by Jai Yadav
Darkness blinded him for one last time.
***
He saw his ghostly pod crash into the middle of the Arctic, tumbling down from black raining clouds. The pod floated up in the middle of a thunderstorm, it was shaped like a cone with a rounded end. Flap-like structures emerged from the end of the pod as it dived in once again and moved ahead at unfathomed speed till it reached the shore undetected. Night covered the area as the pod opened and Hans climbed out.
***
Hans woke up, wiping off his cold sweat on his bedsheet. His heart threatening to burst again, he looked down and realized he had sobbed again in his sleep. He glanced at his phone as his stomach growled for food he hadn’t eaten in about two days. He tried to get up but gave up and fell back onto his bed again.
Only then did he realize someone was knocking on his door, probably since he had woken up. He quickly covered himself with his blanket.
“Who is it?” He called out.
“Vinny. Open up,” She said.
What would she want with me? He thought as he put on his disguise, careful not to make any noises. He cleared his room and opened up his door. The cute little angry anime girl was standing in front of him. Her curious eyes shone dangerously. Her brows furrowed and lips pursed together.
“Hi?” Hans said awkwardly.
“Hi,” She said, “I’m concerned about you. Where have you been for the last few days?”
“First of all- Hi concerned, I’m dad.” Hans knew this was the epitome of humour on Earth, but for some reason, the girl just rolled her eyes. “Secondly, thanks for asking. I’m fine, just uh- college entrance stress stuff. That’s all.”
“Come out today, spend some time with us.”
“Yeah, I’ll come for dinner today. Thanks again, Vinny.”
She walked out and he closed his door, sighing at the thought of seeing Niko again. There was going to be some awkwardness between them now. He was just about to lie down again when there was a knock on his door again.
“I’ll come out later Vinny, I need to study right now.” He lied.
“It’s me. Open up. Quick!” Niko said behind his door. His voice shook.
He groaned and opened his door. Niko pushed him and rushed in to close the door behind him. He sat down in Hans’s bed, hand over his heart, his back shaking.
Hans started talking before he shed any plumage on his bed, “What happened?”
“So- you were right-” He gasped out.
“Yeah, of course, I was, but about what?”
“That you don’t make whirring sounds while changing. You were right.”
“I told you your ears were going haywire.” Hans laughed.
“My ears are all fine, idiot! It's her- it's Vinny!”
Hans wanted to say something- anything, but his vocal cords were shut again conveniently.
“I’m going to go tell Em now, wanna come with?” Niko said after a couple of minutes.
“Sure,” He was feeling dizzy- was this news good or bad?
He stumbled and got up, holding onto Niko’s shoulder again. They both slowly walked towards Emmanuel’s room.
Dread filled Hans, either the four of them would live together, or three aliens would have to do something bad to a little girl.
Hans realized Niko was knocking at Emmanuel’s door. The door swung open as the giant smiled at them both.
“Hey Blobby Boy,” He greeted Hans, “Niko told me about what happened, you better now?”
“Kinda, but yeah, a bit better than before. Stop with the Blobby thingy.”
Niko chimed in, “Don’t stop with the Blobby thing, it’s amazing and lame at the same time.”
“ Ow . Anyways,” Emmanuel continued, “To what do I owe this pleasure?”
“Let’s get in-” Niko looked around like a child going to tell a secret, “Not here, not in the open.”
The both of them could get in. They sat on his bed as he said, “Ah yes, please sit on my bed without asking. Would you?”
“Vinny’s an alien,” Hans said, not wasting any time.
For a microsecond, Emmanuel’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. Hans had never seen the man smile so wide before ever. Then it stopped as soon as it started. Niko was too busy gaping at what Hans had announced, and Hans decided to let the freaky grin go unnoticed.
“Uh,” Emmanuel cleared his throat, “Have you confronted her yet?”
“Nah, told Hans like ten minutes back and came here. The crazy thing is- I can’t figure out where she is from,” Niko said.
“Eh, that’s ok, when do we talk to her then? Right now?”
“All of us would be a bit weird, you two go ahead. Three people might weird her out.” Hans said, his voice hoarse.
“You should talk to her later though, it's better if everyone talks it out, like we did,” Niko said. “Come on Em.”
The three walked out and Hans went into his room, sleep shrouding him.
Dinner
Hans woke up just in time for dinner, his head pounding a bit less. He stood without staggering for the first time in two days, walking straight and slowly he got out of his room.
Everyone was already gathered around the table, waiting for him, pasta with garlic bread rolled out around. It was more awkward than the first time Hans had had food with them. His stomach rumbled as he saw all the food laid out. Taking nutrition like a plant was another thing other than being full.
He sat down and got awkward greetings in the forms of raised eyebrows and nods. Only the occasional sound of slurping and chomping could be heard. Hans realized it would’ve been better if he had confronted Vinny with the others. He took some pasta and bread on a plate. His stomach roared in approval.
“So, Tennebuchian?” Vinny pointed her fork at Hans, “Impressive.”
“These guys told you? I guess it’s impressive…” Hans said, “What about you? Who are you?”
“I’m from Krizman,”
“Never heard of it,” Niko said.
“I told you, it’s not well known. There’s a civil war going on and I had to escape, it killed my family. I wasn’t going to be the next.” Her voice cracked.
“Still- He’s got a point, Vinny, splut” The splut was caused by Emmanuel accidentally spitting a glob of bread on Vinny (this is why you keep your mouth shut while eating, kids- apart from the chance of death due to choking)
“Oh- Barbarian idiot,” Vinny muttered.
“Sorry,” He said, still eating his food. “But I mean, everyone has heard of Earth at least, and you can see how Earth is. But not Krikam. Krikam must be pretty advanced if you were aware of outside life.”
“Krizman,” She corrected, “Why the hell would I lie? Niko can check, he’s a Rangoon, isn’t he? He probably has a device which would name each planet in the known Universe.”
“I hate how true that is.” Niko sighed. “I’ll come back in a minute, search up Krizman.”
Silence took place again, Vinny accusingly staring at the both of them. Hans took a sudden interest in his food, poking the turkey and pasta. Never before this had he wished a winged scary alien would come and save him from this awkward conversation.
Niko the messiah came out after what seemed a century. His head hung down, not making it easier on everyone’s anxiety.
“Well- She’s not lying,” He said.
“You guys have something to say?” Vinny asked them.
Everyone hung their head down as they muttered apologies, which Vinny accepted with curt nods.
“So, what do you look like? Without the human disguise, of course,” Hans asked.
“Don’t get scared,” She told them.
Her hands went under her chin, pressing up as if a button was there ready to be pushed. She dug a bit and a green wave of energy passed from her head to toes, the cute anime girl took the form of something ghastly.
Hair-like strings protruded from her forehead, mandibles of a huge ant were present instead of her mouth. Her face was sickly grey
, skin sunken in. Her skull was visible and it looked like she had tusks instead of a lower jaw. Her forehead stretched tilted towards the back, dreadlocks covering it. Her eyes were sunk in so deep that Hans could barely see them. She had snake-like slits instead of a nose.
Her torso was completely different. She had a humanoid grey body, but the part which took his attention was that more than half of her upper body was covered with chromatic blue metal. She had black wings, dark as lead. Her legs were as thin as a chicken but metallic.
Everyone just stared at her with wide eyes. Hans somehow didn’t feel fear or shock, just relief. Finally, everything was all out, no more living in constant alert and concern.
“Why the hell do you look cooler than all of us combined?” Em complained.
Vinny laughed and said, “Some of us get perks, hon.”
“All of you look cooler than me, I got goo body,” Hans muttered.
“Dude, you are like the hide and seek champ,” Niko said.
“Why are you guys here?” Vinny asked after some time.
“Tourist, probably gonna go in a year or so,” Emmanuel answered.
“I have no plan right now— story of my life— I’ll just try to live here and see what happens. Who knows?” Hans said.
“Seeing if Earth is ready for viable relations with outer space,” Niko said .
“You’re too early,” Hans spoke up.
Niko knew, he just sighed and nodded .
“How long have you been living here Vin?” Emmanuel asked.
“Closing in on three years, I think. I really need to change planets again.”
“Why?”
“Her people would be hunting her probably, right?” Niko said, looking at her.
She nodded, her eyes sinking in even more. She clicked something under her chin again as to take the human form. “I’ll be going now, thanks a lot guys. Opening up feels nice
. Good night.” She walked towards her room.
“You guys clearly hit a nerve,” Hans picked up his plate and disposed of it.
“We just asked something!” Niko protested.
“She wasn’t fine with it, even though she said the civil war stuff,” Emmanuel said.
“You- You were with me! You were asking her that stuff!” Niko swung dishes around.
“Yeah- at least I realized I’m wrong. Grow up Niko,” Em smiled.
“ Wha- ” Realization dawned on Niko that Emmanuel was just messing around, “You suck dude.” His eyes narrowed.
Help
Hans woke up, in a surprisingly great mood. They had decided to ditch their human disguises and roam around as who they were in the house. Feeling freer and… loose, he got up and blobbed out of his room. Everyone was already talking, discussing something deeply. Vinny’s dreadlocks stood up like spikes which seemed too funny to be real. Emmanuel still took a human form, he was too big to roam around without knocking down half of the house. Niko glanced up— well, glanced down as Hans seemed tiny right now— to see Hans and waved him over to sit with them.
“...That’s gonna be really difficult to do,” Emmanuel was telling Vinny.
“I understand, and I won’t be pissed or anything if you cannot. I would just- I would like some help Doing this alone is difficult.” Vinny said, her eyes almost brimmed with tears.
“Uh- What help?” Hans interjected as he stretched to their heights.
“Vinny needs a getaway device , she’s lived here one more year than she wanted to,” Niko said, “The Krizman loyalists are coming here to catch her.”
“Why are they behind you so bad? Can’t they just leave you alone?” Hans asked her.
“No, they think I’m going to mob support from the galaxy,” She muttered, “I was a state leader there. So I have that power, but I just want to get away from all that horror. They won’t let me.”
“What kind of device?” Emmanuel asked.
“Anything that might help me run to another planet. I usually stay on planets for about two years, but Earth is too primitive, and collecting material is hard here.”
“Can’t you contact your embassy Niko?” Hans asked.
“No, we’ve got strict and clear rules. As we have no relations with Krizman, they won’t allow any aid. I’ll still try though.” Niko said.
“Thank you, guys. I won’t forget this.” She said.
“I’m not done yet,” Hans smiled, “My pod’s probably around the shore of the Arctic . It could help you somehow, you guys told me that the Tennubechians were futuristic by everyone’s standards.”
“Except the Caprians, yeah. But how will we get your pod, we don’t have that kind of money here.”
“Who says we don’t?” Emmanuel’s eyes practically glowed.
Emmanuel went into his room and came out with a duffel bag, opening and dropping it. Bending down everyone saw nothing less than a treasure.
“More than Seventy-Thousand Euros, currencies of almost every country.” He announced.
“You- Why are we living in this ditch if you had so much money?” Vinny asked.
“I have no idea,” He grinned, “I’m gonna buy a nice house with this, or rent a place.”
“Where did you even get this much money?” Hans stared at it with eyes as big as saucers.
“I told you I was a tourist, didn’t I? This is converted money. I got most of it from Gravia, all of this can buy you only some clothes and a meal for a day there, another reason why I like this planet. It's cheap.”
“We can use this money- cheap flight tickets, materials, and some good food that isn’t junk,” Niko said.
“When do you need to get out Vin?”
“Soon as possible, sorry for making you feel under pressure or anything.” She apologized.
“It’s fine, we don’t have anything to do too. This stuff sounds fun.” Niko told her.
“Everyone’s free tomorrow?” Hans smiled maniacally.
Everyone roared in assent.
***
Hans woke up to his alarm screaming, “Wakey wakey!!!”
He should’ve never lent it to that hobo on the street. Another reason why he kept his alarm off unless it was an emergency. He hadn’t yet figured out how to revert it. The hobo was a street magician too- Hobos sucked colossally.
He put on his disguise and packed everything. It was seven in the morning when Emmanuel knocked on his door, standing ready, wearing a fedora… a grey fedora . Hans’s expression must’ve said everything because as soon as he saw the fedora, Em rolled his eyes and took it off.
“Not a word,” he threatened.
“Oh, everyone is gonna know about this,” Hans giggled.
“Just- You got your stuff packed?”
He nodded and picked it up as the two of them sat in the living room.
Emmanuel had nothing but his duffel bag, in which the money was present. When Hans questioned about other accessories, Em just said he had small stuff in the side pockets and didn’t need clothes as he could morph them on his skin. Disgusted, he waited for Vinny and Niko.
The two came out, wearing disguises and bags on their shoulders. Vinny was yawning and thanked them again for assistance. They just waved her off and decided to go to the airport. Locking the door behind him, Emmanuel wondered how long it would take until all of them got back.
***
They were scouring for the pod in the dead of the night. Hans gazed down, wondering how deep in the ocean his pod was. They were standing by a cliff, figuring out a way to go down. Niko and Vinny had flown to the cliff. Emmanuel passed as a security officer while Hans easily camouflaged and slithered down there. Niko or Vinny could fly down there, and Hans could’ve slithered down to the surface but the pod was probably underwater. They sat down there, by the edge, in the moonless night. Waves crashed into the rocks, the sand below them surprisingly warm in the cold night.
It was the fourth time Niko had flown down to scout, standing on the wall of the cliff, horizontally using his claws. Vinny’s dre
adlocks were slowly rising up.
“I’ve got an idea,” Hans suddenly spoke up, “Emmanuel, how good can you shapeshift?”
“Can become anything I have seen,” He replied.
“No, I mean, how quick can you shapeshift?”
“What are you thinking, Hans?” Vinny asked.
“Shush,” He said, “Em, tell me.”
“Quick enough when I want to,” Emmanuel said, “I once did five transformations in less than twenty seconds for a talent show.”
“Good, have you seen a fish?”
“Cooked? Yes. Alive? No.”
“NIKO!” He called down.
He curled up in a ball as the winged alien swooped up and dived on the sand so hard that it flew everywhere. Even though it was like the fifth time Niko came up like that Hans always got scared when he did that.
“Get a fish please,” Hans asked.
“A... fish,” Niko stated.
“Yes, the thingy which swims underwater. Has-”
“Yeah, I know what a fish is. Why do you need one? Are you hungry?”
“I don’t eat uncooked fish, mate. It's weird.”
Emmanuel and Vinny swung their heads around as if watching an intense tennis match between two clowns.
“Why do you want fish then?!”
“To feed it to Satan,” Hans rolled his eyes, “Will you just please bring one? There’s probably many washed up on the rocks.”
Niko swooped down under the water and got out just as quickly. He flapped his wings as he hovered in the air for a second, a fish flapping in his claws. He dropped it on the ground, out of breath. Hans formed a hand and picked the fish up, showing it to Emmanuel.
