Another day of patrol.
Foreigners had come from the sky and it was my job to make sure they weren't up to anything.
It is the sixth day since they arrived. My hideout was placed strategically, being far enough to see what's happening and have time to warn the boss and still managing to be out of sight.
There has been a few instances where one of the foreigners whipped around to look my way, assuming they saw me from the corner of their eye.
All they seemed to do was look at their equipment and pick pieces from the ground. And as the land started to darken they would hide away, only to reappear at light and do the same thing as before.
There were six of them, and they looked pretty ridiculous if you asked me. Large heads and bulky bodies that didn't look normal.
I assumed they could talk to each other somehow, maybe through telepathy. Today, only four went out. One went to the large and tall thing they brought with them, another picked up more pieces of dirt, the other two started doing something with more things they brought with them.
Everything was going fine until I noticed the shift in the wind. I knew what was coming next. I started packing up my stuff, and noticed as one last check that they were also hiding.
I lifted up the hatch and ducked inside. It's positioned as a natural camouflage as the ground covers it once the hatch is closed. I locked the hatch, I headed toward the voice combobulator and recorded a message to the boss, sending it before the storm would become interference.
I knew what to expect, as the atmosphere had changed so suddenly, the storm is bound to be very serious. I switched on the barriers for minimal damage and braced myself as the timer ticked down.
Sure enough, the pounding of the merciless wind rattled the shelter momentarily before the barriers kicked in.
I sighed, now I have to wait the storm out. Easiest way for that to happen is to sleep it off. I walked into the corner, where my bedding hung between the walls. I slipped in, the tendrils slowly wrapped themselves around me in a tender embrace. I quickly fell asleep.
I woke up to beeping from the barriers. The tendrils slowly released themselves from around my body and I placed my delicate feet on the metallic floor. Stepping toward the control panel, the flashing button was green, the storm was over. I knew I had to continue my job. I shut off the button and opened the hatch, squinting against the dust that flooded in. It was light out, the storm had lived through the dark. I climbed out of the hatch and shut it, the dust naturally falling over it leaving only the handle visible. The handle was disguised as a rock, which means no suspicion from the foreigners. I peaked over the hill.
Silence. Further inspection aroused surprise, as the big tall thing they brought with them is gone. The smaller but round one was still there though. I remembered the report say that they came in something similar to the taller thing, so the only logical explanation here is that they left. But, I know my orders, further inspection is mandatory.
Once again I flung open the hatch, for once not caring about the thud that occurred from the hatch door hitting the rocks and sand at such a force, and swung myself down, not bothering to close it. I raced over to the machine my commanders gave me and raced back outside. This time I bothered to close the hatch, a much louder clunk resounded than the thud beforehand. In almost childish excitement from the joy and possible promotion I could receive for this piece of information I switched it on. Bits and bobs glowed a colour close to my skin but more bright and it seemed to come alive. A small projection of the smaller thing came into view. I knew to search this place because this is where they would disappear when it went dark. It scanned for a while before a conclusion popped up. No life forms detected. YES! Commander is going to be so happy about this! I almost jumped up and down from excitement. This was my favourite part of my job. I once again jumped through the latch and hurriedly but carefully typed down a report telling Commander of the situation and requesting that I can do some investigating. Now all I can do is wait…. Or jump around in excitement. I think I'm going for the second option.
A report came in, flashing on my receiver. Clicking the accept button the report appeared and displayed its contents. The report was from my crush. Of course she had almost zero chance of going with me as that just wasn't how it works. The female chooses the male as the partner, not the other way around. That's just how it is and how it's always going to be. No one ever chooses me, the one who prefers to hide in the shadows. I've seen her around a lot of times but I'm one hundred percent sure she doesn't know my name, and sadly I don't know hers. The report only comes with a photo of the service women, no name. Names were associated with attachment, which was rare within our community if you weren't partners. As usual I read the report before I headed off to the boss. Twisting through hallways and corridors, I never gained a second glance, after all, I was only a messenger. Once the boss's door stood tall and intimidating in front of me I took a moment to collect myself. I knocked on the door with the pattern messengers use. One second later they opened. I timidly stepped inside, silently begging for her to speak up. She was standing with her back turned to me, staring at the painting hanging on the wall behind her desk, hands locked and hanging behind her back, standing pin straight she exuded confidence.
"Yes?" Her drawled question immediately sent shivers down my spine and I rushed to answer.
"You have received a report Miss, about the foreigners." I swallowed, glad I didn't stutter.
"And?" She replied. She gave no indication of turning around, usually this was rude, but she's the boss, it's not rude for her, and only her.
"It says that after the storm that rolled over yesterday the foreigners have left and they are requesting to do an extensive search for anything useful to us. Permission granted or denied?"
"Hmm." She hummed to herself while I angstily awaited her decree. She suddenly spun around and I had to resist the urge to jump back. She rested her hands on the table, azure eyes scrutinized my every twitch, fumble and turn. She narrowed her eyes and I swallowed dryly. She licked her lips slowly, "Granted."
I nodded once and swiveled around straining to not trip or do anything embarrassing in front of the commander, heading back down the halls and to my station to send her the seal of approval. I hesitated for a split second, my finger over the button, before I pressed it. The loading bar slid up until it lit up with one word: 'Sent.' before her face drifted away and the next telegram came through. I sighed.
The button dinged, Commander had replied. I nearly slammed my fist on the message alert button and the reply popped up. I squealed; 'Permission Granted.' "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" I loved this part of my job! I nearly tripped on my way to the right hand wall in my excitement, entered the password, opened the hatch and pulled out the utility belt, strapping it around my waist and the smaller two on my wrists. I gathered my hair up and out of the way, the smaller strands disobeying and falling over my forehead. I strapped more little gadgets in the slots provided on the belt. The last one was a weapon, every worker for the commander gets assigned two at one stage, one for the job and one for backup. I know the detector said that no life forms were found but it was better to be safe than sorry. I strapped the gun on.
Flinging the hatch open once again and letting it close again I jumped and slid down the dune my hideout was placed in, overlooking the foreigners base. But as I was getting nearer, anxiety started clutching at my stomach. I was afraid of what I would find in there. My foot got caught on something as I was just outside where the foreigners would enter. I bent down and untangled myself, confusion laced through my movements. It seemed to be a strong wire buried underneath the dust, my fingers pulled on it and I felt something on the other end, a while later the end reached me. It appeared to be some type of metal. There didn't seem to be anything special about it so I let it fall a few feet away from me, sand getting disheveled under the object. Just then a strange noise hit my ears, it almost sounded like a door opening back at the camp before we got a massive upgrade a couple decades ago. The sound came from ahead at a different part of the foreigner home.
It was the same place they would enter when it got dark. Frozen like a zupnor with a light shining on them I watched as one of the foreigners stepped warily out of the entryway. They were moving slower than how they usually would but that doesn't change the fact that they shouldn't be here. The device said there was no life forms and their 'ship' is gone!
Unless they weren't inside when I checked…
But I couldn't see them anywhere close to the proximity of the base! Oh, I am going to be in so much trouble…
Just take a step back, they won't notice. Get out of sight and make a run for it, go! Go! GO!
Big mistake.
My feet hit the metal pole I dropped seconds ago. It made a semi-loud noise and I cringed. We both froze. Stuck in time it seemed. The foreigner started to slowly turn around and with the same speed I started to ready myself. Suddenly, the foreigner jumped around out of nowhere, scaring the kruppa out of me!
Instantly, my gun in my hand pointed directly between what I hoped was their head.
"Stand down! Do not move or I will be obliged to shoot!" I shouted at them. I felt my skin prickle with animosity in an attempt to be more intimidating.
The gun started glowing, preparing a shoot to kill shot blast.
The foreigner seemed to react immediately by throwing their arms up so what appeared to be their hands were next to what I assumed was the head. I urged myself to keep calm, knowing that they couldn't possibly know what was considered a show of a threat or a sign of peace. I could vaguely hear some unidentified language running through a mouth I couldn't see. The foreigner started frantically waving their hands around, unknowing of what this could mean I instead sharply pulled the gun down to their feet and shot a warning blast. The ground just in front of them near exploded from the cosmic energy and something reminiscent of a shriek emitted from the foreigner. Now my instincts were telling me to run. Fearing I might've angered them. So I did the only rational thing my brain could come up with, through a small smoke bomb settled on my wrist and ran away.
My heart was fighting its way out of my chest as I frantically threw myself into the hatch and locked it behind me. My fingers fumbled in typing an alert to base that a foreigner had been left behind and I had had an encounter with them, but, as my hand hovered, shaking harder than it had in my life, I couldn't find it in me to actually send it. I was screaming at myself in my head to push it just push it you IDIOT THEY COULD KILL YOU. But I couldn't. The quiet and empathetic part of my brain kept throwing what ifs into my consciousness. What if, they were me? What if, I was in the situation they were in, all alone on a planet I don't know and was just attacked by a native? What if, I was scared and hurt and with no way to go home?
I couldn't press that button. Instead I sat back in my chair, the button glowing menacingly at me. The rational part of my brain suddenly switched sides. It's only one foreigner, you know they are most likely alone, you know their technology is a lower grade than yours, the commander doesn't need to know. Imagine how helpful it would be to communicate with them and find out why they came, if they become violent, then you can blast them to bits and pretend nothing ever happened. Easy.
It was not easy.
**A/N: Hello, I hope you like this idea that I've had for a few years, this is just a repost because I fixed up a few minor errors. Don't worry if you've already read the chapters already out on here because nothing really noticeable has changed, they were just bugging me. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading and will continue to follow my story. :)**