(Authors note: All animals mentioned in this next chapter are actually native to Yellowstone park, (So yes, I like to do my homework to keep this story accurate.) even though I'm actually Australian, but I'm what you'd call a wildlife enthusiast. Anyways happy reading, hope you enjoy this next chapter :)
-Chapter three: How to live with an alien...
Gwenn turned to Bakuub with her hands on her hips, "Ok you have to go, my grandpa will freak out if he sees you!" She tried to shove him back towards the trees, but her feet slid on the ground, it was like trying to push against a brick wall.
Bakuub tilted his head at her and clicked, putting his hand over her face and pushing her aside with little effort, the alien then started making his way towards the house, awkwardly maneuvering over the brick wall, and using one hand on the railing to guide himself as he climbed the stairs leading to the balcony.
Gwenn huffed hurrying after him, Bakuub watched with his alien smirk while leaning on his spear as the girl hurried after him. "You're a bit of an ass, you know that?" She muttered quietly walking past him, still frowning.
If he was capable of looking smug with those mandibles of his, Bakuub's smile was certainly a dead giveaway of indicating "smugness". Finding the door-handle while still smirking at me and gripping it tightly in one hand, only to have his smile diminished as he turned it and something snapped off in his hand.
I face palmed for what felt like the tenth time tonight as Bakuub looked down puzzled at the broken door-knob in his hand, "Great, hold on..." I muttered walking over to the window nearby. Despite my grandfathers paranoia he had inadvertently left the window open a touch, opening it so the gap was taller I squeezed my body through the tiny gap, fell onto the floor, I got up and walked towards the door.
I paused with my hand just over the handle, "Should I really let him in?" Gwenn wondered out loud for a moment, only to find herself falling over screaming, and once again landing on her rump. Bakuub stood in front of the open doorway, the hinges were snapped, what was left of Gwenn's font door was laying on the floor in front of him, a crack going down the middle of the wood from Bakuub's blow.
Glaring up at him, "Subtle..." Gwenn retorted getting up and brushing the dust and splinters from her clothes. How a guy with an injured leg could still manage to break down a door puzzled Gwenn beyond reason, soon shrugging and accepting it, "I suppose an alien doesn't have to use the door, hell he could just walk through it if he wanted to." She thought watching him strut around the room, not frightened all, as a matter of fact he didn't look too impressed.
He snorted as the alien picked up a kitchen knife running a clawed finger over the sharp ridge, only to scoff and put it back on the bench. For a number of minutes he continued to inspect the kitchen appliances with limited interest, even punching the microwave when he couldn't figure out what the beeping noises meant, he apparently thought they were some kind of threat.
"Well what did you expect, a five star hotel?!" Gwenn snapped taking the toaster from his hands as he tried put his fingers in the slots, setting the toaster back on the tabletop, she did a double take, "Crap!" She retorted dashing down the hallway.
Rushing to her grandfathers bedroom door and pressing her ear to the door, Gwenn was relieved to hear the sound of rather loud snoring, sounding like a cross between a growling grizzly bear and a bush pig with a cold.
"Thank god grandad sleeps like a rock." Gwenn wiped her brow relived, turning around only to see Bakuub standing before and clicking his mandibles, she face-palmed, "Oh right, nearly forgot about the giant beetle faced alien." She thought nearly forgetting he was still here, how could he be so silent, and yet walk straight through her front door like it wasn't there still continued to baffle her very mind.
Pacing back and forth, "Ok, okay..." She tried to calm herself down, "Maybe grandpa won't wake up." She tried to sound optimistic but then slapped herself, "But he can't sleep forever stupid..." She scolded herself for being a complete idiot and continued pacing, all while Bakuub watched on with a confused look on his face.
-Bakuub's POV
This ooman dwelling for certainly inferior compared to the structures on his home-world, Bakuub broke through its defenses easily enough, a yautja's home was supposed to be his fortress, but what good is a fortress without even the most basic of security. While it was a smart move to have the home built on stilts, which was a good way to deter wildlife, its structure was poorly built, being made of mainly wood and metal. A house should be made of solid stone so no intruder could break in so easily.
He lent against a nearby wall as the ooman female known as "Gwenn" continued to pace backwards and forwards, clearly stressed about something, what she was worried about he did not know, the other elderly male behind the door was unharmed, safe and sleeping. Bakuub could clearly see the elderly oomans heat signature even though the wall clearly enough.
While a yautja's main form of sight was thermal heat vision, if he got a close enough look he could make out the finer details in the females face, different shades of heat gave away her nose, eyes and cheeks. If he were to switch to ultraviolet using his mask, often used to help in assist in the hunting of kainde amedha whom of which gave off no known heat signature, the ultraviolet vision helped him to identify objects and details around the rooms, otherwise he'd keep bumping into everything, risking making the female more upset than she already is.
He kept his mask off for now, fastened to the side of his belt, only occasionally raising it to his eyes so he could see where was going. Bakuub wanted to witness first-hand just how smart these oomans truly were, he wanted to see if she could learn his words, facial cues and even body language, for that he would need to keep his mask off, or what she would learn from him would be limited by only what she could see when she looked at him with his mask on.
-Nobodies POV
Gwenn stopped dead in her tracks when she felt a strong hand on her shoulder, letting out a quiet squeak of fear as Bakuub growled softly through his mandibles. "Look I know your ships destroyed and your legs broken...But please stop growling at me, I can't understand you." She retorted feeling a little exasperated, she couldn't tell if this alien was pissed off or just trying to help, his facial cues seemed to be completely different to humans.
He continued to make those clicking sounds pointing at the door behind her, looking at where he pointed and back to Bakuub she realized he was asking something, "My grandpa, Daniel Somers is in there." She pointed at the door and back to herself as she spoke, he raised a brow at her but nodded seemingly in understanding.
"He's a little crazy...Doesn't like space monsters." She tried to make hand signals while she spoke to help him understand, but this only resulted in her flailing her arms around like a lunatic, Bakuub backed up a few steps, a little disturbed.
She let out a frustrated sigh, "Just don't go in there, okay?" She pointed to the door and shook her head slowly, Bakuub nodded again, taking that as a sign he understood, she flopped onto the floor, sitting cross-legged against the wall, a little relieved.
Bakuub preoccupied himself by looking at the pictures on the wall, one particular image had intrigued him, three oomans, a mated pair by the looks of it, cradling a suckling in their arms. He pointed at it and clicked trying to get Gwenn's attention.
She blinked but got up, "Oh, that's my parents...My dads a marine, he's in space right now." Again Bakuub put a claw to his chin in thought, after a moment he nodded again understanding. He watched her sigh and trace a finger over the image of the female, "I didn't know my mom all that well, she died when I was five...To something called cancer." He tilted his head at her confused, "Oh right, cancer is well...A fatal disease." She thought for a moment before putting both hands on her throat, making a choking noise.
At first he raised his spear in freight, she raised her hands in defense and shook her head wildly, "No, I'm not really sick!" She protested, Bakuub appeared to sigh before lowering his weapon.
Gwenn watched in puzzlement as Bakuub continued to wander the house, occasionally clicking and pointing at objects, she'd try to explain what they were as best she could, he thought the TV was some kind of demon and ended up putting his spear through it, breaking her fathers very expensive flat screen television set. Bakuub didn't quite understand what the toilet was for, and appeared to hate the smell of soap.
She made him a new splint with the proper stuff from the family first aid kit, and gotten a cleaner bandage to wrap around Bakuub's injured leg, he still insisted on using his spear as a walking stick.
His dialect seemed to be made up completely of click sounds, growls and occasionally deep rumbles from his chest, he made a purring sound like a cat when she was scared or standing very close to him, that was admittedly awkward at first, but after a few hours she grew used to it, not noticing it unless she was actually paying attention to what he was doing.
By about four am in the morning she'd collapsed onto the couch and slept lazily, refusing to play his game of charades, Bakuub didn't appear to need s much sleep as humans did. She could faintly hear his footsteps as he continued to wander around the house, she found herself falling into a deep sleep minutes later.
(A few hours later, early the next morning...)
Gwenn was awoken by something grasping her shoulders and shaking her wildly, Bakuub was clicking at her in an impatient matter his eyes were wide, and was continually darting them back and forth. She yawned groggily looking over at the window the sun was barley out, "Don't aliens sleep?" She muttered through a yawn as the alien picked her up by the scruff of her shirt and setting her on her feet.
He was frantically pointing at the hallway, growling slightly. "What is it Lassie, Timmy fell down the well again?" She half joked smirking slightly, but Bakuub didn't appear to look amused, either that or aliens don't really have a sense of humor. He pulled her by the arm down to the end of the hallway, they stopped at her grandfathers metal door, she rubbed her eyes, something was definitely wrong.
Bakuub had his mask on, pressing the side of his head to the door, doing the same and knocking on the door, "Grandpa?" She asked slightly waiting for an answer, after a few moments and nothing happened, she turned to the alien with pleading eyes, "Can you get this door open?" She asked hopefully. Bakuub nodded with a grunt, using both hands and pushing against the door with all his might, the hinges creaked against the force and only after a few seconds the hinges snapped, the door fell forwards and into the room, all was silent.
Bakuub stood there panting a little as Gwenn pushed past, rushing over to the figure that lay on the bed, through his mask he could see the mans vital signs were depleting, his heart was slowing down and his breath was shallow.
Pressing her ear to is chest, "Can you hear me?!" She pleaded desperately down at the aging man, "Grandpa!" She shouted shaking his shoulders in desperation, he only responded with gasping sounds, opening his mouth like a gaping fish deprived of oxygen, "I think he's having a heart attack." She said getting up and pulling out her phone, dialing 911 in a frantic panic, trying to keep her hands from shaking so much.
The alien could only watch helplessly as she called the authorities, there was little he could do without his med-kit, and the medicine designed for yautja was probably no good for oomans anyway, his medicine may just make things worse, it could kill the frail old man.
Pacing back and forth as the phone dialed, Gwenn was relived when someone picked up the phone, "Yes, yes! This is Gwenn Somers, I need an ambulance right away!" She said frantically into the phone, seeing this as the time to make himself scarce, Bakuub cloaked himself and went to sit on the roof, not wanting to risk getting caught by the ooman authorities.
-Bakuub's POV
As he sat cross-legged on the tin roof of the ooman dwelling Bakuub watched through his mask for signs of the ooman healers to arrive, the minutes seemed like hours, below him he could still hear the girl panicking beneath him, he could smell her fear, her worry and yet there was nothing he could do.
Finally he spotted a vehicle with flashing lights on its roof, it was blaring a loud siren as the vehicle skidded to a halt on the dirt road just outside the house. Ooman males dressed in strange outfits ran into the house, their body language indicated no threat, just fear, so he let them be.
Less than a minute later the elderly man was being carried out of the house with some kind of clear mask on his face, laying down on some kind of bed with wheels on it, the female Gwenn stood at the doorway, her eyes were teary as the rushed him into the back of the vehicle, hastily driving off down the road as quick as they had arrived.
Taking a moment to look off to the left, large grazing creatures with long hair and a terrible smell, they grazed peacefully in the open clearing, he noticed something that sparked his interest in the distance, a large carnivore, he grinned through his mandibles, maybe just maybe, he could cheer this female up...
-Gwenn's POV
Taking Max out of his cage and setting him on her shoulder for comfort, Gwenn worked her way through the house, looking for Bakuub, disappearing shortly before he paramedics had arrived, perhaps they had scared him, she thought glancing around while scratching Max's ears.
She made her way back on the balcony, "Maybe he went back to the ship..." She wondered out loud, feeling a little more disappointed then she should've been, why should she be sad if the crazy oversized alien had left.
He was terrifying in many ways, but fascinating as well. Hell, she'd known him for less than twenty four hours and yet, she missed him, "I must be the craziest person alive." She muttered to herself, Gwenn had never much cared for other people, loathing the human species most of her life, when she looked at people, she saw destruction, greed, and selfishness.
Her grandfather an ex marine had been a fine example of what mankind had done, years of service, fighting to survive had made him crazy, all for the sake of profit, thousands of soldiers and people had died so that companies like Weyland industries could make a big profit, stealing alien technology so they could make bigger and better tools of mass destruction.
Heading down the stairs and getting into the van, she decided to go and do something to keep her mind off recent events...
(Just on the edge of the nearby Cooke city, Gwenn had to drive through the city to get to the ranger station further east where she volunteered there throughout the week.)
Fighting back the tears, Gwenn forced herself to focus on her driving as she drove through the city streets. Stopping at the traffic lights with her hands still on the steering wheel, Gwenn rubbed her chin on Max as he snoozed on her shoulder, Max was remarkably calm and well behaved, even when she drove. She didn't bring Coco and Suzi along as they were usually too easily excited and would likely run off.
It was rush hour, at eight o clock in the morning there was a lot of traffic, Gwenn sighed taking in her surroundings as she waited for the traffic to clear.
I guess you could say that in the last century the future hadn't changed much, there were no flying cars like in that old "jetsons" cartoon, the buildings were mostly metal and modern looking with large glass windows, one good thing was that now almost all cars in most developed countries were now electric, reducing the carbon footprint significantly, global warming was of course still a problem, but the matter of stopping climate change was no longer urgent, and most of the pollution was kept to a minimum for the moment.
Another notable change was that androids in workplaces were a lot more common, at first only science faculties like Weyland and Yutani corporations could afford to have robots on staff, now they were a lot more common. Most businesses and factories had at least one android at their disposal, although not everyone was happy about this, people like her grandfather suspected that now the wack-jobs from the Weyland-Yutani corps could now have eyes and ears everywhere, most people disregarded this theory and treated androids as nothing more than glorified toasters, ignoring them and going about their lives like they didn't even exist.
And whether people knew that creatures such as xenomorphs was unknown to most, of course there was inevitably ex marines, soldiers and retired scientists occasionally starting rumors about these supposed "perfect specimens or killers" but most disregarded this as a rumor or a myth, especially when Weylands lackeys would buy off anyone in order to keep their mouths shut.
A few decades ago they was rumors of a xenomorph cult somewhere, like a group of terrorists they make viral protest videos of xeno activities stolen from cargo ships, space traders or anything that had been rumored to have been in contact with extra-terrestrial creatures. Believing xenomorphs would one day come to the Earth to spread their messages of purity.
"And people think I'm the crazy one." She shook her head at the thought just as the traffic lights came green and she drove to the edge of the city, whether or not Gwenn believed in xeno's she was not sure, I guess it was just one of those things she'd have to see to believe. Gwenn for the most had the reputation for being a tad eccentric, many people believed she would end up as crazy as her grandfather or even more so, I guess that's the power of local gossip I suppose.
Taking in the sights as she drive out of the city, the pine trees and grass were a welcome sight from the bare and desolate look of the city, nature was seemed to have a more appealing look to it. After driving for another five minutes she finally drove to park out the front of a log cabin, a tall chain link fence could be seen behind it.
A sign out the front said "Yellowstone Rangers station." Gwenn was soon greeted by a familiar face peeking through the doorway, he was in his early twenties with mocha colored skin and short black hair, wearing shorts and a green shirt "Hey nerd-bird whats up." He mused smirking at her from the doorway, "Real cute Alan.." She mumbled walking past him, Alan was the twenty year old son of Johnson, and he also volunteered at this station, his job was to rehabilitate the young gray wolves out back, the four young wolves were due to be be released back into the wild soon, but for now they lived in the confines of their enclosure out back.
She moved to the computer desk in the front and signed in, "Hey where's Carol?" She asked him puzzled, Carol was an android responsible for working the front desk, she was also the manager of this station, to be honest Carol gave Gwenn the creeps.
"She's out back feeding your pets." Alan smirked looking over her shoulder, Gwenn gave him a questionable look, Alan was actually bisexual so she could never really tell if he had a thing for her or not, Alan was definitely attracted to Carol, who wouldn't like a woman with a perfect figure and long blonde hair, compared to that android, Gwenn wasn't much to look at.
Making her way outside and past the wolves cage, some of the canines wined and she stuck her fingers through the chain link fence as they licked her fingers, confiscated from an illegal pet trade, the wolves had been hand-raised and were completely used to people. Three of them were the typical gray color of wolves, while the one female was pure black and a little shy.
Making her way to the smaller cage nearby she saw the tall blond haired humanoid bottle feeding the the two fawns they had rescued not long ago, Carol looked up at her and smiled in her sympathetic way making Gwenn cringe inwardly as it seemed like a forced action, programmed into her hard-wire, "Sorry, I didn't think you were coming today." She mused handing her the other bottle, Gwenn smiled and shrugged casually, "Yeah well...Things have been pretty crazy back home..." She mused, she wasn't lying between the alien and her grandfathers heart attack, these last few hours of her life had been anything but normal.
She turned her head to watch as Alan entered the wolves enclosure not far away, carrying a large bucket of meat, of wolves wined and jumped up like exited dogs, liking his hands as they beckoned him for their meal.
The two fawns were twins and were completely used to them, which wasn't necessarily a good thing, once they were old enough to be released wolves and bears would tear them apart unless they learned
to fear them. That was the main problem with the small property the station was on, many species lived too close to comfort, only having the fences separating them from what would normally be their natural enemies.
There was a small wooden shelter full of hay facing the back of the enclosure against the building and a troth of water for the fawns. The wolf enclosure had a lot of tree's and they didn't need much shelter, only a few water bowls and a toy or two were needed to keep them happy.
Max seemed oblivious to the obvious dangers around him, happily sniffing the air as he rode on Gwenn's shoulder, he would stay put unless she decided to put him down somewhere and even then he wouldn't wander far from her side, he was like all rats, he was extremely loyal and affectionate.
"Did you see the asteroid yesterday Gwenn, it landed close to where you live." She was startled when Alan spoke up shaking her from her thoughts, she twiddled her fingers nervously, "Um, no. I didn't see it." She managed to choke out, Alan raised a brow at her, then shrugged. "Usually your interested in that sort of thing." He added as he left the enclosure and hosed down the bucket with the tap on the side of the building.
"Look I said I didn't see it alright!" Gwenn snapped, then gasping and covering her mouth as Alan and Carol stared at her in disbelief, "Okay..." Alan said quietly backing away and whistling casually, she knew why he was uncomfortable, seeing the animals usually made Gwenn happy, she rarely raised her voice unless stressed out.
Sighing and feeling the awkward stares from her colleagues Gwenn raced back into the building avoiding eye contact with either of them as she slammed the door behind her, she grabbed her bag shoving some papers and documents she would fill out later, as part of her usual duties at the station aside from feeding the animals.
Alan approached from the side with his hands behind his back, "You just got here..." He started noticing her hastily packing up, she huffed looking up at him, "Look, it was a mistake to come here...Especially after grandpa..." She trailed off looking through the window, Carol was closing the enclosures gate and packing up.
Heading for the door she felt a hand on her shoulder, "I saw the ambulance leave your road this morning...I'm sorry." She nodded silently, Alan was her neighbor, only living a little further up the road from where she lived, she wouldn't call them friends, they weren't that close, but they shared an understanding having parents in the same situation, only Alan was left to deal with his fathers death and Gwenn spent every worrying that her father may not make it through the next bug hunt.
Turning to leave she stopped at the doorway, forcing a smile in Alan's direction, he could tell she was faking it but he smiled back, he was the closest thing Gwenn had to a friend besides those rodents she kept as pets.
"It's all just too much." Gwenn thought opening her car door looking back at the station, ever since the alien arrived she hadn't slept, eaten and now she couldn't focus on her work without getting teary. Sighing and knowing there was anything else she could do, she turned the car key and started heading back home, to face her demons...
(Arriving back home within the hour, Gwenn slowly made her way up the stairs of her balcony, pausing for a moment at the gaping hole where her front door used to be before stepping inside.)
-Nobodies POV
She was disappointed to see that the house was still empty, her kitchen was still in pieces from her house guest, she would have to pay for the repairs. Her stomach grumbled, "Oh right, I haven't eaten in over twelve hours..." She grumbled casting a look of distaste at her complaining stomach, opening the fridge and pulling out an apple, she inspected the kitchen in between bites, even giving Max the core to chew on when she was finished with it.
She didn't turn around when she heard soft footsteps, "You had a shit day too huh?" She asked casually expecting Alan or maybe even her grandfather at the door, not hearing an answer she turned around and jumped out her skin.
Bakuub was standing there panting, holding a fury object that was dripping with blood, he responded with a puzzled click. Gwenn grimaced at the object in his hand and stepped back a little, "Gross, what is that?" She pointed at the thing dripping blood on her kitchen floor, Bakuub proudly held the thing up giving her a better look, it was the head of a grizzly bear, a rather large one at that, she wasn't even sure if they could get that big, its head was almost as large as Bakuub's.
Bakuub took his mask off, he started speaking with clicks, then did something that totally shocked Gwenn, "It...Make...Good...Trophy...Th'syra." Gwenn nearly fainted, pointing a shaky finger at disbelief at him, "How are you...Speaking English?!" She took another step back, "I thought you couldn't talk!" She shouted raising an accused finger at the alien, Bakuub clicked again clearly confused.
"My gift...Displeases?" He asked with a sad look in his eyes, Gwenn raised her arms to protest, "No, no its cool you killed a bear and all, but...Ugh what am saying?!" She grabbed her hair and pulled at it, she began pacing again while Bakuub watched, a bewildered look on his face when he noticed the rodent perched on her shoulder.
"Sain'ja bring gifts...Collect Th'syra for Yin'tekai." He continued, although Gwenn wasn't listening, she was still trying to get her head around the fact how he'd learnt English so quickly and why he was no longer making clicking sounds.
Bakuub put the animals head on the bench and looked down at her, "My species learns quickly, your ooman language is basic...Easy to learn over time." Gwenn rolled her eyes, great he'd gone from speaking broken English to making complete sentences in less than five minutes, either his species were like parrots learning to mimic really quick or they were more advanced than she had originally thought, despite the fact he carried a spear and wore nothing but a loin cloth most of the time.
She sighed and looked at at him, giving in and embracing the insanity she'd been fighting her whole life to stay sane, "Tell me more..." She said simply, figuring it'd be better if she learnt more about his species, hell humans were too boring anyway...
(This chapter turned out weirder than I thought, a little fast paced for my liking...Any thoughts on this? Please review :)
Terms:
-Th'syra ( Skull )
-Sain'ja ( Warrior )
-Yin'tekai ( Honor )