First Contact(Closed for Erlind)

The clear summer night sky was filled with stars, some of them falling stars. However one was moving in a pattern unlike the rest. The casual observer would have missed it, but someone with a skilled eye would not have. What looked like a falling star was in fact damaged space craft. The sole occupant of the craft Jori was cursing ever god she knew as she tried to regain control of her ship. Warning lights and noises filled her ears as well as the faint smell of smoke. What was supposed to be a surveillance mission was now becoming one of survival.

The Doaren had been watching Earth for a number of years, but it was only most recently they had taken real interest in the tiny blue rock. Humans were getting ever closer to the full capability of exploring space and discovering that they were in fact not alone in the universe. Because of it scouts were sent regularly to check on their progress and to decide of they should be the ones to make contact first. It helped that if contact was made the Doaren looked very much like humans, though with minor differences. Along the hair line at the back of their heads, along the shoulders and spine where a patten to swirls and curves that could be mistaken for what humans knew to be tribal tattoos. Each pattern was unique to each Doaren from not only pattern, but also color. Jori's were a brilliant red against her tan skin, it matched her hair. She was short by Doaren standards only 5'11, but her lean and muscled body made up for what she lacked in height.

A fist slammed down on the control panel, once she had been caught in the meteorite shower, she knew she was screwed. Jori had tried to get her ship out of the fall, but that had failed. At this point the best she could hope for was her ship being capable of sending out a distress signal once she landed. No once she crashed, because that was, what was going to happen. Jumping from the flight seat, Jori threw what she would need into her bag, it looked like a hybrid of a human messenger bag and a duffel. On the off chance she made contact with humans or was stuck on earth until someone could come pick her up, she was going to need what she could carry for her survival. The ship titled sharply and she was thrown against the hull. "Fuck!" Pushing herself up she ignored the stabs of pain and the blood dripping from her forehead.

Weaving her way back to the flight seat she took the controls. All she could pick up on the damage sensors was that she was near a road carved through the Earth wilderness. Great the local animals, might get to her before anything else did. Her hand moved to try and engage the hover gear, she was going to hit hard and Jori was trying to each whatever damage her ship was going to take. It engaged but only at 20%. Her descent was barely slowed. The last thing she saw before the ship hit was the ground reaching up for her.

Her ship hit several trees, rolling and being ripped into before coming to a halt beside the road. Jori and her bag were thrown a few feet away from the burning wreckage. Blood covered most of her black flight suit, dirt and fuel covered the rest.

David Hall was an extremely ordinary guy. He’d tried to be spontaneous and exciting, but usually just slipped into a comfortable routine instead. At 6’2” he made a good addition to the pickup basketball games he joined behind his apartment complex. The games kept him fit and helped break up the monotony of work. His black hair was just short enough to keep out of his eyes and manage to look professional when he attacked it long enough with a comb. When he didn’t, it seemed to splay out in whatever direction it felt like at the time.

Even going to majoring in art in college had earned him a manager position at a data processing firm. The money was good, and David excelled at his work, but god life just so boring sometimes. And work kept him so busy he hardly had time for his own life. Over the last two years he’d had one girlfriend for exactly a month. He’d taken exactly no vacation time and spent most of his time either at work or his apartment. He was tired of it all.

When David had put in for his time off his boss came up with a hundred reasons why he couldn’t leave. In the end David just told the old man it was either a vacation or he was quitting. His boss gave him the time off acting like it was his idea so David could blow off a little steam or something. The old man was a kook.

There had been a lot of options when he’d decided on his vacation time, but he’d settled on getting out into nature. David had dug out his old camping gear and bought what he didn’t have anymore. With a backpack loaded with food and everything else he would need, he’d set out into the woods. It was his third night out when he saw a shooting star in the sky, or thought he had. What had started out as a streak of light quickly became more defined, especially as the damn thing hurtled past at maybe two hundred feet above him. Whatever it was, was going down fast.

The crash site was a mess of burning wreckage, so much so that he couldn’t tell if it had been a jet of some kind or something bigger. Warped metal and fire set the scene as David approached. It seemed there was no way anyone survived this. Much to his disbelief though, on the edge of the wreckage, the young man saw a body lying on the ground, and it was breathing. He rushed over and found a young woman in a black flight suit. It didn’t look military, but what did he know. Besides, with all the blood and burns there was no way for him to know.

Kneeling down next to her body, David knew he had to get her help and quickly if she was going to make it. He dug his little first aid kit out of his bag. Gauze and medical tape covered the worst of it, but he hadn’t really prepared for anything like this. He didn’t want to move her, but the spreading flames were too much of a threat to ignore. With a little effort he managed to scoop her up in his arms. The highway hadn’t been far from where they were, so he headed that way.

Between the pack and the woman David was exhausted when he reached the road.

“Don’t worry; we’ll get you to the hospital. Everything will be alright.” He doubted she could hear him in the state she was in, but it made him feel better. Fortunately it didn’t take long to flag down a passing pickup truck.

“Where you going?”

“I need to get her to the hospital.” The old man in the pickup leaned over and looked over his glasses before a startled look took his face.

“Hospital is too far, but we can get her to the ranger station and get an ambulance from there. Get her in the back. Sorry, but it’s the best I can do.”

David got back there first. He rearranged some bags of feed the old man had back there so at least she wouldn’t be laying on the metal bed of the truck then the two of them got the mysterious woman in the back of the truck. David stayed with her and the good Samaritan got them back on the highway. David sat close to her. The wind whipped his hair about like mad, but he was determined to keep a watch over her. He tried to check her pulse on her wrist and then her neck, but found it in neither place. Still, she was breathing even if her pulse was too weak to find. That was something.

The first thing Jori recognized was that she was in pain. The second was that she was moving. Her amber eyes slowly opened, at first all she could see was the night sky above her moving. Where was she? With a groan she opened her eyes more and realized someone was next to her. Two tries later she was able to groan out, "Where...where am I?"

Her head was pounding, it was clear she had crashed and crashed hard. Her chest and right shoulder throbbed, letting her know something had hit her or she had hit something. Looking around in the dark she could make out what appeared to be the back of a human vehicle, a truck. Someone had found her and was taking her somewhere. Her aching head rifled through what knowledge she had of earth and her eyes went wide as she realized that they were more than likely going to take her to a hospital. This was bad, appearance wise she passed for human, but inside? Oh there were a host of differences. No she couldn't be found out like this.

Shaking her head made the world tip and her stomach roll. "No," she whispered, "No hospital." Jori brought her eyes to the man next to her, she had to make him understand. If she was exposed while incapacitated, there was no telling what would happen to her. If she was turned over to their government and humans were not ready for such knowledge, Jori would possibly never make it home.

When she made her request David should have simply said no, dismissed her. She was hurt, out of it, and probably just scared. Something in her eyes told him something different though. They were beautiful and betrayed a fear, not just of how hurt she was, but of something else, something more important.

“Look … I … we’ll try.” This was stupid. She was probably a spy or something worse. A terrorist? David knew he shouldn’t be doing this, but there was something about her that wouldn’t let him abandon her. It probably didn’t her that she looked like beneath the grime and blood she looked utterly beautiful.

When the stopped, they got the woman out and into the ranger station. A table was cleared off and with a much larger first aid kit they began bandaging her up.
“I think she’ll be ok, but I’ll go call for an ambulance. She needs to get to a hospital to see if there is any internal damage.”

The ranger seemed like a nice guy, David really felt bad about stealing his truck. He grabbed the keys off a peg by the door, lifted the unnamed woman and carrying her out the door. The ranger came running out of the building screaming as they tore out of the little parking lot.

“I just stole a truck for you,” David told the woman lying next to him in the cab, “I really hope there’s a good reason.” His heart was pounding and he’d never done anything so stupid in his life, but honestly he wasn’t cursing himself over it any more.

Jori let out something between a cough and a laugh, "You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you. Let's just say," she took a shaky breath, "I'm not like you and I can't afford to be in a h..hospital." She pushed herself up with her good arm. "Thank you for helping me, I will heal so there really isn't a need for a hospital. I just need to rest." And to figure out how to get the heck off this planet before she was found out. If she were lucky when she didn't check in or return they would send someone looking for her.

It could possibly increase the odds of exposure, but her own government couldn't run the risk of her being found out either. Looking out the window Jori asked, "Where am I? My nav was damaged, so I'm really sure where I've crashed." This human seemed nice, maybe she could hide what she was long enough to heal and get back to what was left of her ship. If luck was on her side any of the locals would just assume it was military. If not, the military would be hunting for her.

“Washington. We’re heading to Seattle with a stop to get my own car. I’m going to need a little more than not like me though. Hippies and the Chinese are both not like me. I stole a park ranger’s truck, because you don’t want to go see a doctor. You survived a plane crash that didn’t leave behind a piece of warped metal bigger than a car door. You could be a terrorist, or a spy, or a comic book super villain for all I know.”

She was quiet for a moment. David was trying to keep his eyes on the road so he wasn’t even sure if she was still conscious.

“Look, I’m David Hall. I work a boring job and play basketball on the weekends. I like kungfu movies, green olives on pizza, and the great outdoors. There, now you know me. The least you can give me is your name, the least.” At this point David wasn’t even sure if she was awake or why he was telling her all this if she was.

Well at least she hadn't crashed into the ocean. Who knows if she would have been found at that point. She listened to him rattle off a few quick details about himself, with a laugh to herself. "Jori, you can call me Jori." Jori didn't even think to ask about her bag. If it had been left behind they were going to have to go find it. Someone would have to blind and dumb to not realize the contents were not from earth. The planet was still in the infancy of accepting the possibility that there was life beyond themselves and remnants of simple organisms found on planets outside of their solar system. The Doaren weren't the only other lifeforms, but they were the only ones willing to risk the knowledge of their existence.

She thought about what he said, "No I'm not a terrorist or a supervillain, just a scientist and pilot." Jori had meant to tell him more, to ease his worries, but her body needed to heal and that meant between one blink and the next she was out cold again. It would take a few days for her body to heal on its own, another reason for having her bag.

Pilot had been pretty self-explanatory, but David hadn't expected her to be a scientist too. Scientists didn't typically show up to blow anything up, though it did put her up on the super villain scale. David laughed quietly at his unspoken joke and drove through the night.

Jori

It didn’t exactly scream all American, but that didn’t mean anything. Actually it was kind of hard to place any nationality to it. She was full of curiosities. The girl didn’t wake up when they switched from the truck to his little Saturn. The truck was ditched at the small park he’d started his backpacking from. Before they left it David noticed something strange in the bed. It looked like a gym back, but the material and design on it reminded him a lot of her jump suit. How had it gotten there?

David tried to open the bag only to find no zippers or buttons. It was a little burned on the edges at places, but otherwise there didn’t seem to be a single way to open the damn thing. Deciding there were more important things when being hunted for carjacking David tossed the bag in the trunk and promptly forgot about it.

It was nearly morning when he parked on the street in front of his apartment building. He was glad not many people were out at this hour. Anyone who saw him would at best think he was taking home someone who’d drank too much and at worst call the police. They got inside without incident however and Jori was laid out on his couch.

David collapsed in the comfy red chair across from his couch. Wrapped up in gauze and one trashed flight suit she still looked good. He shook his head wandering just what he had gotten himself into before passing out himself.

Jori woke with a start a few hours later. Still sore, but for the most part healed. Looking around she could see that...David, yes that was his name, had brought hr to what she assumed was his home. Rather than wake him immediately, Jori started peeling off her bandages. She had known she wasn't badly hurt, because her blood was red. Serious wounds triggered a hormone released that turned Doaren blood purple.

Looking around Jori couldn't find her bad. Shit. Either it had been left behind or David had put it somewhere out of sight. Well now she did have to wake him. "David," Jori called over to him sprawled out in the chair. "David, are your awake?"

A night, or rather a morning, of strange dreams filled the time between waking hours. It was a jumbled mess of things that had happened, could not happen, and would never happen. The odd thing was how hard they were to tell apart.

David’s head rolled a little and he looked up. His eyes opened groggily to see Jori.
“Ahh! You’re real,” David yelled with a bit of a start before calming down. “I mean … sorry. Last night was just so out of left field for me that I almost thought I’d dreamed it.”

As he looked over his strange house guest something seemed out of place. Where did all of her bandages go? Hadn’t she been really hurt last night? She was already up and about.

“How are you feeling?”

"Sore but I am better. David have you seen my bag. There are some things I need out of it," like some clean clothing. Then again if she told him she was an alien, the flightsuit made her look the part even if her appearance didn't. "Also, thank you for helping me last night," Jori bowed slightly. It was a bad idea though because she became light headed and dropped back down to the couch before she passed out.

Once the room stopped spinning she opened her eyes to look around his home again. It was different from what she was used to, but part of her training was to study Earth and its inhabitants. How they lived, how they acted and such. Most what she saw she knew by name. The scientist in her was jumping for joy at the chance to really study humanity. If...when she got back to Doaren she could give a more thorough report on the planet and if they were truly ready.

Other than a change of clothing, Jori had grabbed what she would need to make her report. She'd also grabbed a small med kit to deal with any injuries she might suffer, a datapad filled with earth's history up to the present and some supplements to make sure she had what she needed.

Doar was much like earth, only the planet had two suns and moons each to Earth's one. The food and drink were different as well and they had the obvious technical advantage.

“Of course, I’ll be right back.”

David went out and grabbed the bag out of his trunk. He still had questions. Admittedly the smallest of which was how you opened this fancy gym bag, but it still bothered him.

When he got inside she was curiously thumbing through his bookcase. He wasn’t a huge reader, but there were things he liked. Mysteries and Westerns mostly, with a few biographies and other oddities thrown in there. He set the bag on the couch and cleared his throat a little.

“Alright, obviously you’re hiding something or hiding from someone,” he told her flat out. “I’d like to know and I did save you, so you kind of owe it to me. Jori, what’s going on?”

When he'd left Jori found herself exploring his home a little. It was clear he was intelligent and fascinated by the strange and unusual. She was still browsing when David came in and asked her a question. Of course he had to ask what was going on, that told her that her ship had to have been totally wrecked. Jori combed her hand through her hair.

"I'm not hiding from someone, but you are right." She walked over to the couch and ran her hand over the bag. It opened following the movement of her hand. Pulling out what looked to be a simple swath of fabric Jori asked, "Can I at least change somewhere before I tell you what I can? Technically I wasn't supposed to make contact with anyone, but well things change."

She closed the bag before she stood up again. No need to let his curiosity get the better of him while she was changing.

“Sure, why not, go ahead and get cleaned up too if you want. The bathroom connects in the bedroom just through there.”

Maybe she was just nuts, or maybe he was. Either way this all felt really out of hand even if not much had happened since he’d gotten her home. After she left David went straight for the bag and tried to open it. Not even a sign of how she had gotten it open. He really was going crazy. David thought he must have eaten mushrooms out in the woods or something.

Dropping the bag David realized he probably could stand to get cleaned up too or at least change clothes. When he heard the bathroom door click shut too he decided to take the chance. He slipped inside his bedroom and tossed his shirt off and started hunting for a fresh one in the dresser.

Jori nodded and then slipped into his bedroom and then the bathroom. After a minute to orientate herself and remember what she knew she turned the water on in the sink. Pressing the badge over her right breast the suit slipped off her body and folded itself. Grabbing some soap she washed what was left of the blood and the soot from her body and then dried off.

Grabbing the multicolored fabric she wrapped it around her body. The chip towards the top corner, recognized her body and the fabric changed. Once done it looked like she was wearing a tunic with a simple pair of pants. Looking in the mirror she ran her fingers through he hair, trying to make her shoulder length locks look less of a mess.

David settled for ragged jeans and an old tore up black t-shirt. It looked like she had taken her change of clothes in the bathroom with her, so David sat on the bed and waited for her.

“You’re going to have to tell me something eventually, you know. Beautiful women don’t fall out of the sky for no reason. And at this point you have to assume I’m not going to tell anyone or I probably would have already, right? You’ve got to give me something here, Jori.”

Jori sighed as his voice drifted through the door. He was right. She opened the door and saw him sitting on his bed. "David you wouldn't believe me if I told you, so I think I better show you." Walking into the living room again Jori opened her bag and dug around for her datapad. Thankfully it wasn't damaged.

As soon as he joined her she turned it on. Her fingers flying over the screen as she started to say, "What I am going to tell you is going to be strange if not impossible to except. I said before I wasn't supposed to make contact, well I wasn't lying about that. My job was simply to observe you planet and report back on whether Earth was ready to learn a new truth." jori looked up at him with a serious look on her face.

"I didn't fall from the sky, I fell from space."

“Fine, don’t tell me. What are you going to do now though? If you don’t think you can go to the hospital then I can’t imagine you’ll want to deal with airport security.”

He went into the kitchen and started making coffee. He really needed something to calm his nerves. Maybe coffee wasn’t the answer, but it was that or a cigarette and it had taken him too long to kick the habit to start again now.

“Whatever you decide to do I’ll do my best to help out. I have no idea why, but I will. By the way, is that the new Ipad? It looks different.”

Well at least he hadn't said she was crazy. "I told you, you wouldn't believe me." She set the datapad on the counter, touched the screen and a map of the universe, projected into view. "I don't think Steve Jobs has quite gotten this far yet." She parted her hair to where her scalp wound had been, then pulled up her sleeves to reveal smooth and normal. "I didn't want to go to a hospital, because they would have found some very non human things and not have let me left once I was awake."


"Would this be more believable if I had green skin, extra arms and gills?"

Very suddenly the apartment was filled with stars, planets, and the wonders of the universe. David tried to cup a galaxy in his hands only to have it slip through his fingers. He turned, trying to see everything until he was face to face with Jori.

“You’re really not human, are you?” The question was asked nearly breathlessly. “But you look just like us …,” as he spoke David reached out and touched Jori’s cheek as if she might slip through his fingers too. Then realizing what he was doing he quickly pulled his hand back.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.” His words and thoughts were disjointed. “We aren’t ready are we?”

When David touched her, Jori stopped breathing. Mostly out of surprise, but also because his touch did something to her. He was as fascinated with her as he was with the projection. She shut it down as he pulled his hand back. "Its ok. I'm pretty sure you thought you might be dreaming for a second."

"That is why other planets decided it was best that if first contact was made the Doaren were a good choice. We are less...shocking in appearance compared to other races. If your planet could handle us then slowly we could introduce you to others."

Thinking on his other question Jori shrugged. "I don't know right now. I was only into the second day of my observation. I've studied Earth in depth and my superiors felt I would be best suited to say if Earth was ready yet or should we give you more time." She looked away from him, "Of course I don't have final say, but whatever my report would be, if I can make it would be of strong influence."

David shook his head, snapping out of the daze that having the universe floating in his kitchen had caused.

“I guess that means you’ll need someone to show you around, right? I’ll be honest, my job usually keeps me from getting out too much either, but at least I know where to get a good bite to eat.”

He was way out of his league, literally light years. She had come to earth to judge if their society was ready to join the universe and he was offering to go out for pizza or a burger. The best cheeseburger in the world wouldn’t be the clinch pin on whether or not earth went to the big leagues.

“Guess that sounds kind of stupid now that I’ve said it,” he told her as he automatically poured two cups of coffee, not really knowing if she would want it or not. Steam was pouring off it, but he took a drink anyway. Maybe it would help him keep his mouth shut.

"Thank you for the offer. And the coffee." Jori smiled at him. She started to reach out to touch his hand, but stopped herself. What was she doing? She had to be professional about this. She took the second cup and sipped it with a sigh. "You have no long how long have been wanting to try this." She smiled at him, "You can show me around when you can. Since I've crashed I have no choice, but to report on what I experience down here. Hopefully I won't get yelled at,"or fired, "when this is all over."

Taking another sip she asked, "Do you have any other questions?"

Any questions? David felt like there should be thousands, but he didn’t know what to ask and a lot of what he wanted to ask felt like it either wouldn’t be answered and could be answered in just a night. Some of them seemed kind of dumb too. How does your space ship work? Is our science on the right track or are humans just hopelessly lost? Is the food where you come from good?

“How can I tell you’re an … alien?” David’s question came out a little awkward, but it had been the best thing he’d come up with.

“I mean, you’re saying you are the first one on earth, but you look just like us. There could be a thousand of you wandering around the planet and we’d never know it. What makes you different from us?”

Jori thought about it for a second. "Well mostly we are the same, the most obvious difference would be something many humans would pass off as a tattoo trend." She lifted her hair and then showed him the back of her neck as the spotting trailed down under her clothing. "Second to that would be the fact we are taller than your race. I'm short for my kind. The average Doaren is closer to," she thought for a second, "7 feet and in many cases more, by human standards."

She took another sip of her coffee, "But to humans those could be explained away as body art or a genetic fluke. The real differences are internal. Our lungs are shaped differently and we possess a 2nd heart. We age at almost the rate as well. The other reason the Doaren were chosen other than our appearance was that would could survive your planet without breath apparatuses or specialized suits to protect ourselves from Earth's climate and atmosphere." There was another difference, but that was of a more intimate nature.

Jori smiled softly, "I can understand how difficult this is probably for you. Considering the situation you are taking this very well though."