[Kie]

We packed up the flyer well before dawn and took off in the twilight. The communication satellites were still down, which seemed to bother Ben more than yesterday. Until now, I had not seen him appear so serious. That worried me.

The sunrise was fitting for a world named Paradise. Wispy clouds blazed orange and red against an indigo sky. However, a line of dark clouds at the opposite horizon foretold of a change in weather.

I found myself lost in remembrance of yesterday's adventures. Curse his charm! He pushed my boundaries and I actually enjoyed it. He would be easier to dismiss if he wasn't being so nice to me. Or was that part of his plan? I can't let myself fall for him and become another insignificant woman in a long list of conquests.

But oh, that body...

Why would he want me anyway, someone that was so, well, 'mousy'?

Ben zigzagged over the glaciers and around peaks on a preprogrammed search pattern. We did not know how far the object flew and this could take all day, if we find it at all. The further south we went, the thicker the ice pack became. Eventually, it began to swallow up even the highest of peaks. Colder on average than the planet of our parents' origin, ice covered about half of this world, distributed between the north and south poles.

My eyes grew weary from the hours of searching. I took off my sunglasses and gently rubbed them. "How will we find this thing? It could be anywhere."

Ben sighed. "I don't know. This is the general direction it went. All we can do is keep looking."

Something caught my notice. "There ahead and to the right on the ice."

Ben manually directed the flyer in the direction I pointed. "Good eye, Kie! I think you found it, whatever it is."

We circled the object. It was large, perhaps twenty meters long, half as wide, and ovoid in shape. A vessel of some sort? It left a long furrow in the snow atop the glacier, having nearly sideswiped the vertical wall of a grey rock pyramid that extended through the ice. The shiny metal hull gleamed in the sunshine, except for areas of black scorching. Piled snow and ice hid the front end. A cylinder-like appendage extended from the left side, attached to a short pylon. There may have been a similar cylinder on the right side, but all that remained was a twisted metal stub.

Ben shook his head. "This is some sort of spaceship. But I have not ever seen anything like it. Maybe something new from Earth? We should check for anyone onboard."

My pulse quickened. I hadn't thought about that. If someone was inside, they may be hurt or worse. "Okay."

He pointed. "I'm going to land somewhere on those rocks over there. It's not safe to land on the ice. There might be hidden crevices."

I nodded. "Thank you for doing the safe thing." A thought hit me. "Wait. Are we then going to have to walk across those hidden crevices?"

"Yup."

Ben had thought to bring ice safety gear. He helped me strap on a helmet, body harness, and some kind of spikes for the bottom of my boots. Despite the sunshine, the cold wind outside took my breath away and invoked a shiver. He tied a rope to the carabineer on my harness.

I asked, "What is this for?"

He grinned. "A leash. I can't have you running away." I glared at him. He raised his hands, still grinning. "Okay. It's really a safety thing. If one of us falls in a crevice, the other can pull them back up."

I gulped. "You have done this before, haven't you?"

"Not falling in a crevice, but I have hiked glaciers a few times." He lifted his head to the sky and pointed at the bank of clouds to the west. "We may not have much time. Looks like a storm."

Ben took the lead and I trudged along four paces behind, connected by the rope. The downed spaceship was only about a kilometer away, but the going was slow. I was thankful for the crampons, as he called them, for gripping the uneven and often slippery ice. We walked around several deep blue crevices that seemed to have no bottom. Ben explained that it was the unseen ones, those masked with snow or thin layers of ice, that were so dangerous. I had an uncomfortable thought that made me tremble. If he fell in, he would probably drag me down with him.

He turned his head around. "Doing okay back there?"

"Yes. Just don't get us killed, okay?" My voice sounded as nervous as I felt.

He turned around and walked backward, glancing ahead now and then. "You know what we need? A hiking song. Do you know the Blues?"

I grumbled to myself, "All too well." Then louder for Ben, "A music style born of suffering."

He nodded. "True, but it became so much more." He pulled out his viewer and spoke to it. "Play Blues chord progression, minor key, moderate tempo."

The music began. A gentle rhythm played with guitar, bass, and drums, classical twelve-bar blues. Ben bobbed his head to the beat.

https://youtu.be/uNhTJlrtJUI

As the chord progression came back around to the first measure, he said, "I'll go first."

     Oh, I'm walkin' my mouse,

     down the icy way.

     Yeahhh, I'm walkin' my mouse,

     hope she don't get away.

     And she'll be sorry someday,

     If she don't treat me right.

I narrowed my eyes and came up beside him. "You know I don't like to be called Mouse. People use it to mock me."

"Not I, my sweet mouse. Maybe you need to take the name back and not let others define it for you." He paused. "The music is coming around. Your turn."

I thought for a moment and in the first measure, began to sing in a jazz style voice.

     Oh, this man been buggin' me,

     down the icy way.

     Yeah, this man been charmin' me,

     wantin' to get his way.

     But I ain't fallin' for what he say,

     He'd just better treat me right.

Ben laughed out loud. He placed a hand over his chest. "I am wounded through my heart."

I started to smile in return but yelped when the ice under my feet gave way. My fingers clawed at slick blue ice as I slipped into the void. Terror squeezed my racing heart. I yelped again as the rope abruptly stopped my descent. Ben hauled me up. He has me! I grabbed his hand as I emerged above the ice and with another pull, fell into his arms. The momentum caused him to lose balance and he fell backward into a snowbank with me on top.

He held me to his chest and laughed again. "It seems, my little mouse, that we have fallen for each other."

The spaceship appeared much bigger standing next to it than from the air. The damage seemed greater as well. Much of the hull was twisted and dented, especially on the rear end. A jagged gash penetrated the metal on the side with the missing appendage. Strange markings were written above what looked like a door.

After failing to find a way to open the door we squeezed through the gash. Dim flickering lights lit a short hallway littered with scattered debris. We made our way forward using our viewers to supplement the light. After passing two side rooms, we entered the front room, the ship bridge perhaps. A forward window showed only the ice and snow that covered it. Two tall metal chairs faced curved display screens that flashed multiple colors of more strange markings.

Someone sat in one of the chairs. As I swung the chair around, I gasped and my viewer clattered to the floor. The occupant was not human.

I turned toward Ben and opened my mouth, but no sound came out. Furrowing his brow, he came to my side. Then his mouth dropped and both of us were rendered speechless.

The alien sat crumpled and motionless, its head tilted to one side, and obviously dead. A jagged shard of metal stuck out from its side, extending through an ugly rip in the long green sleeveless robe it wore. A thick blue-green fluid covered much of the lower half of the alien's body and pooled below on the floor.

Like us, it had two arms, two legs, and two eyes. The hands had two fingers and what looked like two long opposing thumbs. It was taller than us, but thinner and less bulky. Its skin consisted of iridescent blue-green overlapping scales. A disproportionally thick neck supported an oval-shaped head. The lifeless eyes were dark and large, but the mouth was small and round, if that was a mouth. There were no apparent nose or ears.

A scratching sound caused us both to spin around. Two large dark eyes peered up at us from the floor. I could not read any emotion in them, but there must be fear and pain. Slots like gills on the side of its thick neck opened and closed rhythmically. Breathing, I think. Blue-green liquid dripped from a gash on its head and also from cuts on both arms. A fallen panel pinned its spindly legs to the floor.

I turned to Ben and grasped his arm. "We have to help it."

He nodded. "You know, this changes everything."

He was right, and not just for us. Whether for good or bad, humanity had just changed forever.