In Alien Hands: Crashed

Crashed - Part 1

I had only been walking about five minutes until I found the berries. Good thing, too; much further and I'd have turned back and given up on the foraging. Merle didn't want me wandering too far from him at the best of times, and this wasn't one of those times. If we'd reached our intended destination, we wouldn't be sleeping in the woods. I'd have woken up from the sedation in a house or a car, not lying on a pile of leaves.

The closest to civilization I had seen in the past few days was a device he threw on the ground. It sent off a beacon of light and he started talking to it. He mentioned my name a few times, and one of the family member's, Grene. I figured he called for help, but I had no idea if we'd be there for days, weeks, or months.

Merle had kept me close since I woke up. He always made sure I was within yelling distance. Luckily, he's a loud yeller. I had been left alone for several hours while he fished. Unfortunately for me, he wasn't any good at foraging, so I'd been eating roasted fish and nothing else. I'd gotten sick of it and went looking for berries.

I didn't plan on eating any right away. Being on an unknown planet, I didn't know if they'd be safe or make me explode, maybe they'd just make me sick. My solution was to bring them to Merle. If he got rid of them, I'd know they were dangerous. If not, I had something other than fish to eat.

To my bewilderment, they seemed to be blackberries. I wasn't sure how far from Earth I was, but I doubted that plant species jumped planets without help. I figured that, perhaps, they were moved there to be grown in gardens, and spread here. I tasted a bit of a berry, and found it to taste the same as a blackberry. Still hesitant, I picked the best ones and put them in a cloth bag I had brought with me. I had picked a few large handfuls when I heard crunching behind me.

Scared it may be some unknown predator, I flipped around. It was an alien. I had seen the species briefly, before I went to live with Merle. It looked nothing like the loveable fuzz ball I lived with.

It was smaller than Merle, maybe 7 feet tall. It was furless, with no sign of a nose. It had small holes where it's ears were. It had three, long fingers, and a blue tint to its skin. The alien had no clear gender, so it was safe to assume it had none.

Looking around, trying to determine why the alien looked upset, I realized the mistake I had made. Although the berries weren't near any houses or buildings, they were in rows, which obviously doesn't occur in the wild. I had stolen its berries. I tried to apologize without words, placing the bag on the ground and slinking off, staying low. Although aliens like Merle are friendly with humans, other species often aren't. It's better to assume they are afraid of you than to try and be friendly back.

Once I was a few dozen feet away from the bushes, I turned and started to walk back to our camp. I was careful not to run, fearful they would try and catch me. Against my hopes, I heard the crunch of leaves and branches breaking under the footsteps behind me. I glanced back and saw I was being followed. I proceeded at a brisk pace back to the camp, hoping to reach Merle before I was grabbed and dragged away from him. I was able to relax a bit when I realized the stranger was keeping his distance. Instead of going in a straight line to camp, I flanked the river Merle was fishing in, hoping to meet him sooner.

Merle had returned to the camp, so the extra two minutes I had to walk didn't help me find him sooner. He had obviously been lucky, as he was holding six or seven fish, each one with a big bite mark where he'd caught them. He was wagging his tail furiously when he saw me, he must have been concerned. He hadn't started our campfire for dinner yet, but embers still burned from breakfast. Our shared hammock was still hung.

As per our usual greeting, I ran to him for a hug. I could hear the alien behind me gasp as if he was witnessing an attack. I didn't care much, as I often didn't when nestled in Merle's soft fur. He rustled my hair and looked at me with big, brown eyes for a second or two before turning to the stranger. He stood back to full height, back two his towering eight feet.

The stranger looked bewildered. He seemed to know what a human was when he spotted me, but behaved as though he'd never seen someone treat a human the way Merle did.

Merle approached the stranger, talking to them. The alien motioned towards me, and back where we came. Merle smiled and looked at me, then continued to chat. It appeared that they were discussing my berry picking mistake. Merle seemed amused. After he motioned towards the sky a few times, I figured he was explaining our crash. The alien nodded a few times, which I assumed meant it was understanding our situation.

A half hour later, the alien walked away. Merle rustled my hair again, and got started with dinner. He used a device to start the fire, and I went looking for some twigs. We called me back whenever I left his sight. It seemed he wasn't wanting me to wander again. With my fuel and his device, the fire was well on its way in minutes. He put a few fish on sticks and set them over the fire. He didn't start making me clean water. This process took a few hours, so he usually started this early so it'd be cool enough to drink by bedtime. I grabbed my water bottle to show him it was empty, but he just took it from me and set it down.

An hour past dark, the alien returned. By this point, I was very frustrated with Merle. He wouldn't let me eat enough fish, and still hadn't made my water. That's why I was very happy to find what the alien had with it. It carried a big jug of water, and several plastic bags. Merle greeted the visitor, and immediately filled my bottle with fresh water. I immediately drank half of it.

What was in the bags was even better. The alien had brought the berries I had picked, as well as peaches and a couple apples. I happily munched on half the peaches and started on the berries while the two chatted. I even got a pillow and blanket to share with Merle in our hammock. His arm, which I had been using as a pillow, was soft, but didn't make a great pillow.

Before leaving, the alien approached me. It seemed very nervous, but slowly patted me on the head before I gave it a smile and munched on those blackberries a bit more.

After it was gone, I was visibly in a much better mood. I deduced that Merle knew the alien was bringing the food and water, and planned accordingly. He sat with me and ate his half of the berries, peaches, and apples. He didn't seem to have eaten a peach before, and had to spit out the pit, a confused look on his face. Sleepy, I put my face in his fur. It was long and soft, as always. I was half asleep when he yawned himself.

We climbed into the hammock together, which I had become accustomed to in the past few days. Both of us exhausted from the events of the day, we fell asleep simultaneously. I looked forward to the eventual return home, and hoped it came soon.