"This wreckage isn't very clean, you know." commented Niklas. He and the others were already getting streaked with rust and grime.
"What are you worried about, getting your clothes dirty?" joked Jahv. For him, it had been too obvious to pass up.
Davy had crawled around to the far side of the shuttle from where they'd approached. "Jahv, this shuttle would have had two engines, right?"
"Yes." replied Jahv. One engine, relatively intact — or at least as much as the rest of the shuttle, could be seen protruding from the side of the shuttle from where they had approached.
"Then I think I know what happened, sort of." answered Davy. Jahv and the others came around. The second engine was at least half missing, and the portions that remained looked exploded.
"Yeah, that'd do it, I guess." remarked Keith.
"But what made it blow up?" asked Niklas.
Jahv was inspecting the machinery in the shuttle. "I'm not an expert on Dorrian ships, but engines tend to be engines to some degree, and this one looks like a power coupling failed."
"How can you tell?" asked Davy.
"Because the Dorrians bought their power couplings from Botarans, and I certainly know a Botaran power coupling when I see one, and only half of it is here — charred, too."
"Okay, we know what brought it down. Now we need to find out who set up the distress beacon." said Niklas, heading back into the shuttle.
"We are going to need baths so badly when this is over." commented Davy. He'd gotten very filthy crawling around the engine.
"Aw, quit griping about a bit of dirt." said Keith. "You can be really pathetic sometimes, y'know?" Keith was poking around everything he possibly could. He'd just found a large cylinder attached to some piping near what little remained of the ceiling of the shuttle. "Hey, maybe this is like an overhead luggage rack or something."
Jahv looked over. Keith was trying to pry open a hatch. "Um, Keith, I'd be careful there. That looks a whole lot like a.
Keith finally got the cylinder open and was promptly doused in a dark blue gelatinous substance. "Aw, gross!" he proclaimed, sputtering.
"Coolant reservoir." finished Jahv, trying not to giggle.
Niklas and Davy were less successful at restraining themselves. "All we need now is some peanut butter and two really big pieces of bread!" said Davy. "What were you saying about a bit of dirt, Keith?"
"Ah, shaddup." muttered Keith, trying with very little success to wipe the sticky goo off. "Hey, this stuff isn't dangerous, is it?"
"No, it's completely inert except when in use as part of a shuttle's drive system." said Jahv. "However, you will be — sticky until it can be washed off."
"Not to mention blue." added Davy.
Keith just groaned.
"I suggest we split up a bit to search the remaining rooms." said Jahv. The four boys were facing what was left of a corridor, and there were entrances to large rooms on either side. "Niklas and I shall take the one on the left, Davy and Keith the one on the right."
The boys separated, and Jahv and Niklas wandered into the darkened room. Here the roof was relatively intact, and little light shone through. "You asked me before we landed what it was like to go around naked most of the time," remarked Jahv. "What do you think of it?"
Niklas shrugged, trying not to blush but grinning slightly. "Yeah, but it's just us guys here, so it's no big deal. But I can see one other advantage."
"Which is?" asked Jahv.
"No laundry worries." quipped Niklas.
Jahv focused his small hand-light on a nearby console, and then flashed it around the room. "Some sort of master quarters, I would guess." There was a large bed and a comfortable sofa, bolted into place. The cushions for the sofa were in place, but the pillows to the bed were missing. Then something soft clobbered Jahv in the back. "YEEEK!"
Niklas started giggling. He'd found the pillows and had thrown one of them.
"You scared me." said Jahv, not really angrily.
Niklas just shrugged and grinned. It was just annoying enough to Jahv that he grabbed Niklas and wrestled him to the floor. Jahv had his nose to Niklas' face and said, good-naturedly, "If you're going to start a fight, you'd better be ready to finish it."
Niklas did so by kissing Jahv on the nose. The action so startled the alien boy that he backed away immediately. "What was that? Some form of surrender?"
Niklas looked at Jahv. "Hasn't anyone ever kissed you before? Not even your parents? Or your brother?"
Jahv shook his head and rubbed his nose, looking slightly cross-eyed as he did so. "What's a — kiss?"
Niklas suddenly felt profoundly sad for Jahv. "It's — a way of showing someone that you care about them."
Jahv looked at Niklas and suddenly smiled. Had there been better light, Niklas would've seen Jahv's face turn a slightly brighter shade of green.
Any further discussion was prevented, however, by a sudden call from the other large room. It was Davy. "Hey, Jahv, Niklas! I think you guys should see this!"
The two boys stood up and went into the other room. Keith was sulking at the far side. Davy had a blotch of blue gel on his upper chest. He'd probably teased Keith once too often. But that wasn't the point. Davy was holding several obviously child-sized robes and an odd stuffed animal. "Jahv, those two — bodies that you scanned in the cockpit. You said they were adults?"
Jahv looked at the robes. "Probably." He held up one of the robes. It was far too small for any of them to even consider wearing. The owner had probably been no more than five or six years, in Earth terms. "Someone this young wouldn't likely have been in the cockpit, anyway."
Niklas looked at the stuffed animal. It looked like a cross between a teddy bear and a warthog. "What the heck is this thing?"
"A gralnok." said Jahv. "Domesticated animal native to the Dorrian homeworld."
"A little Dorrian kid would take something this ugly to bed with them?" asked Davy.
Jahv nodded. "Anything else in here?"
"Just this." answered Keith, who'd been going through some drawers he'd found embedded in the wall he'd been leaning against. It looked like a metallic headband, and although it was quite ornate, it also clearly contained circuitry. "What is it?"
Jahv studied the device. "An encephalo-educator. Dorrian children wear these a few hours each day from the time they are three years old until they are ten. It teaches them language, math, history, science, all the basic skills."
"How do you know so much about Dorrian technology?" asked Davy.
"Botarans build a lot of it for them." replied Jahv.
There was a sudden THUNK on the roof of the shuttle. "Uh, ohhh." said Davy.
"I hope that was a tree branch." remarked Keith.
Then there was a low, growling noise. "And I hope that was your stomach." said Davy.
"It would've been if I hadn't figured out how to get a cheeseburger out of the food replicator." countered Keith.
"I still say what you people eat is — " started Jahv, but he was silenced by a wave of Niklas' hand. Niklas was pointing at the open doorway to the room they were presently in, and so scared he couldn't even speak.
Standing in the doorway was — something. It looked more or less humanoid, and about the same size as any of them. The light was so poor that they couldn't tell much more than that except that it clearly had very long hair and was crouched in a position as if to pounce. It was also what was growling.
"Oh, shit." muttered Keith.
The being sprang into the room and let loose a growling howl that nearly deafened the four boys. He went straight for Jahv, who was holding the only source of light in the room, which promptly shot out of his hand and skittered across the floor.
"He's attacking Jahv!" yelled Davy. "We gotta do something!"
"No, wait!" cried Niklas. "He's not after Jahv. Look!"
The new alien's eyes had followed the light, not Jahv. The alien released Jahv, and scampered across the floor and picked up the small hand light, inspecting
it as an infant would a new toy. He was still growling, however.
"Is that a — what did you call them — Dorrian?" asked Keith.
Jahv was still checking himself to make sure he hadn't been hurt. "Yes, but Creator's name, I've never seen one in such sorry shape."
"Whataya expect?" remarked Davy. "He's a kid alone on a primitive planet."
Jahv nodded. "You're right, of course. But we need to try to communicate with him."
The alien had turned to face the others, and in the glow of the hand-light it was possible to get a look at his face.
"Is he a whole lot dirtier than we are, or is his face actually camouflage-patterned?" asked Niklas.
"Some of both, probably." replied Jahv. "Dorrian skin is naturally multi-colored. There's probably several shades of green and tan on him. And if you could see past the hair, you'd see he has long, pointed ears."
"It's the eyes that I'm seeing." gulped Davy. "Are those yellow eyes normal?"
Jahv nodded. "Yes."
"Like a wild animal." said Keith. "Real good. Our first encounter with alien life on another planet, and instead of 'Star Trek' we get 'Wild Kingdom'."
The alien continued to crouch and growl at the others.
"You think maybe he's upset because we're on his turf?" speculated Keith.
"What?" asked Jahv.
"This is HIS shuttle, after all." continued Keith. "Maybe he's mad we're in here."
Jahv raised an eyebrow. "That's possible. I hadn't thought of that."
"Okay, so what say we all back out of here, nice and slow, and see what he does?" suggested Davy.
"I have no problem with that." said Niklas.
"All right, let's do it." said Jahv. "Keith, bring the headband."
"Whataya want this thing for?" asked Keith.
"I think you would call it a 'hunch'." answered Jahv.
Keith shrugged, but kept the headband with him. The four youngsters very carefully backed out of the room, and out of the shuttle. The alien boy followed them all the way, never taking his eyes off of them, and continuing to snarl. But he stopped once they were all outside the shuttle, and stayed at the doorway.
"Maybe if we all sat down we'd look less threatening to him." offered Niklas. The others sat down in a crouched position similar to the newcomer, but looking less like they were ready to spring at someone.
Now it was possible, in daylight, to get a better look at the boy. To begin with, given that the youngster was wearing no clothes, it was obvious that he was a boy. And he was certainly far dirtier than any of Jahv's group. But not so much so that his natural camouflage coloring wasn't fairly obvious even through the dirt. His hair, a long and tangled mess, was also more than one color, streaked dark green and brown.
His eyes, although yellow, were more human-looking than Jahv's, and he had a full complement of five fingers per hand and five toes per foot. The only ornamentation anywhere on the boy was a small device on a chain around his neck. Jahv identified it immediately. "That's the homing device for the distress signal!"
"Are you saying George of the Jungle there set up the distress signal?" asked Keith, disbelieving.
"He probably had been trained to do so by his parents, and being very young when he did so and on his own ever since, lost whatever skills he had learned." said Jahv. "That's why I wanted the headband."
"You said that thing was some sort of educator device." remarked Davy. "But you can't expect to civilize him that quickly."
"Remember I said I had a hunch." said Jahv. "And it's a longshot. I'm going to try to teach him language, in the hope that he still has some semblance of civilized behavior left, and that if we can communicate with him, we can bring it to the surface."
"I don't think he's going to let you get close enough for that." said Niklas. "Besides, would that thing be able to teach English?"
"Hey guys, look." said Davy quietly. The alien boy was slowly coming closer. His angry expression had been replaced by one of curiosity.
"Now that we're out of the shuttle," said Jahv. "He wonders who we are."
"Maybe you will get to use the headband." said Niklas, trying to speak quietly and not move too much.
"I hope to use it to establish a telepathic link, through which I can teach him English." said Jahv.
"Can't you do that without the headband?" asked Davy. "You picked it up from us without one."
"Your minds were already civilized and organized." said Jahv. "His isn't. Besides, it's harder to implant information than retrieve it."
The alien boy had made his way over to Keith, who was trying not to back off or make any sudden moves. The youngster ran his finger along Keith's arm and came away with some of the gelatinous coolant. He stuck it into his mouth and spat it out. "Yeah, well, I kinda feel the same way." remarked Keith.
The boy crawled over to Davy next, and ran his hand along Davy's cheek, and then his own. His expression was one of confusion.
"I don't think he's used to seeing someone who looks more or less like him but is only one color." suggested Jahv. "Keith, pass the headband over here. He'll be getting to me in a moment if he keeps this up."
Keith did so. The alien boy was examining Niklas. He seemed to find the boy's blonde hair and rounded ears especially interesting. His gentle touch was ticklish, and Niklas was trying not to giggle. The alien boy was almost smiling.
Finally he came to Jahv. He fingered Jahv's feathery white hair, and started to examine Jahv's boots, which he'd ignored on the others for some reason. He started for each of Jahv's antennae, which made Jahv more than a little nervous, and he decided he'd better distract the youngster, so he brought out the headband. The boy glared at it, but made no move to run away.
Jahv gently brought it up to the boy's forehead and paused. Still the boy didn't move. Then Jahv placed it over the youngster's head and activated it, and pressed his own fingers to the visible circuitry.
Arcs of electricity sparked between the two alien youngsters. Niklas, Davy, and Keith backed off. "I just thought of something really unpleasant." said Keith. "What if that contraption is broken? If Jahv gets brain-fried, we don't get home!"
Niklas and Davy felt a sudden chill. Keith had a point, and none of them had thought of it.
Finally the two alien boys separated, and slumped to the ground. Niklas and the others quickly ran over to Jahv, who sat up instants later. "Are you okay?" begged Niklas.
Jahv shook his head to clear it. "Well, that was interesting. I'm having to dismiss this sudden urge to go swinging through the trees. But yes, I think I'm okay. What about him."
Clearly the alien wildchild had taken the worst of the shock. He moaned a couple of times and slowly sat up. He looked thoroughly confused, as if realizing something about himself he hadn't known. He opened his mouth and worked his jaw a few times before finally emitting sound. "What — what these words you give me?"
Niklas, Keith, and Davy looked towards the new boy with shock, their eyes wide. "Cripes, I think it actually worked." whispered Keith.
"It's called English." explained Jahv gently. "It's the language my friends and I speak."
The alien boy gazed at the others. "Where you come from? Why you do this?"
"We picked up on the distress beacon." said Jahv.
The boy frowned. "I think you're going a little too fast for him, Jahv." said Niklas.
"I think you're right." replied Jahv. He turned his attention to the boy. "What is your name?"
The alien boy scowled, deep in thought. Finally he spoke again, with a slight grin on his face. "Morik. Name is Morik."
"All right, Morik." said Jahv. "What do you remember about coming here?"
Morik pondered this question for a long time. "Two others like Morik. But bigger. Say we have to leave home. Home not there anymore. Come here but not supposed to. Not see bigger ones after that." Morik scowled again, trying to remember all he could. "Morik — did something with something, and put this around neck. Got hungry. Went into trees. Stayed t
here. Safe. Not go too far." Then he looked at the others. "You here because Morik did something?"
"Yes." said Jahv. "As you said, your home isn't there anymore. But we can offer you a new home, if you want to come with us."
"You from sky?" asked Morik.
"He remembers that?" asked Davy.
"Either the headband worked better than expected, or he's not as stupid as he's been acting up until now." answered Keith.
"Yes, but we're from — another part of the sky." said Jahv, trying to use words he hoped Morik would understand. "But it's your choice."
Morik frowned. "Morik alone for long time. Not see anyone like him. You sort of like Morik. More than like anyone else. Morik not want be alone now. Morik come."
"Is there anything you want from the ship?" asked Jahv.
Morik thought about this. "Morik remember — small animal. Not move. Soft. Friend."
"The gralnok." said Jahv.
"I'll get it." said Davy.
"Okay, hold it." said Keith. "Obviously we're pulling out. Well, I'm not going anywhere until I get this gunk off'a me."
"We could all use a bath." said Niklas. "And I don't recall a shower on the shuttle."
"Morik know place. Not far. Follow Morik."
Davy had emerged with the stuffed animal and handed it to Morik, who led the others through the jungle. The young Dorrian had astounding agility, and it was all the others could do to keep up with him. Finally they emerged in a clearing with a large lake.
"Wash here." said Morik.
"Like you'd know." remarked Keith, although the water looked inviting. Keith hoped it was enough to remove the sticky coolant.
"Not so." replied the boy. "Morik come here whenever trees turn color whether Morik need to wash or not."
"You're in no position to point fingers, Keith," grinned Jahv. "Besides, who's he gonna offend out here?" Seconds later, gratefully, the group was in the lake, washing off either recently acquired grime, a lengthy build-up of it, or an excess of coolant, which fortunately was water-soluable. Not long after, the activity had turned from washing to a lot of playful splashing. Morik seemed especially enthused. He'd been alone too long, and had almost forgotten how to play. But his childhood seemed to be gradually coming back to him.
My Friend is an Alien (niklas and friends) Page 11