Part One

GT July | Stellar Allies | Part One

Words: Studying, Plush, Behemoth, Shipwreck, Alien

Sirens blared all around him. Lights flashed, creating blinding sparks left and right. There was no choice now. The vessel needed to land – and now. The controls and steering mechanisms groaned and tugged against his grip.

This landing wasn't going to be pretty.

"Just another mission. In and out. Routine. Yeah, routine my juthez! Make contact with the team. It'll be easy. Communication breakdown is common. Juthez! This is bad!" These thoughts wouldn't do any of them any good now.

With all his might, he threw himself backwards and attempted to level off the ship, but the damage along the edges of the wings was irreparable. Whatever had hit them knew exactly how to incapacitate their ship to force a landing.

"It's no use!" the captain pathed. "Get to the escape pods! Coordinates have been sent. Go!"

"Captain!" The second-in-command was shot a single look, which silenced her. The captain leaned over and tapped a few lights on the console, giving the ensign a determined look.

"You heard the order. Get to the pods. I'll be close behind. Go!"

Relinquishing the controls was the most difficult thing he'd ever done, but it was the captain's orders and the longer he waited the less of a chance the captain would have to get out safely.

"See you soon, captain," the ensign pathed as he slid out from the chair and ran to the escape pods. It took only two seconds to slide on the emergency suit, even though it felt like an eternity, and the ensign slid into the pod, slamming it shut behind him. The other places were vacant, showing the other members of the crew had already ejected.

He was the last one other than the captain.

Leaning back and scanning in, the pod rumbled around him before ejecting. The space craft was igniting rapidly from what little the ensign could see as he sped off through the atmosphere and to the ground far below. The wings broke off. The shields were obviously failing. The ensign watched with wide-eyed horror as the ship continued to burn up as it entered the atmosphere.

Something broke free from the ship. Was it the other escape pod? Was it just more debris? There wasn't time to think about it as the ensign's escape pod clipped something else, making it spin and spiral.

The ground far below was spinning out of control. Everything was blurring. Nausea swelled inside him. As the pod entered the atmosphere, the ensign blacked out, hoping beyond hope that his pod would arrive at the same emergency destination as the others after hitting some unknown thing in orbit and not somewhere completely off course.

How quickly those hopes would be dashed….

~~~^*^*^~~~

Space. An unlimited source of curiosity. The ever expanding abyss that exists all around us. It is the Dark Forest. It is the potential for greatness. It is the terror of the unknown.

It was here that Clifford Neilson found his true fascination. He had been studying it for years. Well, he and his best friend Jaxon Warner. Both boys were obsessed with the idea of going into space. They stared up at the Nevada sky for hours upon hours once it was supposed to be lights out for bedtime just to gaze at the night sky. They'd memorized the constellations and made their own telescopes before their parents bought them each one for their thirteenth birthdays.

Their love of science and the enjoyment of many of the same media forms made them best friends from early on in their lives. They were inseparable from day one of elementary school and they were still so in the summer before their first year of high school.

So, as they gazed up at the summer sky admiring the view, they naturally were in contact with one another. It was the time for the Perseids Meteor Showers, and naturally both boys were glued to their windows. As a massive streak lit up the sky, Clifford reached over toward his desk and fumbled for his walkie-talkie.

"Cliff to Jax. Cliff to Jax. Do you copy?" hissed Cliff into his walkie. The mechanical button clicked under the pressure of his fingers and a light static filled the air by his ear. There was a click and the sound of jostling on the other end of the line before his best friend's voice filled the air.

"Jax to Cliff. I read you buddy. Did you see the tail on that last one?" asked Jax. "And don't forget to say 'over' when you're done talking. Over." Cliff rolled his eyes, which almost made him miss the next shooting star, as he clicked the button onto his walkie again.

"Copy, and I definitely did see it. I can't believe how many we're getting tonight. And don't you lecture me about radio etiquette. I'm the one who taught you about using 'over.' Over." Cliff's elbows ached as he continued to lean against them as he absorbed the sky above him. The billions of twinkling lights above him was absolutely mesmerizing. He already knew he'd be asking for an astrophotography set that was compatible with his telescope for his next birthday.

"Hahaha sure buddy. Big ole' 10-4 on that. Anyway, you logging all of these? I'm trying to guestimate the length of the tails and approximate where they'd land if they collided with earth. Over," Jax replied. His mocking laugh on the other side of the line would have gotten under Cliff's skin if not for the next series of massive meteors falling from the sky making beautiful arcs as they burned up in the atmosphere.

"I haven't actually. That's a good idea though. We've got some record breakers tonight," muttered Cliff, mouth agape as he stared up. A twinge in his neck as he craned it backward to keep a full view of the sky made him groan. He pulled his eyes from the sky to try and massage the area.

"You okay dude? Over?" asked Jax. Cliff glanced down at his radio and noticed he hadn't fully released the "talk" button. Jax probably just heard a garbled moan from his side of the radio. Leave it to a friend to call me out on this stuff Cliff thought.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Sorry. Just a tweak in my neck. Didn't mean to cut out on you. Over," replied Cliff. He heard his friend scoff over the line and, before he even said anything, Cliff already knew what Jax was going to say.

"From looking up? Shouldn't you be used to that since you're always looking up? Over," stated Jax. Cliff felt himself shaking his head and laughing silently as he understood his friend's meaning; and it wasn't just a looking up at space joke. Cliff had achondroplasia, so he was usually looking up at the people around him. It was said in jest and meant as a joke between them, along with the frequent joke of, "You'll always look up to me," stupidness, but it still made Cliff smile.

Jax was one of his only friends who didn't treat him any differently than anyone else, and the jokes that he made were ones Cliff genuinely thought were amusing. He rolled his eyes and clicked his button again.

"Yeah, ya' big oaf. I can only imagine how your neck must feel. Do giants have neck problems? Over," grinned Jax.

"Naw, man. It's in the knees. Always in that deep squat to talk to everyone. Gotta get that replaced. Know any good doctors? Over," asked Jax. Cliff opened his mouth to retort when a massive streak ignited the sky. All words abandoned him as he gazed up at the dazzling lights. "Woah! Man! Are you seeing this? Over!"

"Yeah," he mumbled, mind barely registering that he had squeezed the "talk" button as he watched the tail ignite the sky. Cliff's eyes fixated on the meteor, but then something caught his eye. There was something about how it was breaking apart that didn't seem like a normal meteor.

Thinking fast, Cliff redirected his telescope to the sky and the place where he could see the tail. He had just gotten it in his sights when he saw seven different pieces break off one by one. What was interesting was the fact each one of the pieces broke off separately with little bursts, each propelling it away from the main body. It was a behemoth of a meteor, at least for average size measures, and was sure to make the news the next day.

Cliff nearly continued tracking along the main body of the meteor but paused when one of those fragments broke off and, to his sheer excitement, saw it hurdling toward him. He pried himself away from his telescope and looked back out the window eagerly, heart pounding a hole right through him.

Sure enough. The piece he saw before looked like it had broken off and was arcing right for the ground and, if he was right, it was probably going to land close. Cliff watched with baited breath as the larger mass continued toward the ground far to the north while the smaller fragment he spotted spiraled and crashed. The teen boy was practically throwing himself against the window as he realized where the meteorite had impacted.

"My dude! Did you see that? Did you see it! It landed! We've got a meteorite in the fields! It's in the park! It's gotta be!" Cliff was sprinting around his room pulling on a jacket and his science bag while shoving his radio clip through the side pocket. He was pulling on his headphones when he heard Jax's reply.

"I know! I know! And you didn't say over! Over!" Jax said. From the rustling sounds Cliff heard in the background, he guessed his friend was also pulling on his clothes.

"I'm on my way down the block. Meet me there on your bike. We're going after it! Over!" hissed Cliff eagerly. Despite his excitement, the teenager was able to slip out of his childhood home past his parents' room without issue and, within a minute, was on his Joni peddling his heart out.

He beat Jax by only a few seconds as the two boys turned their attention to the fields that led to the national park right across the way. Both boys gazed in the direction they saw the crash and grinned at one another eagerly.

"You think we can actually make it?" asked Jax. "Before anyone else I mean. I can't imagine we're the only ones who saw that."

"Only one way to find out. It's probably a few miles in. Fastest peddling will get us there in fifteen to twenty minutes if we're really going at it," estimated Cliff. Jax grinned and pushed his unruly hair out of his eyes and under the rim of his helmet.

"Then we'd better get moving," he said firmly.

Determination and excitement fueled the two boys as they turned their bikes to the swath of desert that lay in front of them. The terrain was tricky and navigating in the dark was also a bit of a beast. These boys, however, were undeterred. With their monochromatic lights geared for seeing in the dark and their knowledge of the terrain, their adventure felt short lived despite nearly thirty minutes passing since they'd left the safety of their home to charge out into the midnight lit desert.

Jax and Cliff both huffed and puffed as they pushed their bikes up the final part of the hill. The entire way, the smell of burning stone filled their nostrils. They knew they were close, and they had the right gear for the job. They'd done their research and had several of the essentials including gloves, tongs, aluminum foil, and even multiple containers to put it in. They'd figure out how to divide it up later.

As they crested over the hill, they saw it – a small crater. It wasn't very big, but neither of them expected something massive. It was just a meteorite fragment after all. The bigger piece was far to the north, and it was way too far away for them to go after tonight. This piece, however, was going to be perfect for the aspiring astronauts.

"Almost… there," puffed Jax. He hopped back on his bike and rode the hill all the way back down. Cliff did the same. The bumpy terrain shook Cliff up one side and down the other, but he didn't care. This was going to be his first adventure harvesting a meteorite. The first of many if he had anything to say about it.

Cliff was trembling with excitement as he and his friend abandoned their bicycles a few hundred feet away from the flickering, fiery mess burning in the ground.

"Safety first," Cliff instructed as he pulled off his backpack and put on a filtered face mask that he'd used for chemistry class. Jax did the same before handing Cliff a pair of heat resistant gloves.

"Nice and careful. You get the aluminum foil and I'll get the tongs," directed Jax.

"Hey!"

"I'm only saying that because my arms are longer. I don't want to get too close to the fire. You should be happy you get to hold it first," Jax pointed out. Cliff rolled his eyes, wanting to be the one to use the tongs, but relented with the alternative of being the first between them to hold a meteorite.

"Got it. Ready?"

"Ready."

They crouched and cautiously stepped forward. The ground crunched under their shoes as they crouched and inched their way closer and closer to the burning place on the ground. Thankfully, nothing nearby was burning to create a dangerous fire.

Their hearts were hammering faster and faster, both glancing nervously at one another as they approached their target. Cliff wondered what the texture was going to be like. Was it going to be rough or smooth? Would it have ridges or be like an ocean smoothed stone? There were so many different reports of what it could be like.

But, as they approached, the boys began to notice some irregularities. For one, there wasn't a distinct crater. There were skid marks that were parallel that looked more like that of a docking boat in sand and stone. Jax glanced back at Cliff, who noticed his friend looked just as confused as he felt.

Neither spoke and continued to approach. Cliff felt his hands starting to get cold and clammy within the protective gloves he had on. The hair on the back of his neck began to stand on end, and there was something unsettling in the air. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something off about this area.

Now nearly thirty feet away, they could better see their target, and it made them stop in their tracks. What they expected was a hunk of rock from space, but what they saw was far from that ideal image.

The parallel skid marks didn't lead to a rock, but a cylindrical tube that was the color of liquid mercury. Something was hissing and whatever it was looked a bit banged up, dents creating odd imperfections in the surface making it look like scuffed silverware. Jax turned around to look at Cliff, mouthing "what on earth" before looking back at the tube.

For a moment, Cliff contemplated turning back or getting Jax's attention to plan a new strategy, but he knew his curiosity would always get the better of him and already he and his best friend were stepping cautiously forward toward the metallic cylinder. The hissing was starting to subside and, now that they were closer, they could see that it was hissing because there was a small section that was open along the side.

Jax crouched down and, like a military sergeant, he held up his hand with a closed fist, signaling that they should stop. He turned and, in a hushed voice, asked, "Do you see this? It looks like a shipwreck."

"Yeah. It does," muttered Cliff as he inched forward toward his friend. "Should we get closer?"

"I mean, I think so. I'm just worried about the hissing and stuff. Like, what is it putting in the air?" asked Jax. Cliff glanced around at the smoldering brush nearby and the tiny flames that hadn't extinguished yet.

"Well, it's probably not toxic. Look," he said as he pointed to the fire. "The flames are still orange. If there were other chemicals in the air, the fire would probably change color." Jax gave his friend a disbelieving look, actually swinging his head over to stare at his friend before fixing his eyes back on the flames.

"That's only a little reassuring. There's a million other explanations for that," Jax pointed out.

"I know, but it's what we've got. We're either turning back or investigating. So? Which is it?" The ultimatum made the decision an obvious one. Swallowing dryly, the boys inched forward once again, this time with the intention of moving forward.

Both of them were quaking in their shoes as they were now close enough to glimpse inside the small section of the metal cylinder. Just inside, they could barely make out what looked like some kind of odd plush made of a reflective leather. Tongs in hand, Jax's trembling hands reached forward and nudged the slit in the metal cylinder open.

The hatch clicked and hissed again as it slid open, parts of it grinding as it clicked open and revealed what was inside. The boys' jaws went slack as the realization hit them. Neither could tear their eyes away from the sight.

It was an alien. A real alien.