Prompt: First encounters with an alien race

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Carl- An Unlikely Story

My ship crashed to Earth in the quietest of catastrophes. One moment, I floated through the stratosphere, flying somewhere past Mars. The next, this great blue planet pulled me into its orbit and sent me plummeting towards its surface. I landed in a splash of spark and metal, accompanied by no noise but a faint hissing as the oxygen left my vessel. That was fine; everyone knows Earth's atmosphere is similar to ours. If I had to end up shipwrecked on a foreign planet, this might be the best one.

I didn't think anyone would notice my landing – Sciratere's technology is far more advanced than the terrestrials could ever hope to be, and our cloaking mechanisms are impeccable. We've visited Earth for millennia, aiding in all their biggest achievements without their realizing it. There is only one rule: do not make contact with the humans. Empress Elaheh says that they're cold, bloodthirsty beasts that can't tolerate the slightest difference. An encounter with a different species altogether would turn out disastrous.

I didn't think anyone would notice my landing – but when I rose from the rubble of my ship, he was there. I looked up from the detritus at my feet and our eyes met for a moment before I broke off our stare, darting my gaze away. It's immodest to look another Sciraterrian in the eyes; a look that intimate is reserved for lovers. Sharing it with a human was downright blasphemous.

I'll admit, however, that I was struck when my eyes met his. In our Galactic Studies course, when we're still young, we learn that terrestrials are humanoid beings like us and that we look similar, but I hadn't realized how true that was. Though his eyes were a light brown – which, as everyone knows, is a downright unnatural colour on Sciratere – his willowy frame was just like my friend Arman's and his hair was a soft shade of blond. He looked like anyone I'd met – Sunbane, he was attractive. And, by the way he ran his eyes up and down my wider, more muscular frame, I guessed he thought the same of me. I blushed. Vain as it was, I'd put a lot of work into my body. It was as good as a hobby as any, a chance to focus on myself in a world that had room only for the wonders of the natural world.

"Are you alright?" he asked. I could see the hesitation in his eyes; clearly, he didn't know that the language he called English was in fact influenced by Scirateravoc. For all he knew, I couldn't understand him. "And what is that pile you're sitting on?"

"I'll be fine. My ship, on the other hand, won't. I can make a call home once my Locatech fires up, but that won't be until the full moon. Judging by the emptiness of the sky overhead, I'm going to say that's a while away."

"A month, yeah." He frowned. "What's a Locatech? And where is home, exactly? That...ship...doesn't look like anything I've ever seen."

Pulling my Locatech from my pocket, I walked over to the man and showed it to him. "Location Technology," I explained. "It allows me to reach my home planet if I'm ever stranded or even just homesick on a longer voyage. Unfortunately, it only charges up with the light of a full moon."

"Home planet?"

"We call it Sciratere. It looks a lot like your Earth, actually. Of course, our scientific exploits far outweigh yours, but not everyone can be as gifted as us."

"Rude," he teased. The joking look in his eyes faded as my words sank in. "You mean...you're an alien?"

"Only on this planet," I retorted. "Anywhere else, and you're just as foreign as I am. Maybe more, actually – the Toad-men of Lilyphar would probably think of someone who looked like us as much stranger."

He shook his head, disbelief filling his shaky stare. "That's impossible. Unlikely. Something straight out of a sci-fi story."

"I'm not familiar with this sci-fi you speak of. As for stories...are those the same as music? Or are they more like visual art? Either way, it seems a frivolous waste of time. Think of all you could achieve if you weren't pursuing aesthetics."

"You don't have stories?"

I shook my head. A shiver raced through my body; it was summer in Sciratere, and so I hadn't brought a coat with me. The weather here, however, was far less pleasant.

"Where am I?" I asked. "I know I'm on Earth, but this country seems particularly harsh and cold. What do you call it?"

He laughed. "Canada. Come in, if you're cold. I live alone; no one will mind. My name's Ethan, by the way."

As Ethan turned towards his house, I froze still. I couldn't do this, even if he seemed nothing like the humans the empress warned us of. Travels to Earth had exactly one rule, and here I was about to break it. Sciraterrians didn't believe in incarcerating their own – it's a waste of manpower and resources – but I'd surely be sentenced with multiple hours of extraneous lab work when I got home. Nonetheless, I wouldn't be able to reach my home planet for a month, and I had no place to stay. Besides, I'd already broken the rule. Surely, the damage was done.

"I'm Xerxes," I replied. "Do you think you could show me some of those sci-fi stories you speak of? I have to admit you've peaked my interest."

"Of course. I have plenty."

His eyes gleamed in the starry night; my stare refused to leave the sparkle of his gaze. Something unfamiliar twisted in the bottom of my stomach as I followed him into the small log cabin he called a home. Whatever I was getting into, I had a feeling it was unlike anything I'd ever encountered.

[|]

"But yet let them have a care, not to prove unjust usurpers, and to rob me of mine: for, concerning the Philosophical-world, I am empress of it myself; and as for the Blazing-world, it having an empress already, who rules it with great wisdom and conduct, which empress is my dear platonic friend; I shall never prove so unjust, treacherous, and unworthy to her as to disturb her government, much less to depose her from her imperial throne, for the sake of any other, but rather choose to create another world for another friend."

I blinked at Ethan, staring at his sharp, soft features as he finished reading to me. The symbols on the page made little sense to me – any information worth knowing on Sciratere exists in numbers or is transmitted orally – but there was a beauty in the way Ethan could draw them together into a meaning. I understood, for a moment, why terrestrials wasted their time with so futile an endeavour. I wondered, for much longer than a moment, what atrocities the empress could've seen to set her so drastically against humanity.

"Just to clarify," I ask, "the duchess and the empress have sex in the duchess' husband body? And you call this science?"

"Cavendish thought that all matter had sensation, and that consciousness therefore wasn't bound to the body. Besides, that's only part of the story – you're picking and choosing as you go."

"Isn't that what people do with stories? How do you store all that information in your head?"

"We don't," Ethan answered. "We read it for the sake of reading – except for those of us who study books, and then you're right; we pick parts that fit our argument. But when we do, we explain why the parts that go against our interpretation don't actually disagree with us."

"That seems strange and counterproductive. Why bother?"

Ethan shrugged. "Because that's culture. It helps us understand what it means to be human, what makes us different."

"We certainly don't have that on Sciratere. Our technology is advanced beyond your wildest means, and we have the cure to every disease, but art? Nobody's thought of it. We have all we need."

"Your planet seems strange, Xerxes. Could you tell me more about it?"

"One day," I promised. "Maybe when I can tell it as beautifully as this Cavendish woman tells her stories."

Weeks passed in Ethan's home, and with each day came another story until the twenty-first night had befallen us and suddenly I found that I'd grown accustomed to this life. I'd grown used to his home, his voice, his face – his bed, even. I began to think that I could stay here, if I wanted to, and that I could be happy here. That Empress Elaheh had been wrong, or misguided, or simply that Ethan was different. It seemed, as some quaint human philosophers thought long ago, that our very atoms were drawn to each other. Recently, I'd realized that I felt a desire to give in to him in a way I'd never felt. I wanted his body against mine, his lips all over me, his hands to navigate me as I'd travelled the galaxy to crash in his back yard. There were moments, too, when I felt he might want the same thing – but neither of us acted upon them. I think we were afraid, deep down, that our differences, minute as they were, would prove insurmountable the moment we dared to cross such a boundary.

So we settled for nights spent in his bed, reading stories and sleeping side by side. I told myself that an accidental brush against his legs in the middle of the night could satisfy my longing. Meanwhile, a fire burned inside me amidst the tepid flint-coloured walls of his bedroom. I rolled toward him, allowing myself a moment in the strangeness of his eyes, then turned away.

"Sci-fi seems to be a series of strange, unlikely stories," I said. "Do you have any more?"

A grin sprawled itself across Ethan's face. "I think it's time for my favourite. How do you feel about resuscitation?"

"Scientifically implausible, but a promising premise. Go on."

"You can't bring back the dead?" Ethan asked.

"We can cure any disease, but death is more than that. Nobody can escape it, and it's for the best."

"Oh..." Ethan flinched. I put my hand on his and smiled at him. It was a faint shadow of any comfort I could try and show him, but it'd have to do. Not for the first time these past few weeks, I felt acutely aware of how little Sciraterrian science knew of aiding the problems of the heart. In this matter, the terrestrials were far superior. Perhaps that was the use of art, then – no. I don't like that. I like to think that art has no use; I think that's what makes it so beautiful.

"I'm sorry about your mother, Ethan. If there were anything I could do, I would."

"You shouldn't," Ethan joked. His voice trembled as he said it. I watched as he struggled to push back the tears swelling at his eyes. "That's the whole point of Frankenstein. There are some miracles science shouldn't do."

"Really?"

"Sort of. Personally, I think it's more of a if you're going to make a large corpse son, you'd better be prepared to love him kind of story, but I've got a soft spot for monsters."

I winced.

It was Ethan's turn to face me and try and reassure me, and he was much better at it than me. With a few deep breaths, the sinking stomach in my stomach disappeared. I sent him a weak smile and the worry faded from his features.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean it that way. Half the time I even forget you aren't from here. The other half I wonder what it says about me that I could..."

"That you could what?"

I suddenly grew aware of the proximity between our faces and the way in which our eyes locked into each other. Three weeks ago, I would've squirmed at the mere thought of this moment. I never would've thought I could crave it, but the way my heartbeat picks up when his lips move toward me is undeniable. His mouth is just as soft as any other I've kissed – not that there are many – and when he pulls away, I want to lean over and try for another, but I don't. Maybe this was a lapse in judgment. Maybe our story could only be science fiction; we could take the world's natural laws and stretch them as far as reason allows, but at the end of the day there is no truth in our hypothesis. So I turn away and sink back into his sheets and listen to him as he tells me chapter through chapter and the sound of his voice dulls my pain.

"It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet..."

[|]

I recoil as empress Elaheh pulls the memories from my mind. She can see every moment we shared together, every story, every thought, every kiss. I know that our romance is what I should most want to protect from her, but it isn't; it's the stories. I want them to be my own, a secret between Ethan and myself, but the MemPull is far too strong for that. Nothing is mine. There's no room for the individual in a place of objectivity and truth, and I've allowed myself to be tainted. I've lost my use.

"We have one rule, Xerxes," she hisses. "Don't make contact with the humans. So what do you do? You go and mate with one."

I've never seen the empress this angry before. Sciratere is a peaceful nation, one who offers its technological assistance to neighbours as a means of ensuring peace. She has no war to fight, no enemies to kill, but now she has my disobedience to meddle with. Because of me, there is a human who knows of our existence, and that's an unforgiveable offense in her eyes. I knew it was when I committed it; I gave up hope on talking myself out of trouble the moment I followed into Ethan's home, and every moment was worth it. It was a story, my story, and it's one I'll never forget.

"I was stranded!" I try. "I needed someplace to stay, at least until I could contact you. And he saw me. There was only so much I could do."

"Surely, that so much included not copulating with a terrestrial," she retorts. I shrink a little under the fire of her glare, but I don't fade away altogether. A month ago, I wouldn't dare look her in the eye, but now I have something to fight for. Whatever happens to me, Ethan didn't do anything wrong. He doesn't deserve to be punished for my indiscretion.

"He won't tell anyone, I swear. Ethan understands. He just wants the best for me – he'd never do anything to hurt us. I think you're wrong," I confess. "Whatever you saw in the terrestrials, there's so much more to be found. What've they done to you?"

"That's none of your business," she hisses. So there is a reason. I may not know what it is, but at least I know it's there. It's Elaheh's own blindness that holds us back. The news fades the unrest I've grown to associate with rebellion; I'm in the right.

"I should eradicate them," the empress threatens.

"Over your own bias? And wipe out their culture?" I ask. "It's so rich, so beautiful, so unlike anything we could ever craft – their stories, empress! You should hear them! They're wonderful."

"Don't question your empress, Xerxes. You think I care for stories?"

"I think you care for life. And those stories are life. I'd give my own to protect them, to protect him. Please," I beg, "if you're going to punish someone, punish me. Kill me, if that's what it takes."

"Sciratere doesn't punish its own, Xerxes. You know that."

"But you'd be willing to push my crime onto an unknowing planet? Surely, you know that makes no sense."

Elaheh's glare intensifies, but I grow stronger under it. It's working. The point I'm making has an impact. I may not be able to save myself, but at this point that doesn't matter. There are bigger stakes than my own life.

"You dare claim to know better than me?" she asks.

"I dare. I implore you, Empress Elaheh, let them be. I'll bear the weight on my shoulders, even if it's the weight of the world itself. Show mercy."

She frowns. "You've changed, Xerxes. All this for a man?"

"All this for the stories."

"Fine," she sighs. "Have it your way. I'll spare your precious Earth – but you're to be exiled from Sciratere. You will be stripped of any gadgets and technologies that could provide evidence of our existence, and you'll be left to live out the remainder of your life on Earth. You will leave your family and renounce access to any of the care we can provide here. By all standards, you'll be no more than a human. Is that understood?"

"Yes, empress." I smile.

"Very well, then."

The second time I crash to Earth, it is in boisterous bliss. I run from between the trees, increasing despite my fatigue as Ethan's cabin comes into sight. By the time I reach the door, I'm out of breath and my heart is pounding, but I don't care. He opens on the first knock; our smiles grow in synchronization, and I throw my lips against his. He takes a few steps back, guiding me in the movement of our melodies before shutting the door behind us. We crash on his couch, not even bothering to remove our shoes, and hold each other as though the galaxy might separate us at any time. In the blink of our eye, our unlikely story begins a new. And, in the moment, it hits to me that this story, that any story, could not possibly be just fiction. It lives in our hearts; in our minds; in our souls.

We tell it, and, like the scientist to his beast, we bring it to life. And it, in turn, gives us beauty we never could've imagined.

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Ishmael- Setting Suns

NOTICE: This document has been translated from its original language. Certain words and phrases have no English translation and have been redacted. See the attached files for the names and identities of the deceased.

Month Five, Year 35-821 of the Second Sun Cycle:

Something incredible has happened. I don't know who to tell. Or if I can tell anyone at all. But if I try to keep it a secret any longer, I'll burst! Last night was my last chance to see the twin suns in the sky for who knows how long. Some people say that you only ever get to see it once in your lifetime, but Mother says that isn't true because she's seen it at least three times. But this was my first one!

I snuck out of my room and went into the fields where I knew I wouldn't be seen. It's almost time for the harvest and the crops are easily above my head now, so I knew that from far away it wouldn't look suspicious. But drops of dew kept falling off the [UNTRANSLATABLE: HARVEST CROP; SEE FILE J-461.3 FOR SPECIMEN SAMPLE] and onto my skin. My whole body shivered as I looked up at the sky. Blue and grey crashed together around the suns, sending specks of light across the whole sky. I held my breath, standing up as straight as I could. For a moment, I could see everything. The burning suns, their red and yellows scattering across the horizon, and everything beyond our world. I must have seen all the way to the other side of forever.

And then, while I watched: I saw it.

A third sun appeared in the sky!

I thought that I was dreaming! That I had fallen asleep in the fields and that any moment I would wake up, but no! The more I watched, the closer it became. It was hot, glowing white around the center and getting bigger each time I took a breath. What could it mean? What would They have to say about it? Would They claim it and make a new sun? I didn't know. My blood was pounding. I was shaking, but not because of the cold this time.

The sun got so close that it kissed the ground, causing huge sparks to go everywhere! I wanted to stay and see what had happened, but the heat was so intense even from far away. I forced myself to go back inside and write this down, just in case. I'm so excited I don't think I'll sleep at all.

Tomorrow, I'm going to see where the sun kissed and find out for good what happened.

Month Five, Year 36-821 of the Second Sun Cycle:

I spent all of today looking for the place where the third sun hit the earth. It was further away than I thought, but my legs are long and I made it there okay. Everything was burned. The ground was streaked with red and black and the closer I got the quieter everything became. It was like all the life had been taken away and replaced with smoldering sheets of twisted metal.

But there was something else.

Tracks, leading away from the sight. Heavy ones, like whatever made them was hurt but still moving. I knew that I should have gotten someone to come out with me. But something told me that this needed to be a secret. So I followed the tracks on my own.

They didn't go far, just to a cave hidden between two trees. I don't like the dark but I knew I had to be brave. So I went inside, all the way to the back: and there it was. The real mystery.

I wish I could tell you what it was. But I don't think I know the right words. It was scrawny, curled up in some little corner with all its limbs tucked around it. When I said hello, it let out a high-pitched screech and scrambled to get up. Even in the dark, I could see it bare its teeth and snarl. A series of growls and whines left its mouth, almost like it was trying to talk to me. I tried to keep my voice gentle. I asked, "Where did you come from?" and told it, "You're safe now." But this...animal? This...thing? Didn't respond. It just looked confused and scared and hurt.

Eventually, I think it started to calm down. It wasn't easy, but after it saw I wasn't going to hurt it then things were different. I have decided to name it Setting Suns because that is when I first saw it. I will keep Setting Suns as my pet and love it forever. We're going to be best friends.

Month Five, Year 37-821 of the Second Sun Cycle:

Setting Suns is a hard pet to keep. It keeps wandering off, looking through the broken metal around where the sun fell! The first time I was really scared. I looked everywhere and I was just about to tell Father that I had lost it before I thought to look by the metal. Now, I know that when I can't find Setting Suns, it's always over there. I think maybe that it's following the scent? I don't know how it smells anything with that weird shell it has.

Month Five, Year 37-821 of the Second Sun Cycle:

I don't know much about where Setting Suns came from, or why it likes metal so much, so I decided to ask the smartest person I know. I drew a picture of Setting Suns and took it to my teacher today. I asked if they had ever seen anything like that before. A creature with only two legs and a shell wrapped around its head. I told them that it had come from a third sun in the sky and that it likes metal.

Teacher didn't really answer. They just patted me on the head and said, "You're very imaginative." But I know what that means. That's what adults call you when they don't believe you're telling the truth. Like when I found a [UNTRANSLATABLE: POTENTIAL ANIMAL SPECIES] that could talk! I bet Setting Suns would have liked it.

Month Five, Year 38-821 of the Second Sun Cycle:

Setting Suns has only a couple of holes. I watched it for a really long time yesterday to make sure. It breathes with the same hole it talks with. But today, I learned that it eats with it too! It's really gross to watch.

Then it saw the drawing I was doing of it. I've never seen Setting Suns move so fast. Its eyes lit up so bright like it was really happy with my drawing. I don't blame it, I'm a pretty great artist. Once, I drew Mother while she was at the temple. I miss her but she'll be back soon! "The eggs come first," she says. I like it better when it's Father's turn to sit on them.

Oh, I didn't even tell you the best part! Setting Suns drew me a picture! I think that it's learning. Maybe this way we can talk and be best friends. It drew a picture of a circle with it on top of it. Then another circle with me on it, and connected them with a line. Setting Suns was really excited about this picture. It wasn't very good but for a first try, I'm willing to give it credit.

Month Five, Year 39-821 of the Second Sun Cycle:

Setting Suns and I spend a lot of time together now. We mostly draw pictures back and forth. I brought colors so that we could draw more, but Setting Suns doesn't seem to know how colors work so well. I think maybe it's colorblind? Or maybe the shell makes things look weird?

It has a new piece now. It's metal, probably from the field where I found it. But it's not broken like everything else. There are lights that glow, and a marker that beeps and gets smaller every once in a while. I don't know why Setting Suns is so attached to it, but it takes the metal everywhere and every time the marker goes down it seems to get sadder. I wish I knew what it was counting down to.

Month Six, Year 01-821 of the Second Sun Cycle:

They came today.

I couldn't breathe when They came up to the teacher. The way They look at us, all glassy and fast as if we're not there at all, it frightens me. What frightens me more is when They talk to one of us in particular. When their eyes lock on to ours and don't let go. All I could think about was Setting Suns. What would happen if they found it? Would they take it away? Kill it? Setting Suns hasn't ever hurt anyone. I struggled to stay still like the others.

The teacher asked if we had seen anything strange recently. It took everything in me to stay silent and look at the floor. I don't know what lying will do to me if they find out. But I can't let them take my friend away. I can't.

Month Six, Year 02-821 of the Second Sun Cycle:

Setting Suns was still there when I got home. Nothing had changed, except for the little marker on its new piece of metal. I've never been more relieved in my entire life. My friend seemed...different today. It drew less pictures. Moved less. Mostly just watched me. I drew a picture of us together on the strange blue and green shape it draws the most. Even that couldn't make it happy.

Month Six, Year 03-821 of the Second Sun Cycle:

They are all over the town. It's not safe for me to visit Setting Suns. Just in case They are watching. I will try to go tomorrow. Hopefully, They will be gone by then.

Month Six, Year 04-821 of the Second Sun Cycle:

Nothing has changed. I miss my friend terribly.

Month Six, Year 05-821 of the Second Sun Cycle:

Setting Suns wasn't in its hiding spot today. I panicked when I couldn't find it and went straight for the metal in the field. My legs still ache from how fast I ran. I can't imagine what would happen if They had taken my friend. I found Setting Suns in the middle of the burned, red earth where the sun had fallen down on our planet. In its hands, the drawing of us together was still there. But it was sleeping now.

Something had changed. Its eyes were red and open, staring at me. Its face had a strange blue hue. I've never seen Setting Suns sleep before. I'm hoping that it's normal and that it'll be back in its cave soon.

Month Six, Year 08-821 of the Second Sun Cycle:

It's been a long since Setting Suns last moved from that spot in the field.

I think...I think I understand now.

But at the same time, I don't? What happened? Where did I mess up? I fed it and sheltered it and drew it pictures— so why? Why is my friend gone?

Month Six, Year 10-821 of the Second Sun Cycle:

I tried to go and see Setting Suns today, but I can't. Every time I try, my legs feel like jelly. There's nowhere I can go. Nobody I can talk to. I'm afraid that if I tell them, I'll get in trouble. Or worse.

Month Six, Year 15-821 of the Second Sun Cycle:

I moved the body today. I hid it so that They can never find it. Never take my Setting Suns away from me. Tonight, I'm going to bury this journal so deep in the fields that even after the suns burn out it will never be found.

Nobody can know about what happened. Nobody ever will.

*

DEBRIEFING:

The bodies of J. Andrews, O. Collin, and H. Malone have been recovered as well as the remains of their spacecraft. This is the only known documentation of the event leading to their demises. It is speculated that the gravitational pull of the second sun was strong enough to steer them off course and lead to a crash landing on the planet's surface. Two of the crew members died on impact. The third succumbed to asphyxiation several days later.