Love and Burden
by Thee Great Red Dragon
***
Chapter 8
*********
Auron was in the jungle before he knew it. He didn't have to wander for a trail; his strong sense of smell picked up the trace of burning within instants.
The small, leafy bushes that marked the edge and beginning of the forest soon turned dense and massive, as the large, tropical trees with their cape- like leaves engulfed all vision.
But Auron didn't need to see through the darkness. His sense of smell, awarability, and sixth sense guided him swiftly towards the area where he would surely behold the scene of the crash.
As he sped through the dark maze of plant life, he noticed something change. Through the mesh of sight, odd colors began to spring up. Auron foresaw what it could be, and he sped up. Yes, the shining, smoked colors were becoming bigger, and the smells of wreckage became greater.
Auron jumped from the final tangle of leaves, into the area of the crash.
He stopped abruptly, and breathed heavily as he gazed upon the trashed, smoking star-cruiser in front of him.
It was a small craft, grey in color and rounded like a flying saucer. The broke-down, metallic hull was cracked and dented in so many places, and the crunched engines protruding from the ship's rear were sputtering a futile act of sparks. Dust was still settling from the ship's direct, non-sliding collision with the ground [Auron was amazed that the craft hadn't exploded upon impact], and it mixed in with the smoke still expelling from the various 'injuries' of the down spaceship.
It reminded Auron vividly of his own landing on Earth.
"Hello?", he called out audibly over the sounds of the dying ship.
"Is anybody alive in there?"
There was no answer.
Auron inched closer and stepped down into the small crater that had been created by the crash. Gingerly, he reached out and touched the ship's hull, hoping that it wasn't burning-hot.
It wasn't.
Auron dug his claws into the body of the ship and climbed the height of the vessel; up to the cockpit, which was perched upon the top-center of the ship.
The hatch to the cockpit was a round half-sphere, artificially smoked from the outside. Auron couldn't see inside.
"Hey!", he called again, knocking loudly on the cockpit.
"Is anybody in there?"
Still no answer.
It then occurred to Auron that there weren't supposed to be any aliens near Earth! Not even in the vicinity! What was this extraterrestrial spaceship doing smack in the middle of Hawaii?
He decided to think more about the subject later, and concerned himself with who or what was inside of the ship's cockpit. He half-expected that the pilot could have hardly survived the crash...but if there was somebody alive in there, unable to hear or answer, he was going help them.
Auron balled his right hand into a fist and aimed [and executed] a sturdy punch to the center of the protective glass. He didn't manage to break it. His hand simply bounced off of the surface painlessly, leaving him with a slight sense of humility.
"Well, that didn't work", he said to himself.
Attempting a new method, he pried his fingers roughly underneath the inlet of the cockpit, and began in attempt to tear it off.
At first, the thing wouldn't budge. As if his method was futile, Auron pulled as hard as he could on the cockpit-cover without any result.
But as sweat began to bead on the fur on his forehead and his fingers began to ache, he felt it began to weaken and give slightly. It felt almost as if he were bending the reinforced glass as he pulled steadily.
He felt it coming and he clenched his teeth and eyes firmly. He set his legs straight, held his tongue, and gave one final burst of strength to his struggle.
BWUANG!
The lid of the cockpit sprang loose so quickly that it flew into the jungle as Auron was thrown backwards off of the ship with a shout.
"Ouch!", he exclaimed with a grunt as he landed heavily on the ground.
Rubbing the back of his head where he had impacted, Auron sat up and cursed under his breath.
"Dammit..."
His wave of irritation was quickly forgotten as he remembered what was at hand.
He stood up, brushing the dirt and dust off of himself, and his way back towards the ship. He scaled the side of the craft once again, anxious to see the crashed flier he had exposed. He raised himself above the cockpit, eager as could be...and saw who was in it.
It was another Experiment.
***
It was a female. It was so obvious...she was so attractive.
Auron's mouth opened slightly in surprise. She lay unconscious in the small, rotating chair that was surrounded by control panels. The panels were smashed a sparking, and the sounding light illuminated the Experiment's face.
Her fine body-fur was an attractive grayish-blue, and her ears were shorter than Auron's. They were tipped in black, and they weren't split like Stitch's were. Her tummy and chest area were several notches lighter than the rest of her body, as were the round areas of fur around her eyes.
Auron stood spellbound above this sacred creature, without realizing how wide his eyes had gone.
He had indeed realized before that both Peka and Twyla were good-looking, but this Experiment...she was something special.
He knew it.
***
Slowly, after shutting his mouth, Auron kneeled down carefully, closer to the cockpit. Delicately, he lowered one of his hands down to the beautiful stranger, and placed two clawed finger against the side of her neck.
Her pulse was stable. She was alive.
Auron withdrew his fingers. As he did, the Experiment moaned painfully through her teeth, and her body shifted itself in its unconscious state.
Auron knew she might be hurt; he had to get her back to the house.
As he reached down again to lift her body from the cockpit...something stopped him. For some reason, he didn't feel it to be 'right' for him to touch her body.
"What?", he thought to himself.
"Why shouldn't I be able to?"
He hadn't ever had a problem touching or hugging his other friends, like Riley and Peka. He had never felt this no-touch thing before...so why the big hold-up?
Whatever it was, it was ignored when the Experiment's face grimaced in a painful way, and a small whimper of pain escaped her lips.
Auron was half-expecting his nose to start running like mad as he knelt down onto his knees and reached into the fuming cockpit to free the wondrous somebody.
He got momentarily entangled in what he thought was a long, stretchy cord, but it turned out to be the Experiments tail.
After getting over the surprise of this, Auron gently lifted the victim out of the ship and into his arms in a cradle-like position. She didn't awake in his grasp, and her head drooped quietly onto his shoulder. Auron momentarily lost his foothold as this happened, but he found his posture before he [and who he was carrying] toppled down.
He turned around and jumped from the top of the small ship onto the near ground, growing accustomed to the Experiment's weight quickly. He climbed out of the crater easily enough, and stopped briefly to look back at the mangled spaceship.
"How are we going to cover this up?", he thought miserably, imagining this entire site being discovered by humans.
He felt the Experiment's steady breath on his shoulder and looked down at her. Only now did he notice that she had an audible cut over her eye that had started to bleed.
With determined speed, he hurried back towards the Pelekai house, his newly- discovered comrade still in his arms.
*********
[A/N: alright chapter 9 is complete!
Forgive me for the fact that this chapter is so short; I didn't think it was literally correct to fit it in with the next chapter. Also, I'm a bit concerned that I didn't put in as much detail as I could've...
Who's the new Experiment that's got Auron woozy-doozy? Well, I suggest that you go read Took Baggins' 'Until the End'...take a guess at who it is!]
by Thee Great Red Dragon
***
Chapter 8
*********
Auron was in the jungle before he knew it. He didn't have to wander for a trail; his strong sense of smell picked up the trace of burning within instants.
The small, leafy bushes that marked the edge and beginning of the forest soon turned dense and massive, as the large, tropical trees with their cape- like leaves engulfed all vision.
But Auron didn't need to see through the darkness. His sense of smell, awarability, and sixth sense guided him swiftly towards the area where he would surely behold the scene of the crash.
As he sped through the dark maze of plant life, he noticed something change. Through the mesh of sight, odd colors began to spring up. Auron foresaw what it could be, and he sped up. Yes, the shining, smoked colors were becoming bigger, and the smells of wreckage became greater.
Auron jumped from the final tangle of leaves, into the area of the crash.
He stopped abruptly, and breathed heavily as he gazed upon the trashed, smoking star-cruiser in front of him.
It was a small craft, grey in color and rounded like a flying saucer. The broke-down, metallic hull was cracked and dented in so many places, and the crunched engines protruding from the ship's rear were sputtering a futile act of sparks. Dust was still settling from the ship's direct, non-sliding collision with the ground [Auron was amazed that the craft hadn't exploded upon impact], and it mixed in with the smoke still expelling from the various 'injuries' of the down spaceship.
It reminded Auron vividly of his own landing on Earth.
"Hello?", he called out audibly over the sounds of the dying ship.
"Is anybody alive in there?"
There was no answer.
Auron inched closer and stepped down into the small crater that had been created by the crash. Gingerly, he reached out and touched the ship's hull, hoping that it wasn't burning-hot.
It wasn't.
Auron dug his claws into the body of the ship and climbed the height of the vessel; up to the cockpit, which was perched upon the top-center of the ship.
The hatch to the cockpit was a round half-sphere, artificially smoked from the outside. Auron couldn't see inside.
"Hey!", he called again, knocking loudly on the cockpit.
"Is anybody in there?"
Still no answer.
It then occurred to Auron that there weren't supposed to be any aliens near Earth! Not even in the vicinity! What was this extraterrestrial spaceship doing smack in the middle of Hawaii?
He decided to think more about the subject later, and concerned himself with who or what was inside of the ship's cockpit. He half-expected that the pilot could have hardly survived the crash...but if there was somebody alive in there, unable to hear or answer, he was going help them.
Auron balled his right hand into a fist and aimed [and executed] a sturdy punch to the center of the protective glass. He didn't manage to break it. His hand simply bounced off of the surface painlessly, leaving him with a slight sense of humility.
"Well, that didn't work", he said to himself.
Attempting a new method, he pried his fingers roughly underneath the inlet of the cockpit, and began in attempt to tear it off.
At first, the thing wouldn't budge. As if his method was futile, Auron pulled as hard as he could on the cockpit-cover without any result.
But as sweat began to bead on the fur on his forehead and his fingers began to ache, he felt it began to weaken and give slightly. It felt almost as if he were bending the reinforced glass as he pulled steadily.
He felt it coming and he clenched his teeth and eyes firmly. He set his legs straight, held his tongue, and gave one final burst of strength to his struggle.
BWUANG!
The lid of the cockpit sprang loose so quickly that it flew into the jungle as Auron was thrown backwards off of the ship with a shout.
"Ouch!", he exclaimed with a grunt as he landed heavily on the ground.
Rubbing the back of his head where he had impacted, Auron sat up and cursed under his breath.
"Dammit..."
His wave of irritation was quickly forgotten as he remembered what was at hand.
He stood up, brushing the dirt and dust off of himself, and his way back towards the ship. He scaled the side of the craft once again, anxious to see the crashed flier he had exposed. He raised himself above the cockpit, eager as could be...and saw who was in it.
It was another Experiment.
***
It was a female. It was so obvious...she was so attractive.
Auron's mouth opened slightly in surprise. She lay unconscious in the small, rotating chair that was surrounded by control panels. The panels were smashed a sparking, and the sounding light illuminated the Experiment's face.
Her fine body-fur was an attractive grayish-blue, and her ears were shorter than Auron's. They were tipped in black, and they weren't split like Stitch's were. Her tummy and chest area were several notches lighter than the rest of her body, as were the round areas of fur around her eyes.
Auron stood spellbound above this sacred creature, without realizing how wide his eyes had gone.
He had indeed realized before that both Peka and Twyla were good-looking, but this Experiment...she was something special.
He knew it.
***
Slowly, after shutting his mouth, Auron kneeled down carefully, closer to the cockpit. Delicately, he lowered one of his hands down to the beautiful stranger, and placed two clawed finger against the side of her neck.
Her pulse was stable. She was alive.
Auron withdrew his fingers. As he did, the Experiment moaned painfully through her teeth, and her body shifted itself in its unconscious state.
Auron knew she might be hurt; he had to get her back to the house.
As he reached down again to lift her body from the cockpit...something stopped him. For some reason, he didn't feel it to be 'right' for him to touch her body.
"What?", he thought to himself.
"Why shouldn't I be able to?"
He hadn't ever had a problem touching or hugging his other friends, like Riley and Peka. He had never felt this no-touch thing before...so why the big hold-up?
Whatever it was, it was ignored when the Experiment's face grimaced in a painful way, and a small whimper of pain escaped her lips.
Auron was half-expecting his nose to start running like mad as he knelt down onto his knees and reached into the fuming cockpit to free the wondrous somebody.
He got momentarily entangled in what he thought was a long, stretchy cord, but it turned out to be the Experiments tail.
After getting over the surprise of this, Auron gently lifted the victim out of the ship and into his arms in a cradle-like position. She didn't awake in his grasp, and her head drooped quietly onto his shoulder. Auron momentarily lost his foothold as this happened, but he found his posture before he [and who he was carrying] toppled down.
He turned around and jumped from the top of the small ship onto the near ground, growing accustomed to the Experiment's weight quickly. He climbed out of the crater easily enough, and stopped briefly to look back at the mangled spaceship.
"How are we going to cover this up?", he thought miserably, imagining this entire site being discovered by humans.
He felt the Experiment's steady breath on his shoulder and looked down at her. Only now did he notice that she had an audible cut over her eye that had started to bleed.
With determined speed, he hurried back towards the Pelekai house, his newly- discovered comrade still in his arms.
*********
[A/N: alright chapter 9 is complete!
Forgive me for the fact that this chapter is so short; I didn't think it was literally correct to fit it in with the next chapter. Also, I'm a bit concerned that I didn't put in as much detail as I could've...
Who's the new Experiment that's got Auron woozy-doozy? Well, I suggest that you go read Took Baggins' 'Until the End'...take a guess at who it is!]