My Friend is an Alien (niklas and friends) Read online

  "In fact, he'll probably be arriving quite soon." said Jahv.

  "I've been meaning to ask you something ever since we met." said Davy. "Just how much stuff do you have in that backpack, and how did you get it all in there?"

  "The inside is exponentially larger than the outside." replied Jahv. "Just like my home."

  "But how's that possible?" asked Davy.

  "Heads up, guys!" said Keith. "I think you're going to have to get your explanation later! Something's happening!"

  A high-pitched wail started to come seemingly out of nowhere. Davy had been through this once before and was already holding his ears. Jahv had reached up to cover his antennae. The wail grew so loud that, even Davy, who was ready for it, found it painful. Keith was on his knees holding his ears. Then a light started to appear, right in mid air, about twelve feet above the mud.

  Jahv was instantly concerned. "He's too high! He's too high up!"

  "Pray for a soft landing!" yelled Davy, almost unable to hear his own voice.

  Then, as when Jahv had first appeared, there was a crack of thunder, and the light seemed to explode. What felt like a gust of wind knocked the three boys backwards. The light was gone, the wail had stopped — and something made a very loud, deep SPLAT in the mud.

  Keith was shaking his head. "Brother, you guys sure know how to make an entrance. Every dog for two miles must be deaf by now."

  "No time for that!" said Jahv, sounding panicked. "Keyro is out there, and he's stuck!"

  Indeed, something was flapping around in the mud, clearly unable to extricate itself.

  "I warned you about this place!" said Davy rather sharply.

  "Give it a rest, Davy." replied Keith. "Anything'd get stuck in deep mud coming in from a height like that. Let's get out there and get him. This could be fun."

  "Fun?!" exclaimed Davy.

  Keith turned back with a slight grin. "Have I mentioned that my 'dad' is also a neat freak? He once whupped me for getting grass stains on my pants. This is the opportunity of a lifetime!" Keith took three steps into the mud and it was already halfway up to his knees. The grin on his face turned downright silly. "Cool." he remarked.

  "Need I remind you that we're on a rescue mission here?" said Jahv, who was already marching out even further towards his mud-covered brother, having taken just enough time to remove his large boots.

  "Not that you don't have a point." Davy gave up and followed. He had to admit, the mud felt very weird, squishing between his toes and climbing up his legs, even under the coveralls, as he headed out into the deeper area where Keyro had landed. But it felt kind of fun, too. And the ground at the bottom felt stable enough.

  "Whoops!" exclaimed Keith, who apparently hit a slippery spot and went flying backwards. Davy caught up to him and pulled him out. About all of Keith that wasn't plastered with mud at this point was his face and part of his chest.

  "Thanks." said Keith. "Boy, my old man would be so pissed off if he saw me looking like this."

  "That's why you're enjoying it, aren't you?" remarked Davy.

  "Oh, come on, tell me this isn't fun." said Keith.

  "Okay, it is, but we've still got an alien to rescue." replied Davy, managing to grin nonetheless.

  As it turned out, it was Jahv who reached the mud-covered being first. He gently lifted Keyro to his feet and spoke to him in those strange bursts of static that were their language. Keyro seemed to be about the same height, and Davy and Keith assumed as such that he was probably about the same age, as their younger friend Martin. That was about all they could determine about the boy, too. He was trying to wipe his eyes clear of the mud, but given that his hands were just as plastered, that wasn't proving to be very successful.

  It was at that moment that Martin rode up on his bicycle. He was wearing his swim shorts, and had tied his shirt to the handlebars.

  "Hey, you guys! What happened to you!?" he called.

  "Alien retrieval." said Davy.

  Martin did a quick headcount and noticed the second pair of antennae. "Is that what all that noise was about? I was at the pond and I saw this bright light and crack of thunder."

  "Yeah, we've got another one." said Keith.

  "We also have a problem." said Jahv. "He says he's rather thoroughly stuck, and I don't think we can get enough leverage in here to boost him out."

  "Must've been the landing." said Keith.

  "He says his boots are full of mud and the fasteners are jammed." explained Jahv.

  "Would another person help?" asked Davy. "we could get Martin out here."

  "Hey, Martin!" called Keith. "Get out here! We need help!"

  Martin shook his head. "I'm not coming out there! My mom and dad would have a fit if I got that muddy!"

  "For pete's sake, you can clean up in the pond! Our newest arrival is stuck in his own boots!" yelled Keith. "We gotta drag him out."

  "Wait." said Jahv. "Martin, do you see my backpack?"

  Martin looked around. "Yes, here it is!"

  "Look inside." said Jahv. "You may have to rummage around a bit. There should be a long length of red-colored cord in there with a weight on the end. Find it."

  Martin opened the backpack. "How much stuff you got in here? I don't have this much stuff in my entire closet!" He shifted dozens of items around, and finally saw the red-colored rope. He pulled it out. "Is this it?"

  "Yes!" called Jahv. "Unwrap the rope, and throw the weighted end out this way."

  "There's no way he can get it out this far." whispered Keith. "He's not strong enough."

  "He won't have to be. The weight is aerodynamically designed." replied Jahv, just as the weight splattered into the mud right in front of them.

  "Did you see that throw?" yelped Martin. "Wow!" The boy had a huge grin.

  "Very impressive." said Jahv. "Now tie the other end off around a tree. As strong a knot as you can make."

  "How dependent are we on his knot-tying abilities?" asked Keith.

  "Not very." replied Jahv. "The cord is self-adhesive. Doesn't stick to anything else, but put a knot in it, and that knot will stay put until you use the molecular reverser attached to the weighted end on it."

  Martin had found a good strong tree and had wrapped the rope around it and tied a large, strange knot in the rope. "Okay!"

  "We're going to have to guide Keyro in." said Jahv. "He's not strong enough to overcome the pull of the mud on his boots."

  With Davy and Keith bracing Keyro on either side, and Jahv pulling from the front and keeping a hand on the rope, while Martin held the rope from shore, which essentially he didn't need to do, but none of the others wanted to make him feel useless, the newest alien arrival was slowly dragged to shore. Finally, four mud-covered youngsters slogged out of the thick morass of mud.

  "That was great!" laughed Keith. "We're gonna have to do that sometime when we're not rescuing somebody."

  "It was fun, wasn't it?" said Davy.

  "But — " said Keith, speaking seriously but with a wicked grin on his face, "we owe our rescue to Martin! Let's all give him a big hug!"

  "Hey!" protested Martin, eyes suddenly wide. "Wait! Back off, you guys!" But it was far too late. Seconds later, Martin was almost as mud-covered as the other four. "Aw, jeez. What's my mom and dad gonna say?!"

  "Nothing, if you go wash up in the pond." said Keith. "But if we're going to clean up based on need first, then I think Jahv's little brother should be the first to take a dip."

  "I agree." replied Jahv.

  The five youngsters slogged their way back to the pond. Keyro was still stuck in his boots, and the rest of his uniform, which weighted him down and caused him to stumble a few times. At one point, he managed to clean off one hand well enough to touch his older brother's relatively clean face, and through a brief telepathic contact picked up on the language. His first words in English were, "You people have the strangest terrain on this planet."

  "Be grateful you didn't land on a pile of rocks." said Keith. "You came in pretty hi
gh."

  Keyro looked at Jahv. "I didn't have time to double-check the coordinates. Mom and Dad almost caught me."

  "Almost doesn't count in light years." said Jahv, putting his arm around his brother. "Glad you made it."

  The group reached the pond, and Davy and Keith tossed Keyro in when he expressed some hesitation at getting so soaking wet with all his clothes on. Of course, once he was in the water, his clothes emerged from underwater even before he did. Jahv and Martin followed suit, Martin discarding his shorts once he was convinced they were clean, and Jahv's uniform went floating shortly thereafter. When Keyro finally did surface, his appearance presented a shock to the three boys, including Keith and Davy who were still on shore.

  Given how tan the immediate region of water had turned, they figured it would be best to let the mud dissipate before washing. Keyro was not green. He had the same white hair, wide eyes, and antennae of Jahv. But his skin was a bright lavendar purple.

  "Are you sure you got the right kid?" remarked Keith.

  "Yes, of course!" said Jahv, giving his little brother an affectionate hug. "Why do you ask?"

  "You're green and he's — purple!" said Keith.

  "So?" answered Jahv. "Our mother is blue and our father is orange. Didn't I mention that we come in all sorts of different colors?"

  "Must be an interesting planet." said Davy quietly.

  "Colorful, anyway." added Keith.

  Jahv was still talking. "And I have an aunt who's bright yellow, a cousin who's a very intense red, and a third great-aunt who's actually several colors of camouflage. There's always one freak in the family. Supposedly I've got a great-grandfather who was clear, but no one's seen him for years."

  Even Davy, Keith, and Martin got that one, and winced.

  "And my mother once told me about a multi-great uncle who was plaid, but I never saw any holographs of him, so I never quite believed that one…"

  "Your thoughts?" asked Davy.

  "I think we should've left them both in the mud." replied Keith.

  "Well, WE can always go back there, now that we know it's safe." suggested Davy.

  Keith grinned. "Race you!"

  "Wait up!" called Martin, as the two older boys took off. He'd had enough of Jahv's family humor, as well.

  "Hey, what did I say?" yelled Jahv.

  "You hadda mention the 'clear grandfather' joke, didn't you?" said Keyro.

  "Well, they wouldn't've gotten the one about the niffle-herder and the krax-farmer." replied Jahv.

  Keyro groaned. "I think I'd rather get muddy again than listen to that! At least I won't get stuck this time." And the younger of the two aliens took off to follow the three running boys.

  Finally, Jahv decided to give in and followed the others. And so, shortly thereafter, there were five boys playing in a previously, presumably haunted expanse of mud. As it happened, once of the boys was green, and another one was pale purple. But under a coating of mud, who can tell?

  Part 4

  Summer was wearing on, and Davy, Martin, and Keith were spending as much time as they could with their alien friends, Jahv and his little brother Keyro. Keyro and Martin, being the younger members of the group, had become close friends, and could generally be found either in the hidden pond near where Davy lived, or in the muddy expanse somewhat beyond that.

  This particular day, Jahv, Davy, and Keith were indeed hanging around the cloaked tent-dome that was the aliens' home, while Martin and Keyro had made their way out to the muddy expanse to play. Keyro was, as usual, naked. Martin had decided to remove his clothing as well, before getting muddy. He wasn't really one for being naked around other people, but this muddy expanse, like the woods around it, was a well-hidden place, and this was a matter of practicality — it was a whole lot easier to wash oneself off in the lake nearby than wash one's clothes. And Keyro certainly didn't object. Frankly, the young alien almost seemed more uncomfortable when Martin and the others WERE wearing clothes.

  Martin and Keyro had indulged in a bit of good-natured wrestling, pretty well splattering each other with the mud, and at this point were sitting cross-legged in a shallower area (still deep enough that they couldn't see their legs) and using some of the thicker mud nearby to build small structures. Martin was trying to build a mud castle with some success. Keyro seemed to be building a mud tent-dome, and seemed to be having a little trouble even being that creative. His antennae were twitching. Martin had been hanging around these two long enough to recognize this as a sign of annoyance.

  Finally Keyro slapped his hands in the mud in frustration. "I am just no good at this. I can build many things out of technology, but I am not a — what was the word you used, Martin?"

  "Sculptor." answered Martin. He was trying not to giggle. Keyro was acting so serious, and had a bit of a scowl on his face, but given that his face, as well as the rest of him, had a generous amount of mud on it, the resultant image was difficult to take seriously. Martin suspected he himself looked just as silly. Martin decided to change the subject. There were some questions he'd wanted to ask either of the aliens anyway. "May I ask you something?"

  Keyro rolled over and flopped on his stomach, turning away from his attempted building to face Martin better. He propped his head up is his arms and smiled. "Certainly. I'd prefer conversation to further failure, anyway."

  "Why did you and your brother run away?" asked Martin. "I mean, I know you said it was because your parents weren't treating you very well, but you two seem to know so much and are able to do so much. You're so smart, and everything, and you're able to survive out here on your own. How bad could it have been?"

  Keyro adjusted himself into a sitting position so he could be eye level with Martin. "Martin, we seem to smart and strong to you, I suppose, but we're not that unusual for our people. We're kids, just like you. And I guess our adults are as different as your adults. We're a race that spends a lot of time traveling in space, and you have to know how to survive. I guess that's part of why we seem so smart to the rest of you."

  "I guess," said Martin. "We've only ever gone to the moon in person, and sent robots to other planets. But that doesn't explain why you ran away."

  Keyro paused before responding, trying to think of how he could explain how different the two cultures were. "Martin, do your parents love you? Do you know that they love you? Do they show you that they love you?"

  Martin seemed surprised by the question. He had to think about it, which was something he'd never really had to do before. He thought about how, when he was feeling sad, his mom or dad knew about it, and would try to comfort him. He thought about how, when he was sick, his mom would take extra-special care of him. They worried when he was out later than he should be, which kind of annoyed him a little, but he didn't like to upset them, and he guessed that their concern was because they did love him and didn't want anything to happen to him. And they always had time for a kind word or a hug for him if he wanted it.

  Was Keyro saying what Martin thought he was? "Yes." he finally answered. "But — why would you ask that?"

  "On my planet, things are different." said Keyro. "We are a people devoted to technology and commerce. You would probably call us technologists. And the better you are at it, the more highly placed in society you are, which is something we consider very important. My parents — Jahv's and mine — are very good at it. They fed us, educated us, took us with them wherever they went. But I don't think they really loved us. On my world, emotion isn't something openly expressed. Jahv and I are still getting used to it with you guys. And my parents didn't like it when Jahv and I showed emotion to each other."

  "Did they hurt you?" asked Martin, recalling some of what his friend Keith had been known to endure.

  Keyro shook his head. "No. Not physically, anyway. They'd just — ignore us more than usual. Jahv finally decided to run away, but I wasn't certain. It's a terrible crime on my world to run away."

  "Why?" asked Martin.

  Keyro shrugged. "I'm not sur
e. Maybe because if it weren't, more kids would do it. But after Jahv left, they accused me of making him leave. You see, parents are held responsible for the actions of their children on my world, so our parents would be blamed for this. I finally decided I had to leave, as well."

  "Do you think your parents miss you?" asked Martin.

  Keyro snorted, suddenly sounding bitter. "Probably all they miss is whatever lost business opportunities they'll suffer during whatever penalty would be imposed for our running off. After that, they'll probably be just as glad we're gone so they don't have any distractions."

  Martin shook his head. "Do you ever get homesick?"

  "Home — sick?" asked Keyro. "I don't understand that word. Have I ever been sick at home? We've cured most diseases native to our.

  "No, no, that's not what I mean." corrected Martin. "I mean — do you ever miss your home planet?"

  Keyro almost grinned. "That's an unusual question. Like I said, we're sort of taught that expressing — sometimes even feeling — emotion isn't quite right. I've never thought about it before. I guess — no, I really don't. We traveled an awful lot. I've been to over a hundred different planets in my life. Not counting this one. My home planet is just — one more world. My home was my parents' ship, and I really don't miss it. You would miss your home if you had to leave it?"

  Martin nodded. "Very much so."

  Keyro smiled, widely. "Maybe that's what Jahv and I like about you guys so much. You're not afraid to feel." His face turned a little sad, then. "I'm — not sure I know how. Jahv is not afraid to, but it's unusual for both of us."

  Martin reached over and gave Keyro a hug. Given that both boys were covered with mud, there was a rather bizarre SQUISH sound to the embrace. "That's how!" said Martin.

  Keyro giggled. "Is it always that noisy?" That gave both boys a complete case of the giggles that lasted for some time.

  Back in the tent-dome, Keith and Davy were discussing between themselves theories as to why exactly Keyro, and often with him Martin, had taken such a liking to the muddy expanse beyond the small lake in the woods.