Over the centuries, the Alien's skin colour gradually faded from chartreuse to white. The Cat, known to the locals as Chairman Miaow because of his elegant couture, seemed to be immortal, and was subject to radical change without notice. The final transition from chartreuse to an ashen white occurred when they encountered the four terrified ghosts, who were as white as sheets. The Alien adapted to them like the proverbial chameleon. The Alien was at last able to "blend in with the locals" although it is not certain that his UFO companions intended it quite that way when they dropped him off 400 years earlier. They just told him that his job description was "ethnologist" and that they'd be back. Just when they'd be back was unclear. They lived in a different time zone.