Sharon stood on her porch and watched the night sky. It was usually clear, but there was something about the sky that made her stay out and inspect it. She lived far enough out of the city to see the stars, but close enough to get to town easily. She and her husband, Davis, owned about one hundred acres of land. They had once hoped to build a family along with their ranch, but they had never had children, and had never been allowed to foster any. So, she had stayed home and tried to enjoy it, but it had always been hard. She sat on the swing and reminisced.
Then, out of nowhere, a small light seemed to slowly fill the sky until it almost shattered into a million pieces of brilliant color. She jumped up from the swing. "Davis! Davis, come quick! I think I just saw a UFO, and it landed on our land!"
Davis ran out onto the porch. "Are you mad, woman?"
"No, I'm serious. Let's have a look," She grabbed his arm and tugged him forward. He didn't look too sure, but he followed her anyway.
They trailed a small gravel road that they had put in a few years back to make travel over the property easier. It didn't take long for them to come to a hill where they could look down into part of their valley. Sure enough, a large ship had landed there and hovered beside the river. The door opened at the bottom and two creatures came out. Sharon clutched Davis' arm. "Davis, we are seeing honest to God aliens."
Davis could only nod. He couldn't even speak as he watched the beasts. In the light of the ship's door, he could see them perfectly. They seemed to be wearing no clothing, but he figured that was just the way they were. Both were distinctly female and would be considered almost beautiful if they had been only a little more human. Their forms were human enough, but there were features that made them stand out as being definite aliens.
The first was light skinned and seemed to have light fur that covered her body. Stripes twined over her skin from her feet all the way to her head, and streaked through her hair. Still, they seemed to only cover the sides of her face and not the center. Her hair was down to her waist and she had a tail that was longer than ground length and flipped from side to side with what seemed like interest. Two ears pointed from the top of her head and were leaned forward in inquiry. She had green eyes that slanted at the edges and pulled back in almost an Egyptian style. If Davis could have put a title to what she was, he would have said she was a mix between a human and a cat.
The other was slightly different. Her skin was light also, but covered with a darker grayish black fir. She had a shorter knee length bushy tale that wagged back and forth with curious excitement. She didn't have an exact pattern to her skin, but it changed as it covered her body. It wasn't thick or heavy, just a light coating. Her hair was also long and stayed the same color as her fur. She sniffed at the air and smiled at her friend with her otherwise human face. Her floppy ears perked forward as if relaying a message. Then she spoke. "Asowa merowish tu meeso meshca lumanis shee."
The cat-woman looked up and seemed to meet his gaze. She slowly came forward, and her tail stopped twitching. Davis and Sharon both sucked in their breaths. Then Sharon whispered. "I think we should go talk to them."
"What?" Davis exclaimed softly. "Are you crazy? They could kill us. Did you take a look at that one's claws?"
Sharon nodded. "They don't look harmful."
"Neither do any of the cuddly ones on the movies, but they always end up killing everyone," Davis complained.
"True," Sharon said, starting forward, "But that's only the movies."
She went down the hill with Davis coming swiftly after her. Both of the aliens froze with fear as they watched them. Sharon came to a stop a little ways away from the ship. She spoke softly, hoping that maybe they understood. "We are friends. Friends."
The dog-woman spoke. "Friends? Quo la mista merows."
"Can you learn our language?" Sharon asked.
The cat-woman cocked her head to the side. She turned and walked into the ship.
"No!" Sharon almost yelled. "Don't leave!"
The cat-woman froze, turned and looked at her, and then continued walking into the ship. She came back out with a device in her hands/paws. She pointed it at Sharon. Sharon looked at it. "What do you want?"
The dog-woman nodded and motioned toward her mouth. "You want me to talk into it? Is that it?"
"Talk," The cat-woman said.
"My name is Sharon Monroe and this is my husband Davis. We own the land that you landed on. Is there any way for you to learn our language?"
The dog-woman nodded again. "You talk. We learn."
"Do you want to come to our house so we can give you something to eat and be comfortable while we talk?" Davis asked.
"We come to you house. We be comfortable," The cat-woman responded, leaving the ramp with the dog-woman and closing the door with a remote. "You talk. We learn."
Davis and Sharon led them to the house, talking to them at the same time. Davis, in the meantime noted that they were short and petite close up. The cat-woman was about five foot two and the dog-woman was only about five foot one. He wondered if everyone in their races were that short. When they got to the house, he grabbed a book off the shelf and began reading it to them. Soon, they had picked up enough to hold a conversation.
They sat on the couch and looked at Sharon and Davis for a long time before they spoke. The dog-woman pointed to each of them. "You are Sharon and you are Davis. You are humans?"
"Yes," Sharon said with a smile. "What are your names?"
"I am Jjesta and this is my friend Olequa. I am a Furin and she is an Orac. We lived on the planet Tullen."
"Why are you here?" Davis asked.
Olequa sighed. "We were…"
When she couldn't think of a word, Jjesta supplied, "Executed?"
"No, then you would be dead," Sharon giggled. "Banished?"
"Yes," Olequa said. "We were banished. There is a rebellion in my father's kingdom and he did not trust his own daughter and stepdaughter to be faithful. He trusted his guards over us. We must go back and rescue him someday."
"How long have you been gone?" Davis asked.
"We do not know your time equations," Olequa explained.
As Davis explained how time worked on Earth, Jjesta pointed something out to Olequa. "They have no fur on their bodies. The male has some on his arms, but they do not have fur covering them. They wear something over them. Why?"
"I do not know," Olequa said. "Why do you cover yourselves?"
"Every human wears clothing," Sharon told her. "We don't have fur like you do. We only have thin hair on some parts of us."
"Your ears are very different, too," Jjesta said. "And you have no tails."
"That is just the way we are," Sharon couldn't explain it to her. "Does everyone on Tullen have tails and ears like yours?"
"Our ears vary according to our species," Olequa said. "All of us have tails unless they have been cut off."
Davis interrupted her. "Can you tell me how long you've been gone now?"
"We have been gone for seven of your earth years," Jjesta said.
"You look so young, though! How can you have been gone that long?" Sharon asked.
"In your earth years, I am one hundred and nineteen years old. Jjesta is one hundred and twelve. In our years on Tullen, I am approximately seventeen and Jjesta is sixteen. We are still not completely matured. Being completely matured is at one hundred and seventy five of your earth years. That would be twenty five of our years."
Jjesta stood and pulled a college book off the bookshelf in the living room. She flipped through it. "According to your book, you are fully grown around twenty of your years. It takes us much longer to mature. If you looked at how old we appear to your maturity status in your children, we would look like twelve year olds to our adults."
Sharon nodded. "Still, you are a hundred and twelve years old. Isn't that a long time?"
"It does not seem so long on Tullen. We live to be from five hundred and sixty to seven hundred and seventy earth years. It depends on how we take care of ourselves."
"It would take a lot to hide you here. What do you intend to do?" Davis asked.
"Before we came to Earth, we had read much about the planet. We just could not speak the basic language. We also have paperwork that makes us legal here. No one will know that we have never been here before. We look enough like humans that we can blend into your colonies to search for people that are willing to help us without appearing too different to the common crowd."
Sharon slowly shook her head. "Where do you intend to do this?"
"We figured the best place to look for young fighters would be at your local school," Olequa said. "We will enroll and go to school there to find people."
"Do you really intend to find people that are willing to leave their planet and families to help you?" Davis asked.
"Some people thrive on adventure, Davis," Jjesta told him. "Olequa and I are like that. We love a good adventure, as you might say. There are others like us."
"Maybe," Davis supplied, "But isn't that a lot to ask of a person?"
"People have asked worse on Tullen," Olequa whispered. "We wish to save our home. You have interfered in things before. Especially America. You sent young men off to Vietnam to be killed. I'm sure I can find people willing to go to Tullen and help us there. Will you help us while we are on Earth?"
"I don't…" Davis began.
"Of course we will," Sharon nudged him. "We humans help people in need."
Davis glowered at her. "We will talk about this after we find them a place to sleep."
"We can find our own place," Olequa said, standing.
"Yes," Jjesta agreed, heading outside.
When they got outside, they found a tree. Olequa laid down on the ground and Jjesta lay with her. Olequa tucked Jjesta's head into her stomach and tucked her own knees into Jjesta's stomach. Olequa's tail curled over Jjesta's back as they cuddled and fell asleep.
Sharon watched them from the house. "They are so personal. Why aren't people like that?"
"Because they aren't Furins or Oracs," Davis muttered. "Sharon, we really shouldn't do this."
"Look at them, Davis," Sharon said. "They are almost like the children we never had. A parent would help their child through anything. They themselves said their maturity level was like that of a human twelve year old."
Davis grunted. "They are much more mature than any twelve year old I've seen. All right, we'll help. Still, we have to think of them as kids."
"You're right. They don't look like kids," Sharon had to agree. "They are women, born and bred."
"Humph. Indeed," Davis turned back into the house. "First thing we need to do is find them some clothes that fit without taking them shopping. Then we have to do something about Olequa's stripes. Then we have to do something about her claws. I don't know about this."
"It will work," Sharon smiled at him. "With a little help, it will work."