Zeke Martian

Zeke Martian is an extraterrestrial that appeared in the book Of Mice and Aliens: An Asperger Adventure - a children's book by Kathy Hoopmann. His name is given to him by the book's protagonists, Ben and Andy, as his real name is unpronouncable in English.

Physically, Zeke is described as been grey in colour - with a round blobby body, a balloon-shaped head and eyes on the ends of long feelers. Zeke's legs (four in total) are said to be smooth, long and thin - looking like jelly - with four suckers on its feet.

In regards to his abilities, Zeke is shown to be a reasonably fast learner, as he learns English overnight after listening to both the TV and Radio at the same time. However, he shows several traits similar to Autism/Asperger Syndrome as a result of his inability to relate to humans and his lack of knowledge on Earth's rules and norms. This includes misunderstanding things such as sarcasm and expressions, not understanding instructions (appearing to be disobediant as a result) and been blunt to the point of rudeness (although this is unintentional). His more notable ability, however, is his ability to shapeshift - with his appearance becoming a combination of two human boys in order to blend in.

Zeke travels in a spherical silver-coloured ship. It is made from smooth metal, with a sharp edge around the outside that glows with faint light pulses. One side of Zeke's ship is slightly crushed with the lights broken - due to colliding with an asteroid in the Ornicle System. However, Zeke does not consider the damage to be major.

Information
Zeke (not his real name) is a member of a surveyor ship from Celesstis 4, which is exploring the Solar System (known as Urssus to his people). He is sent with others on an assignment in order to gather four items - clothing, an energy source, substenance and an information storage device - within a set time period in the hope of winning an award for retrieving the items. The planet Zeke visits is Earth (Urssus 3) while others of his species visit the other planets in the Solar system to search for the same items. The Surveyor ship, meanwhile, remains hidden behind Jupiter.

Zeke lands on Earth - moving to fast to be seen by telescopes and been too small to be detected - before landing in a gulley in a back garden. Zeke remains onboard his craft until it's discovered in the afternoon by two boys - Andy (a tall boy with a love of sport, in particular basketball) and Ben (a boy with Asperger Syndrome who has a love of computers and sci-fi). Zeke emerges from his ship, but is startled and flees back inside when Ben speaks to him. He emerges moments later, but having shapeshifted into a human form with Andy's body and Ben's head. With some help from Ben, Zeke shapeshifts into a different form with a mix of both Ben and Andy's physical traits. Although Andy is scared and worried about the alien's true intentions, Ben is much more trusting - even though the alien is currently only repeating what others say.

Due to misunderstanding what the alien says, the boys think he is called Zeke - with the name sticking. As Zeke watches cartoons on the TV in Ben's house, Andy reminds Ben that they don't know Zeke's true intentions and to be careful around him. Leading Zeke out of the house using a portable television, Ben leads him back to his ship - with the hope the batteries in the television last the night. Listening to the television and also to the radio, Zeke learns English overnight. When Ben comes to see him in the morning, Ben remembers what Andy tells him when Zeke tells him to come aboard to talk about something he needs help with, and instead convinces Zeke to come to school with him.

At School, however, Zeke unintentionally gets into trouble - mostly due to his lack of knowledge on Earth's rules and norms. This results in him been unintentionally rude to a few teachers (such as telling Mrs Peters that her shoes smelled) and misunderstanding an instruction from the headmaster. During morning tea, Ben and Andy talk to Zeke about the morning's events - as well as Ben telling Zeke about how due to having Asperger Syndrome, he finds people hard to understand. Upon learning what Aspergers is, Zeke questions whether Ben is an alien as well - with Ben replying that he isn't but sometimes feels like one as a result of struggling to fit in.

Ben later gets into trouble himself, due to a moment of getting upset and angry beyond his control (as a result of his computer lesson getting replaced with a team sport session - which he hates the most) and hitting a girl in the class (not realising what he was doing). Talking with Zeke later, Ben and Andy learn about the Surveyor ship hidden behind Jupiter, as well as what Zeke has come for as he gives them a list of what he needs before he leaves the next day: As Andy leaves later to go and play sport, Ben and Zeke meet up with Ben's friend Lisa Flint - who also has Asperger Syndrome and a love of mice and poetry. She learns from Ben about Zeke been an alien, as well as letting him hold Paddy (one of her pet mice who she had snuck into school with). At the end of the day, Zeke returns with Ben to his house - with Ben helping gather the necessary items for Zeke, although he assumes that the items are for fixing Zeke's ship. Furthermore, Ben later gets into trouble due to the items he has given to Zeke (which included one of his Grandma's chocolate cakes, one of his Dad's work shirts and a video tape belonging to his stepmum Sue).
 * Clothing
 * Energy Source
 * Substenance
 * Information Storage Device

Hearing Sue and Ben's dad arguing outside, Zeke leaves the items outside in a crate for Ben and Andy to collect - along with a note explainging why he needed the items in the first place

Appearances
Of Mice and Aliens: An Asperger Adventure - Children's Book