Fiction Fragment Friday
Before I get into the story this week I want to talk about Worldcon. This past weekend I went to the 80th World Science Fiction Convention held this year in Chicago Illinois. It is a fiction and writing convention that travels around the world and I will make a point to attend any time it is close enough to drive to. This was my second time attending and much like the first I left energized with so many projects in mind.
This year I took part in writing workshops which was a new experience for me. The story you are about to read came from a workshop on examining alien perspectives. This is just a quick story using some of the through processes and questions we went over in that workshop.
The first time I encountered humans I couldn’t help but think that they were the dumbest creatures to ever exist. They came out of the sky on a screaming ball of fire making a horrendous ruckus when they smashed into the ground. Every survival instinct I had warned me to avoid the area at all costs. Like my momma always thought though I sometimes have more curiosity than brains. I just had to see what had come down from the sky with my own eyes.
I might have been curious, but I was also careful. I moved through the woods as silently as I could. I knew the sound of the impact would draw most of the predators, but there was always the chance of a straggler waiting for someone like me to come investigating. Smaller predators that also feared the ones who would be drawn to the new arrival. I dropped down on all sixes focusing each step to make sure I didn’t make any undue sounds.
I arrived in the newly created clearing and took in my surroundings. The metal thing had crashed into the ground and skid across it for a while before coming to a stop. Small fires were burning all along the path making me worry for the safety of the forest itself. I thought for a moment that nothing could have survived, but then a hatch opened, and I got my first look at a human.
Humans are very different from us. They walk exclusively on two legs and are at-least double our height when we stand on our hind legs. At the time I thought they were faceless and bulky, but later discovered that they were just wearing protective clothing. They don’t have fur like we do and their skin is very soft. Without the clothing they would freeze during our nights and their feet would be cut by our ground. I don’t know how such a weak creature could evolve, but their technology seems to make up for their physical limitations.
Three humans came out of the flaming wreckage. They made sounds with their mouths and seemed to communicate with these sounds. The predators with their extremely sensitive hearing would have no problem finding them. I couldn’t see them, but I knew they were out there. Waiting for the right time to strike these strangers and turn them into a meal. I decided in that moment I had to help these poor stupid humans.
Reaching my mind out to them I tried to communicate. Their thoughts were completely foreign to anything I had ever experienced. I saw their world, technology, and learned that they did indeed communicate through sounds. How they thought and experienced reality though was completely foreign to me. The most frustrating part was that they had no telepathic ability whatsoever. I could connect, but they had no frame of reference for communication in that fashion. It took us years to finally be able to communicate with them properly, but that is s story for another day.
I could see the predators growing closer to the humans and feel their presence in the mind web. If I was going to help them, I only had moments to do so. One of the snarling tree beasts pounced towards the sound of the talking human. I knew they were not aware of my presence since I had remained very quiet, but there was no way to get there without making noise. I shot out across the forest and heard beast take off following me. It could not be helped. As I entered the clearing, I leaped and curled myself up into a ball slamming into the creature just in time to knock it off course.
This was when I learned of the dangers that Humans could represent. Each of them pulled out a weapon of some sort. I had no frame of reference for it at the time, so it just looked like a bent pipe they were holding. Beams of energy shot out from them slicing the oncoming beasts into pieces. It was a massacre, but I couldn’t quite feel sorry for the creatures that have so long tormented us. The human I had saved stepped between me and the oncoming horde with his weapon and continued to yell sounds at them. Of course, they did not stop because now they knew where he was. These humans did not seem to realize the beasts could not see. At the last moment it used the weapon saving my life and its own.
This young ones is how we first met the humans. Since their arrival we have been able to gather in larger numbers without fear of predators. They have helped us create defenses as well as hunted those that once hunted us. Their numbers grow each year and those we can communicate with them now I worry what will happen when they run out of space. We must ever be vigilant for some day those weapons that have devastated our natural enemies may be turned on us.
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