Crane found himself staring at a rotating disk in the sky. Well… no, not really a disk. It was… a saucer!! A flying saucer!! A unidentified flying object!! A UFO!!! AHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! LITTLE GREEN ALIENS FROM MARS!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
A/N: Now for the REAL beginning! (Sorry… I got a bit carried away… but it WAS a flying saucer!) Oh yes, the REASON for this UNSEEMLY misunderstanding, is because I was HYPER!! YES, HYPER!! *cackles* THIS should be an INTERESTING chapter!! Hee, hee, hee….
Crane stared at the thing in the sky. It was… flying… but it was NOT a bird. It was silvery and looked to be in the shape of a slightly flattened sphere.
"The legends," Rosethorn muttered, amazed.
"What legends?" Crane asked, turning his gaze to her.
His breath caught in his throat. She was so beautiful when she was stunned and awed by something. For a second he could only stare while Rosethorn began to explain. Then he actually heard what she was saying.
"…in some old books at the library. Says something about natives having tales of strange floating disks in the sky," Rosethorn explained, still watching the UFO.
Crane nodded and looked at it again. There were two little laser like things on the side and they were starting to glow, as if something might shoot out at them.
"What's it doing?" Rosethorn wondered.
"I don't know," Crane whispered, staring.
There was red light shining at the front of the laser like things. Crane suddenly realized what it was doing. It was going to shoot. Right at them. These lasers were some sort of advanced magic!
Just as the lasers shot out at them Crane pushed himself and Rosethorn off to the side. They fell in an enclosed ditch he had not seen before and that was partially hidden from someone looking. They landed hard and dust floated up.
Rosethorn heard the laser's blow up the ground where they had been standing, as she lay on the ground. Why would the ship thing want to hurt them? Suddenly she realized Crane had landed on top of her and she was staring right into his eyes. She gave him a slight shove, keeping his gaze and he rolled over, off her.
Rosethorn's breath was coming quicker then usual as she stared into Crane's deep darkness of eyes. He was very close. Another millimeter and their noses would brush. Crane opened his mouth to say something but Rosethorn muttered, "shhh" and shook her head.
Crane was realizing that she was definitely close enough to kiss this time. And she wasn't pushing away from him. Crane leaned just a little closer to Rosethorn, so much that their lips only just didn't touch.
"Stand up and put your hands above your head," someone said.
Crane felt Rosethorn tense up. He turned to look who, or what, was speaking. To his immense surprise a little green man was standing there. He was about two feet tall and holding a laser gun. He wasn't really a human, but his general form was like that of a human.
Crane stood up and helped Rosethorn up. He put his hands above his head. Rosethorn did as well, although she felt rather silly about it. Then again the little green thing did have a gun.
"Walk," it ordered.
Rosethorn and Crane climbed out of the ditch and out into the woods again. The little thing seemed even shorted now. Crane even considered kicking it, but there was that gun again…
They walked a little farther and suddenly found themselves looking at the floating disk again. It had landed. A door slid open on their side.
"In," ordered the alien.
Crane and Rosethorn stepped in, and had the crouch down because there wasn't very much room inside. It was obviously built for creatures the size of the little green thing. The little green thing walked in after then and closed the door. He walked over to what looked like a chair and a control console. Then it turned to face Crane and Rosethorn.
"Earthlings," it said, "you may call me Loke. You have seen my ship and therefore you must never return home."
Rosethorn immediately said, "Excuse me! You will let us out right now! I am NOT letting a little green thing like you stopping me from getting home!"
"I am sorry," Loke said.
"Sorry isn't good enough," Crane said and stumbled. The ship had started to rise.
"I cannot let you return home and if you try to stop me I will shoot you," Loke informed them holding up his laser.
"Just you try," Rosethorn told the little thing and was about to punch it but Crane stopped her.
"We may be able to get out of this mess without violence. Besides, neither of us has any idea of how to fly this thing!" he whispered.
"Fine," Rosethorn said and sat down since she was getting tired of crouching.
They were able to sit comfortably but not stand. Meanwhile Loke had turned his back on them and was fiddling with the controls. A window suddenly opened in front of them. Crane gasped. Below he could see forest, rivers, and fields whizzing by below. But that wasn't the amazing part. The amazing part was that they were very high up. He closed his eyes, dizzy for a second before looking again.
Crane grabbed Rosethorn's arm, too shocked to say anything. Now they were above the earth, looking down upon it. It was beautiful. Until now, no human and ever been off earth, no one had any idea of what space was like or what Earth looked like from above. He could see the other planets, rotating so very far away, but closer then ever before. He could see the moon, as they flew very close to it.
"Oh my god," Rosethorn said, breathless.
"Great gods," Crane said after her, his eyes wide open.
"I would have given anything to see this if I had only known," Rosethorn whispered.
"You're giving everything. You're seeing it only on the condition that you never return," Crane reminded her.
Not everything, Rosethorn thought, I still have you. She considered saying this but then decided not to. He might get ideas.
"You're not returning either," Rosethorn replied.
"Oh Rosie," Crane began.
Rosethorn looked at him sharply. Since when did he call her "Rosie"? Always before it had been "Rosethorn" or "you!" when he was mad at her, or at least a little angry. Come to think of it, she had never really seen him angry.
"Rosethorn," Crane corrected himself.
Rosethorn shook her head, "No, it's okay. You can call me that."
Crane nodded but didn't say anything. He avoided looking at her now, lost in his own thoughts. His own thoughts, actually, of her. It was only about fifteen minutes earlier that they had, that he had, almost kissed her. How had that happened? He remembered, staring into her eyes as they got a little closer, their lips almost brushing, then- that stupid little alien!
"This is Agent 1296 reporting back. I have captured two of the earthlings, as they had sighted me. We may use the subjects for further study of Earth," the alien was speaking into something.
Rosethorn and Crane glanced at each other but neither said anything. Subjects?! Rosethorn was thinking, aching to wrap her hands around the slimy little alien's neck. Not that it was actually slimy, but… theoretically… you get the point. *wink* *wink*
Suddenly, a ship, a ship so large it was unlike anything on earth appeared in the view screen. It must have been a least a mile long. It was large, but powerful as well. You could tell me the streamlined design and the obvious lasers stationed on both sides, the engines hidden from view to prevent any enemy ships from having an easy target. Rosethorn and Crane were stunned speechless.
"The mother ship," the little alien spoke and it was unclear whether or not it was speaking to them, or to itself.
As they flew closer a small door opened on part of the ship, although it was big enough for at least four of the small ships pass through together. They flew in and there was a slight lurch as the ship landed.
The door to the small ship opened and the alien ordered them out, barely bothering to hold the laser at them, since they wasn't really anywhere they could run away to.
They were now in the holding area of the ships, a large area made completely out of iron and steel. Crane could only think of how much armor one could make from all of that. Then again, for space travel, you couldn't really build a wooden ship now could you? A door opened and another alien stepped through. It had a golden sash around its waste. This one obviously had to be the Captain. The Captain inspected Crane and Rosethorn with the air of a Prince inspecting cattle. All Rosethorn could think of was how easy it would be just to kick it, then kick the guards that were standing behind it. But if she did that they would probably shoot her before she had a chance to kick anyone else.
The Captain opened its mouth to speak.
"Kill them," it said.