Dave pulled his hoodie up, covering his curly blonde hair and warming him from the cool evening breeze which rippled the ears of wheat. Heaving a shovel over his shoulder, he called over to Tony.

“Have you got the drawing mate? I don't have it.” Tony looked up, dropping the balls of string and sticks he had been holding at his feet, he felt in his pockets.

“Er... yeah I've got it here!” He yelled, “do you wanna come take a look?”

Dave stepped between the rows of wheat, taking care not to crush any as he went. Reaching his friend, he studied the sheet of paper.

“So we want to make this big circle here,” he said, gesticulating at the area around where they stood, “and then we can do those concentric ones up there, after we've done.”

“Yeah sounds good mate,” Tony said, “give us a hand with the string then.”

Together they measured out a length of the string and, after tying one end to a stake in the ground, they used it to plot a perfect circle in the field.

“Man I'd forgotten how tiring this was!” Dave exclaimed as they began using their shovels to flatten the crop, working with precision to achieve the desired pattern.

Their work lasted several hours as they mapped out the different shapes and crushed the wheat in each section. Nobody disturbed them, but then they'd chosen their location well. Picking the field farthest from the farmhouse and the main road, and doing it on a Sunday evening meant few people were out in any case.

“You know what man,” Tony said eventually, letting his shovel fall, “I reckon we're just about done!”

“Yeah I think we've done a good job mate!” Dave replied, walking over to join him, “looks all right from down here anyway!” They looked around, night had fallen but the full moon shone bright enough to give them a reasonable field of view.

“What do you reckon that is then?!” Tony span round at Dave's words, following his friend's gaze.

Before them, a bright light seemed to be falling from the sky. Their uneasiness increased as, instead of speeding up as it approached the ground, it seemed to slow down. Speech abandoned them and they could only stand transfixed as some kind of shiny metallic-looking disc hovered before them, just like something out of a science-fiction film. With a whoosh of escaping air, a hatch appeared in the side of the craft and a small figure floated down to the ground, its body shrouded in shadows.

The alien moved closer, coming out of the darkness and they saw a little green man, dressed all in black with large orb-like eyes and no visible nose. Seeing the two men however, it stopped in its tracks.

“Who... who are you?” It spoke in a high-pitched squeaky voice, "where's Mom? I thought it was time for dinner, the message said to come at once..."