The Andalite
“A flying saucer?” Mateo- no, Matthew- no, Marco asked. He laughed at my guess, and I felt sheepish.
Then he looked up, and his eyes widened. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, a tingling feeling under my skin that I got when something was about to happen.
Like when I somehow turned my teachers hair blue or ended up on the roof of my Primary School back in Surrey. I felt weird and excited and afraid, all at once.
“It’s coming this way.” Said Jakes cousin, rory- no, raina- no wait, Rachel. “It’s hard to be sure.” Jake whispered quietly.
“No, it’s coming this way, Jake.” Said Ro- no, Rachel determinedly. She seemed so confident in her answer, I couldn’t help but agree. Whatever it was, it was definitely slowing down. Now I could see pretty clearly what it was.
“It’s not exactly a flying saucer…” Jake mumbled. I nodded, still unable to say anything.
It wasn’t that large. Likely as large as an American school bus. The front end looked like a pod-like bubble, like you see in ridiculous cartoons, almost like an egg. Extending from that was a narrow bit. There were two crooked, stubby winglike devices, with a blue light on each end.
The spaceship kind of reminded me of how people have described me. cute, dangerous, innocent. Did I mention dangerous? Oh, yeah, there was this big tail thing on the end. It curved up and forward, coming to a point sharper than a quill.
“That tail thing, it looks like a weapon.” I heard Jake comment.
“Definitely.” Mau- no, Marco said. The little ship crept closer all the while, slowing the whole time.
“It’s stopping.” Rachel said. She had an ‘I can’t believe this’ tone to her voice. We all did.
“D-do you think we should… idk, do something? Run?” I asked. I did a lot of crazy things, and some might even call me brave, but I think this was where I drew the line and allowed cowardice.
“It sees us. Should one of us go and get a camera? Do you KNOW how much money we’d get for catching footage of a live UFO?” asked Marco. I rolled my eyes. Seriously? It would zap us dead before we got the chance. Is money all he cared about?
^Maybe there is something more to that, I shouldn’t judge^ I said to myself, mentally smacking myself in the face. but it seems Jake could voice my thoughts.
“If we run, it- they might… idk, zap us with phasers on full blast.” Said jake, clearly trying to ease the tension.
It wasn’t working.
“Phasers are only on Star Trek” Marco said, rolling his eyes in a “you dweeb” kind of way.
The ship stopped, and hovered over our heads, maybe 35 yards in the air. I could feel my braid come undone, my hair floating up high. I stifled laughter as I saw everyone else. We ALL had our hair standing. Rachels was in all directions, Toby’s was like he had been shocked by static electricity, Marco’s was up strait, and Jakes was like his cousins, all over the place. Only Cassidy- no, Cassie, looked normal.
“What do you think it is?” me and Marco asked at the same time. We both sounded shaky, him more so, and looked at each other in surprise before letting out a small laugh. None of us were so laid back, especially with it so close to us.
Jake looked calm, normal even, but I could see the signs. A ridged back, focused expression. He clearly was scared, as scared as us, and he knew it. But at the same time, I saw awe in his eyes. I could understand, even if I wasn’t as much of a fan with all the fictional space stuff like Aliens. I mean- a spaceship above our heads. Understandably cool.
Toby was grinning, but that was Toby for you. He’s not scared of the weird stuff. It’s the normal stuff he couldn’t ever stand.
I understood that.
The ship began to descend, and my eyes widened. “The ship is coming right at us!” I blurted. I had to fight an urge to run away, but I couldn’t just leave them there.
As far as I was aware, I was the only one with weaponry, or any sort of basic self-defense. (Getting bullied does that to you). I couldn’t leave them to die!
I guess the others felt similarly, or maybe they wanted to stay because it seemed… important, somehow. That was another reason I couldn’t move. I noticed black burn marks on the pod of the ship, and by Jakes’ wide-eyed gaze, I guess he did too. So did Tobias and Cassie, it seemed.
Soon, the pod touched the ground, and all our hair fell to the ground. I grabbed my own hair and tied it back into as much of a bun as I could, not dealing with braiding it right now. This was too important.
“It’s not very big, is it.”
“Maybe… about 3 or four times the size of my family’s minivan.” Jake whispered back to his cousin.
“we should tell someone.” Marco said. “I mean, this is kind of major. You know? S-space ships don’t just land in construction sites every day. We should call the cops, or the army, or- or the president. We’d be totally famous. Get onto letterman for sure.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” I heard jake said. “we should call someone.”
But none of us moved. None of us were just going to walk away from the space ship.
“I wonder if we should try to talk to it?” Rachel asked. I nodded, agreeing. She had her hands on her hips, looking at the spaceship with a puzzled expression. Like some riddle she was trying to uncover. “I mean, we should communicate, if that’s possible.”
Toby nodded, and before I could stop him, he started walking forward, holding his hands up to show he wasn’t carrying a weapon. I was carrying my dagger strapped to my thigh, but what they didn’t know couldn’t hurt them.
“Toby wait- Toby!-.”
“It’s safe.” Toby said in a loud, clear voice. “we wont hurt you.”
“do you think they speak English?” me and Rachel asked. I looked at her in surprise, but shrugged anyway.
“well, on Star Trek, everyone spoke English.” Cassie said with a nervous laugh.
Tobias tried again. “Please, come out. We wont hurt you.”
I know
We all froze. Okay, definitely had not been the only one to hear that then. “Okay, I don’t know about you guys, but I just heard someone say ‘I know’ in my head.” I blurted, before smacking my hand over my mouth.
I looked at everyone, starting with Jake. He was staring at me, and I knew then that he had heard it too.
Looking at Rachel and Cassie, they had the same expression, as well as Marco. Toby had looked taken aback, but hadn’t backed down from his location.
“Did everyone hear that?” toby whispered. We all nodded in sync.
“Can you come out?” Toby asked in his loud, speaking-to-a-not-human voice.
yes. Do not be frightened
“We won’t be frightened.” Toby assured.
“Speak for yourself.” I heard Jake Mutter. I couldn’t help but let a giggle slip through my lips nervously, along with the others.
A thin arc of white-blue light appeared, a doorway of sorts, opening on the side of the ship. I was totally mesmerized, unable to move as I watched and waited. The opening grew, smaller at first, until it became a whole circle.
And then… he appeared.
My first reaction was to gasp, in both awe and fear. I was completely amazed by the vision in front of me.
Like a mythical creature, a myth that you only ever hear good about. The creature looked a bit like a centaur, yet not. Its heads and shoulders and arms were more or less where a humans would be, although its skin was a pale blue instead of tan, fair, or brown like a human. Below that, however, he looked entirely like a deer or horse with blue and tan fur covering about 3/4ths of the horse/deer body. Ducking his head out of the doorway, I could see that he didn’t really look human, even on his more human features. Instead of a mouth was 3 vertical slits, and his eyes were…
Wow…
They were like mine! A magnificent glittering green that seemed to mesmerize everyone who saw them. But then I saw the OTHER eyes.
He had eyes on two stalks, similar to a snail in a way. They swiveled in every direction, and were the same green, but a bit smaller. They were odd, but I didn’t mind, even if I was cautious. Then, I saw the tail.
Oh, the tail! It was like a scorpion’s tail, thick and powerful looking, arching up and over its back. On the end was a wickedly curved, very sharp looking horn, or stinger. It reminded me of the spaceship the alien had just left. It seemed cute and harmless, until you noticed the tail. The alien was a similar fashion, and we knew it. I could basically see the cogs turning in Jakes head.
This guy could DEFINITELY do some damage.
“Hello.” Toby said gently, as if speaking to an infant. He was grinning ear to ear. I realized my own grin, and the tears in my eyes. I didn’t know why, but it felt as if I’d known this alien all my life. Like a friend I hadn’t seen in years.
“hello” the alien said, in that silent way we only heard inside our heads.
“Hi” said the other five.
“Hello there…” I said softly. I saw something, but before I could recognize it, the Alien staggered.
Without thinking, I moved toward Toby and the Alien, ready to help catch him. we tried, really, we did! But the alien slipped from out grip, and fell to the ground.
“Oh my god…” I muttered, a hand covering my mouth. Cassie gasped. “Look!” she gasped. I knew the others had looked over here by the gasps that had come from the group.
“He’s hurt…” Tobias muttered.
“yes, I am dying” the alien responded.
I felt my skin warm, and for some reason, I felt I could help him. slowly, I lowered myself to the ground, and knelt beside the alien. “We can help you.” I whispered. The Alien looked at me, and smiled- well, what looked like a smile with his eyes. “I am afraid you cannot, young man. The wound is fatal. I will die” >
“NO!” Jake cried, but I ignored him, putting my hands on the burn for some reason. I could feel something working under my skin, but felt as if I had to help this guy.
Call it gut instinct.
“You can’t die. You’re the first alien to ever come to earth. You can’t die!” I could understand, yet didn’t understand why he was so upset. I mean, I felt the deep hurt he probably felt, thinking of the alien dying.
“I am not the first. There are many, many others” I looked at my cousin, who was now looking at the blue alien.
“Other Aliens? Like you?” he demanded. I looked nervously at him, scared to provoke this guy or piss him off. The Alien shook his big head slowly, side to side. “not like me” >
The alien then cried out in pain, a silent yet bloodcurdlingly loud sound that you felt settle in your bones and echo in your mind I winced, knowing what pain like that was like. For a moment, I felt the alien dying. I worked more diligently, feeling the skin underneath my fingers start slowly healing, but it wasn’t enough.
I wasn’t enough.
“Not like me” the Alien repeated. “they are different” >
“how so?” I asked softly, hoping to distract the alien from the pain.
”they have come to destroy you”