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It seems beyond foolish, to me, to send only five people journeying through an alien forest on an unknown planet to investigate a mysterious plume of smoke. I could laugh at the absurdity of it if I wasn’t so terrified.
I holster my gun and I gather my frizzy brown hair into a sloppy bun on top of my head. I check all of my pockets for my equipment twice - first aid kit, water filters, snacks. We’re armed, we wear bulletproof vests on top of our jumpsuits, we’re as prepared as we can be.
Still not ready for this, though.
“I’m an artist, not a fighter,” Skye says. The young blonde holds her gun like it’s a rodent that might decide to bite.
“Just remember your training,” Judd says, lifting his weapon. His gun is bigger than ours. Heavier. So is his gear - he even wears a helmet. I fully plan on cowering behind him if we encounter any large creatures. “Stay in a tight huddle. We’ll move slowly and listen carefully. And we’ll be fine. Got it?” He sounds more sure than he looks. He hasn’t shaved, his chin-length dark hair is lank and greasy…
Heck, we’re all in a state of unhygienic disarray. Our next task should be setting up the camp showers.
“Got it?” Judd asks again, his voice insistent. “This is important. It’s about our safety.”
We mumble back, “Got it.” And we shuffle after him between the alien trees.
It smells earthier in the shade beneath the leaves. Above us is a symphony of chirps and chattering that sound like birds and squirrels. If the leaves were less blue and the moss less orange, I could almost believe I was in a forest on our planet.
When we left Earth, there were very few forests left. I wonder how much remains now. Speed and time and distance do funny things that I can’t wrap my brain around. I wonder what time, what year it is back on earth right now. One other thing we’ve all got in common on this team - we’re leaving no one behind. No friends or family. We’re loners, aside from the married couples who are here in their pairs. Imagining myself many years ahead of or behind a loved one on earth? That would mess me up. It’s hard enough thinking that the friendly faces of my trainers and teachers could be in a different decade than me. If I had a child? I’d lose my mind.
Grace stops suddenly beside me. “What’s that?” she hisses.
I follow her pointed finger. The leaves on the tall bush ahead of us tower far above our heads, and one of them is grinning. The leaf has a mouth. I try to remember my arms training from back on earth, but nothing prepared me for facing a giant blue leaf with a mouth.
Judd is speechless, too. “Uh...” It doesn’t snap or snarl or even react to our presence at all.
“Maybe it’s like the carnivorous plants back on earth?” I offer. “Maybe it’s only dangerous if we touch it?”
He nods at me. “Let’s give it a wide circle,” he says.
Maybe it isn’t hungry or maybe it can’t actually move. Either way, we skirt by with our eyes locked on the thing, waiting for an attack. All it does is sway slightly in the breeze. We continue on in our tight huddle through the forest without encountering any predators or anything more dangerous than a small swarm of miniature dragonflies.
We cross a clearing that looks like a dried riverbed. We tromp over bright orange flower beds. We push aside long thin leaves and large fan leaves and we scare off tiny animals with our loud steps.
We find a field of tall, honey-yellow grass. And the smoke rises from the center.
“Spread out but stay behind me,” Judd says.
We do as he says, forming a V with him centered in the front. We sweep towards the sight of the smoke. I don’t hear any voices, just the wind. Maybe Arjun was right. This is our lost engine, not our crew. Either is good, though, I’ll take either.
I hear a rustling ahead of me. Another animal? I raise my gun and push another patch of grass aside, step forward, and sweep away another.
Something rises.
At first I think it’s a man. It’s man-shaped. The other crew? I smile and raise a hand to wave, but the smile dies on my face. This man is mottled gray and blue in a camouflage type of pattern, and I’m pretty damn certain that it’s his skin, as he is fully naked. Like, very definitely, dick-out naked. He stands and keeps standing until I’m sure he’s seven feet tall.
My jaw drops.
He’s got gleaming white horns that sweep back around his temples. A mane-like mop of navy hair stands between the horns on the top of his head and sweeps down the back of his neck. Dark eyes peer out from beneath a heavy, bony brow. This man is meant to blending and disappearing into some environment - but not this one.
I can’t even scream. My voice catches in my throat and stays there, letting my mouth hang open in silent shock. The man - alien - takes a stumbling step back. His jaw falls open, too, and his dark eyes go wide.
He makes a sound before I can - a quick series of garbled barks and rolling Rs.
I take another step back and bump into one of the girls.
“What. The fuck.” I’m glad Skye has her voice because mine is still stuck. “Judd!” She steps aside and raises her gun.
Right. I’m armed, too. I raise my weapon. But the alien-man is already gone, whipping away through the tall grasses faster than my eyes can track. Though I swear, I saw a tail.
A tail.
I grab Skye’s shoulder for support.
“You saw that too, right?”
“I saw that too.”
