1052 Traveler
Nov 28, 2022 19:41:56 GMT -5
Post by Radrook Admin on Nov 28, 2022 19:41:56 GMT -5
1052 Traveler
The traveler had emerged from the crash injured and in a daze and had been
stumbling through the Everglades towards the distant city light. The atmosphere
was unusually low on oxygen but breathable and the pressure a bit high but
tolerable. The planet’s unusually large moon was in its full stage and was
providing the illumination he needed to make his way easier.
His main concern was leaving the swamps with its hordes of stinging insects and
occasional large animal predators and reaching the nearby city he had detected
from orbit. There he would find shelter and recover his strength. It was late in
the planet’s night when he finally found a narrow, paved road which intersected
a wide city avenue lined with artificial lights on metallic poles and palm trees.
The avenue was bordered by tall buildings with blue-tinted, rectangular glassed
windows.
He noticed that there were mall wheeled machines stationed alongside what he
assumed to have been walkways, since they were slightly elevated and differed
from the black asphalt on which he was treading. Far to his left, in what he
understood to be a section reserved for vegetation provided with seating
benches, a dark statue caught his attention. It was stationed on a granite pedestal
bearing a plaque with alien writing on it and silhouetted against an artificial
pond that was reflecting the planet's large yellow moon and strange star
constellations. The statue was of a fully clothed bipedal humanoid. He breathed
a sigh of relief. They were kindred after all! He turned to leave but suddenly:
“Hey bud, do you have a smoke?” a weak quavering voice behind him broke the
silence.
The traveler turned around slowly and cautiously so as not to startle the denizen.
He knew that the humanoids of this planet had not gone far in their exploration
of the cosmos by the appearance of their desolate moon which showed no
evidence of colonization. That meant that they probably had never encountered
another sentient creature as himself who was similar but different and previous
experiences had taught him that the reaction was usually one of panic and
potential violence.
Facing him was a dark-skinned, aged, short humanoid denizen of this world. The
traveler wanted to extend a friendly gesture, but chemicals from the creature's
breathing made him reel backwards. In turn, the old man had been groggy, but
now he focused his eyes, and seeing what was before him, suddenly gave out a
high-pitched scream and bolted. Then, as he reached another group of
humanoids of similar appearance two blocks away, he began gesturing wildly in
the traveler’s direction and the traveler also bolted covering ten feet with every
stride until he was out of sight.
“Whoa! Look at that man go brotha! What you do to him Willis? Breath in his
direction? Ha! Ha! Ha!”
“I just saw a what? A man you say? No way! That dude had greenish skin, no
teef in his mouth. Something like metallic rods that moved. Reddish eyes too!
Shit. Scared the hell outer me!”
"Man you been drinking too much of that Thunderbird Wine Willis."
"It wasn't the Thunderbird I tell ya.” the man uttered, nervously squinting in the
direction from whence he had fled.
“Well, whoever he is, he’ll probably run into some homies and that’ll be that.”
“Less he can bribe em?” another said casually.
“Dressed in the shinny silver outfit they probly think he’s some dude from the
suburbs that lost his way or car broke down. Probly think he’s coming or going
to some masquerade parties like them rich folk have in the suburbs.
“Bribe them? Man that dude is dead!" another fellow in the group said while
shaking his head. “You know the territory he is running into.”
"Well, we wasn’t gonna screw with him. Shoulda stayed with us if he needed
help. You know, take him down to the police station and get him into some
shelter. But no! There he goes like a bat outta hell! Man, doesn’t he know where
the hell he is?” the oldest of the four, a burly bald fellow with his jaw framed in
a white beard added.
“Maybe some foreigner who just got off a banana boat. I mean, they are the only
ones who go wandering around that way.” he added after taking several swigs
from a bottle with a yellow tag with fancy black letters on it saying: Tiger Rose
Wine.
“Yeah cause you know that no dude living here long enough is gonna be that
stupid to be wandering around in fancy clothes at two in the mornin in this
hood!” another sitting on some steps put in shaking his head while taking several
nervous puffs from his cigarette.
“See how big that dude looked?” the shortest of the three blurted out in
a high-pitched, falsetto voice.
“Shit! Top of your head came only up to his chest and you six-foot-two Willis!
Did ya dig that outfit too man? What’s he trying to look like-an astronaut? Ha! Ha! Ha!”
“Whatever man. I’m just glad he’s gone.” the fellow who had encountered the alien muttered.
“Never saw teef like that.” he added while pacing nervously back and forth.
Having immediately distanced himself from what he considered to have been a
potential threat, the traveler finally stopped and walked cautiously down a dark
side street. Darkness would give him a better chance of survival. Then the light
of an emerging dawn would enable him to photosynthesize and restore his
depleted reserves of energy.
Finding a dark alley between two orange-bricked buildings, the traveler slumped
to the floor with his back against one of its walls. Next to him stood a metallic
bin full of refuse. The odor was foul and small, furred animals squeaked and
scurried in all directions from a pile of discarded waste near it that had
overflowed onto the pavement. But it was better than being exposed out in the
open under those glaring artificial lights. All was calm for several minutes. He
shut his pink eyes to rest. The darkness was soothing. How could he have
crashed? What could have gone wrong? All he recalled was an approaching
object he had considered a welcoming reception before an explosion shook his
craft and sent it plummeting into the atmosphere.
He was beginning to slip into merciful sleep. Then he heard it. A slight cautious
rustle near the opposing brick wall beside a large metal bin filled with refuse. In
the dimness he could see the outline of a humanoid standing between his injured
legs.
“You got a cigarette man?” it said in a hoarse raspy voice.
The humanoid making the weird sounds was of extremely pale skin and much
bigger and younger than the others he’d seen. His green-eyed gaze more intent.
His eyes flitted everywhere over the alien’s body as if searching for something it
desperately needed-immediately. Its hands were shaking and it was sweating
profusely.
“I asked you a question chump! What? Are you deaf? Or you feel too uppity to
talk to the likes of us? Eh?” As he gestured to the shadows two humanoids
slowly emerged as big and as young as he. One gripped what appeared to be a
dark metallic discharge weapon in its hand. The other, who appeared to be
smiling, a cutting and stabbing silver weapon. The first one began pounding its
fist into its palm.
“Man, it’s easier if you just hand over your wallet chump. Know what I’m
saying dog?”
Again these were all merely sounds which meant nothing. He struggled to get on
his feet but couldn’t.
“Trying to get up to fight? Man, you want trouble? You got trouble mother
fucker!”“
The alien heard two blasts each followed by a piece of metal approaching his
way. One projectile went through his forehead and into the brick wall. The other
lodged in one of his two hearts.
His last visions before all brain activity ceased were of his home world. A world
where the sky had never been polluted. A world where there had never been war.
Where sickness and death were unknown and the inexorable passage of time was
looked upon as a friend not as an enemy. A world where they had finally taken
interest in what might lie beyond their planet. A world that had detected Earth
and had sent an ambassador to establish diplomatic relations.
“Stupid fool! Toll you to give us yo wallet. Din’t even have one huh? So you
died fo nuffin sucka!” Were the last unintelligible words he heard.