Alien Ascension

by Tracy Lauren

  The flow of water speeds up, helping to launch us forward and ahead of our hunters. We will outrun them. I am grateful for the fact that I will not have to fight hand to hand against so many. Vivian and I have been slowly making gains, I worry that killing these creatures in front of her might cause a setback.

  Some of the beings wade into the water after us, their alien cries frantic and foreign. Likely they are disgruntled by the loss of a meal, for we are already too far ahead of them to be caught.

  “What?” Vivian shrieks, coming to a sudden halt in the water. Or trying to at least; the current has become something to contend with.

  “I did not say anything,” I assure her, reaching to pull her along. But the look in her eyes is filled with a renewed terror as she grabs and pulls at me, seemingly attempting to lead us back upstream.

  “Vivian—?”

  “Shut up! Shut up!” She slaps at me. It is as if she is trying to hear something, or process something that is difficult to understand. Her gaze darts between our escape route and our pursuers, until she finally locks onto me.

  “Waterfall! They’re warning us about a waterfall!” she screams while clutching onto me.

  Unexpectedly, an errant log being whisked downstream rams into our sides, sweeping over our heads and separating the two of us. Her hand slips from mine and a pounding fills my ears and racks my body. I’m pushed beneath the surface. The water is beginning to froth white with the force of the current, and I cannot see the direction in which Vivian is whisked.

  I must rescue her. I must protect her. It is all I can think of. I scan for any sign of Vivian. The natives have caught up again and they run along the banks pointing frantically at what must be my Vivian. I hear her over the rushing river. Her screams are garbled as she bobs beneath the surface.

  “Dax! Daaaax!” She is calling for me. Something roars and rages within me. I will not fail her. I dive toward the sound of her voice and use it as my beacon. Every stroke I take brings me closer to the swirling white rapids that lie just before the falls. Finally, I see Vivian’s brown mane not far ahead. Her arms flail wildly about, unable to gain control of her momentum. She is no longer swimming, but simply struggling to stay afloat. I kick hard to catch her, putting all my power into my strokes, demanding everything my body has to give. Finally, I reach her. When I wrap my arms around my human, the roaring within me calms and I only hear the rush of water. I hold her close to me and try to regain my bearings.

  “There!” she shouts, gripping me right back. Vivian points to the low-hanging branch of a twisted and gnarled old tree. It is fast approaching and not unoccupied. One of the natives scurries along it. Lying on his stomach, he reaches down for us. I question his assistance, but Vivian is already reaching for his outstretched arm. I resign myself to trust them.

  With one hand, I lift Vivian up to be caught by the native. I see others hurriedly joining their friend to help pull my Vivian from the water. Once she is safe, I grab onto the branch with my free hand. The clawed paws of the natives grab at me, helping me onto the branch. I Immediately look for Vivian and find our new friends working together to carry her down from the tree.

  I worry for her comfort in these strangers’ arms, so I push past those trying to help me and descend the tree in a single leap. At my human’s side once more, I pull Vivian from the supporting hands of the natives and pull her close to me. She is weak on her feet, coughing and struggling to suck in a full breath of air. She stumbles and I help lower her to the ground. The natives crowd around us, watching her intently and occasionally chirping at one another. They hardly pay me any sort of attention at all.

  Suddenly Vivian shoots one of the natives an angry glare, “Of course I’m female!” she shouts at them.

  “Vivian, look at me,” I tell her importantly. “Your processor is beginning to translate their language, yes?”

  “Yeah…seems like it,” she replies.

  “And they are asking if you are female?”

  “Uh huh,” she says with an embarrassed blush. “I guess they can’t tell…” She begins picking at her mane, straightening the matted and messy locks self-consciously. She does not seem to recognize that these males are not questioning the possibility of her being female, they are excited by it.

  “Do not tell them you are female, Vivian. Their motives for asking may not be innocent,” I warn her sternly. She catches my meaning and pulls me closer to her, using me as a protective shield. But the natives see her pressing her body to mine and their eyes light up as they chirp and chatter to one another as they alternate between standing on all fours and anxiously swaying on hind legs.

  One of them moves towards us, dropping onto all fours and keeping his nose to the ground in submission as he does. His motions are undulating, like a snake slithering towards us. He ventures to speak to my Vivian.

  Chapter 13

  Vivian

  At first all I hear are chirps and chattering. The sound reminds me of squirrels, and I wonder if I’ll be capable of replicating it enough to communicate with these people.

  “Village…I think he said something about a village,” I translate to Dax. “What should we do?”

  More of what the alien says filters into my brain with meaning.

  “Our village…food…dry…gain strength,” the alien in front of me is saying, but he keeps his nose pressed to the ground and doesn’t look at me as he speaks. His stance makes it harder to understand him and nearly impossible for me to try to respond. I can’t replicate his sounds if I can’t see what his mouth is doing.

  “I think he’s inviting us to his village to eat and rest. What should we do?” I ask Dax.

  “We are running low on supplies, they might be able to provide us with provisions. I say we go.” He shrugs, sounding unwavering about his decision.

  “You’re positive? You feel safe doing that?” I press.

  “Vivian, look at these beings. Tell me, if it came to a fight, who would win?” he asks with a cocked brow. I frown at him and he flexes his muscles as further evidence. I look my traveling companion over. He certainly does have a point, and plus, I’m not getting obvious danger vibes from these guys. Maybe it’s because they rescued us from going over a waterfall, but I’m not completely terrified of them.

  “Um, can you get up so I can understand you better?” I ask the native, but my words are not in their language, so obviously he does not respond. I try to concentrate, willing my processing chip to do something to help me communicate with this furred beast of a man. No miracles happen, so I finally decide to pull away from Dax, feeling a margin of safety with him still so nearby.

  “Hello?” I wave my hand at the alien beast, trying to get his attention. He falls silent at the sound of my voice, his face practically burrowed into the ground. I rap him on the arm to get his attention. He works to bring his eyes up to meet my own and it seems like a painstaking process. He actually flinches when our gazes do connect. Did we just find the one alien race that is more cowardly than me?

  “Village,” I struggle to repeat in his language. His demeanor quickly becomes enthusiastic. The others begin to chatter and chirp to one another, some even roll on the ground in excitement (thoroughly giving me the creeps) and I inch closer to Dax, trying to keep a polite smile pinned to my face.

  The one doing the talking for the group bows his head once more in my direction and begins chattering off a long list of what I assume to be directions and maybe some questions peppered in there too.

  “I think he’s asking what village we are from,” I whisper to Dax anxiously. “What should I tell him?”

  Dax shrugs. “Tell him where you are from.”

  “Isn’t that like violating the prime directive or something?”

  “The what?”

  “Aren’t we not supposed to interfere with alien cultures? Couldn’t it affect their development or belief systems or something?”

  “Meh, perhaps it is their fate,” Dax shrugs again.

 
“Their fate? To have us mess with their culture?” I question. “Ugh! Why do I even ask you?” I turn away from him, exasperated, and return my attention to the groveling alien at my feet.

  “I’m sorry, can you just…” I lean down, tugging his arm and I pull him to his feet. The group around us goes wild with chatter.

  “Did you see what she did?” comes in loud and clear through my translator. I blush, guessing what I did might have been taboo for their people.

  “Can’t understand. Need to see your mouth,” I manage to say, or at least I think I manage. The alien seems to get the jist of it.

  “Follow me, I…take you…village…not far…” he tells me, working to speak more slowly so that I can understand him. Still, not every word is being processed and I need to really concentrate to understand the little bit that I am picking up.

  He turns to the others and speaks in a hushed tone, “The female…talk wrong…struggling…”

  “Was her head injured?” someone in the crowd asks.

  “She may be learning…” the main guy replies, considering me with sharp eyes.

  “Learning? Is it a child?” one of them eyes me skeptically.

  “I do not think so… Look at her teats,” he reasons, causing an angry red flush to travel up my neck. I cross my arms protectively over my chest, blocking the view. “They speak…different language,” he continues, “she…learning ours.”

  “…her companion?” one of them asks.

  “Her male does not seem to be capable of learning…” They all side eye Dax for a moment while I struggle not to laugh at their assessment. The natives’ eyes quickly travel back to me, so quickly in fact, it seems to be in unison and their collective gaze steals my mirth and leaves me with chills. These people are very different from anything I’ve seen so far.

  These people have long bodies with short, truncated arms. Their fingers are claw tipped and from head to tail they are covered in fur. Their faces are long, with a snout rather than a nose, making them seem more animal than man. But clearly, they are civilized, as they wear crudely made clothing and tote simple weapons. When they move they seem to alternate between two legs and all fours, but they are awkward in their two-legged position, reminding me of a dog trying to perform a circus act or something.

  “Come…village…share meal,” the alien man offers.

  “Thanks. We appreciate it,” I say with much effort. The thing’s mouth opens loosely at my expression of gratitude and the sight of it makes me jump back towards Dax, fearful. I blink a few times, taking in his body language. I believe this might be the creature’s version of a smile, so I smile lamely back in response.

  We begin the trek down to the alien village. I watch my feet as we walk, not wanting to meet any of the dozens of eyes I feel pinned on me and me alone. Staring down, I see past the smooth river rocks and moss and notice the ground beneath is made up of finely grained black sand. The contrast of the gray stones and bright green moss against the midnight-black sand adds to the magical beauty of this place.

  We navigate our way under a series of massive and sprawling stone archways and I admire the beauty of the planet. Lush ferns grow in the low-lying veins of the valleys and gargantuan rocks jut up from the ground. We round the corner of a particularly massive stone mound and I expect to see more rocks, but instead my vision is filled with a beautiful hidden hamlet.

  Cascading down the sloping and mossy hills are lovely little homes with thatched roofs and a large common house where I can see many natives are gathered, talking, working, going about their everyday lives. Running through the middle of town is a dirt road, packed hard by years of foot traffic. The road itself is dotted with smaller versions of the natives. They run and play in the street, wrestling or chasing one another. Children. There are children here. There’s something safe and grounding about the sight. Seeing young people playing happily alters my perspective. I feel like I can trust these people.

  Elderly males seem to be watching over the children, playing with them, instructing them on those odd and undulating dance moves they do. I thought at first those motions were an expression of excitement or nervousness, but perhaps there are greater nuances to them than I first imagined.

  Though these creatures are odd in appearance, with their thick tails and beady eyes, they seem kind enough. They rescued us, even though they didn’t know what kind of people we might be. They invited us to recoup in their village and their village seems like an actual home.

  There are no obvious signs of danger in the village. It’s actually the most safe and beautiful place I’ve seen since waking after my abduction. I almost like it here. The realization suddenly makes me wonder what that could mean for me.

  Dax, who has been walking nearby, suddenly comes even closer. “What are your thoughts?” he asks me quietly, keeping his eyes on the surroundings and his expression pleasantly neutral.

  “It’s…it’s actually really nice. The people seem kind, their planet is lovely. The village is a little primitive, but I like it. There’s no creepy futuristic stuff here. It feels safe,” I admit.

  “Hmpf,” he grunts in reply, obviously biting his tongue. He walks so closely to me now that we bump shoulders with each step.

  “Why don’t you just tell me what you think,” I huff at him. Frankly I’m annoyed he has something negative to say about the one and only place that’s felt vaguely safe to me. Figures that Mister Happy-go-lucky, The-galaxy-is-a-great-place wants to poo-poo the one thing I might actually like.

  “Look around you,” he tells me.

  I see a beautiful landscape. I see children playing and elders caring for them. Our group slowly makes our way through the village, past the sweet little cottage homes. I watch as bits of smoke puff out from chimneys here and there. It’s simple, but it looks like a happy life.

  “Just tell me what I’m supposed to be seeing,” I demand, rolling my eyes.

  “Do you notice anything missing?”

  Ugh. What’s with the test? Why can’t he just say what he has to say instead of playing this stupid game!

  “I notice lots of things missing, Dax! Like cars, Starbucks, humans, and planet freaking Earth! Why don’t you tell me what you think is missing?” I hiss at him, only half-heartedly trying to keep my voice down. It’s not like these guys can understand us anyway.

  Finally, his eyes meet mine, if only briefly before diligently returning to the natives. “Look around, Vivian. There are no females here. Only you,” he says, his voice quiet and controlled despite the blood-curdling shock his words send to me.

  My heart starts pounding in my chest. I grab at his arm like it’s a lifeline. “What does that mean?” I ask, suddenly much more conscious of my volume.

  “It could mean any number of things,” he replies with a sly smile.

  “Now’s not the time to be cute, Dax. Do we need to get out of here or what?” I demand.

  He wraps his arm around my shoulder, his smile turning into something more akin to a smirk. “You think I am cute?” he asks.

  “Jesus Christ!” I breathe out, rolling my eyes. Just then, the lead native scurries ahead to the common house, chirping at the group I can see inside.

  “New… A female is… You must see…unbelievable…” he says excitedly, his body wiggling and writhing as he speaks.

  “A female?” a dozen other aliens echo as they start spilling out into the street.

  “Oh shit,” I whisper to Dax.

  “Do not fear, I can sense no aggression coming from them,” he assures me.

  “How do you know?” I ask.

  “I can smell them,” he replies.

  “Smell them?” Okay, that’s a weird talent. “If you don’t sense aggression, what do you sense?”

  “Fear.” He smiles confidently down at me. “They are afraid.”

  Chapter 14

  Vivian

  A massive group of alien males has formed outside the common house. Every single one of them stares right at me. Th
eir eyes are wide and they shift on their feet for a moment before one calls out, “Hide the young!” Several of them break from the group, chirping to others up the road. I look back to see adults scooping up the children and hurry to hide them behind cottage doors.

  What is going on here? When my eyes shoot back to the crowd of aliens they tilt their noses to the ground, writhing as if in pain. Their tails whip and pound the dirt. My mouth works, but no words form. They can’t possibly be scared of me, can they?

  “No…” the one who spoke to me back at the side of the river intervenes. “Look… the female is…”

  At first, I can’t make out the whole of what he’s saying, but a shocked chorus of alien voices begin to repeat his words and the translator slowly turns it into something intelligible.

  “What are they saying?” Dax asks.