Song of the chapter: Choir Noir - Doomsday, a cover of Architect's one

✖

I had always wondered how someone would react to these types of situations. An astronaut, falling to Earth. They commonly re-entered Earth via splashdown, but I have read that the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, had to eject during re-entry. He landed near a farm and was discovered by a woman and her granddaughter.

"Can it be that you have come from outer space?" the girl had questioned, not fearful of the man with his strange orange suit and bulging helmet.

"As a matter of fact, I have," Yuri has answered.

I truly hoped that that was how it actually had gone down. I briefly debated repeating the same question to the astronaut in front of me, but somehow I just knew this was an entirely different situation.

It might have been the fact that when the Traveller set its feet down, I realised how tall it was. I was sure it was reaching two meters in height. The spacesuit also had no patches indicating its affinities, such as a NASA logo or any other. Instead, just a large ✖ was printed onto the chest.

It might have been the shrivelling forms of the deceased doves behind it; their souls already have parted from the world. Doves: the birds that it had on its person seemingly for a reason. It couldn't have grabbed them mid-fall as doves are not active during the nightly hours. It must have had the animals beforehand.

It might have even been the metal structure that now laid at the impact crater, some of the parts having peeled away during landing and now littered quite a bit of land. The metal parts that were visible to me looked nearly... alive. As if something was breathing just beneath the surface of the metal: sculpting, shifting, singing.

A glowing blue viscous substance leaked from the broken ship and, quite literally, threw fuel onto the fire. The inferno intensified, and I had to shield my eyes from the sudden eruption when a large amount dropped onto the flames.

I coughed a lot, my entire throat feeling as if I ingested nothing but a bucket of chilli seeds. It pained me greatly.

The surrounding sunflowers glowed brightly as the flames amplified their beauty for a singular moment before they returned to ashes and dust. Everything the flames touched died out instantly.

Except for the Traveller.

It began to approach me, its movements slow – whether because of the new gravity or the suit, I did not know – but it had me immediately react. I cluttered onto my feet and took a few movements backward, away from the Traveller and the fire.

"Holy shit, are you okay dude?" I asked the Traveller, thinking what a rough landing it must have been. It had to have ejected from the ship before landing, knowing it would have perished otherwise. It still must have been quite resilient, not jumping with a parachute and being confident in its own survivability.

Looking back on this day, it would have been better to put distance between us instead of feeling the awkward need to fill the silence with the hope that maybe, maybe, it had actually been human and could reply in my own tongue. That it understood my nervous cluttering of words.

SHHRRRZ came the incomprehensible sound from within the suit. The Traveller had spoken its first word, if it could even be considered as such. It sounded much more like someone had yelled something profound into a canyon and the echo was an insult to your status as a mammal with vocal cords.

"I really hope that was just the suit and not how you actually sound," I whispered in distress to myself, my feet backing up away from the astronaut – possible alien.

Oh god, what if it was actually an alien?

Is this first contact? Me?

I had always the notion that when we would find other sentient life in the universe it would be in the form of microbes or bacteria or something small. If, on the slim chance, other sentient life had found us, then it would be in two ways: either destruction of Earth, or the seeking out of the one in charge of Earth. Our human representor.

KRRRPPZ came another trill from the Traveller's throat. Its head tilted to regard my hand, still carrying my phone. I inspected the electronic equipment in my hand, the photo I had just taken on full display. I quickly concluded that the field the ship had emanated, the one that disrupted the electronics, must have died out when the ship crashed. That meant...

Sure enough, behind me, the spotlight was shining brightly. A faint blur of light was also visible much further than that, indicating that the house had woken up.

Of course they did. A space ship had crashed onto our farm.

I hope that they had already called the emergency services. Throw in the military while they were at it.

"This," I started with a nervous voice, lifting up my phone for the Traveller to see. "Is a phone," I spoke slowly, not that it helped at all. It spoke in mere quavering vocal cords, yet I still had the hope that by some miracle it knew English and could communicate with me.

It struck out its hand, my eyes immediately picking up the missing two fingers from the gloved hand. I sucked in a deep breath, my heart starting to pound in my ears like a war drum.

Maybe it could be a... fashion choice?

That's ridiculous, Riley; I reprimanded myself. The glove only has three fingers because it has only three fingers.

PHHHNNNZ came in an almost demanding and louder tone, my body basically doping on adrenaline by now.

I briefly wondered if I could lift a car with all these hormones in my system.

It took a step closer, its hand still stretched forward and I yelped. I immediately tossed my phone over, the device falling into the dirt in front of the Traveller.

There was no way I was losing my life over something so petty. Even in a situation where you are being robbed, just toss it away and they will scurry to get it, giving an opportune moment to get away.

A life is much more precious than a few materialistic objects or currency.

I turned tail and bolted straight in the direction of the spotlight, leaving the Traveller in my wake with my phone.

My heels dug into the ground and propelled me further. The sunflower field was vast, but I ended up at the base of the spotlight sooner than anticipated. I could hear besides the rushing of my own blood and the organ that desperately pumped to keep me alive. My muscles were pained and my brain was cloudy. My lungs were working overtime and my breathing was hoarse and wheezy. My eyes were watering and itchy. I could barely function.

"Riley? Riley!" I heard the voice of my mother and saw her head over from the porch of the house, taking me into her arms quickly. "Were you at the fire? What happened?" she spoke quickly, moving away and ushering me along to where the rest of our family were gathered at the parking zone. Our father was busy on the phone, directing someone along the strange winding roads that leads to the farm.

Taylor was on top of the porch, phone out as he took a video of the fire.

From distance, that was all that was visible.

They had no idea.

Maxine was beyond bored and seemed to be taking a little nap on the steps to the porch, head leaning against the railing.

"It's, it's... it's not just a fire," I made my mother stop, looking her dead in the eyes. M She seemed a bit shock at how serious I am. "It's a ship. It crashed like a meteorite. Something came out of it," I spoke with a near-quivering voice, my throat burning and my voice hoarse.

"Something?" Taylor questioned, turning to regard me. "Like ET?"

"I don't know. It looks like an astronaut, but it doesn't speak English. Its voice and speech are horrendous,"

"Could just be Russian," my sister piped in, her eyes open halfway.

"You're not listening to me," I gritted out.

"We're listening. Where is he now? Is he injured?" my mother took hold of my shoulders, making me look at her.

"Still in the field. It wanted my phone so I gave it. It doesn't... really look injured. It ejected before the crash,"

"Okay," she hummed. "Maxine, go get the medkit ready for in case the ambulance takes too long. I'll go see if I can find him. You three stay here," she nodded seriously before turning and began jogging into the field.

"Wait, no, Mother!" I tried to get her to stop, but Taylor patted my chest to get me to stay.

"Like, full-on astronaut suit?" he questioned, phone shining in my face as if he was an investigator. I looked at him in disbelief for a moment before an uncomfortable tingling in my throat became apparent, the adrenaline that masked all my injuries fading away as I was in the safety of my family. I coughed out viciously, as if ashes have filled up my lungs. It was burning. Badly.

"Hey, are you okay?" Taylor became concerned immediately. I had to take a seat, coughing out nearly my entire oxygen supply. "Must have been the fire. Okay, just take it easy. I'll look up what can help," he was immediately on his phone, browsing the internet for a remedy to smoke inhalation. His face became pained as he read on. "Uh, yeah, just breathe," he sat next to me and began to lightly thump on my back, hoping it would help.

It was at this moment that our father's pacing brought him back to our location and saw the state I was in. He grew angry.

"We have an injured here. You better hurry up!" he yelled into the phone. My breathing did start to equalize but I was left with a splitting headache and an unequal breath. Taylor, all the while, was trying to comfort me and Maxine soon returned with the medical kit. She, too, tried to be the silent support.

Our mother had returned not long after, stating that the fire had spread too much and getting any closer would have been ill-advised.

She had seen no one in the fields.

✖

The fire brigade had been working non-stop to get control of the fire, a helicopter being deployed later to carry over water from the nearby river. It was bad. I had been on near-consciousness when the paramedics started to look at me, loading me up with a full oxygen mask and having checked to which extent my throat was injured. It wasn't too serious, to the degree where I wouldn't have to be taken to the hospital. I had been lucky I had only been around the intense fire for brief moments.

My father and mother were busy with the police, my mother bringing up the ship and the Traveller I had briefly mentioned to her before. They seemed sceptical of how reliable my information was, considering the state I was in. I couldn't deliver a full statement of my own at the time.

But they must have known, surely? Especially when the helicopter passed over the fields, it must have at least seen the ship. It wasn't exactly the smallest thing. Were they attempting to cover it up?

Sure enough, not long after, another helicopter came to land in the empty horse fields. From the printing on the craft, you could immediately tell it was the military.

Son of a bitch.

"Why is the military involved?" Maxine whispered below her breath.

"God, Riley, what if you saw right? ET? What if we're like Elliott's family now? Full-on plastic disinfection and all," Taylor shook his head in disbelief.

"Didn't ET and Elliott have a mental connection? Do you have a mental connection with the astronaut now?" Maxine recalled, looking towards me in question.

"I hope not," I answered shakily through the breathing mask, the puzzle pieces of events starting to paint a bigger picture in my mind as I recalled everything that happened in the short time span.

I met an alien.

I met an alien.

Me.

I called it a dude. The first contact with humanity and I called it a dude. Then again, it could have been much worse. 'Dude' is an ambiguous term. I am dude, he is dude, she is dude, they are dude. 'Dude' is just another word for 'human' really.

Three military personnel strutted over the scene, pulling aside the police captain in private. They had a quick interaction, serious expressions plastered on their brows. Our parents started to get suspicious, looking over towards me with question. I gulped.

"The Davis family, correct?" the main military-man spoke, her badges on a show of her utter prestige and the gunmen flanked her in respect. "I am General Bosler. I am taking over this operation now as a danger to the national security has been identified," she spoke strictly and to the point.

"National security?" my mother repeated in disbelief.

"Was it really a ship, General? Was there really a thing that came out of it?" my father was beyond shocked, as were my siblings.

"It was indeed a spacecraft, but you all can be rest assured, it was no otherworldly. This was one of our own," this had us in serious questioning. "As the entire situation has been confidential, I cannot tell you much more than the fact that our nation is dealing with a threat from another country in absolute secrecy. The craft is from our rival country, having sent them into the atmosphere from their side and land them here behind our border security.

It was their attempt at sending in a spy, but clearly, their plan had not been successful. Their spy has been lost in the fire," she spoke, as if having rehearsed the speech before. I furrowed my brows, regarding the General.

I may have been tired, but I had not been blind nor deaf.

I could still hear its voice echoing in my eardrums, sending shivers down my spine until my toes clenched involuntarily. The Traveller could not be human.

How dare they cover this up?

"Are we at war then?" my father questioned, a sort of new fear overtaking him.

"I assure you, this threat is no way as serious as an all-out war and it is being taken care of accordingly. We are nearing ending the conflict, and their spy had been an attempt at gaining an advantage over us. Now, not only have they lost their spy, but also their secrecy. They have given away their desperation. We have already won," she looked smug as she told her lie, painting our nation as an incredible superpower when we were far from it.

They were just the lucky ones who had an alien crash land in their nation.

My nation.

I felt my blood boil to the extent where I could swear I felt it evaporate off my skin, but that could just have been the heat in the air. The fires were nearly dead and the sunflower crops had been flattened into a black mountain of ash. Over the distance with the flat horizon, I could determine that the craft was no longer there.

They had taken it.

Had they captured the Traveller too?

I'm guessing it must've been quite easy. Its suit seemed pretty heavy.

Like a Big Daddy.

"I'm guessing this entire incident is confidential?" my father questioned, and my jaw nearly dropped. They believed her.

"Very. You will all have to sign a document promising your secrecy, otherwise, actions will be taken to assure the safety and security of the nation. We cannot afford a panic, especially when it is unnecessary. Your family's cooperation will be greatly appreciated,"

"Of course. Anything we can do to help," I could barely believe my ears, but I knew in my heart that no matter how sure I was of what I saw, I wouldn't be able to convene that to my family. They couldn't possibly understand the truth.

"The re-entry had been visible to many so the official story that will be released to the public will be a meteorite. There's no tiptoeing around that. We will have to temporarily relocate your family to secure the site and the situation. When everything has been cleared, we will return your family here and compensate for the damages," my parents seemed very relieved at that. We had, after all, lost the entirety of the sunflower crop.

The poor animals must have been terrified throughout all this as well.

"Where will we be relocated to?" my mother questioned.

"A safe house near one of our marine bases. You will also be debriefed there about the confidentiality of the situation. We will allocate half-an-hour for the packing of your necessities," next to me, Maxine was whispering something about the Russians coming to get us and Taylor was reviewing the footage he had on his phone. He must've figured that his phone would be confiscated in due time.

"Of course, we'll get right on it," my father spoke, indicating to us to start getting a move on.

"Before you do, I have been made aware that someone had seen the spy before his passing. I assume that would be you?" the General spoke, eyeing the oxygen mask over my face as he indicated to me.

"That would be me, ma'am. Riley Davis,"

"It is a pleasure. I would like to have a private word with you and have a military doctor also check your injury, if possible," she looked towards my parents for confirmation.

"Oh... yes, of course. We'll pack your things. Go ahead," my mother ushered, probably happy that more than one person would look after my injury but a bit apprehensive about the family being split.

"We've arranged transportation for everyone. You four will be gathered later. I will head out with Riley now," she nodded towards me and I could practicality already hear the words that would sprout from her lips as soon as we were alone.

You saw it, didn't you?

You know this has to be kept secret.

We'll have to erase your memory.

I really hoped the last one wouldn't come to pass.

"Thank you, General. Take care of my kid," my father nodded towards me before heading into the house with the others, each carrying a variety of different expressions.

Maxine and Taylor seemed sceptical about the entire thing and seemed utterly confused at what was the truth. They hoped it had been an ET, but they also knew it was highly unlikely. Yet, that didn't stop them from hoping.

My parents seemed to believe the General entirely, but also understood that they could not be informed of everything that happened.

They had wanted to speak with me alone first.

"Let's head out then," the General put her hand on my back and led me to a military truck that had pulled onto the estate somewhere during the situation. She helped me in with the oxygen tank that probably wasn't doing too much anymore. I was fine, surely.

She slid into the other side, indicating to the driver to get a move on. Along with pulling off, the driver also reached to the side where they pressed a button and a divider slid into place between us and driver. The General and I were now completely alone, possibly also soundproof.

We would be only two to talk and hear about this.

Although, there was probably a recorder in her pocket.

She sighed in irritation and sunk into her seat, placing two fingers across the bridge of her nose and pinched.

"You'll have to excuse me, but I'm sure you understand how this entire ordeal is more than just a headache," she spoke to me in a much more relaxed tone. "We're not going to be formal or anything here. I think the time for that had passed as soon as that thing stepped foot onto our planet," she sounded so... tired. Almost broken.

I was glad that we weren't beating around the bush. We both knew what really happened and there was no time for lies or soft words.

I took a deep breath in, the oxygen mask only enhancing the action. I pulled the mask off, testing my breathing a bit before settling down.

"It was like... a plague started to spread. It's not supposed to be here. Why is it here?" I turned my head to her, confusion etched into the creases of my face. She released a breath through her nostrils.

"We don't know. None of our satellites picked up anything and it was only revealed during the impact. It had been cloaked before this," that was more than just a terrifying thought. The Traveller's species, could they all hide themselves form out technology?

If there were more of it.

"Tell me," she sat up straighter, peering at me with a mixture of strict investigation and a child-like investigation. "What did you see? What was it like?" whether or not this was just a technique to get me to feel comfortable enough to tell her the whole truth or how she actually reacted, I did not care.

I wanted to share the information with someone capable and hand over the burden of it. If I never have to speak about this or even think about this again, it might be too soon.

This might be the single most interesting thing that happens in my life. It's such a tragedy that the Traveller didn't seem too friendly though.

"Fucking terrifying," I answered her. "I thought it was an angel or something at first, maybe like an actual astronaut that ejected on the descend but then... it had those doves. I don't get it, it had two doves in its hands and just basically tossed them into the flames. Allowed them to shrivel up and die. Why did he have the doves anyway?" I rambled a bit, more to myself than her as I truly started to collect my thoughts.

"Two doves?" she questioned, and I tilted my head in question. "Upon initial examination of the craft, we found multiple bird corpses. Not just doves. It seemed all of them had died in the fire. There must've been at least seven different species of bird on that ship,"

"Only birds?"

"Indeed. Was there anything it did that might give a hint as to why it had the birds on the ship?" I tried to search my memory for anything of such, but I could not think of anything.

"No, not really. It didn't seem to even care for the birds," I answered and she nodded in thought.

"So it had ejected from the ship, right? It killed the birds and landed. Can you describe to me what it looked like?" That.

That I had not expected.

I turned to her in utter confusion.

"Didn't you capture it?" the General's nostrils flared a bit as she collected her thoughts, but it was enough an answer as any. "It's still out there?"

"We have military personal surrounding the farm. Hopefully, we have it cornered,"

"My family is there! Why did you take so long to take us all then?" I was in utter distress, anxiety pooling into me as I worried about my family.

"The thing has gone into hiding on the farm. Sooner or later, it will have to show itself," she sighed and turned her head from me, her reflection in the darkened window. "Worst case scenario, we will have to smoke it out,"

"You would burn down the farm?!"

"I am sure you understand that it is an absolute necessity to capture this thing," I could not believe my ears.

Our home. They would destroy it so willingly.

They did not care about us.

Not really.

"Find some other way,"

"We do not have the time to look for it. It will have to come to us,"

✖

With a heavy clutter, the metal of the car above our heads caved in by something heavy.

Something big.