My Friend Is An Alien

1. The First Impression

1. The First Impression

I should be nervous but I was relatively calm. I had researched, studied and was prepared for this mission. Walking from my quarters to the transversal ports, I was dressed in human clothes and my body was made to look like a human teenager to blend in. Those who passed me saluted me and wished me well, luck or hoped it was a successful mission. We had to succeed in all of our missions. They were important.

Taking a left, I entered the transversal ports. No one was there apart from my commander. He smiled as I stepped into the room and glanced at my odd attire. "Quinta. Are you ready?"

My commander passed me a bag. It was designed to open only with my security code and was DNA locked. Inside were supplies I'd need, a medical kit, tablets and other devices to help keep me safe.

Our ship was directly above earth's orbit, but human satellites were unable to 'see' us. We were cloaked, thanks to an interesting piece of technology that mirrored human sensors to trick them into believing they were seeing nothing but space. Their technology, no matter how advanced they thought they were, was extremely outdated. "Yes, I am ready." Throwing the black bag over my shoulder, I got onto an oval pad on the metal floor. Like earth's science-fiction TV shows, this was a transporter, but it was through time and space, not just space. However, for this mission, it was to act as a site-to-site transversal operation.

My mission was to last approximately two months. I was to act like a foreign exchange student and gain the trust of the head male and female of the family and then understand their jobs and see how I could explain who I am and why I was there. It wasn't difficult, really. I had a few devices to show them to prove who I was, but that was a last resort.

The pad beneath me lit up and I closed both eyelids. On our home planet, we have two suns. Our evolution is similar to earth's birds, having two eyelids. Those who were on previous missions to earth had to learn to close both eyelids at the same time. And one other thing that separated us from earth's inhabitants, we could breathe underwater as we have developed a water lung or sack as we call them. Our air sacks close when we are fully submerged and our water sack takes over. However, due to the earth's high salt content of its seas, and the high pollutants in its "freshwater" we couldn't breathe in those environments for long or it would cause irreparable damage to our water lung.

Taking a deep breath, I focussed on the mission at hand and the language and culture I had to learn. "Polite greeting, establish trust, complete the mission," I whispered. I nodded at my commander and warmth enveloped me then instantly I was surrounded by cold and darkness. Opening my eyes, they quickly adjusted to the night. Taking in my surroundings I grunted as I saw my feet were planted in a few centimetres of mud. The shoes I was wearing were easily washable, but that wasn't the point. Why couldn't they send me onto some less messy surface?

Small igneous rocks protruded from the ground and broken lichen-covered tree branches were strewn around me. Inhaling I smelt chestnut trees, a few sycamores, rabbits, a fox and a few ponies nearby. There were other scents mostly floral, but they were to be ignored. Glancing ahead in the distance through the thicket, small creatures lit up in my night vision. Many scurried away as I proceeded loudly through the woods. Larger mammals approached me and I stood still. I didn't smell like a human so they were curious. If any animal was to approach, I was to remain calm, assess the situation and take action if needed, but to never kill or seriously harm them. The mammals, I understood, were a herd of fallow deer. One, a large buck with thick tree-root antlers, came up and sniffed me. I found this fascinating and smiled at it. It was only recently discovered that only our species could interact with wild animals. If humans were in contact with them, the mammals would take fright and run away. But as our scents were different, mostly all animals were curious and came over to investigate. One of my professors explained this is because humans have instilled fear in wild animals because they hunt them for game or sport. But as our species has a non-threatening presence for them, they wish to investigate and approach us. It truly was a blessing.