Writing: Short Story: From the Stars 

Hello! I have been feeling odd lately like I want to be left alone, yet, desiring to engage with others. And this short story is because of that. I hope you enjoy it.

From the Stars

She had been sitting on a primitive wooden construction reinforced with steel a couple of days now, observing earthlings pass her by. Thus far, none of them had wanted to talk to her. There had been close encounters. First, with a tall, muscular man, she presumed it was a man as she had taken the most inconspicuous appearance and chosen the other sex, which the earthlings thought mostly harmless. He, the man, had sat next to her, talking to himself, but soon he had jumped up, his heart-rate racing, his veins dialed, and his speech coming out faster and then he had stormed off, continuing speaking loudly, just as she was about to engage. The next one had been a smaller earthling with more hair than the species calling themselves the dominant one. The conversation had been short and about nuts. As she had none what the earthling had wanted, she had been left alone, unable to ask what her next move should be. That had been her first day, give and take. She had gotten angry glances towards her when she had tried this thing they called social exchange, or she had interpreted them to be composed of anger as her native body had reacted with an urge to dug her head under the covers, whatever that meant.

The next day hadn’t been any different, except there had been this unusual activity inside her middle area composed of pain, loud growling, and decreased mental state. She had been sure it was due to the usual energy loss. So she had shut her eyes and let the sun heat her, but that had not made any difference. She had missed something. When she had observed the natives, she had seen they were regularly consuming matter through the openings they called a mouth. She had tried this consuming thing when she saw someone abandon their matter into a metallic container next to where she sat. To make sure she wasn’t taking possession of someone else’s material, she had waited for the sun to move from east to west, the night to come. When no one came back to get the liquid container and half-consumed thing, she had absorbed energy the earthlings used. Now she was wondering, was this nut thing what the hairy earthling had mentioned a better energy source than what she had put inside her mouth, which was fighting its way out of her, but oddly enough not through her mouth.

She made her body vertical as this seemed to be what it wanted, laying there watching the stars twinkle. Had it been a mistake to take this post? Would someone else from her species have been better suited to Earth’s ecosystem as she hadn’t gotten far from her landing site? But she was stuck here until the planet had come back to this exact point in time and space except in the future.

“Miss, you cannot sleep here,” a voice said.

She knew the words and what they individually represented, but when they were combined, she was not sure what the actual meaning was. She lifted back to a horizontal position and saw a two dominant species earthlings with mutual ensemble observing her. One of them was the same kind as she was, the mostly harmless kind, but this was tried to look intimidating. Then there was the kind the man she had encountered before had been, but this one had a calmer heartbeat and softer posture.

“Yes,” she said and curled up her lips as she had seen the earthlings do to each other before they merged and then went to their separate ways.

“Do you have a place to stay?” the male earthling asked.

She wasn’t sure what he meant. “Stay?” she asked.

“Where is your home?” the male asked.

“Good God, I can’t think how you can be so patient with them. Let’s just take her to a homeless shelter and let them deal with her. They are better equipped if she is soft in her head. She clearly doesn’t understand a word you say,” the harmless one said, but not to her, but to the one who wore a similar ensemble.

“Home,” she said and pointed up towards the sky.

“Maybe you are right,” the male one said, letting air softly out from his mouth.

“Stand up and come with us,” the female kind said.

She got to her feet and swayed a bit.

“This is all we need. If she pukes, you will clean up. I wanted to leave her be. She was not harming anyone if she sleeps on the bench.”

“It is going to be a cold night. I can’t leave her here. And she is a human being, and it is our duty to serve and protect. Who knows what would have happened to her if we hadn’t come?”

She registered all the words but was again unsure what they meant in this context. She knew they were talking about her, but what was this puke thing or duty or protect? The male kind walked next to her and left his fellow earthling stand farther away.

“Don’t worry; we will help you find back home. An address and name would help,” he said.

“Yes, my home is from this point to right ascension 14h 39m 37s and -60 degrees 50′ 02.3737. And my name is roughly translated, Number 3,942,372 Observer Rank Purple. Nice to meet you.”

“Good God, at least I haven’t heard this one before. Rank Purple?” the harmless one stated.

Thank you for reading, and have a spacy day!

© K.A. Ashcomb