_________________________________

A Starlight I Once Knew © Emily Anne D. _________________________________

Nilden coughs as smoke spurts randomly from a pipe jutting out in front of his seat from the ceiling. Brushing a strand of usually feathery, but now matted and damp, white hair out of his eyes, Nilden turns all attention to struggling out of the strangling deathtrap that used to be his seatbelt. Grabbing a piece of jagged metal that broke off of something in his not-so-elegant landing, he sets about sawing the restraint in half.

Nilden coughs weakly as the smoke begins to fill the small ship, silver eyes watering.... the metal wasn't cutting through the material fast enough! He needs something sharper! Dropping the small makeshift knife with a dull 'clunk', Nilden slumps into his chair, taking a deep, breath of smoky air and blinks sweat out of his eyes..... wait..... sweat?

Looking sideways, he catches sight of a small lick of flame curving around his pilot seat, probably stemming from an even larger fire just out of his line of sight. A crackling snap sounds just over Nilden's shoulder and the seatbelt falls non-too gently onto his lap, sizzling where it had been burned through. Nilden stares at it uncomprehendingly for a moment, the smoking having gone to his head, before snapping straight up and squirming the rest of the way from the tangles.... only to step on the rigid piece of metal he had been using to cut those same restraints.

Biting down hard on his tongue to keep from screaming, Nilden limps around his chair, not sparing the time to even remove the object from his foot, and makes his way as quickly as possible towards the ship's exit. After a moment of blind fumbling, he slams his slightly burned right hand down on the emergency release button. The door immediately slides open, allowing Nilden to topple out of what used to be his spaceship.

A hand far paler than any human's clutches the charred ground, longish nails digging into the smoking black remnants of what had been grass, as Nilden drags himself sluggishly from the wreckage. His vision tilts dangerously as he unexpectedly discovers his 'landing destination' is a hill. Lacking enough strength to stop the decent, Nilden allows gravity to slide him down the somewhat steep incline until he rolls to a fairly easy stop at its grassy bottom. An explosion of droplets meet him there, the water beads clinging to his bare skin and hair, sliding from his eyelashes and onto his cheeks as they slowly fall then rise again....

The last thing he registers before darkness overcomes him is a small green creature blinking blankly at him and an oddly comforting croak..... Silver eyes roll back and then flutter closed as Nilden loses consciousness.

A young man of twenty years of age scrambles excitedly around his house. Running into his room, he grabs and pulls on a pair well-worn brown boots. Shuffling through his closet the man yanks out an overly large green trench coat and drapes it around his lean form hurriedly and pushes his glasses up farther onto his nose with an index finger, a grin set upon his features.

'I can't believe it's actually happening! An alien! I, Sam Trewper, am going to be the one to bring to light the first alien life form!' The grin widens impossibly, crinkling Sam's green eyes gleefully in the corners. Whipping his head around, spiked black hair ruffling with the movement, Sam stares out his bedroom window where a hill is just visible on the moon's horizon.... a hill that until recently had an old, twisted willow tree in its center, but is now sporting a small, circular object..... an object that Sam himself witnessed falling from the sky.

Taking a deep breath, he tears his eyes away and takes off from his room and down the single flight of stairs pointed straight to the front door, which Sam practically leaps out of upon its opening. Jogging down the stone path leading from his house, Sam stops at an upside-down barrel places in the middle of his yard. Crouching down, he lifts it up slightly and slips his arm under than back out again, now clutching a small handgun..... 'Just in case.'

Straightening, he finally heads towards the hill at a full run, his heavy boots leaving footprints in the morning fresh grass, dew droplets shattering with his every footfall. Reaching a hand into his trench coat pocket, Sam pats his digital camera reassuringly.

Unsurprisingly, it does not take Sam long to reach his destination. He stares up the slope of the hill where the side of what is undeniably the side of something metallic can be glimpsed; green eyes dancing with barely contained excitement and shining with hope that had been building up from a long-lived childhood dream.....

Somewhere in the silence of morning, a frog croaks ominously, the normal sound seeming completely out-of-place with the situation.... But it serves its purpose. Sam is snapped out of his thoughts by the sound and taking a deep breath, he begins climbing the steep hill, eyes fixed on the smooth surface of the alien creation at the top....... then falls backwards with a shriek as a sharp hiss suddenly sounds, slicing through the silence like a razor, followed immediately by a steady flow of smoke spiraling into the sky.

Clutching his chest, Sam gasps for breath for a few short moments, trying to regain his calm as he lays flat on his back, at the foot of the hill once again. Somewhere, the frog croaks again and this time the sound is welcome. Rolling over with a groan, Sam pushes himself up with his arms into a kneeling position, shaking his head. "Ow....." 'Keep it together Trewper! You're supposed to be prepared for surprises, not jumping at every little thing! Come on, you've been planning for this your entire life!'

Nodding in acknowledgement to his mental pep talk, Sam throws himself at the hill again, digging his fingers into the grassy earth and pulling himself up. Considering the slipperiness of the still-damp grass, he makes fairly quick progress and then is able to pull himself up easily as the ground turns dry and hard, the vegetation abruptly ending as Sam reaches the top.

Sam's breathe catches in his throat as he stares in wonder at the twisted form of what is undeniably an alien vessel, the smoking wreckage appearing to be the most beautiful sight to his adoring eyes. 'An...... alien ship........... I finally have proof! Finally!'

"Finally!"

Sam runs a full around to the other side of the ship where he finds the door opening. Placing each hand in both pockets, one holding the gun, the other, his camera, he slowly approaches and peeks inside.

Inside is a single room, the rounded walls bare of anything except criss-crossing, thick wires and pipe running across and up into the ceiling, and a few random designs engraved into the surface. Stepping inside wearily, Sam looks to the front of the ship, biting his lip as he sees the operation system, buttons and screens galore..... alien symbols flashing in glowing blue spirals...... and an extremely bent-up, trashed seat attached to a pipe-like structure, appearing to be for sliding it back and forth between the controls....

Still moving slowly, Sam picks his way through the few scattered, broken remains, to the seat. As he reaches, he places a hand carefully on its back and then jumps in front of it, hand clasping his gun 'just in case'..... only to find tattered remains of what could only be a safety belt. Disappointed, Sam simply turns to the screens and takes out his camera, taking a few pictures, then exits the ship.

Backing up a foot or two, he lifts the camera again and tries to find an angle that get as much of the ship as possible. As Sam goes to take the picture, he gasps..... The ship's dissolving! With a flash, the camera takes a picture of the vanishing vessel.

"No!" Sam drops the camera, leaping at the ship desperately.

"No! NononononoNO!" He falls through what is left of the fading form and the barely visible outline seems to blow away on a slight breeze. Clutching his hands into fists, Sam fights back tears of frustration.

'Damn.... so close......... I needed that picture! DAMN! No one's going believe a couple pictures of alien writing! I don't have a ship, there wasn't an alien..... an alien ship without an alien........ Where's the alien? There can't be a ship without an alien.............'

Hope renewed and confident grin set back into place, Sam slides carefully back down the hill.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Oh yes..... alien/human love.......... you can just feel the fucked-up vibe I've got going here.......

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*