Pushed From the Nest

Response to Medium Magic prompt: “If you were an Alien visiting earth what would your primary observations be?”

“Almost there, everyone ready to land?” The voice came over a speaker in the interior cabin.

The crew readied the ship for entry into the planet’s atmosphere, then strapped in.

“Don’t worry, Xavis,” a female, named Anahi, told the 6 year old child, “There’s nothing to it, you’ll see.”

“It’s not the landing he’s scared about,” the male next to her said, “And by all accounts . . . “

“Hush, Tryst. He’s frightened enough already.” Turning back to the child, she said, “You don’t have to be afraid, Xavis. It’s just a quick visit, nothing more. You don’t even have to get off the ship if you don’t want to.” Xavis looked up at her, his almond shaped eyes, open wide with pleading. “Promise?”

“Of course I promise. And if you do want to get off, Zav and Nadira would be with you.”

“I don’t want to get off.”

“Well, you don’t have to decide just yet. We haven’t even landed,” the female said gently.

“No, I don’t want to! You said I didn’t have to! “ The child, who almost never cried, was close to tears.

“Leave him alone, Anahi. He doesn’t have to go.”

“It’s not good for him not to know . . . “

“Why not? You heard what they’re like. . . “

Before they could continue the conversation, the ship began to shudder and buck. The boy grabbed out for both Anahi and Tryst. Though he didn’t cry out, the death grip he had on each of their hands told them just how frightened he was. As the shaking got worse, the two adults looked at each other worriedly over the child’s head. They could tell from the sense of freefall that something was wrong. The ship didn’t seem like it was under the control of the crew anymore. Alarms began sounding and there was a sudden loss of pressure that caused everyone to blackout.

Tryst came to before Anahi and Xavis. He checked them, and was relieved to find they were both alive. Anahi came to with a groan, “What. . . ?”

“Something happened. We crashed I think.”

A soft crying came from the boy.

Anahi, unbuckled him and pulled him into her lap, hugging him to her. “Shhhh, Xavis. It’s okay. Just a bumpy landing. Everyone’s fine.”

Another male entered the cabin, “Everyone okay here?”

“Yeah, Zav. Everyone else?” Tyrst asked.

“Some bumps and bruises but nothing serious. We should be able to make repairs in a couple of hours or so. I can’t tell where we came down exactly. Our location functions seem to have been damaged. But we’re in plain sight. We’ll need to fix things fast just in case the areas around here are inhabited.”

“I thought you said they were friendly, Zav,” Xavis said.

“They are, for the most part. Just wary of strangers. Just like we are, like everyone is really.”

A female poked her head in. “It looks like we’re going to have company soon,” she said, “Nyko thinks it’s best if Zav and I try to meet them before they get here to dispel any. . . discomfort.”

“Right,” Zav said.”

“I don’t have to go, right?” The boy was in a panic.

“No, Xavis,” the man squatted down in front of him, “Just Nadira and I will go. We’ll meet them and they’ll see there’s nothing to be afraid of and then we’ll all be good friends.”

Tryst snorted.

“We’d better go if we don’t want them too close to here,” Zav said to Nadira.

After they went, the rest of the crew started working on the ship.

Different members of the crew came in to take a break and play with Xavis. Tryst and Anahi spoke quietly in the corner.

“If things go well with Zav and Nadira, we really need to think about how to convince Xavis to at least meet some of them,” Anahi said.

“I don’t see why you are so insistent,” Tryst replied, “Not even Zav and Nadira think it’s something we really need to do.”

“That’s because of his age, not his background. I can’t imagine anyone would hurt him.”

“I can. So can Zav and he’d know.”

“He said that? But they’re Xavis’s people. They wouldn’t do anything to him. And he should at least know where he comes from.”

“Fine, we’ll give him lessons on the history of the Earth and its people. Better that than putting him in jeopardy,” Tryst said firmly.

“You know that’s not the same. And he should at least get some familiarity with them while he’s still young, even if just in a limited sense, so they won’t seem . . . “

“Alien?” Tryst supplied.

“You know what I mean,” Anahi said, “He’ll always know he has a place with us but he should at least have some contact with his own race.”

“They don’t exactly have a great track record. Heck, even their birds are quick to reject their own. I hear if a baby bird falls out of the the nest, the parents won’t let it back in. And if a person even slightly touches it, they reject the poor thing. He’s been out of the nest among non-humans since he was a baby, Anahi.”

“You’re being silly. He’s not a bird.”

Their conversation was cut off by a commotion outside. The yelling spread to the inside and while it wasn’t clear to those in the internal cabin what was happening they could tell they were readying the ship to take off.

Then Zav came running in with Nadira at his heels yelling, “Get us out of here! They’ve got weapons that will level a small mountain and they aren’t going to stop and talk first.”

They got the craft in the air. It took several seconds to put it into hyperdrive and in that time several large rockets exploded off the hull.

Once they were out of range, Tryst took Zav aside. “What happened down there?”

“We explained to them how we ended up with you, how you saved both our lives. Thank God we didn’t mention Xavis. They didn’t believe we were human. Thought it was a trick, then that we were just some alien race that looked like them.”

“So even when faced with their own people, the fact you were living with a bunch of aliens made you . . .”

“Seem just as alien. I won’t say us humans don’t have our strong points,” Zav said, “But inclusiveness and appreciation for diversity aren’t generally among them.”

“Neither is acceptance or true belief in equality,” Nadira joined in, “Some may talk a good game but there is always a struggle to get on top by creating meaningless differences to put others down.”

No one had noticed Xavis had come up behind them and was listening. He went back to Anahi and climbed into her lap. “I’m glad we live with all of you,” he said, laying his head against her.

“So am I little one,” She wrapped one of her five arms around him and pulled him close, “So am I.”

Natalie Frank (Taye Carrol) has had work featured in Haunted Waters Press, Weirdbook Magazine, Siren’s Call Publications, Lycan Valley Press and Zero Fiction among others. Her poetry has been featured a several anthologies. She is the Managing Editor for Novellas and Serials at LVP Publications.

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