𝙍𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝘿𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙭

|4| Some Alien

TAERIC

I watch as the flames burn through the window in the ship's hull as I speed towards the ground. We had gone through ship crash safety training so many times it is practically second nature as I bend forward, putting my chest on my thighs. I lace my fingers behind my head, cradling the sides with my arms.

My body lurches forward as I feel the ship jolt. The seatbelt cuts into my shoulders sharply, the impact is harder than I thought it would be. I hiss in pain, wondering why the ship didn't smash to bits. Out the window, water covers the ship. The glass cracks under the pressure.

I scramble out of my seat, grabbing the first emergency bag I see. I run down the ship to the exit. Water bleeds into the ship, and I hear the window make a loud pop, watching as the cracks in it grow. I whip my head back around and try to push the hatch open, knowing the automatic systems wouldn't be online after the crash. The door doesn't budge. I push again, grunting. Water pools at my feet. My fist slams against the wall and race over to the cracked window, smashing it completely with my elbow.

The water floods the ship, and I stumble backward. My lungs burn as I take a deep breath before submerging myself into the water and moving out the ship's broken window. My legs pump through the water, propelling me through it till I break the surface and gasp, inhaling the new planet's air.

I yank the pack off my shoulders once I make it to the sandy shore and quickly begin searching through the contents, hoping it has something, anything, valuable that can help me on this new planet. I pull out a small rectangular device made of metal. It's a communicator! I realize with relief.

"Send a distress signal to Captain Deorit." I wait, worried that it is waterlogged.

"Distress signal sent."

I sigh with relief. "Are translations functional?"

"T-T-T," it sputters. I slap it onto my palm, willing it to work. "Translations partially online," it finishes.

"Partially?" I groan. "What is working?"

"Receptive bilingualism functioning. Species dictionary is available. Communication unavailable."

I grumble. So, I will understand the planet's inhabitants, but I won't be able to speak the language without using the species dictionary. Thank goodness that, at least, is functioning; It will be a slow process for other species, though. I hope nothing else is broken in this darn transmitter.

I hear a sound, and my head whips around, searching, instantly on guard. This is an unknown planet, and I do not know what lurks in the trees. As I search through the brush, I spot what had made the noise. I almost collapse in shock.

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EMARA

I push a branch out of my view and creep forward slowly, keeping my gun raised. I silently thank my dad for teaching me to use a weapon before passing away. As the lake comes into view, my jaw slackens in shock, and so does the grip on my gun. A spaceship was sinking into the water? I know they don't have those- or at least I think they don't. There hasn't exactly been great communication since the world fell apart, but you would think news about space travel would get around, especially when it looks like new-age star trek stuff.

There is another splash, and I watch as a man launches himself out of the water. My eyes widen, and my grip on the gun renews itself. He lugs himself onto the shoreline of the lake and takes a deep breath. My breath catches in my throat as I watch him.

My heart beats faster as he runs his hands through his dark hair. Pull yourself together, Emara, I chide. He pulls the bag on his back off and begins looking through the contents. Finding what he wants, he starts to push buttons and then speaks into the device. I am too far to hear what he is saying.

I creep forward slowly, watching intently as he starts shaking it and slapping the device against his palm, grumbling angrily. He spoke again, and it sounded like- that isn't English! I realize. I've never heard anything like it before. What on earth- there is a loud crack, and I look down to see a stick broken under my boot.

The man's head whips around, his eyes fierce, and my breath catches in my throat. He searches the trees, and then he finds my face. His eyes go wide with what looks to be wonder. He quickly stands up, and this time it is my eyes that go wide.

He is a giant. Taller than anyone I have ever seen and covered in muscle. He takes a step toward me, and I instinctively stumble backward. Words I cannot understand spill from his lips as he stops walking to pacify me. It sounds like gibberish and Latin combined, but smoother. His voice is deep as he continues to mutter in his peculiar language.

His eyes sweep back and forth, examining me with amazement. My body involuntarily shivers under his gaze. When they finally meet mine, I realize they don't look normal. They are blue, but they also have flecks of other colors. They looked like a galaxy.

My heart skips a beat. Did he just drop out of the sky? I stuff down my fear, trying to compose myself. He moves to take another step toward me, and I hold my gun up. "Stop right there! Don't come closer!"

He holds his hands up, one still around the device, in a placating manner and stops again. He looks around at his surroundings and then back at me again as if he can't believe his eyes. "Woes, vraoka, I dum's voms su rirs aeui!" His voice is deep and smooth as his eyes search mine.

Is he trying to calm me down? My eyes were the size of dinner plates by now. "Who are you? Why on earth did you just fall from the sky and then crawl out of that spaceship like some- some- ALIEN?!" I snort, letting out a dark laugh.