This is the first chapter of my ongoing sci-fi novel (I do not yet have a title for the novel). The chapter is called, "Souvenirs."
1 day after arrival on Earth
1 day after arrival on Earth
Areya sifted through the dumpster, tossing aside broken electronic devices, half-eaten food scraps and other mundane objects as she sought out clothing in particular. Lictor’s alert grey eyes scanned both ends of the alleyway for unwelcome guests; fists clenched as if he were readying himself for combat. Neither of them wanted that to happen however; the last thing they needed was to have their cover blown after having only just landed several hours before.
Areya suddenly gasped as she made a discovery. Lictor grew alert and narrowed himself out as he approached the dumpster warily.
“What is it, cousin?” he asked mildly, although he was eager to see what his older cousin had found.
She raised her arm up from inside the dumpster, revealing a small item hooked between her long thumb and forefinger. “It’s a headpiece! For little brother!” she exclaimed gleefully. Dangling from her fingers was a winter wool cap, small enough for a toddler to wear. Areya glanced past Lictor and to the miniature green form huddled in his makeshift basket. “Look little brother, a headpiece!” she repeated, this time to the green infant.
The child didn’t hear her as his little chest continued to rise and fall in calm insentience. Areya threw the small article of clothing to Lictor who abruptly caught it and began to study it incredulously.
“It feels flimsy and weak. Little brother’s head couldn’t be protected from a focused ion blast with this excuse of a helm,” Lictor complained, preparing to toss the cap aside.
Areya sighed. “Lictor, you buffoon; this isn’t meant to protect a youngling in combat. This is designed to protect against cold temperatures,” she berated. “Feel it in your hands a moment; it’s soft like the fur of a glilox back home.”
Lictor frowned and drew his eyes back down to the cap again, running his fingers over the wooly material tenderly. After a moment or two, his lanky eyes lit up as he actually began to revel in the feel of the cap and quickly became captivated by it, stroking the silky texture as if he were trying to scrub dirt from its stitches. His experimentation elicited a grin and slight chuckle from Areya.
“See? It’s not uncomfortable, don’t you agree?”
Lictor nodded but ceased his study of the cap all at once as he always disliked being the subject of amusement. Behind him, the green child suddenly began to whimper and shudder as a gust of wind blew through the alley. When the draft refused to let up after several moments, the child began to let out a shrill cry as his shivering simultaneously increased.
“Don’t just stand there, Lictor; can’t you see the cold is affecting him? Put the headpiece on him!”
Lictor shivered slightly himself but quickly turned to the trembling child inside the wicker basket. Taking two edges of the cap, he stretched it out before bringing it down onto the bald, green head of his young cousin. Lictor marveled at the results for when he removed his slender fingers from the child’s head, he saw that the soft cap now completely encompassed it, even covering his small, pointed ears.
After several seconds, the sleeping child ceased his trembling and his breathing slowed to a regulated pace. Lictor looked on in awe as the piece of clothing effectively repelled the uncomfortable chill and sent the child back into a sense of serenity.
“Simple yet productive; human items may not seem like much on the surface but they have their uses,” said Areya, smiling.
Lictor grunted and slunk down the brick wall behind him as his Areya’s head ducked back down into the dumpster and she continued her search. The dumpster blocked her from his view; all that he could see were discarded items being thrown to and fro as she scavenged. He watched intently, waiting for her to make another discovery. Hopefully, he thought, she would find something that he could use now.
The minutes passed and Lictor sighed impatiently, tapping the pavement with his fingers as his glare shifted from the dumpster, to his sleeping infant cousin next to him, to the relatively barren street adjacent to the alleyway. His watchful eyes were then cast upwards to a small poster hanging several feet above the dumpster. It was a small theater advertisement for the Broadway show, “Wicked”. He cocked his head to one side and began to lose himself to the simple appearance of the poster before Areya suddenly bolted her head up from the dumpster and grinned.
“Something for you now,” she said, lifting up another piece of clothing. This time it was a white sweatshirt with the “I love NY” logo spread across the front. Lictor snapped out of his fixation on the poster and stared up at the sweatshirt displayed before him in Areya’s hands.
“What does this tunic say?” he asked, obviously able to interpret neither the language nor the heart symbol.
“It says: I heart NY. The crimson symbol with the two arches on top represents a heart, a symbol that humans commonly relate to affection or devotion. ‘NY’ refers to New York
Lictor’s eyes widened as he understood. “I see, this is a sign of pride in one’s clan,” he replied.
Areya nodded. “Precisely,” she said, throwing the sweatshirt to him.
Lictor abruptly caught it and rung out its full length, displaying it out before him as Areya had done. He lifted the sweatshirt over his head, momentarily casting a glance at Areya to clarify that he was clothing himself properly. She nodded her approval and he continued his descent, struggling to shimmy the sweatshirt down his narrow shoulders and past his elbows before lowering it down his torso until it covered his conscript tunic.
“If only humans had mastered the ingenuity to design machinery to clothe themselves as we have,” Lictor sighed, pulling the hood over his head experimentally. “Garments with retractable headgear; how very functional.”
“Aren’t they though?” she replied, ignoring her cousin’s sarcasm. “Well done; you are now officially a member of the New York
“I don’t want to drop bombs on this scheme of yours, but I don’t think that these flimsy garments will be enough to disguise us amongst the humans. Our skin pigmentation will make us stand out like a glilox in a firing range.”
“I’ll try to rectify a solution to that soon enough; however, that may not be of immediate concern today at least,” Areya replied, pulling on her own scavenged clothing.
Lictor’s brow furrowed. “Explain; why is there no need to alter our skin today?” he asked, slipping on the tattered pair of shoes that Areya had found earlier for him.
“After the pod crashed and I was running diagnostics, I checked the galactic stardate and converted it to Earth time. As it turns out, the humans are in the process of some form of festivity known as Halloween. I briefly read about it once, the last time I was here on reconnaissance.”
“What happens during this Halloween? Do the humans inaugurate a new clan leader? Is there a tribute to their ancestors perhaps?”
Areya paused to look in a nearby mirror, relishing the appearance of her own ensemble before continuing. “During Halloween, human younglings pay homage to themes that they consider to be unorthodox. They spend the day clothing themselves as foreign entities and go from dwelling to dwelling; in return for the younglings adhering to tradition by participating in the festival, the human adults give them rewards of some kind…treats I believe the word was.”
Lictor shrugged. “And what is the relevance of this festival. How does it help us?”
“Because, the humans will think that we are just participating in this festival. They will be none the wiser to what we really are,” she replied.
“How fortuitous for us; how long is the duration of this Halloween?” he asked.
“It only lasts until the end of this day. That means that, afterward, we must find a more efficient way of blending in.”
“One day, that’s it?! These humans may not be technologically developed but they surely possess enough intelligence to differentiate us from the average human. We won’t last a week here without disguises!” Lictor nagged rather loudly, only lowering his voice when he noticed two human pedestrians passing by the alley.
“And what about little brother?” he asked, his voice lowered to a whisper. “We must find sanctuary for him.”
“Then,” she paused, pulling on a sweatshirt of her own, “we shall spend our Halloween period searching for sanctuary.”
Areya turned back toward him, revealing the clothing that she had found and clothed herself in. She wore a hoodie, a partially shredded pair of jeans and a pair of casual sneakers. With a grin she, spun herself around, revealing the full appearance to Lictor.
“How do I look?” she asked.
Lictor snorted, “Positively intimidating.”
“Good, that was just my intention,” she said. “Now that we have human clothing, I’d better start explaining some important details to you. Firstly, we will need human currency to buy food and wares from merchants in this settlement; we could be here for quite an extended period.”
“We have military rations, do we not?” Lictor asked, pointing to the grey supply kit that Areya had been carrying since the crash.
“Yes, but only enough to last us a few days at best. We could very well be here for many planetary orbits. Soon enough we’ll have to find some way to sustain ourselves for that long,” she replied.
He nodded. “Very well; what should we do?”
Areya pondered, tapping her chin with a long finger. “Well, the average human would attain a job I suppose.”
Lictor frowned and shrugged confusedly.
“A job,” she repeated, “is to provide a specific service in exchange for currency, merchants, for example.”
Lictor sighed, “I didn’t realize that living amongst the humans would be so complex. Now we have to become merchants?”
“What were you expecting? That they would welcome us with open arms and provide us with everything that we need? They don’t even know what species we are!” she berated. “Worry not, cousin, I brought something with us to get us started.”
She retrieved the supply satchel and rummaged through its contents for several moments. Finally, she pulled out the item of interest: a rolled-up wad of dollars. She brought it up and pressed it down into Lictor’s hands.
“Human currency, how did you come by this?” he asked, unrolling the wad and flipping through the bills.
“The clan tacticians provided me with a sum of this currency during my previous reconnaissance; in the event that I was required to purchase human wares. This is what I have left over from that mission.”
“How much do we have? He asked, looking down at the money, staring intently at the Andrew Jackson portrait on the bill.
“Two Hundred,” she replied, “enough to last us temporarily; but not nearly enough for an extended stay.”
“That’s not very becoming,” he said. “Still, I suppose it’s better than nothing.”
He turned to Areya who was busy collecting herself and what few belongings she had stowed away in the satchel. Lictor frowned, looking back over at her.
“Areya.”
She looked to him questionably, noting his ominous change in tone. “Yes?”
“I hope we made the right choice by coming here,” he said while looking back at his peacefully insentient cousin.
Areya slung the satchel over her back and approached him. She gripped his shoulder with her thin green fingers as a sign of endearment. “Everything will work out,” she said to him. “We’ll be safe here. Most importantly, little brother will be safe here,” she said, looking over at the little sleeping green infant.
Lictor nodded and stared up at the rising sun. Areya mirrored the gaze and squinted slightly as the sun’s glow shone over them and illuminated the alley. “The day has begun, and so must our journey, Lictor. Let us explore our new home,” Areya said.
Lictor’s eyes dropped at the last word uttered by Areya. “Home,” he replied, spouting the word as if it were a bitter taste in his mouth. Up until this point, he had simply gone through with Areya’s ambitious escapade out of respect and protection for her and her convicted infant cousin. Only now did he realize that becoming a fugitive may well have cost him the ability to ever return to his home planet.
“Come, Lictor,” she said, shaking his shoulder to grab his attention. She drew the basket containing her sleeping brother into her arms and moved to the opening of the alleyway.
Lictor shook his head and rose to his feet, following after her as she strolled out onto the open boulevard. They glared from the apartment buildings, to the cars, to the café at the end of the block, to the few human pedestrians walking to and fro. Areya let out an eager, ready breath and prepared for their travel.
Areya turned and looked into Lictor’s eyes knowingly. She gave a nod of confidence and Lictor returned it with a bit of hesitation. She then brought a hand down to her young brother and patted him on the head affectionately. She looked again at Lictor and ceremoniously stated, “New York awaits.” She turned to the right and began her trek along the sidewalk, and Lictor, with a demeanor of uncertainty, followed close behind.
No comments:
Post a Comment