Bob had big, bulging eyes, a triangle nose so flat on his face one would often wonder how he could ever breathe with them, and a smile so active that it looked like it would fill up his whole face. These facial features may seem peculiar and strange to the average human being, but Bob was not an average human being. In fact, he wasn't a human being at all. Bob was an alien, one of the aliens that belonged on Planet Mars.

About a month ago, Bob had been sent from the Mars Congress to go to Planet Earth to study all of the living creatures and geologic landscapes on it. For, these aliens wanted to make friends with the people on Earth, despite the fact that the earthlings would probably not accept their invitation.

You see, Bob was a very humorous alien, unlike all the other alien astronauts on the U.F.O. spaceship. All trip long, Bob told jokes. Despite Bob's hard effort to create entertainment, however, the other aliens were all very annoyed, so annoyed with Bob's jokes that they wanted to throw Bob off the spaceship and never have to make contact with him again. And that's exactly what they did.

When the U.F.O. finally landed in a very isolated and deserted landscape on Planet Earth, it was nighttime and Bob was fast asleep. Instead of waking Bob up, though, the aliens carried Bob to an open window of the spaceship and threw him out into the unfamiliar land. Then, with another quick glance, the aliens took off in the spaceship, heading for a more populous place, before Bob could realize what was happening.

***

Afterwards, a talking, spotted cat named Jerry, who had seen the whole thing unfold, told Bob what had happened. With nobody else Bob knew in sight, he decided to make friends with this strange and "ugly" creature aka "cat".

It was the day after, and Bob and his newly made companion were exploring a cave in hopes of finding food.

As they walked, Bob asked, partly through interest and partly to find topics for conversation in the silent, inner mouth of the cave, "So, I thought cats on Earth couldn't talk. Are you just different, or did that book about the creatures on Earth I read lie?"

"Oh, I don't know." said Jerry. "I guess I was just born this way. You know, sometimes things just happen, and there's no way to change it."

"Do you have any friends?" Bob asked, walking along with the cat side by side.

"Well, no. The other cats all think I'm weird because I can speak human language. In fact, if I hadn't been so strange myself, I would've been freaked out when I saw you. I mean, after all, you are an alien." Jerry replied, "It's nice in this deserted place. Nobody can make fun of me here."

As the two continued walking, Bob unexpectedly shouted, with sudden realization, "Hey! Where are we?! I think we're lost!" The alien's huge eyes bulged out even more, and his green skin began to turn a sickly yellow color.

"Oh no!" Jerry the cat exclaimed, "I heard that this may be the cave of several hibernating bears! We might get eaten!"

Just then, Bob and Jerry rounded a corner of the cave. A blinding light caused both of them to cover their eyes. When they opened their eyes, Bob and Jerry saw, with huge surprise, in front of them, what looked like two golden treasure chests.

Cautiously, as if it was a trap, Bob and Jerry tiptoed over to where the two chests were sitting. In the most quiet motion possible, they carefully opened the lid...

Peering inside, Bob and Jerry couldn't believe their eyes. Lying inside the treasure chest, there were piles upon piles of priceless gold and diamonds.


Without hesitation, Bob exclaimed, while jumping up and down, "We're rich!"

"Only one problem: we still cannot find the way out." Jerry pointed out.

"Way to ruin the moment." Bob said in a very grumpy manner.
***

On the second day after Bob and Jerry had made their amazing discovery, they sat in the treasure room, afraid that if they left the treasure, they would not be able to find their way back.

"I'm starving!" Bob complained, squeezing his two belly-buttoned stomach with both of his big, but skinny hands.

"Well, what other choice do we have?" asked Jerry, and almost at the precise moment he said that, a man with white hair, startling, big eyes, a big nose, and a thin-line mouth entered the room.

"Aaah!" the man screamed, looking as if he couldn't believe what he saw.

"Aaah!" Bob and Jerry screamed in unison.

"Wh-wh-wh-who are you two?" the man asked, pointing to the figure of Bob.

"Hi, I'm Bob the alien." said Bob, deliberately trying to scare the man even more, "And what's with your face and skin? They look so unusual! Do you have skin disease?" Bob said with a laugh.

The man was about to reply when his eyes suddenly shifted to the two glowing treasure chests that were in the room.

"Never mind about that. Are those two treasure chests yours?" the man asked, pointing to the two golden boxes.

"Well, it's a long story..." Bob said, and he explained how he was sent on a space mission to explore Earth, tossed off the spaceship by the other aliens, got lost in the cave, and then found the treasure room. The whole time, the man listened with interest.

"Listen, I know how to get you out of here. First, let me introduce myself. My name is Daniel Heath. I had just been sent here to study the climate here, to see if this piece of land is suitable for humans to built a city on. I'm a world famous explorer and scientist. Nice to meet you." the man said, reaching out his hand in a friendly gesture.

"Really?! You know a way to get out of here?!" exclaimed Bob excitedly, ignoring the man's self-introduction.

"Why, certainly. I know a shortcut." Daniel said in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Thank-" Bob and Jerry began to say, but both were rudely cut off by Daniel.

"One little thing." Daniel Heath said as he held up a finger, "You see those junk over there?" Daniel pointed to the gold and diamonds off in the distance. "They're fake. Nevertheless..." and here, Daniel paused, as if thinking it over, "I'll lead you out of the cave and sail you back to a populated city if you give me both of those two treasure chests."

"You mean those gold and diamonds over there are fake?" Bob and Jerry exclaimed at the same time, both perplexed and surprised at the man's remark.

"Yes. You don't suppose someone would leave real gold and diamonds in a place you could discover so easily, right?" Daniel Heath asked.

"I guess...but why would you want them then?" Jerry asked, eyeing the man suspiciously.

"Well, as an explorer, I want to hand all these gold and diamonds to the archaeologists to figure out how these two treasure chests would get in a cave in the first place. For all we know, there could've been pirates living in this cave years ago." Daniel replied, and of course Bob and Jerry believed the man. Little did they know that the world-famous explorer had a cruel trick up his sleeve.
***

After the explorer led them out, Bob said his final goodbyes to Jerry-who insisted on staying in the isolated place-and wished him farewell. Then, with one last look at his friend, Bob got on the ship and sailed out to sea.

At night, the captain parked the ship on a nearby island, and decided to rest and start their voyage the next day.

After laying on the hard mattress the commander of the ship told him to spend the night, Bob immediately drifted off to sleep.

About thirty minutes into his sleep, Bob woke up suddenly at the sound of voices. He tiptoed to the room where the sounds were vibrating from and saw one light on through the window of one room.

"Hmm..weird. Why are they still awake?" Bob thought. Curiously, he put his ear to the door and tried his best to make out the voices from within...

"Ha ha! Tricked that little green creature just like that. Told him they were fake, these treasures. And he believed me. Ha! Now we will be rich, you and I!" Bob heard what sounded like Daniel's voice exclaim excitedly.

"I got to hand it to you, Dan. You really know how to get your hands on some riches, but isn't this wrong? You have to realize that you are a world famous explorer. Many scientists from all over the world is depending on you for your research from this trip." another more worried tone replied.

"Oh, I wouldn't need to do anything by then. I could just quit my career and still live a life of luxury!" Daniel responded in a dreamy voice.

"That greedy villain!" Bob thought angrily, "He's been tricking me the whole time!"

Just then, Bob heard footsteps. Hastily, he hurried to his bed.

That night, Bob made a plan. He would continue to spy on the "explorers" until he discovers where they've hidden the treasures. Then, once they've fallen asleep, he would snatch back the treasures, unload them off on the island they're parked at, and escape from the ship.

"I don't care if I live there forever." thought Bob. "At least I won't have to stay with those two evil villains. Who would've thought that earthlings would be so cruel?"
***

On Bob's second night on the ship, Bob tiptoed in to where the two robbers were asleep, snatched back the two treasure chests, and unloaded them one by one off the ship.

When Bob finally got off of the villain-inhabited vehicle, he hastily looked through the two chests to make sure that everything was still there.

As he rummaged through the gold and diamond however, a large, silky blanket as colorful as all the colors of the rainbow laying beneath an extremely large piece of diamond caught Bob's eye. Bob took it out, examined it, shrugged, and casted the cloth over his shoulders to keep himself warm.

Just then, a loud, booming voice spoke to him, "Utter your destined location and I will carry you there." it said.

"Wh-who's there?!" the frightened Bob asked as he jumped, taken back by the unexpected noise.

"It is I, the magical blanket. Sit on me, and you would fly." the booming voice said.

"Hmm... I never knew the earthlings used this as a sort of transportation..." Bob thought for a moment, shrugged, then got on the "magical blanket."

Once both him and the treasure chests were on the colorful piece of cloth, Bob made his first stop at the cave where he met Jerry.

When he arrived, Bob immediately caught sight of Jerry and hurried to the sleeping cat. Bob told Jerry everything that's happened.

"I knew there was something suspicious about him!" Jerry exclaimed in a frustrated tone.

"Well, at least we managed to get the treasures back." comforted Bob. And with that, Bob took one of the treasure chests that were sitting on the piece of cloth, which was still hovering in midair, and handed the chest to Jerry.

Jerry pushed it back in one swift motion. "I don't need any riches! I'm just a cat! Keep all of it."

"Oh yeah." Bob realized, "Apparently gold and diamond is worth even more on planet Mars than on Earth. Now, are you sure you don't need any of it?"

"I told you, I'm a cat! Do I look like I'm going to wander off and go shop at a grocery store?" Jerry inquired.

"No. " Bob admitted, "Well, in that case, I need to go now. The rest of the Mars astronauts are probably already back! Good bye and good luck!" Bob, with tears in his eyes, waved to his earthling companion, and got back on the "magical blanket."

"Good luck!" Jerry responded, also with tears in his eyes, "Have a safe journey! Come back to visit me again in the future!" Jerry pointed to the blanket.

"Of course I will!" Bob exclaimed, "And that's a promise!"

With that, Bob uttered to the blanket, "O magical blanket, take me to thou place where I hast come from!"


The blanket began to rise higher and higher off the ground, then into space, and after a few days time, finally arriving in the city of Marsville, Mars. Bob wondered how a single blanket could carry an 80 pound alien and a bunch of heavy treasures off the ground as easily as it seemed.
***

Back at his own planet, Bob donated all the treasures to the Mars Space Association to help encourage space travel. All the gold and diamonds totaled to be worth about $100,000,000.


Bob became a hero, and all over his world, astronauts looked up to him.


To the aliens who had thrown him off the spaceship, Bob told them, "I owe it to you guys. Without you, I would've never had such a meaningful adventure."


Bob's co-astronauts turned "green" with envy.


"What happened? My jokes upsetting you again?" Bob asked, and with that, he broke out into a fit of laughter.

***


So how did all the treasure get into the cave in the first place? It could've been pirates, someone's secret gold mine gathers, or even something left behind by another alien civilization. Nobody knows, and it would probably remain a mystery forever. How did a magical blanket get into a treasure chest? Well, that's another mystery. Like Jerry the cat had said at the beginning, "things just happen, and there's no way to change it."