Dib liked to think of himself as a normal 16 year old kid. And to most extents, he was; he went to Hi Skool, got good grades, tutored Elementry Skool kids in science and mathematics and had a moderately active social life. He wasn't top of the social ladder or anything but he wasn't at the bottom of the heap anymore either. And while he might not admit it, he actually enjoyed his new level of social acceptance, even if that meant throwing in the towel on paranormal studies. Or at least for the most part; he did still engage in online chats and forums, but that was a bit of information he preferred to keep to himself these days.
By his dad's prompting to take up studies in "real" science, Dib had chosen astronomy and found himself really enjoying it. The study of stars, constellations and other planets quickly became his favourite pastime, and unlike paranormal studies it didn't garner negative attention or leave him prone to outbursts of frustration when no one believed him.
And so it was that night that Dib prepared to leave the house and go stargazing, as he had almost every weekend for the past four or five years. Bounding down the stairs, two at a time, he leaped into the kitchen, skidding across the floor and trotting out into the living room where his sister, Gaz, was seated on the couch. Absorbed in her videogames like normal, she disregarded his presence, though she was quite aware of him.
"Alright Gaz, I'm out! I'll be gone until maybe eleven thirty. You got my number?" He asked but already Gaz was holding up a little slip of paper. "Okay, you got dad's number?"
"Yep."
"You know where I'm going to be?"
"Lookout."
"You hungry?"
"Yep." Gaz held up her hand again, empty this time. She knew the drill by heart.
"Okay, here's twenty bucks for pizza, make sure to lock the door and call me if you need anything." Dib walked over, digging around in his pocket and producing the promised money. Gaz snatched it without ever looking away from her game, but Dib didn't mind, simply making his way to the garage where his car and his telescope waited for him. The Memebrane house was home to a pretty high tech telescope positioned in the backyard, but there was something more fun about going out of town where the lights didn't impede, where you could see just as much with a regular telescope as you could with a high tech one in the city. Something more up close and personal about being out of the noise and activity.
Quickly but carefully he tucked his telescope into the car and hopped into the driver's seat, heading out through town under the flickering light of lampposts and the glow of the rising moon.
The lookout was about ten miles out of town, a little over thirteen minutes' worth of a drive. It wasn't really anything all that special, just a little cleared picnic area on a mountain terrace surrounded by a wooden fence and a gravelly parking lot. Sometimes teenagers liked to go up there to fool around, and Dib did his best to avoid them when they did. But tonight, it was quiet. Perfectly lonesome, perfectly quiet, and perfectly clear. The sky had been a little cloudy earlier, they'd had a bit of rain, but it had cleared up beautifully a few hours before sunset and now the stars seemed brighter than ever. Dib exited his car, dragging his telescope out and setting it up on a smooth spot in the pavement so it wouldn't wobble and throw him off. Dib immediately went to work, seeking out constellations he knew the names of and noting their positions. Circinus, Bootes, Lupus..
It was then that Dib heard a strange whining noise. A very faint shrill, like that of a firework zipping into the air, but he could see nothing in the clear sky through his telescope as he panned it across the view he had from the hill. No fireworks, no meteors. He pulled back from his telescope, adjusting his glasses and deciding that it must just be some idiot in the suburbs doing something stupid, as per usual. He was about to go back to stargazing, but paused, narrowing his eyes as the sound grew louder. His skin crawled as he noticed a dim but very rapidly brightening light reflected in the eye of his telescope, and he whirled around just in time for his world to be engulfed in a blinding light as something shot over the canopy of the forest where it continued behind the parking lot. It blasted over him with a terrific hot gush of wind and smoke, bowling both him and his telescope over onto the pavement. He hit the ground hard, hands splaying to catch himself as he went down on his knees, though they slipped on the gravel and he ended up on his elbows instead as he attempted to prevent knocking his head against the fence. The noise as the huge projectile careened over the prostrate boy was intense, pounding in his ears but, so overcome by surprise, he didn't even think to cover them.
Immediately scrambling to his feet with no care for his badly scraped elbows and knees, he practically threw himself over the wooden fence separating the top of the hill from the parking lot.
"Wow!" He yelled. Eyes wide with wonder, with disbelief, the few split seconds in which he was able to catch a glimpse of the thing seemed to pass in slow motion. It couldn't be. It couldn't be..
But it was.
His thoughts were interrupted as what Dib had perceived to be an alien spacecraft came down in a heavy arc, disappearing into the trees with multiple thuds before there was finally an earth shattering crash; shattering glass, groaning metal, the forest lighting up briefly as if a light switch had been flipped on before it faded to blackness again. Utter silence fell like a heavy blanket. Dib was frozen, yet shaking, sweating, but cold, knuckles white as he gripped the fence, feeling as if he might float away without it.
And he had the biggest grin on his face. With hardly a moment's pause, he half ran half skidded down the hill, the grass slapping his bare legs, leaving little itchy cuts in its wake, but that was about as far from his concern as his broken telescope was right now, which lay all but forgotten.
The forest lay stretched out in front of him, dark and foreboding, but he charged into it anyway, following the hiss and crackle of what sounded like broken machinery. A dim pink light flickering in the near distance reassured him of his direction and he followed it blindly, pushing through underbrush and leaping over logs as only a lanky sixteen year old can. Heavily grazed trees and scattered pieces of broken machinery began to mark the trail, the ground still hot from where the craft had skidded. When he finally reached the wreck, he stopped dead in his tracks, drawing in a sharp breath. This was definitely alien in design. This thing, this ship was.. Eons ahead of anything humans could produce with their limited knowledge. Carefully he approached the thing; it was a huge mess, but Dib could easily see that it must have looked stunning before- characterized by rounded shapes and a mixture of muted purples and magentas. The back of the craft had been smashed open upon impact, and as Dib came closer he could see inside. An unknown language flashed across still- operational monitors, bright pink warning lights waning and waxing in the cockpit.
Dib held his breath as he stepped into the thing through the gaping hole; not only because he was in high anticipation but also because he wasn't sure if there were any gas leaks that might be damaging to him. Fully inside the back-storage area of the craft, he took a closer look at the screens. That was definitely no human writing, and the control panels were very strange in makeup, consisting not of the familiar layout of buttons but of touch screens. Hardly two steps into the craft and he was already thoroughly impressed- he'd dreamt about this for so long and he wasn't disappointed with what he saw. However, a small tap from the cockpit redirected his attention. A tiny, gloved hand had slipped down from the large singular chair that separated the two points of entry to the main control area. It hung limp, dripping with a bright, blue-green substance that Dib was afraid to find out the origin of. If the ship was in this bad of shape.. Slowly he crept forward, trying to be as silent as possible, and peered around the chair. He felt a wonderful chill sweep through his body.
A tiny little green creature sat there, clearly incapacitated. Slumped limply with its antennae pushed up against the backrest of the seat, one of its arms hung off the edge of the chair, its little legs sprawled out. It was wearing a simple yet pointedly elegant outfit of a segmented magenta tunic with a high pink collar and sleeves; leggings, knee high boots and elbow length gloves, all black, and all made of a strange fabric the likes of which Dib had never seen. Dib couldn't believe his eyes; from the moment he saw the incredible little creature, he was completely enamoured with it. It was just so strange, so unconventionally pretty.. And obviously injured. Kneeling down on the heated floor, his hands hovered around the little creature, unsure if he should touch it, unsure if it was even still alive. His suspicions of the blue green fluid had been correct. It was blood. And the little creature was smattered with it. Dark welts had formed around deep cuts, bruises marring its swiftly paling green skin. Dib's heart wrenched at the thought of the beautiful extraterrestrial visitor dying, scared and alone in the broken cockpit of a crashed ship on a strange planet. He wasn't sure what to do- how to help, or even how to check vital signs. He gasped when the alien's antennae twitched, a groan issuing from its throat, almost a gurgle.
Immediately a rush of white hot adrenaline surged through Dib. It was alive! The alien was still alive! And it needed help. Overcoming his trepidation he took off his jacket and reached out to ever so carefully scoop the tiny being into his arms. It was so small, so fragile feeling in his grasp.. This seemed to provoke something in him. His whole body trembled with energy- he felt like he could run miles at breakneck speed, and he would, if that's what it would take to rescue the dying extraterrestrial. Wrapping his jacket around the little body with more care than he could ever remember taking with anything, he then shifted it to one arm while he hastily ripped off a strip from his shirt. Most of the blood seemed to be leaking from a large cut on the alien's forehead. Gingerly he used the strip of cloth from his shirt to bandage the wound, tying it off tightly and carefully standing in a hunched position. The craft was a bit small to fit him at his full height, so he assumed that perhaps this alien wasn't just young and the rest of its race must be small as well.
Dib, satisfied with his handiwork and finding nothing else in the craft worth stalling for, turned to leave... Only to pause and turn right back around as a deep, monotone voice in an unfamiliar language began emanating from the computer's speakers.
"S'nvuk'k ksvilarsch'n'iglich t'veen. Avuk'k' skava'anahkan't'k." Dib had no idea what that meant but he didn't like the sudden spinning symbol on the screen. With smaller symbols in the middle that changed as the seconds passed, he found it far too reminiscent of a self destruct sequence for comfort and quickly turned, vaulting out of the heated interior of the ship and into the cool night air. Whatever the clock was counting down to, he wanted to put some distance between himself and it before it was finished. Holding his precious bundle close to his chest, shielding it from the scratchy undergrowth as he pushed through to the edge of the forest, he had only broken clear of the tree-line when there was an enourmous crash behind him, lights going off everywhere as flame and smoke engulfed everything behind him. Shrapnel from the explosion whirred past him and he fell to his knees in the grass, bent over the little creature in his arms protectively. There was a sharp pain as something clipped his ear and he felt a warm wetness begin to drip down onto his neck. When the explosion subsided, Dib opened his eyes, glad he had decided to vacate the area, and even more glad that he'd brought the now-obliterated ship's unconscious pilot with him.
"That.. Was close.." He cast a glance over his shoulder at the smoke rising from the trees and cautiously shifted the little bundle in his arms. Regaining his footing, he managed to make it up the hill in mere moments- it was a little steep but the ground was soft and allowed him to scale it without trouble. Pulse thudding in his ears as he stumbled to his car, Dib frantically gripped the handle to the back door with a shaking hand. Crawling halfway in, he gingerly laid the little person down on the back seat, gently buckling it in. The seatbelt would have been a bit too loose, but the bulk of Dib's jacket helped secure the alien. Dib then pulled back, shutting the car door and trotting around to crawl over the hood of the car to get in the driver's seat.
He knew they had to get out of here quick. If the crash itself hadn't garnered attention, that explosion certainly would. It wouldn't be long before the authorities came; and what of the alien then? What if they found it? He paused for a moment, sitting in the front seat, hands gripping the steering wheel tightly. A glance at the rearview mirror gave him a view of the unconscious little person, huddled in his jacket. Seeing the strange and wonderful crash-landed visitor reaffirmed his resolve and he yanked his car keys out of his pocket, jamming it into the ignition and starting the car; he couldn't let /anyone/ know about the alien. He knew that other humans couldn't be trusted with something this special. Humans could rarely be trusted with anything special.. But who better to greet, even to /rescue/ the first extraterrestrial visitor of the era than Dib Membrane? All his childhood had been dedicated to studying the paranormal, the strange, the otherworldly. He was ready, no, destined for this encounter. It must have been fate. It had to have been.
Filled with a sense of purpose, he pulled quickly out of the parking lot, gasping when he saw the flashing lights of police vehicles coming up the slope far below. He couldn't go that way- they would definitely stop him to ask if he knew what had happened, and they would definitely see his precious cargo in the backseat.
"Sh-shit.. Shit.." He swore under his breath, turning off his headlights and reversing into the parking lot again before turning the other way. He'd have to take the long way back down to the city. In the dark. His headlights would give him away like a match in a dark room.
Going along at a crawl, he managed to get some distance from the parking lot, feeling uncomfortably like a fugitive. The darkness was almost so thick it seemed tangible, and he prayed no one else was coming up this way, unlikely as it was. With a black car and headlights off, there was no way they would see him and he would rather not get in an accident.. Right now for more reasons than the usual. He tried to keep his gaze solely on the road, trying to concentrate on one thing at a time to keep from getting overwhelmed, but his line of vision kept flicking up to the rearview mirror anyway, making sure no police were headed in his direction. It seemed like hours before he finally made it onto the main road heading back into town, and he flicked on his headlights, speeding up to a normal pace. Normal. Yes, everything was normal, or at least if he pretended it was it would be easier to act like it was.
"Just.. Have to get back to the house. Gaz has pizza and her new game, she'll be preoccupied. Dad's at the lab, won't be back until late.." He glanced at the clock. 10:43. Early enough to have plenty of time and late enough not to be conspicuous, good.
He drove along in silence for a while before taking a cautious glance up to the rearview mirror. The alien was so pale- paler than it had been when Dib had found it, and the makeshift bandage was getting soaked through. The timid rise and fall of its chest was the only thing that let Dib know it hadn't died, but its breath seemed laboured and he could hear its short panting, laced with a whimper. Dib swallowed thickly, picking up a bit of speed. He prayed for green stoplights, and was gratified. Everything was falling into place, in such a perfect way that Dib knew this was fate. He no longer felt that it was, he /knew/. With these otherworldly thoughts thrumming in his head, the drive through the city seemed like a dream, the interior of his car dark against the city lights outside. The nightlife bustling around him but not actually seeing him, flashing lights and smiling people in showy clothes, self absorbed in their walls of sociability. That was good. He didn't want them to see him.
He looked up at the rearview mirror again. The alien had gone still, and for a moment a jolt passed through him before he realized it was still breathing. He felt a little weak.
"Don't die.. Oh please don't die." To come into such close contact with a whole other world, only to have it ripped away from him was not something he wanted to bear. The body could always be handed over to science, something he likely would have done if he had found it dead- but finding that the creature was actually alive made the situation much different, and he didn't want to lose it.
So wrapped up in his jumbled thoughts he almost passed his house, swearing as he turned a little more sharply than he should have into the driveway, and wincing when there was another faint groan from the backseat. Quickly he shut off the car, shoving the key back in his pocket and getting out of the front seat, crossing around to the back. He cast a wary glance around to be sure no one else was out before opening the door and taking up the fragile little bundle into his arms again.
Swiftly Dib crossed the front yard to the door and opened it with one hand, creeping inside and shutting the door with his foot.
"Hey Gaz, I'm back!" He called, his voice sounding much more stable than he expected it to and he mentally high fived himself as he walked quickly past the living room, into the kitchen. Sure enough, Gaz had ordered pizza. It smelled good, and was probably still warm but Dib figured pizza was of very little importance, even despite the fact that he hadn't eaten all day. He milled around a bit anyway, making some noise as if he were drawing himself a glass of water. He expected Gaz to make some offhanded comment or simply offer a monotone, 'Whatever', but instead she called out something that made his skin prickle.
"You hear about the explosion? It was on TV. Some kind of 'terrorist attack' or something." She drawled, but Dib could still hear the sounds from her game console and knew she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. They often had conversations from across the house, tonight was no different.. Well okay it was a little different. But Gaz didn't need to know that.
"Yeah? Where at?" He asked, glancing down at the creature still wrapped in his jacket. Still, silent, but breathing.
"I guess they found some kind of telescope at the site or whatever. All broken up and stuff." Dib made a little choked noise, but it was too quiet for Gaz to hear. His telescope! He'd forgotten all about it in the excitement, oh his fingerprints were all over that thing. For once he hoped that the law enforcement was either dense or incompetent enough not to find the 'criminal' responsible.
"W-well I hope they figure that mess out." Dib flinched at the stutter. Now Gaz was definitely going to know something was up. And she did. Sitting up a bit when she heard her brother's shaking voice from across the house, she frowned a bit and paused her game, setting it off to the side before walking toward the entrance to the kitchen. A drop of sweat trickled down Dib's forehead as he heard her footsteps coming closer.
Gaz suddenly peered round the corner, still frowning and looking her brother up and down Sure enough he was standing there by the table with a glass of water. She narrowed her eyes, taking a few steps into the room.
"What happened to you?" She asked, less concerned than suspicious, taking note of his scraped hands and knees, as well as the bloody gash on his ear. The corners of Dib's mouth twitched as if he wasn't sure what to say. Gaz didn't take this as an answer.
"Where have you been, Dib?" She asked, her glare darkening a bit as she crossed the room to stand close to him. Dib backed up a bit as she advanced, feeling the edge of the table press into his lower back, able to go no further. Gaz continued to glare at him silently as he struggled for words.
"I-I was o-out watching the stars, like I said-"
"Don't you dare lie to me Dib." Gaz interrupted immediately and by the look on her brother's face, she knew she'd won. Dib sighed.
"Alright, I was there when it happened but I don't know what actually happened." Lying through his teeth, but he was already nervous so it was hard to tell, thankfully. "I was scared and didn't want to, you know, just up and talk about it. Especially not with you, no offense but you're not exactly the best person to try for a bit of sympathy or understanding." He squirmed a bit under her scrutinizing gaze. "Also I thought we'd already established that I'm weird, like, ten years ago." He felt a bit of relief as Gaz seemed to actually consider this.
"Yeah. You're right. Just go clean yourself up and.. Cry in the bathroom or whatever." She hissed, flipping open the box of pizza and grabbing another slice before marching back to the living room. Dib slumped against the table before practically falling to his knees and crawling over to open the cabinet under the sink. The alien was still there, right where Dib had left it. Gently he picked it back up again, glancing over his shoulder to be sure Gaz wasn't coming back, then scurrying across the kitchen and up the stairs to his room. After shutting the door and making sure the window was closed and the blinds were drawn, he laid the little creature down on his bed. He was glad he kept his room a decent degree of clean, or this might have been a lot more difficult than it needed to be. Carefully Dib unwrapped the jacket from around the little creature.
For the second time, he could hardly believe how small it was- standing at full height with its black antennae up at attention it would have hardly reached his knees. Exhaling, he stood there quietly for a little while, knowing there was something he had to do but he wasn't sure if he could. Finally he sucked in a breath and reached out, hooking his thumbs on the hem of the creature's pink shirt and pulling it up. Beneath was a black bodysuit with a zipper down the front, and he undid that as well, exposing the green skin beneath. He tried to ward off the feeling that this was way too personal, replacing it with the resolve that he needed to be sure there were no more big cuts or gashes in what he assumed to be a vital area. Most creatures had their most important organs in the head and torso, and since this creature was so human-like in shape, he decided it might be safe to assume the same for its species. His hands were cold, and he jammed them in his armpits for a minute before reaching out to run them along the alien's middlesection, prying the bodysuit apart a bit more to feel at the back as well. Its skin was warm and soft, but so very pale. Aside from that, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, as far as he could tell, so he quickly zipped the bodysuit back up and pulled the shirt down. His face was hot with a flush of embarassment and he mentally slapped himself to derail any train of thought going in an uncomfortable direction.
"This is no time to get all cagey about personal space, Dib." He hissed to himself before turning to run out of his room and down the hall to the bathroom, practically tripping over himself in his haste. The bathroom light was harsh, blinding even after the dimness of his own room, and he groped around in the cabinets clumsily, grabbing all the first aid supplies he could get his hands on. Gauze, cotton swabs, rubbing alcohol which he wasn't sure if he should use or not, maybe that was more for himself than the alien.
When he was pleased with the supplies he'd scrounged together he crept back down to his own room, laying them out on the bottom half of his bed. The strip of his shirt which he'd used to bandage the wound on the alien's forehead had soaked through with blood, and needed to be replaced. When he removed it he found that it was already scabbing over- it was an ugly wound and didn't look pretty but at least it wasn't bleeding anymore. Not bleeding was good. Or at least he thought it was good. Without any knowledge of the creature's biological makeup, needs and functions it was hard to know exactly what to do, and whether his actions were helping or hindering the process of healing. He supposed he had no choice but to play it by ear and hope for the best..
He reached for the gauze first, gently laying it over the gash so as not to tear open the fragile scab, then began the process of wrapping it around, gently holding the little green creature's head up to slip the gauze under, then bring it back over. Under, over, under, over. His movements became precise and methodical as he set to work bandaging wounds and wiping away excess blood. The little trash can on the floor near his desk became fuller and fuller with blue-stained gauze patches, cotton swabs and tissues as he did his work, and it was nearly filled by the time he slumped back in his computer chair with a loud sigh. He'd managed to get the alien into decent shape, thick bandages of gauze wrapped tightly around every cut or scrape he could find. Tiredly, he glanced up at the sleeping alien through his thick glasses. It seemed to be stable now, breath coming steady and even, the trembling having subsided. Dib then looked down at his hands. Covered in blue.
He sighed again, feeling as if all his energy had been drained. With the rush of adrenaline having taken its course, it was all he could do to drag himself to the bathroom again, put away the first aid supplies that were left and get himself cleaned up.
He was asleep almost as soon as he made it back to his chair.