Beyond Earth

Seeing Double

My mind was hazey as I woke, my dreams had kept me tossing and turning through out the night. Confusing, abstract, and nonsense. Remembered lights, wondering why they were so bright in the darkness, I remembered feeling a poking and proding from an unseen source, I remembered...

Suddenly I shot glance to my bedside table, my half full glass of water sat perched on the corner. Throwing myself against the sheets a sigh of relief escaped me, just a dream.

Rising I placed my feet on the floor and the déjà vu hit me. It was so vivid, but it couldn't possibly be real, no way. Pushing myself from my warm bed I grabbed my glass and padded my way down stairs, across the cold hardwood and into the bathroom. Man I have to go!

Why didn't I wake up sooner? Maybe it had to do with this killer headache that started to form as soon as I got out of bed. I felt like I had eaten the worm. Throwing the hand towel back on the rod I cracked open the medicine cabinet, retrieving a couple aspirin and chasing them with my stale water.

As I got ready to shower I pulled off my shirt and tossed it aside, brushing my torso as I did so. I felt a small pinch below my belly button and glanced down, noticing a small red bump, no bigger then a pin, but it was sore as all hell. I rubbed it gently as I continued undressing, curious as to how I got it. I remember dreaming of an odd pressure there, it was a part of the poking and proding I received. Maybe I dug myself in my sleep trying to get rid of the feeling? Checking my nails I shrugged it off as a viable excuse, note to self: clip nails.

As the water ran over my abnormally sore body I couldn't get the face out of my head, the creature hovering over me as I lay on my bedroom floor. It felt so real, I could almost feel its hand on the back of my head as it lowered me to the floor. I could nearly remember the concerned yet anxious look on its face as the dream faded. So real. The lack of breasts or disearnable hips convinced me that whatever it was, was indeed male. For the life of me I couldn't imagine why I would dream of an alien creeping on me in the middle of the night. I thought dreams were supposed to be your brains way of working out lifes issues in a controlled manner, what could an alien stalker possibly mean in the world of dream analysis?

After drying off I ascended the stairs to dress quickly, and after making a quick dash to the kitchen I was out the door, banana muffin in hand, my dream forgotten, looking forward to a day in Janie's garden.

Aboard Scout #103

"That was close Zai, almost to close. Why don't you see the danger in what your trying to accomplish? Your a scientist, why don't you test the same way the others do?" My scout was furious.

"That's enough Tavi." I sat myself down in the chair next to his.

"No! It's not enough. We were almost exposed! It was okay when they were stupid creatures living in caves, but not anymore! Do you want to blow tens of thousands of years of research on an illegal experiment?! What are you trying to prove?"

I slammed my fist on the arm of my seat. "You seriously think I want that? I have made leaps and bounds, bent over backwards to live and breath by the commanders rules! I don't want to kill humans like everyone else! It's unnessasary! They may not mean anything to us, but were destroying life when we experiment and I'm done with it! I thought you shared the same philosophy as me, that's why I chose you! I didn't want a stranger, I chose a scout that would have my back, are you chickening out because of a single human?"

"I'm not 'chickening out', I'm just trying to be sensible Zai. That could've gotten dangerous, and you know it as well as I."

"He's not a threat anymore. I made sure to erase his memory." I grabbed for my now empty vapor pod, finding it's place on my leg clip to be hollow. "Shit."

"What?" Tavi clicked away at his keyboard.

"I must've dropped it when I went to catch him." I glanced around the floor of the ship knowing my search was futile.

"You lost equipment!" Tavi shouted, shooting me a glare. "That's it! We are not leaving this galaxy until I know we're safe from exposure and you go back and find what you lost."

"My sanity after flying all over this system with you?" I joked. "That may take some time."

"Not funny. We're going back." Tavi angerily typed in the coordinates.

"Agreed." I sat back in my seat, pulling up the review footage from my glasses, his face. I couldn't get it out of my head. His daring, the fear and furosity in his expression as I grew closer. He was strong, fearless even, he had to be the one.

I knew what I was doing was illegal, many a fellow scientist have lost there lives and jobs after having uncontrolled contact with humans. I wasn't an idiot, I was chosen for this position. But I did get to see my human again, my human. It sounded so right. He was mine and no one was going to stop this experiment from happening, not even a cowardly co-pilot. After all, I could manage without him if need be, it couldn't be all that hard. I had to make contact, I wanted to, I needed to hear his voice. Just like that my mind was made up. I was going to threaten my entire existence, I was going to speak to a human for the first time in thousands of years.