Chapter One: Visitors and Phone Calls

Day One

Monday night

Donatello turned back to the keyboard and paused. His ninja sixth sense prickled at the back of his neck. Someone's watching me, and everyone else isn't here…

The purple-masked turtle picked up his latest project, an experimental translation unit, and used its reflective case to peer behind him- to see a strange, brown-skinned human girl, perhaps a Hawaiian or other islander. He was noting the details- textured brown hair, shabby navy short-sleeved shirt and pants, and leather shoulder pouch, when his brain caught up with him. Shell!

Before either of them could blink, Don had closed the distance between them and dropped into a ready pose with the bo he had grabbed on the way. "Who are you? How did you get past my security systems?"

The girl, who Don guessed to be around fourteen, gasped before her hand reached for the worn knife scabbard in her belt.

"Don't even think about it," Don warned, but the girl lunged, knife out.

Shell! Don retreated, protecting himself from her half-trained but quick sweeps and stabs until he saw an opening- which he did in less than ten seconds. The knife clattered to the stone floor near Master Splinter's door. It's handy having a lifetime of ninjitsu training.

Shadowed eyes wide, the girl took a step back, her open palm rubbing the frayed edge of her threadbare, plain navy tunic. "Mekala, en todo falu," she whispered, as if to herself. "Palak!"

Don watched the stranger's dark, frightened eyes flitting around the room and over him as she kept retreating. Is this a show, or genuine confusion and fear? What should I do? Unrelated: she looks exhausted. Pale, and bags under her eyes. Maybe even ashy skin, given her darker complexion.

After a second's internal debate, he advanced again, bo still ready but not toward her in a threatening position. "Look, I'm not going to just attack you –that's Raph's job- but I do want to know who you are and how you got in. None of my alarms went off."

The girl held up her hands in the classic 'I'm unarmed' pose, blinking her eyes rapidly. "Palak. Palak. Frazitae erunai enna em tranam pa, em tlau gaer. Palak."

Uh, oh. She's not… shell, she's crying. As the turtle sheathed his bo, the girl showed her hands again before rooting in her shoulder pouch, but came up empty. She shuffled another half-step backwards, stumbled against the couch, and sank onto it.

Great, just great. Everyone left me alone the night a crying girl shows up. Even Master Splinter is out. Senses alert, Don trotted back to his lab to grab some hankies, and on impulse, his translation unit prototype. "Time for your field test," he told it, turning it on. It hummed quietly in answer.

Returning with loud steps to the girl, Don relinquished the hankies, received a brief grateful look, and backed off until she calmed down. Then –thankful the tears only lasted a minute or two- he got her attention by clearing his throat before demonstrating how to wear the unit. "This probably won't work, but the unit clips to your belt. The receiver clips to your lapel or hem or edge of your plastron to pick up vibrations. The antenna is supposed to pick up brainwaves, but I don't know if it'll work or if it's even close enough. There's also a micro speaker that should output a translation of what I'm saying to you. But you don't know what I'm saying."

He offered the unit.

The girl's brown eyes locked onto the device and she stiffened; her body language spoke of fear, distrust, and suspicion. Is she from a primitive culture?

"It's all right," Don said, working to make his own body language non-threatening. "It's just a translator."

After a long moment, the girl visibly steeled herself and tentatively took it. After inspecting it all over, sniffing it, and feeling it, she awkwardly clipped the unit onto her belt and the receiver onto the frayed hem of her tunic. She glanced up at the turtle, gesturing as if to say, "Is this right?"

"That's good. That's good." Don assured her. "Now say something." He mimed this by flapping his mouth open and closed and pointing at it.

"Martzitae, jar, genen, three, four, five." In addition to her voice still speaking her own tongue, Don heard a second, mechanized, clumsy version of the girl's voice in English that became more like her real voice with every word coming from the micro speaker on his plastron. "Me understand do you? Word, talking, speech, language-"

It works!

Dawning horror rose in the girl's eyes; she gasped and jumped backward. She pawed at the machine as if trying to get a spider off her clothes.

"It's all right, it's all right!" Don rushed to reassure her. He could hear the mechanized version of his own voice faintly from her micro speaker. "It won't hurt you. It's just a translator, so we can understand each other." Shell, what did I get myself into?

The girl froze, eyes huge, staring at the device. She looked up at Don, then back down.

Don nodded. "Yes, my words are being translated through my translator. It's just a machine. It won't hurt you."

The girl took a shaky breath and lowered her hands. "Sorries."

"It's all right," Don said again. "I can see you're not used to technology."

The girl flinched, then straightened and bowed slightly. "Correct, are you. But lacking this box, understanding you and me we would not."

Don couldn't repress a grin. "That's right. We can understand each other now without spending weeks learning each other's languages. I mean, sure, it's got the word order a little jumbled, but that'll just take some adjustment. I can't believe it actually works!"

Read the room, shellhead. Don suddenly realized the girl was barely containing tears again. "Oops. Sorry. I'm just excited. I won't hurt you or anything." What a brilliant and eloquent reassurance. She definitely won't cry now, Einstein.

The girl let out a shuddering sigh before squaring her shoulders and blinking hard. "Made this, you?" She tapped the silver unit as softly as if it was alive.

Don nodded. "Yep. I'm a bit of an engineer. Can you understand me alright? Are my words mixed up at all?"

The girl cocked her head to one side. "Yes, yet understanding. Different is language my in form." She hesitated. "World this, you are normal? I am strange? Here humans are?" Oh, good, she seems calmer now. She's asking questions. We're conversing.

Don laughed a little when he understood her. "No, humans are the normal ones here on Earth. My brothers and I are the weirdos."

"Oh. Just came I from world of animals of talking. They were not like fables of Lady Lamaki meeting animals," she added, under her breath.

Oookay, then. She's… some sort of alien? Don cleared his throat. "So, uh, where are you from?"

The girl spread her hands, sadness in every line of her face. "Any place."

Time to change the subject, Don. "So I haven't told you my name. I'm Donatello." He brought his hands together and gave a formal Japanese bow. "But you can call me Don." He smiled.

The girl mimicked the bow. "Saeyaja K'el." She gave a shy smile. "Saja."

The turtle scratched at his chin. "I take it you've never been to Earth before? How did you get here, anyway?"

Saja didn't answer right away, and he met her serious brown eyes- wise, tired eyes that had seen much. "I need to know how you got in, and if any of my security systems have failed. My brothers and I have a lot of enemies."

Heaving a big sigh, Saja lowered her gaze. "Fine is your protection. By- by teleportation, I came. Planet, place, dimension choose, but only that. Most outside, not home. Sorry." She fingered the clip on her tunic. "Palak."

"If you can't pick a specific location, I guess it's not your fault you ended up in here. Is teleporting your only, uh, magic?"

Saja nodded, and Don could see tears forming again. Shell, this whole thing could be an act, and she could be waiting for me to turn my shell. I wish Raph and the others were here- but then, if they were and she's innocent, she'd definitely be crying. And tied up. And threatened.

Donatello shook himself and tried a friendly smile. "Are you hungry?"

The girl managed a nod, and he led her to the kitchen, keeping his ninja senses alert. He showed her the fridge and opened a couple cabinets before stepping back. "I'm no good in the kitchen, but there's gotta be something that'll catch your eye. We had Leo's stir fry last night, and I think there's still some leftovers in the fridge."

After glancing in the cabinets, Saja approached the fridge warily, touching it and running nimble brown fingers along the rubber seam.

Don raised an eyebrow ridge. "Uh, that's a fridge. It keeps food cold. The freezer at the top keeps things frozen."

The girl's tired eyes widened in wonder for a moment before she assumed a nonchalant air, as if she had already known, and opened the fridge.

"It's okay if you have to ask." Don pointed out, leaning against the counter. "I already know you teleported in, and as I'm a giant turtle, I've seen a lot of strange things and been to a lot of fantastic places."

Coming out of the fridge with the plate of stir fry, Saeyaja paused, scars of pain clear. "Only one saw teleporting in me. Tiny bit of trust… is strange."

Shell, she must've been through a lot. Clearing his throat, Don stepped forward to take the plate. "Is this what you want? Okay, this box is a microwave- it heats food in a short amount of time. The major rule is that you can't put anything metal in there, like a fork. That's because metal doesn't absorb the microwaves –little waves of energy about as wide as a hand- and get hot, like the water in food does. But the energy has to go somewhere, so it sparks and arcs to the side of the cooking area. It's concentrated, so it burns a tiny hole in the side of the cavity. I'd show you, but I've already fixed it once this week."

Eyes wide, the girl nodded.

Don sighed, set the timer, led her to the doorway, and pointed to the bathroom door. "That's the, uh, bathroom, restroom, whatever you want to call it." He briefly explained the basic concept of a toilet and sink, avoiding eye contact.

Saja ate her supper hungrily while the turtle watched while appearing not to. He appeared relaxed, but he worried about what to do with her. I wish I could send her to April's, but she just left this morning for that trip to look for artifacts in South America. No cell service. And what if she's dangerous? Somehow sent by the Shredder? Don shuddered.

"I am problem for you, aren't I?" Saja whispered, pushing back her empty plate and water glass.

"Uh, no, I'm just-"

Saja shook her head. "Sorry. But I cannot teleport for at least another day, better two or three day, until I rest."

"If that's the case, I can probably let you stay, as long as-"

Don's shell cell rang, and he winced. Grabbing it, he saw a blinking red light: Raphael.

"Hey, Raph, what's up?"

"Jus' checkin' on ya, bro, all by yer lonesome. Everythin' okay?"

"I'm fine, Raph. I'm a grown-up turtle, and I can take care of myself." Don't sound too annoyed or impatient, Donatello. He's just being overprotective in his own way.

"Excep' fer forgetting ta eat sometimes," Raphael pointed out. "So ya don't need me ta pick up anythin' from the store- I mean, junkyard?" He tried to laugh, but he sounded guilty.

"You broke something, didn't you?"

"Hey, nothin' major. Jus' a little piece that snapped off… and now it won't turn on."

Don rolled his eyes. "While you were throwing it at a Purple Dragon?"

"Uh…"

"It's fine, Raph. Just sweep it up and bring it back when you and Casey are done. And be careful, okay?"

"Always am," lied Raph, and hung up.

Don breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to Saja, who had found the sink, the bar of soap, and begun washing her plate plus the stack of dirty ones from supper. Oops. I was supposed to do those.

"Hey, you don't have to-"

His shell cell rang again, and this time it was the blue dot. "Hey, Leo, like I told Raph, I'm a big turtle now and I don't need checking on every ten minutes-"

"Donatello."

Something in Leonardo's dead serious voice made the purple-masked turtle's blood run cold. "Don't go for this, okay? Just find the others, and-" Leo grunted, as if in pain, and the line went dead.