him to erase any doubts. Because it was necessary to recognize that most of the Germans, compared to him, looked like Jews from Central Europe.