It is easy to dream, to imagine, to wonder about the mysteries of the universe, to consider if foreign life, intelligent extra-terrestrial life, exists and what it may look like. Yeah, to ponder is easy ... to actually have it show up not necessarily on your doorstep but as good as ... well, such a thing could never be imagined, so when it happens ...

***

A long, long time ago in a place far, far away, this may sound like the beginning of a story that you may have read before, actually it may sound like the beginning of many stories that you may have read before but this one, this story, well ... this one so happens to be different, quite different.

Sure it is ... some of you reading this right now may say but this one, it really is different.

It may come across as pure fantasy, a science fiction story, something completely made up, a story which may seem to be not real in any way, but what if it isn't made up at all? What if it is real? What if this is a story that has actually happened? Or has yet actually happen? In fact, this is a story of a future and of a past both coming together in somewhat of a present. Though before we arrive at the meat of the story, there may be one or two considerations worthy of being noted.

One such consideration or thought would be that of the possibilities of us being alone or not so alone in the universe. Us as in life, all life on Planet Earth., odds are that at some point in your life you probably already have considered such a thing, even maybe on some sub-conscious level if not on an actual conscious level.

The universe is such an endless array of stars that there just cannot be any way where we are alone in the entirety of it all? Maybe you might believe that we actually are alone, with there being no other life anywhere other than that on this world or ours. A certain race of intelligence who call themselves The Humari would not subscribe to that thought; in fact, it may be more than possible that the Humari are responsible for the existence of the Human race. This leads onto a second consideration.

Have you ever thought about how it is that we came to be, how the Human race came to be? Maybe you believe with what Charles Darwin suggests ... that we simply evolved from the apes? Or perhaps you follow what religion teaches? In Christianity there was Adam and Eve.

What if though both Charles Darwin and Religion were and are wrong? What if once upon a time, a very long time ago, on a world so far away that it would take decades to reach travelling at warp factor nine, there was life, intelligent life, life which was forced to leave its home? And what if some of that life made it here all the way to Earth? Then, what if it was this alien life which would go on to develop or evolve, if evolve is the right word, into what we know as Humanity today?

1.

To begin this tale properly I may as well start with the who, what, why, when, where and how. To get through all of that may just take a little bit of or maybe a whole lot of time, both literal and in actuality.

This is a tale about an alien named Dan or rather a being not of this world who just so happens to be known as Dan the Alien. You could ask just exactly who or what is Dan the Alien? And why exactly it is that he is called Dan the Alien? You may also ask as to whether he is actually a he? Well, Dan is a member of a race of intelligent life, a species known as the Humari. The Humari originate from a planet unpronounceable in English, so to those who ever had reason to discuss it simply just name that planet the Humari home world. Through centuries of neglect, their world became far too difficult to remain upon, and the Humari were forced to take to the stars in search of a new world to call home.

It is quite possible that way, way back in time, a large number of Humari who were indeed in search of a new world made it all the way to Earth at a time when no intelligent life, as we now see it, existed and through generations of existence they simply adapted and evolved to become what we know today to be Human.

There were large numbers of Humari destined to travel the stars for generations over a millennium, over a couple of millennia in fact, never to come to a new world of which they could call home. It is also quite possible that a large number of Humari throughout time found their way to Earth though once they did get here, they would discover that their distant relatives had become altered, changed into something new, something which had forgotten the past, forgotten what it once was, and forgot as to where it or they had come from. In effect new arrivals were seen as alien and not as distant cousins.

The Humari are a race of large Humanoid beings, were a race of large Humanoid beings, generally standing between six and eight foot tall. Even though most have a large frame, their heads are almost disproportionately large. They also generally lack hair and have large black eyes with an inner as well as an outer eye lid.

They are extremely sensitive to light to the point that it can much more than harm them; the light could be fatal to the Humari, though any comparisons of them to vampires would not be in any way accurate despite the sensitivity to light. Low levels of light, they can handle ... daylight, not so much.

The ship that Dan knew as home for most of his life had been abandoned in space. It was an old ship, a very old star ship that went so far beyond repair that it needed to be abandoned. A much smaller vessel which he subsequently had been aboard for many years, went on to continue to travel the stars until such time it too outmanoeuvred its welcome to then go and crash landed on a planet which had some harsh conditions of its own.

When Dan was born, there were many of his kind travelling aboard the vessel he was born upon, so many in fact that it still numbered in the thousands. Over time the numbers dwindled and there were no longer enough Humari to run such a large ship or to attempt to continue making repairs.

Humari generally live long lives so at the time when Dan crash landed in that much smaller vessel, there were just himself and four others remaining and out of the five travelling companions, Dan, being the youngest and strongest having what and average Human would consider to be a long enduring life, was the only one to survive the crash landing.

Now, the world he came down upon indeed had itself harsh conditions including lengthy stints of brightness and acidic rain that will burn when it comes in contact with skin even the thick strong dark green skin of a Humari and there would be very little anyone could call edible on this world.

Despite the conditions of this planet, Dan would survive quite some time. Adaptation, quick adaptation at that, seriously aid any and all Humari to survive any harsh situation with only the presence of light being something too difficult to adapt too. Dim light can be managed, though the stronger the light the more difficult the problem to survive within it.

It has to be said that at this point in time Dan, or Dan the Alien as he would become known, was not or is not his actual name. It would be his means of escape from this harsh planet that would lead to him acquiring such an alias. His love or rather need for darkness, and his spider like ability to climb would ensure that he would quietly and unknowingly to others, gain access to that means of escape. What were those means of escape to be? Well, that would be a Human manned starship on exactly the same kind of mission that the Humari were once on.

In the year 2097, Planet Earth is in trouble. Natural disasters happen all around the world almost on a daily basis, small countries have been evacuated, people have moved inland and many are left without a home. Life in general is a struggle. The decision had been made long before being put into effect and the time had finally arrived. To save the Human Race, Planet Earth needed to be evacuated. The journey to find a new world for all mankind would begin in late October of that year.

A starship known as The Pathfinder would lead the way. Not long into the journey, that starship known as The Pathfinder would arrive at a world that appeared to be a viable option to start some sort of a colony. A survey mission changed that, however. That planet's acidic rain would burn the skin of those who went on that survey mission and that burning rain would send The Pathfinder on its way again, but not without it unwittingly picked up a new passenger.

It would be at least a little while before anyone would even realize that there was a new addition though that is what he would ultimately become, ... an addition to the crew. His Humari name is unpronounceable thus he would be named Dan the Alien. His ability to adapt allowed him to pick up the language and it wasn't long before he was able to communicate in English.

Dan would even get to go on an away mission along with The Pathfinder's chief engineer Robert Stanford and lead pilot Jeffery Archer. This mission would not go so smoothly. A time fracture would send Dan, Robert and Jeff forward in time and in space too. They would come to be on an inhabitable world, one not unlike Earth, one much larger than Earth but similar in more ways than one.

The population of this world, of which there were many, were all humanoid for that's what they are, Human, descendants of those who left Earth to find a new home, so Robert and Jeff in no way looked out of place however, just like on The Pathfinder, Dan was still as much an alien as he had been from the moment he had left the world with the burning rain. With his looks, his abilities and his need for darkness, Dan would be more than a little bit different to those around him.

Despite Dan's differences, he, along with both Robert and Jeff, were accepted into society fairly easily. If anything, they were treated like stars for since they had moved forwards in time and with the fact they are or were from The Pathfinder, their stories had become that of legend, and everyone knew of them.

Like on Earth, this new world has a night and day, so Dan limits his movement to nighttime as much as possible. Society itself on this world was still growing and evolving and all three of the new arrivals would attempt to aid in its development.

With time working in a slightly different way here on this world than that on Earth and with all questions up to this point hopefully answered, we join the three friends in their combined place of residence where they have been for close to three years in standard Earth time.