The Starlight Visitor

The telescope was bigger than Tamsey Meriwether expected. It stood on three spindly legs in her backyard, pointing toward a kaleidoscope of stars. The metal was chilly beneath her fingers. When she pressed her eye to the viewfinder, the world disappeared into a circle of stars.

"Can you see anything yet?" Kinsey leaned over her shoulder, field journal already open, pencil poised. “We need to document everything.”

"Just stars. Lots of stars." Tamsey adjusted the focus knob. The stars sharpened, became pinpricks of light instead of fuzzy glows. "They're so bright up close."

"Let me see!" Danti bounced on his toes, nearly knocking into the telescope's base.

"Careful!" Harlow steadied it with both hands. "If you break Tamsey's birthday present, you're explaining it to her parents."

Luke sprawled on the grass nearby, hands behind his head, watching the sky without the telescope. "I can see them just fine from here. They're all over the place."

"You can't see details," Kinsey said, sketching the telescope's outline in her journal. "The craters on the moon, or the rings of Saturn…"

"One just went out," Tamsey whispered.

Everyone went still.

"What?" Harlow's voice dropped to match Tamsey's.

"A star. It was there, and then..." Tamsey pulled back from the telescope, blinking. "It went dark. Like someone flipped a switch."

Luke sat up. "Stars don't just go out."

"This one did." Tamsey's skin prickled. The same feeling she got in the museum when Doyle the gargoyle had spoken the first time.

Danti pressed his eye to the telescope. "Which one?"

"Left of the moon, near that cluster that looks like a bird." Tamsey pointed, but her hand trembled. "There's another one. Going dark."

Kinsey scribbled frantically. "Two stars in five minutes? That's not…"

"Normal," Harlow finished. "That's not normal at all."

They watched in silence as one by one, stars winked out. Specific ones, like someone was drawing an invisible line across the sky. The October air tasted like petrichore. A storm was brewing.

"There!" Luke jumped to his feet. "Did you see that?"

A streak of light tore across the darkness. Not a shooting star. Tamsey had seen plenty of those. This was different. It jerked sideways & spiraled down like a wounded bird. It was close!

"It's going to land," Tamsey breathed.

"Where?" Danti was already moving toward the back gate.

"The beach. Near our secret hideout in the woods." Harlow grabbed her flashlight from her backpack. "We should…"

"Go." Tamsey didn't wait for permission. This magic pulled at her like a fishing line hooked through her chest, reeling her toward the falling star.

They all ran.

The path from Tamsey's backyard wound through a thin strip of woods before opening onto the rocky beach. The October mist clung to the earth. The flashlight beams appear solid. Almost like swords as they moved on their quest. Tamsey's pink birthday sneakers, new that morning, squelched through mud and pine needles.

"Do you hear that?" Kinsey slowed, cocking her head.

Tamsey heard it. Humming. Low and musical. Like wind through glass bottles.

"This way." She veered left, toward where the woods met the shore. The others followed, breathing hard, flashlights bobbing.

The star was small ~ barely the size of a beach ball ~ and translucent, like blown glass. Soft light pulsed inside it, peachy-pink and warm. It had half-buried itself in the sand, surrounded by scorched beach grass that smelled like burnt sugar.

"Whoa," Luke whispered.

It's surface rippled. A seam appeared. It opened like a flower, petals of light folding back. A spaceship?

Inside, curled into a tiny ball, was an alien?

Tamsey's breath caught. It was beautiful. The size of a kitten, with a serpentine body covered in what looked liked feathers. Feathers that moved like seaweed underwater. Floating and drifting even though there was no current. They were peachy-pink. The exact color of the sunset three hours ago. They glowed faintly in the darkness.

The creature's eyes opened. They were dark and full of stars.

Help, a voice said inside Tamsey's head. Soft and scared and very, very young. Please. I'm lost.

Tamsey dropped to her knees beside the pod. "We'll help you. It's okay."

"Did it just…" Luke stared. "Did it talk?"

"You heard it too?" Harlow knelt on the other side, reaching out slowly.

I can speak to you, the voice said, clearer now. Because I choose for you to hear me.

Danti crouched down, eyes wide. "What are you?"

The creature uncurled slightly. It had a wedge-shaped head. Delicate horns. Tiny clawed feet. When it moved, its feathers rippled, catching the flashlight beams and scattering rainbow reflections across the sand.

I am a Nato Nelle Stellis. I don't know your word. Images flooded Tamsey's mind. Vast ships sailing between stars. Families traveling together. We were looking for a new world. A storm came. I got separated.

"From your parents?" Kinsey's voice cracked.

The creature's feathers drooped. Yes.

Then it sneezed.

A bubble emerged from its tiny nostrils. Perfectly round. It shimmered and drifted upward. Captured by the moonlight and then popped with a sound like a music box closing.

For a heartbeat, no one moved.

Then Danti laughed. "Did you just sneeze a bubble?"

Another sneeze. Another bubble. The creature looked mortified. Its feathers flattening against its body. I'm sorry. It happens when I'm nervous.

"Don't be sorry," Harlow said gently. "That's the best thing I've ever seen."

The creature relaxed. Its feathers softened and floated. But when a twig snapped in the woods behind them, the feathers changed. They went rigid. Edges sharp. A protective shell around its body. The soft glow disappeared.

"Hey, it's okay." Tamsey held very still. "That's just a deer or something. You're safe with us."

Slowly, the feathers relaxed, becoming soft and drifty again.

Your world feels heavy the creature said quietly. Like I'm being pressed into the ground.

"Gravity," Luke said. "We have more than you're used to?"

Perhaps. I feel... tired. Very tired.

Kinsey pulled her journal closer, sketching rapidly. "Is it the gravity?"

I don't know. The creature's starry eyes found Tamsey's. I sent a signal when I crashed. My family should find it. But I need to hide until they come.

Tamsey thought of her parents, of Mrs. Herald, of how adults looked at magic and saw field trip forms and museum rules. "We can hide you. Grown ups here, woll want to study you. Or protect you in a way that wouldn't feel like protection."

Oh no!

Harlow stood up, already planning. "We need to get you somewhere safe. Tamsey's house? Not our secret hideout, my sister knows about it. She read my diary."

"The shed behind the garage," Tamsey said. "My dad never goes in there anymore."

Danti grinned. "Operation Hide the Nato Nellie Alien. I'm in."

"We're all in to keep Nelly safe," Kinsey said, still sketching. "Obviously."

Luke stared at the creature, then at his friends. "This is real, right? I'm seeing this? Actually seeing it?"

You see me because you believe, the creature said softly. Even when you don't think you do.

"Can you walk?" Harlow asked.

The creature stood shakily. It was so small, its body barely longer than Tamsey's forearm. When it took a step, it wobbled. The wings ~ Tamsey hadn't noticed the wings~ flared for balance. They were translucent, like dragonfly wings made of sunset.

I can try.

"Here." Tamsey scooped it up gently. The creature weighed almost nothing. Its body warm, like a mug of hot chocolate. Its feathers tickled her palms, softer than dandelion fluff.

Another bubble-sneeze. This one drifted into Kinsey's hair.

"I think you're going to fit right in with us," Kinsey said, grinning.

They walked back through the woods. Five kids and an alien dragon creature. Overhead the stars kept winking out and coming back, like the universe was sending signals in a language only the lost could read.

Behind them, the empty escape pod folded itself back into darkness. It left only scorched sand and a burnt sugar aroma.

End Part 1 of 6?

Should this story continue?

Should I sketch our alien?

Written for Bradley Ramsey Flash Fiction February.

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