Two young blokes were walking along the beach on a hot sunny day in July. They stopped for a while and played a ball-game: one man, John the tall thin one, scored a goal and put his tee-shirt over his head. His muscular friend Patrick rolled his eyes and walked off. Then he cried out. Leaving his shirt on the ground, John ran to catch up with him as the spray got in his eyes. Neither noticed the pensioner sitting in a deckchair nearby.
"I've found ... treasure!" said Patrick excitedly.
"What is it?" said John, trying to catch his breath.
It lay on the ground, covered in a fine layer of damp sand. It was metallic, about the size of a large egg-box. Patrick pressed a button experimentally, and was amazed when a bolt of light shot off in the other direction.
Fred stiffened as he became suddenly aware of the damp moving through his body. Surely it wasn't the rain again so soon? No... No it was quite a different sensation. Oh, yes .. He was starting to enjoy it now ... in fact he hadn't felt quite like this since, since ...
John was trying to persuade Patrick to leave the device.
"It is just a piece of pikey's crap. It's rubbish. And it could be dangerous," he pointed out.
A figure got up from a deckchair and stumbled toward them. John was somewhat perplexed: the man was wearing a button-down shirt with the arms rolled up to the elbows, Bermuda shorts, socks and sandals. But his bearing and appearance were those of a handsome, athletic man of about thirty.
"Are you all right, mate?" said Patrick.
"Yes, yes I am fine ... thank you." said the stranger. "Did you feel that sudden alteration in the atmospheric pressure?"
Fred was sure that was what it must have been. In his years in the Army he had become well used to assessing such things. It could explain why all his little aches and pains seemed to have vanished, why he felt so ... strong ...