Everglow: Friend From Far Away

6 - First Contact

The creature's skin wasn't slimy and gross like Fischer had expected. Instead it's scales were smooth but dry, very similar to a snake's. It felt like he was running his hand over styrofoam, except it was living and breathing. The sensation it gave off was odd, he couldn't quite figure out what he was feeling.

A mix of fear and wonder?

Dread and amazement?

Whatever it was, it was shifted to the back of his mind. The gash in the creature's leg looked quite serious. It was located on the second third of the three main segments of the leg , about 10 cm long and split about 2 cm wide. The area around the wound was stained that strange maroon colour. It looked like human blood, if someone had blended it with a beetroot.

He held his jacket out in his now freezing cold right hand, while his left was rested on the alien's leg. It had started to whimper again, softer this time, but it still sounded like the giant hole in it's leg was causing it a lot of grief.

Trying not to waste any more time as to prolong the creature's suffering, Fischer got to work. He shifted the jacket under the leg and grasped one of the sleeves. The creature gave a small but sharp yelp as he wrapped it around the wound, clearly in a serious amount of pain.

As he folded the makeshift tourniquet, he began to wonder what had caused such a serious wound. His eyes began to shift, his gaze sweeping up the alien's body. He quickly noticed that it's head was still facing the ground, but it's eyes were locked on his, staring directly at him.

It's eyes shone a brilliant aqua. Fischer could see the fear in them but also a sense of beauty. They were filled with dancing sparkles, and looked like they were some sort of crystal. The creature as a whole looked relatively nonthreatening, save for the sharp claws attached to its feet. It seemed so. . . wholesome. If the wound was the result of some sort of encounter with a predator, or hostile being, he couldn't understand why such a beautiful creature was being targeted.

Grabbing the second sleeve of the jacket, he wrapped it around the leg, overlapping the first sleeve. Then with the two portions of excess sleeve that remained, he twisted around and tied a strong knot, keeping the jacket firmly attached to the leg.

With his hands still holding the creature's scaly leg, he wasn't sure of what to do now. Was he just supposed to leave it there in the middle of nowhere?

What if someone else stumbled across it? Chances are they wouldn't be as considerate as he had. What if no one found it? It would most likely die out here, alone and afraid. He wretched at the thought of letting it suffer alone out in the freezing cold. No one deserved such a fate.

But there was no way he could just take it home, right? It's not like keeping an alien hidden from everyone is something that people can just do. In fact he was fairly certain that no one had ever done it before. For obvious reasons.

Pushing the thought to the back of his mind, he slowly began to release his hands from the appendage. It seemed as though the makeshift tourniquet was doing it's job and staying put. Sliding from his toes to his heels, he leaned backwards and sat on the blackened ground, puzzled as of what came next.

He was nowhere near as frightened as he had been when he first made contact with it. But his hands were still shaking, and he was definitely not comfortable with sitting in the middle of the bush with an alien.

The creature had stopped whimpering once again. It started to show some signs of life, sitting up and inspecting the strange garment that had been placed on it's leg by the scary being in front of it. Slowly bending over, it began to stroke the jacket with it's left hand, the right one placed on the ground for balance.

Fischer pondered for a little. The alien understood his intentions. It understood his hand signals. Maybe he could try communicating with it again. It was worth a shot.

"Are. . . are you ok?" he whispered softly, his voice wobbly and jittery, fear still staining his tongue.

The creature's gaze shifted from its leg to Fischer. Its eyelids had descended slightly lower, as if it was embarrassed or fearful of interacting with him. He tried again.

"Can. . . can you. . . can you understand me?" he questioned again. The idea was a total long shot, there was no way that an alien from a completely different planet could understand a human's language. German was hard enough for even other humans to understand.

But then the alien turned it's head to the side. It's eyes darted from his, to the ground, then back again. It had an almost guilty look to it, as if it had just been told off by someone.

What followed, was a slight nod.

His own eyes suddenly lit up. The alien could understand him. It knew what he was saying. Fischer's brow was raised high, his eyes twinkling with interest.

"Y. . . yes? Yes you can?"

His question was followed by another nod. Suddenly a whole new wave of emotions washed over him. Still primarily fear, but now with an added cocktail of curiosity and wonder.

He leaned back slightly, his hands placed behind him to provide support with his legs slightly outstretched in front.

How the hell did this thing know what he was saying? None of this made any sense at all. Half of his mind still thought this was a dream. But with the creature being able to understand him now, did that mean it could possible communicate back with him? There was only one way to find out.

"Do. . . do you have a name?"