Author note: Apparently I can't use the signs: (if you can't see them it's because I can't fucking use them!) to represent thought speaking (that how we Animorphers call telepathy) so I used = instead.
I know. It sucks. If you have a better idea how to represent thought speaking please tell me.
"A flying saucer?" Ted repeated.
He did laugh.
But then he joined us on the stage and saw it.
The girls came too and flashed forward with their smartphones.
Then the rain stopped and the picture became more clear.
"well, it's not exactly a flying saucer," Emma noted while gazing the object.
She was right- it wasn't shaped like a saucer.
It was more like a weird starship, not much bigger than a bus.
It had a front end, probably the cockpit or something parallel, that was shaped somewhat like an egg.
Its central part was long and probably cylindrical, it was hard to see because of the ceiling chunks and wet dust that rested on it.
On its side was a curved wing that ended with a tube.
I assumed that there was a similar wing on the other side.
The weirdest part was the rear part, that bent up and forward in a sort of bow and came to a point that looked as sharp as a needle.
It looked like a scorpion tail.
"This tail," I whispered, "it looks like a weapon.
"Shit," Emma whispered back, "is it going to burn us all?"
"I hope not," Charlotte mumbled, shaking.
"Hey, I am running out of battery," Ted said, way too loudly, "Are you going to film that?"
"Okay," I answered and turned on the video camera on my phone, "What should we do now?"
I felt nervous and dumb.
Nothing in my life prepared me for such a situation.
Thankfully, I wasn't alone.
Maybe we should communicate," Bill offered, saw that no one objected, stepped forward and called: "Hello! We are people of Earth."
"This better not be a prank," Emma said.
"If it's a prank it's a good one," Ted commented, rubbing his chin and nodding, "very well made. I like it."
Bill tried again: "Don't worry, we will not hurt you."
=I know=
I froze.
I was sure I heard someone saying: "I know," only I didn't hear anyone.
It was like a hallucination, or telepathy, or a line from a movie that got stuck in my head.
I looked at the others and we all exchanged glances.
"Did you hear that?", Charlotte asked, looking to her right and left, confused.
"The alien that said he knows? Yes, I heard that," Ted answered.
=I am going outside,= the voice that wasn't a voice said, =Do not be frightened.=
"We are not frightened," Bill said.
"Speak for yourself," I muttered.
The others giggled nervously.
I barely could hold my iPhone because my hand was shaking.
A round entrance opened in the front part of the spaceship, like a filling moon.
Me, Emma and Charlotte directed our flashlight toward the opening and we saw the alien.
The first thing I noticed about it was its head, it seemed almost human in shape, only more triangular, and it head human-like eyes that narrowed from the bright light in a very human manner.
But above them was another pair of eyes, connected to stalks just like snail's eyes in cartoons.
Where a nose was supposed to be were three vertical slits and where a mouth was supposed to be was no organ.
The alien came out of the spaceship and I could see the rest of its body more clearly.
Its upper body was almost human, except for the skin which was light blue.
But the lower part was entirely different, like a body of a little horse or a deer, with four hooved legs and blue and tan fur.
The alien could have been kind of cute if it wasn't for its tail- a long, thick, muscular scorpion-like tail.
Overall, I can say that the alien looked like monstrous centaur.
"Hello," Bill said gently.
He smiled for some reason and I found myself smiling too.
The alien, as weird and creepy as it was, gave me a feeling like he was a close friend I have known for a long period of time and now I finally saw him again.
I had tears in my eyes.
=Hello,= the alien said.
"Hi," Charlotte replied.
"Hola," Emma added.
"Ahlan," Ted said.
"Hey," I said.
I focused the camera of my phone on the alien.
The alien stumbled and fell to the ground.
For a moment I thought it was because the rain that wet the stage, but then I saw the huge, deep burn that covered half of the right side of the alien's body.
"Oh no, it's wounded!" Charlotte wailed and hurried to sit beside the alien.
=Yes. I am dying,= the alien agreed.
"You need to see a doctor," Charlotte said, "the wound should be bandaged. Ted, give me your shirt so I can tear it up and make bandages."
"Gladly," Ted replied and immediately started unbuttoning his shirt.
=There is nothing you can do for me. The wound is fatal.=
"No!" Bill cried and set beside the alien and Charlotte, "You can't die! You are the first alien ever to come to Earth. You must live."
I saw tears in Bill's eyes and I couldn't blame him.
I didn't know why, but it pained me too to think about the alien's possible death.
=I am not the first. there are many others.=
"What? There are more like you here?" Emma asked, surprised.
The alien shook his big head slowly, side to side, and then cried in pain, a silent sound that echoed horribly inside my head.
I could actually feel the agony.
=Not like me,= the alien answered, =they are different.=
"Different? How?" Emma asked and frowned.
=They came to invade your minds.=