So, it's a prequel-ish to Dream of Far Away.
Un-beta'ed.
- o - o -
Meeting Bereet is something of a lucky accident.
Peter's hunkered down in a remote cabin he bought through an intermediary a few years ago, waiting for the furor over his latest prank (and by prank, Peter meant theft of government property) to die down. He would say that he hadn't known repurposing a few government satellites to send out what he was pretty sure amounted to a distress call was illegal, but he knew it would be a lie. He'd really wanted to send it out, even though it probably wouldn't amount to anything more than another "Wow!" for SETI to get on their scanners.
And then there's a ship touching down practically in his front yard. It's sleek and shiny and Peter wants. It looks like some sort of bird, or a fish. Peter's not sure what it reminds him of, actually. He still wants one of his own. Then the pilot steps out, and Peter decides he'll take the captain too.
The alien – and only an alien can have a ship that cool and land it on the snow-covered ground outside a remote cabin in North frikkin' Dakota in the middle of January. Peter watches, open-mouthed, as the alien climbs out of the cockpit and looks around, red-eyed mask catching the last light from the setting sun. And then the mask melts away – digitizes away, Peter's brain supplies, because it looks like a computer simulation crumbling into pixels – and Peter's brain chooses that second to short-circuit.
He is well aware that he's not picky. He'll sleep with anyone if he thinks they're attractive enough and they're interested in him. But this alien… Peter sees him, and Peter automatically knows he's in the same boat as his mother was at his age. Aliens are awesome.
Fuchsia aliens are even better.
Bereet (Peter learns his name later) waves at him and hops off the side of the ship, saying something in a language Peter doesn't understand. He points to his ears and shrugs, shaking his head. The alien frowns, head cocked to one side. Then, very slowly, he points at the ship, then to Peter, and then up in the general direction of what Peter assumes is a satellite.
"That was me" Peter clarifies, an embarrassed look on his face. "I had no idea what would happen if I sent that signal out… Um. I didn't break any laws, did I? In…in your world? Universe? …Nod if you understand me?" he adds helplessly, wondering if anything he's saying makes sense.
The alien rolls his eyes and taps something on his wrist, mouth moving even though Peter can't hear him say anything. After a few seconds, the thing on his wrist gives a high, happy-sounding chirp.
"I said," the alien growls, sounding annoyed, "did you send a distress beacon from this planet, for these coordinates?"
"What's a distress beacon?" Peter asks, still entranced by the ship and her captain.
As first impressions go, it's only slightly worse than the time Peter met Tony Stark at a tech conference.
- o - o -
So, what did you think? Good? Bad? Think Peter and Bereet are going to get along like a house on fire? Drop a line and let me know.